My trip to Belize

fifid121
Jul 28, 2018
9 min read

NEWS- BLOGGING PALOOZA is coming up for camp Peppy! I'll blog EVERYDAY! You won't get emails, but they will be there! DON'T MISS IT!

My Girl Scout troop just got back from Belize! As we went we kept a blog where everyday a different girl wrote a post about our day. Included below is just the text. If you would like to read it with the pictures and in a better layout go here: https://gs3972.wordpress.com/

Before we get started I'd personally like to thank all my family who supported me and my troop by buying girl scout cookies. We seriously couldn't have done it without you! There's one quote that really sums it up for me.

"She turned her can'ts into cans and dreams into plans" This is from one of my favorite books "She..." but honestly we honestly talk about how we're going to do x,y,z and never do it. It was so rewarding to see how when you turn your dreams into plans you can really do anything. Any ways, here is out troop blog from Belize.

Day One- Sabine Bruno

We made it to Belize in one piece, there were some doubts while going through security but never the less we made it. The first flight consisted of sleeping. The layover was full of games. But don’t worry we made sure to get a workout in. The second flight had movies!! Customs was chill, and they let me keep my dried mango. The other troops arrived at the same time. We are the oldest troop. One of the troops are farmers. While going through customs we made friends with the Praying Pelicans Mission Group. We met our tour director Herbie and the bus driver Javier. The bus has ac! The hotel has a pool, and ac in the rooms. During pool time I was reminded of the importance of sunscreen. After the pool we chilled out until dinner. Dinner was good. Ms. Amy and Ms. Jackie still have their sanity and we have had no encounters with scorpions, or spiders.

Send us luck for our future endeavors,

Sabine Bruno

Leaders note: these girls are awesome! Up in the middle of the night and kept their good spirits all day. No lost articles – yet. Great job staying together and watching out for each other.

They took the initiative to mingle with the other troops and entertain themselves when needed.

I think they’ll all sleep well tonight. I know Jackie and I will!

Miss Amy

Day Two- Morgan

Hello America, today we went on a lovely hike in the jungle and all the walking we did was sooo worth it. At the end there was fruit I mean who knows a child that loves to eat fruit?? After that we went to lunch and lunch was very good because I had a pina colada the rest of the day was very tiresome. This is us roughing it out in an old sugar mill. That completes my blog hope America is good great!! See ya when we get back

Morgan

Leader’s note: we did a few other things today, check out the photo stream for tons of pictures and a couple of videos.

The jungle hike included survival skills like trapping, collecting water, fire making and cooking in a mud oven. Thankfully our guides were in charge of cooking and made some delicious fish in addition to the fruit Morgan mentioned. We made it out of the jungle in one piece and well fed.

After a delicious lunch we boarded what turned out to be a very fast boat for an hour long trip down the New River Lagoon to the Mayan city of Lamanai. We all climbed the first structure and saw howler monkeys in the trees. Jackie and I continue to be amazed at the lack of guard rails anywhere but thankfully we didn’t lose anyone.

At the next structure, Jackie and the girls climbed and I stayed below to take pics. Oh my gosh – the heat! Our tour guides at every stop have been fantastic and so knowledgeable. I’m sure the girls will be able to tell you all about the Mayans when we get back.

We got back to the hotel and they were too tired to even swim. We had dinner, packed up to leave the next day, and at least 2 of us passed out.

Miss Amy

Day Three- Sabine Mead

Our third day in Belize started bright and early with a wake up at 5:45 (a little more like 6:15 when you count all the times we hit the snooze button). After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we boarded the bus with all of our luggage and were on our way to cave tubing and zip lining, which was about an hour away. First stop was zip lining. There were seven lines, each one getting higher and faster. On lines 6 and 7 we crossed over the gorgeous clear river instead of the lush canopy. The breeze from the zip line felt incredible after the long climbs up the stairs. Zip lining was our bridging ceremony so now we’re Senior Girl Scouts!! Watch out Mama! (Said the zip line guide when Miss Amy accidentally kicked him in a sensitive spot) After zip lining we changed into our bathing suits and began the hike up to the entrance of the cave. Our tour guide Milton taught us about the native plants, animals, and the cave system and helped us eat termites (we discovered that they tasted like mint). When we made it to the entrance, we took a few pictures and tied the tubes to each other so that it was easier for Milton to paddle us through the cave. He pointed out lots of cool things in the cave, like a waterfall, stalagmites and stalactites, a sinkhole, and bat nests. The river finally flowed out of the cave and into the green Belizean jungle, taking us with it. We swam in the clear, rocky river until the group behind us caught up to us and we went back to meeting spot and ate lunch. When lunch was over, we took a quick bus trip to a nearby school, where we met Belizean Girl Guides. They shared with us some songs and information about their troop and Girl Guides and we told them stories and facts about Girl Scouts before helping them paint their meeting room. After painting two walls, we went outside to sing Make New Friends and made a friendship circle, two Girl Scout traditions that had very similar versions in Belize. The girls were very grateful to hear our stories of the United States and of Girl Scouting and it was a very inspiring for us to interact with them and help them better their community. After a long day of adventure and fun, we boarded the bus one last time to travel to our hotel in San Ignacio. Upon arrival, we were very disappointed to find that there were lots of adorable stray dogs that we weren’t allowed to pet. Since the hotel is very tropical and open, the dogs wandered around a lot, but they fell asleep in the grass once we found our rooms. Dinner at 6:30 was delicious and made by the hotel owner. After we ate we had a brief troop meeting to discuss our favorite parts of the day (cave tubing seemed to be a troop favorite) and then went to bed, tired from our exciting but long day.

