You Better Belize It!

Buckle up because I think this is going to be a beefy blog post. I haven’t written one in a while, so here’s a long post to remind you how great of a writer I am. Enjoy! 

Growing up, my family didn’t travel out of the country too much. We did some spring break trips to major cities like Boston and DC, and some random trips to tropical places which made me think traveling consisted of closed off resorts and spending days by the pool. Traveling to the Philippines strayed slightly from that type of vacation when we stayed in my aunt’s family’s village, but even a lot of that trip was made up of beautifully curated hotels. 

In the past couple of years, I’ve began to look at traveling and vacations differently. The way that traveling immerses you into someone else’s own personal culture is what makes me crave going to  places. I didn’t realize that there was more to traveling then relaxation until I stayed with my aunt’s family in Bicol. That was my first insight on what life in another country could be like, and I was instantly sure I with the urge to stay there forever and learn as much as I could from there. 

Traveling to Belize two weeks ago felt so similar yet so different from my trip to the Philippines. Similar because it was a country that opposed to much of life in the US, but different because for one, I was traveling with a professor I sort of knew and a group of students I knew more from social media than in person instead of with my aunt and uncle. Another similarity was having the absolute privilege of having everything planned out for you. And let me tell you, having a two week trip all set up and organized for you is one of the best ways to travel. 

I traveled throughout Belize for two weeks with two of my professors from Ithaca and 12 other Ithaca students. My professor Susan offers a Belize case study class that allows her to share her interest and love for the country with other ENVS students. In this class we read two books about conservation in Belize. Belize is one of the most ecological diverse places in the world because of its jungle, mountain range, and coral reef. The class teaches students about the biodiversity in the country, as well as it’s history. The Mayans were the native people of Belize, Mexico, El Salvador, and Ecuador in the early years of the counties. Mayan traditions still float around Belize and evidence of their lives is scattered all over the country which is another topic the class studies. 

One perk of this class is getting to travel to Belize with Susan during winter break.

Another important part of traveling for me is trying to minimize my impact on the country as well as interacting with locals. Susan has created deep, familial relationships with many people in Belize over the past ten years which allows her to create a trip that immerses her students in the Belizean culture. 

The first half of the trip we stayed at an Eco Village resort outside of San Ignacio called Crystal Paradise. This is one of the only resorts in the area that is owned by a local Belizean family. I hope this sounds as absurd to you as it does to me. I don’t think we realize as a population how dominating the US is, and how entitled we are. This entitlement gives us the idea that we can take up residence anywhere we want, no matter the repercussions. 

Belize is a country that relies very heavily on tourism, but something about foreigners planting resorts all over the country feels off to me. 

Crystal Paradise was a jungle paradise. Each night we sat at a long table where we were served different Belizean meals that were all family style. Sitting at that table with classmates I’ve never spoken to before felt silly at first. To me, the dinner table has always been a place where family comes together after a long day to catch up and enjoy each other’s company. It felt sort of weird to be doing that with people I didn’t really know, but that table transformed us. By the second night I was already adjusting to being around these people 24/7. 

For the first couple of days, we visited different Mayan ruins. We visited Xunantunich and Caracola, which are both large, protected mayan ruins.  At Cunantunich, we were given a guided tour by one of Susan’s friends and one of the sons of the owners of the resort. Erk and another guide named Ed took us around our first Mayan ruin and told us more about Mayan history and traditions. From the top of the ruin we were able to see Guatemala. 

The next day Erc took us to Caracola. His wife Alba who is also a guide, his children Hazel and JR, and nephew Eddie joined us. We all quickly created friendships with the kids. Eddie, a nine year old, went by the nickname Eddie Spagetti and we all quickly grew incredibly fond of him. All of them welcomed us into their home and showed us the country in a unique way. 

At the ruin, a lot of my classmates and I allowed our entitlement to show through. You are allowed to climb to the tops of the ruins, but some of us took advantage of that and climbed on other parts of the ruins we weren’t supposed to be on. Unknowingly, I disrespected an important piece of Mayan history. I think it’s hard to acknowledge when we’re wrong, but I think it’s important to accept that uncomfortableness because if we don’t, then we ignore our mistakes and don’t learn from them. 

The second part of our stay in the jungle was homestays. Each of us was sent to a different family in the local village Crystal Ray. It was something I think all of us were pretty on edge about. It also wasn’t helpful that we didn’t know the families we’d be with until an hour before we left. Susan liked to keep us on the edge of our seats and not tell us what was going on. Truthfully, I was doing sort of bad those first couple of days in Crystal Paradise. The anxiety of being with new people and the idea of staying alone with a new family had me spiraling. Climbing off the bus as Evarld brought me to my home stay, I thought I’d cry. Greta gave me a hug as I left the bus and I wasn’t sure if it was because she could tell how close I was to blowing chunks on the bus. 

