Welcome to Belize

Tuesday June 24

In the night, our first night in Belize, it rains hard. Vast sheets of rain explode on tin roofs and then fade away. Over and over. At 6 am Dave Maher wiggles my toes to get me to go down to the river swimming hole, where there is a giant rope swing through the rain forest and into the Sibun River. But I do not stir.

Friendships are already being formed. After breakfast, we break off for interviews where pairs of people “interview” each other and then present one another to the group. The activity should last 5 minutes but stretches to 20. Educators engrossed with educators.

By 9 am we are on the road and our firs stop is Gaylan University, where Dr. Ed Boles gives us our introduction to climate change as we overlook the Belize River. Next stop is San Ignacio, where we have our first introduction to Belizean cuisine.

By the afternoon we have arrived at a cabin on the edge of Mountain Pine Ridge, one of Belize's most unique nature reserves. Because of soil and rainfall patters, most of the trees here are actually pine trees. The wooden cabin has beautiful views of Privassion Creek, from which it draws running water. It is completely off the grid and we use candles at night. In the distance, the Maya mountains stretch to Guatemala and the deep rain forests of Peten.

The group is wonderful, involved, resilient. They seem eager to get to know this new place and bring inspiration back to their classrooms. What lucky students they have!

After a wonderful dinner of pasta with meatballs and/or a vegetarian sauce, we walked down the road to Francis Ford Coppola’s Blancaneaux Lodge. We sat on the decks, drank mojitos and swam in the stone jacuzzi. Earlier that night we had completed our first leadership class, which was an activity called the egg drop challenge. That activity is designed to help us understand our individual temperaments/leadership styles, as determined by the Keirsey self-assessment (which we took prior to the course).

We came home in the bus, instead of walking, and in the dim bunk room we heard the women in the other bunk room practice multiple-part harmony on a huge range of songs. Then Anny, Alecia, Jean, Elizabeth, and Jeanette serenaded us to sleep through the thick walls of the bunkhouse with “Silent Night”. Lights out -- Ross Wehner