Leader’s note: on a personal note our meeting today with the Belizean Girl Guides was one of the most moving and wonderful experiences I’ve ever had. They were so happy to have us and appreciative of the painting and supplies. All the girls had a chance to see that they are part of a global organization and feel connected. Our girls were so good at mingling and chatting with the local girls – it was lovely and I am grateful for the opportunity.

Day Four- Rain Camerlinck

When the troop woke up at 5:50am it was a cool and hazy morning. Since we went to bed burning up it was nice to be a little chilly when we woke up.

After breakfast we headed off to xunantunich and climbed a long steep hill to get to the Mayan palace where we climbed some more long steep steps to get to the top which had an amazing view. We learned how the Mayan people are actually very similar to people today and we met a few iguanas. When we finished with the Mayan ruins we set off to a Christian school to meet some Belizean school children and learn about their school days. After having them present some songs to us we joined them in a super fun soccer game, which was personally my favorite part of the day. All of the children who played were very talented in the game. Fiona and I met some of the greatest and cutest little boys named Aleck and Ronaldo and we had the best conversations with them. After saying goodbye to all the children the troop headed to the Cha creek natural history museum. We got to spend some time hanging with the butterflies and learning about the animals that lived in Belize.After the chocolate factory we all hopped on the bus and headed back to our hotel. Over all the day was amazing and we are all exhausted once again.

Rain

Leader’s note: the heat was overwhelming today, but the girls climbed ruins, stairs, trails and played a soccer game and still had energy for plenty of shopping. Amazing how that works. A short Jeep ride down the hill with a cute guide also seemed to help boost spirits – again.

Miss Amy

Day Five- Fiona Donovan

First we woke up super early to go to the river down near our hotel to see toucans and parrots. After a very hilly walk down we unfortunately didn’t see anything exotic. We did take a photo shoot for the gram. Then we headed out and loaded up the bus to continue the adventure. We got off first at a gift shop with good prices. I got a pack of dolls for friends, a keychain, and a duffel bag. Then we left to go to the Belize Zoo. Some of my personal favorite animals were the cute toucans, tapirs, and ocelot. After the zoo we got back on the bus to get on a boat. We took a boat to San Pedro *cue Madonna song*. It took an hour and a half and we all sat around the captain of the ship in the upper deck. When we got to San Pedro it smelled really bad from the sea grass (More about that below). Then our taxis pulled up to take us the The Caribbean Villa hotel and let me tell you all of the taxis were held together by a piece of string. We finally arrived to our hotel and hallelujah it had air conditioning.

After a long day we got in the ocean. It was full of sea grass. Herbie, our tour director, said that it spreads like hurricanes and the hotel has to go in and rake it up every morning. Then they had big floating playground stuff and we tried jumping from one piece to another. Then we went down the 38 foot slide that shot us into the ocean. Then we all took showers and had dinner. After we walked around the town while Herbie told us where everything was in the local town. We went shopping and got some pretty cool stuff! Can’t wait for tomorrow! 🌸

-Fiona

P.S. Morgan and Sabine B would like to remind everyone’s parents to please bring our charged phones to the airport!!

Leader’s note: I can’t underscore enough how great the girls have been getting places on time, packing up, keeping track of each other and reaching out to others. They invited the bus driver to eat with us at every meal and made sure he had food. Last night they helped the hotel staff clear tables!!!!!!! They are mingling with the other scouts and being awesome GS ambassadors. 💕 They earned a well deserved jump in the sea today.

Day Six- Kelly Koury

Our last day has come to a conclusion and while we are sad to leave Belize we are are happy to go home and see our friends and family’s and phones!! (Bring them to the airport.) We had a slow start today witch was refreshing. We took a picture with a Belize sign. after the picture we headed to go shopping. Than we went to a art market we we bought lots of pretty bracelets and necklaces after that we all got refreshing drinks. Then we went to lunch and took a photo with all of our cute Belizean souvenir shirts. After lunch we went to a tattoo and henna place and got really cool hennas not tattoos but that idea came to mind (Just kidding). After we got our very fashionable hennas we went straight to snorkeling. We got our flippers on and our mask on and we where set to go snorkeling. When we got to the spot to snorkel the water was so pretty and clear! There where so many pretty fish and the coral was gorgeous. It was an amazing experience. Besides getting salt water in your mouth. After snorkeling we all got dressed up and walked the beach which was pretty to our last dinner. After dinner we all went shopping once more and we tried on some cool stuff. This trip has been an amazing, awesome experience thats was incredible I’m so glad we come here we will always remember this trip forever! (bring phones to airport)

Kelly

Leader’s note:

This trip has far exceeded my expectations. Jackie and I have been so proud of the girls, many of them overcoming fears and uncertainties. They have been super in every way. Having the chance to bring them on an international adventure is a dream come true for me personally. Seeing the girls interact with others and embrace challenges has been a joy. Sabine M. made a lovely speech at dinner tonight thanking the other troops for their friendship and Herbie for taking such good care of us at every turn. We have been very lucky to have wonderful traveling companions.

Many many thanks to all of the people who have helped them get here – one box of cookies at a time.

Miss Amy

PS In other news, Fiona and Herbie are engaged so I’m coming home with one less kid. 😍

Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip--