My Travel Blah, Blah, Blog: What I Have Been Up To

Hello there!

It has been 4 days since I last wrote. I'm so tired that all I really want to do is take a nap. Let me see if I can remember everything that I have done in the last few days. On Thursday we went to part of the Archaeological Symposium that is held in different places every year. This year it was held in San Ignacio which was convenient for us. Then half of the Foothill group got to visit the village of San Jose Succotz, which is where we will be doing our homestay and service learning projects. It was really fun. Then when I got back to Midas I discovered I had a colony of tiny black ants in my suitcase and room. Not fun. I had to shake all of my clothes out on the balcony. That's one way to unpack!
On Friday I spent all day at the symposium and got rub elbows with some of the most well known Mayanists. After the symposium was over I walked back to Midas with other staff members and got ready to go to Succotz again for a traditional Mestizo dinner that served as an introduction to our host families. Marisol is the name of the woman I will be staying with and she has a 12 year old son named Marlon and a 2 month old daughter named Stephanie! That will be easy to remember. I'm really excited. I also decided that I would like to participate in the "Learning Center" as my service learning project. More about that later.
After dinner we all went back to Hodes and after changing I headed over to the big banquet that was being held because of the symposium. Everyone was dancing and there was a lot of drinking and plenty of fun and good music.
The next morning we all had to be at breakfast by 7:30 and on the bus to Caracol by 8. It was a long bus ride but well worth it. Caracol is amazing and is the largest Maya site in Belize and is home to the larges man made structure in the country. Caana, or the Sky Palace, is beautiful. I got a sunburn while sitting at the top of the pyramid.
On our way home from Caracol we stopped at Rio On, which are naturally occurring waterfalls and rock pools. They act as natural water slides and are really refreshing after a long day at Caracol.Rio On is in the Pine Ridge Forrest which looks very similar to Northern California as far as the vegetation. It is a very beautiful area.
The staff went out for dinner last night and then most came back to my room to watch the Futbol game and then it was time for bed. Before I was actually asleep though, another staff member knocked on my door and informed me that one of the Foothill students was injured on the dance floor. So, today I took another trip to La Loma Luz and the prognosis was not good. She has to go back tomorrow to speak with a specialist but she will probably unable to participate in many of the activities that are planned for a while. Now I am being lazy in my hotel room and I think I will take nap before dinner.