Day 6 - Wednesday (Feb. 15) - Fun Day

Well… you guessed it… it was another gorgeous morning in Belize: beautiful sunrise, cool breeze, sunshine and warmth. Everyone got up just a little bit later than usual. And then we prepared for our "fun day". One group went to San Pedro Island, one group went on a river boat cruise/Mayan ruins trip, another group went on a cave tubing/zip line tour, and the final group went on a sugar cane factory tour.

The San Pedro Island group enjoyed a variety of activities including: shopping, sunning on the beach, snorkeling, snuba diving, and scuba diving. They had great food at a local restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed relaxing.

The river boat cruise/Mayan ruins group started out on the boat, enjoying the sun and river sites. We saw a variety of birds (including a flock of green parrots), symbiotic and parasitic plants growing out of plants (including devil's guts or snake plant), and a crocodile. After landing, our guide took us through several Mayan ruins including the Mask Temple, the Jaguar Temple, the Ball Court, Royal Quarters, and the High Temple. The High Temple was especially impressive as it is one of the tallest Mayan structures, especially for as early as it was built (around 100 BC). In fact, it could sort of be called one of the first skyscrapers as you can see far above the jungle canopy.

The cave tubing/zip line tour had an incredible time. Getting started proved to be enormously fun as one of the group members ended up accidentally pulling in the tour guide into the river. (He was helping her get into her tube and she kind of forgot to let go of him.) They floated in and out of caves, seeing many different (and unique) stalactite and stalagmite formations. After drying off, they traveled to the zip line adventure. After taking a trial run, they began zipping through the forest holding on by a wire. One of the crew was able to demonstrate great courage. Sharon was uncomfortable with heights and did not really want to do the zip line. However, she was able to overcome her fear. What an appropriate metaphor for the week.

A couple of the group went on a sugar cane factory tour. This was the first time we were able to do this. They donned hard hats and began the tour. They learned how efficient the factory is, literally every part of the cane is used, even the leftover waste is transformed into fertilizer for the fields.

Afterwards, all of the teams returned to Tony's for a hot meal and the final slide show. I have had a lot of fun gathering all of the pictures together and creating slide shows each night. In fact, that is what I post for each day's slideshow on the blog. I hope all of you have enjoyed it as well.