I will take this moment to write about 5 things I’ve gotten
to check off my bucket list:
1.
Pet a jaguar
2.
Jump into the middle of the ocean to snorkel
3.
See a real-life manatee
4.
Climb Maya ruins
5.
River raft through a rainstorm in a rainforest
So yeah, this trip has been pretty awesome!
Today we went snorkeling in four locations. The reefs were
super cool, and there were tons of fish and other aquatic animals. We even saw
a stingray that was about the size of Amanda! We boated out to open ocean, and
I faced my fears and was able to jump off! We dove down in between the pieces
of coral, and yes, I will admit, explored our inner Ariel. We then journeyed on
to a mangrove forest, where we saw FOUR manatees floating around like the big
fat grey blobs they are! Don’t get me wrong though, they can go pretty fast!
Our instructor Jen jumped off and swam with one of them. I was only slightly
jealous! Anyway, I got to go return this computer, because Pamster needs to
pack it. And Amanda needs help treating her “minor” sunburn. Here I come to
save the day!
See you all tomorrow!
See you all tomorrow!
Jamie
Tokyo, Yaritza, and Chupacabra here! Jamie pretty much explained
everything… Awesome day, though! Water was incredibly warm and so clear and
beautiful. We saw so much wildlife including groupers (Highlight of the trip
for Yaritza and me!), eels during the night snorkel, gigantic rays (which
luckily were sleeping and inactive), adorable manatees, numerous species of exotic
fish, and gorgeous coral. We learned a lot about the ecosystem here and how
much humans have begun to negatively affect it. Due to global warming, certain
types of coral lose the ability to sustain themselves in the hot weather while
others are impacted by hurricanes, also caused by climate change. Sunscreen and
bug spray can cause harm to the animals in Belize, as well. We learned all of
this thanks to our new instructors, Jen and Sean (By the way, happy birthday
Jen!). Unfortunately, today was our final full day in this beautiful country
and we are ridiculously sad to be leaving. We will miss our guide, Peter, who
was funny and very knowledgeable, and our friend from the World Leadership Program,
Javier, who was hilarious and hilarious and hilarious! We will also greatly
miss the food here, which is too delicious for words! During this trip, we
learned so much, saw so much, and had so much fun experiencing the great
culture of Belize! We wish we could stay longer. However, we are greatly
looking forward to coming home and seeing our… phones! Being away from
technology has been very painful for certain members of our group… Meaning ME!
And, thank you to our two fearless leaders in Belize, Javier Cano and Peter Herrera