My family turned out to be amazing. I stayed with a grandmother named Julia, her daughter Jesamine, and granddaughter Amaya. Julia’a house was one of those places where people were always coming in and out. I spent my first afternoon with Amaya and two other family members Laraine and Lareine. Belizean villages are mostly made up of large families. Almost every honesty we stayed with was related in some way. Members of Julia’s family filtered in and out of her house the two days I was there. She had a niece named Cynthia that I spent the first night with. Her, her brother, and I watched a movie together as I sat there trying to make conversation and not feel like a fucking weirdo on their couch.  

The second night, julia made Cynthia take me out. Luckily for me, I think Cynthia liked me so I knew it wasn’t a chore. We got dinner together and ran into one of the students on the trip Meemz. Cynthia took us to get beer, then proceeded to ask us where we were going. Meemz and I looked at her like she was crazy. How were we supposed to know where to go. So we decided to go find Eddie and Arthur who said their home stay was throwing a party. A party did we have. 

The party consisted of us three, Eddie, Arthur, their home stay brother Javon and his parents Elsie and Jeff. As the most welcoming guests, they welcomed us in and proceeded to party with us. We were celebrating their 20th anniversary. When it was time to toast them, I felt incredibly lucky. How was I in Belize, at a random atranger’s house, celebrating such an important night with them. How were they so welcoming. 

We danced the night away to bad country, AC/DC, and some Belizean music that had Cynthia and Javon showing us how belizeans shake their hips. It was hot. 

This trip is broken into two parts. The Jungle and the Coast. We spent two nights camping in the jungle. Like legit the jungle. Erk took us camping at Eloji National park. 

To get to where we were camping, we either had to hike 2 miles or catch a ride in Erk’s vintage wrangler. But luckily for me, I found a third option. I think by this point Susan and Michael wanted to ring my neck because I already got a burn from the motorcycle I wasn’t supposed to ride, but I couldn’t resist asking our new guide Ronald if I could catch a ride on his ATV with him. Like what kind of idiot would I have been if I didn’t ask. So I asked and he responded with “you’re going to get muddy” as if that would change my mind. 

I couldn’t believe I was riding an atv into the jungle into Belize. 

We ended the jungle portion of our trip with two nights at a animal preserve in cockscomb. This trip consisted of two different night hikes. One two hour hike at 5 o’clock and another two hour hike at 4 am. The first hike had me a little worn out. I was expecting a cute little before dinner hike, not a two hour hike. 

The second hike required us to be outside at 4 am. So after going to bed at 8 pm, we were all awake and lined up outside our cabins by 4:05. Silently, erk led us through a trail that quickly became a steep upcline up the side of the mountain. After a thorough hike, we got to a clearing that looked over multiple mountains encased in fog, or Belizean snow as they call it. We all found a place to sit, and for an hour we watched as the fog cleared and revealed mountains and tree tops. It was amazing. It was the opposite of a sunrise, it was the jungle waking up. 

I’m writing this on the plane, and as I write, im realizing how much im missing. Honorable mention to my professor Michael and his family. I’d never had Michael before, so truthfully I didn’t recognize him at first when him, his wife Kristen, and two sons approached us in the Miami airport. Kristen, Samuel, and Isaiah spent the first two days with us in Crystal ray until they left for a week together in Belize. They joined us for our two nights in Cockscomb. After not seeing them for a week, I wondered if sammiel and isiaha noticed a shift in our group dynamic. When we first met them, they were entering a group of people that have never spent time together before. But now a week later, they were walking back to a new family. After a week I felt so close to the people I’ve been traveling with. When the two boys met back up with us, they were a welcomed treat. 

Tubing down the river was the last thing we did with Michael’s family before they left us to come home to the US. tubing we magical. I felt so at peace with my friends as we floated and spun down the river. It felt ridiculously silly as I watched my professor tackle and knock Zoe off of her tube. It felt even crazier as I retaliated and knocked Susan head first into the water. This trip reminded me that professors are people too. 

Erk’s nephew Evarld joined us in Cockscomb and became our new tour guide when erk had to leave us. One way to describe Erk is the polar opposite of me. He was stoic, thoughtful, and a little too serious. For most of the trip, I felt our personalities crash, but tubing down a river together, I felt so lucky to have met him. All of the things he taught me about Belizean birds animals and the land are things I will hold with me. When we had to say goodbye to him in Cockscomb, ir was weird. This was a man we’ve only known for a week, but he spent more time with us that wee than his family. It’s impossible not to feel something towards him. 

Having Evarald as our tour guide was a 180 switch. At 24, he fit right in with us. It was like having another ith student with us. 

Let me gush about my friends from the trip. Our group consisted of 9 girls and four boys, which was perfect. I prefer when girls outnumber boys. There was Ella, Delia, Meemz, Greta, Anne, Zoe, Adriana, Melanie, Cal, Enzo, Arthur, and Eddie. I would say I was good friends with about halfish of that group. By the time we got to our final destination called Hopkins, I felt at home with these people. They made this trip amazing. I felt so at peace with them.