St. George Caye Day

Last Saturday was St. George Caye Day.  (The Battle of St. George's Caye was a short military engagement that lasted from 3 to 10 September 1798, off the coast of what is now Belize. However, the name is typically reserved for the final battle that occurred on 10 September.)

The town had festivities over the weekend.  A couple of events included students from the local schools in a parade, as well as the traditional "greasy pole".   The object of the "greasy pole" was to climb up to the top of a greased up telephone pole where a flag was waiting to be successfully retrieved.  Many Belizeans tried as one person stood on top of the other.  Several fell like dominoes in their attempt.  At last, in the evening, a group of about 10 were successful. We knew one of the guys near the bottom who had worked on the property with us in the past.

Next Wednesday, September 21, Belize celebrates it's 30 year anniversary of independence!

Students marching

Getting ready for the parade

High School students ready to march

Ready to go!

The "greasy pole"

Cheering on the "greasy pole" contest

Trash Day and High Tide from Hurricane Irene

We heard through the grape vine that trash was being picked up north of the bridge on Saturday.  (Normally people have to figure out trash pickup on their own.)  This was a special campaign to help clean up the community therefore large items such as stoves, refrigerators, etc were also picked up.  

We arrived to the property Saturday morning to clean up the side of our road where a small casita was taken down weeks ago.  Needless to say the volunteer began the campaign right at the edge of our road.  The wooden boards were collected and put in a hole and buried (things are done differently on an island) right next to our road.  Across the street a pile of old rusty equipment was collected by a dump truck and taken away.  Trash all over the road and surrounding area were collected and taken to town to be compacted.  

trash pickup

picking up trash bags and large metal items

Wood being buried next to our road

On a side note, we watched the water rise higher than ever as the volunteers picked up trash down the road.  Workers continue to make progress with moving mud to build a stable (dry) foundation.  We are definitely seeing the progress where the mud has been placed.  Please pray for the water to go down so work can continue as planned.  When the water dries up the mud will become firm (almost like concrete) and we will have a smooth foundation to built upon.

Building a bridge with mud/lodo

Dry land in the back by the building site and bodega/storage shed

Fishes in the Deep Blue Sea

Volunteer staff enjoys playing his ukulele for the crowd as they sign along...."Joy to the world, all the boys and girls, joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, joy to you and me."

Kayak Race in San Pedro

At 6:00am Saturday morning a two-day kayaking race began in San Pedro.  The kayakers’ raced from one side of the island traveling to the north side where they spent the night then continued the adventure the following day.  

Kayakers arrived back in San Pedro Sunday afternoon/evening where they were greeted by many locals with BBQ and prizes.

Touring South Side and World Famous Event

Yesterday our meeting with the Manager of Education in San Pedro was cancelled due to a last minute emergency at school.  We took this opportunity to tour the South Side of San Pedro and look at architecture, as well as visit the Victoria House.

Since we were in town on Thursday afternoon, the team stayed around to see the world famous "Chicken Drop" in San Pedro.  If you do not know about it, ask our volunteers.  Mostly tourists participated in this event.

Rejoice in the LORD

Today is the day the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. 

Today was filled with arranging meetings for next week therefore we took the day off from working on the property.  Sometimes you just need a day to enjoy life in San Pedro; our Board member volunteers were thankful. 

Bridge and North Side

Cars can now go over the bridge north of the cut!  We didn’t realize it was available until the taxi driver told us he could take us straight up to our staff house.  The bridge is now paid-off but the community has decided to keep the toll to maintain the bridge.

Also a Sunday stroll to the property is very busy compared to 18 months ago.  The dry road and many new construction sights are keeping the road hopping.  Some days the road is smoother than others but the person up front in the cart warns those in the back of the “bumps”.