World Challenge Belize Team 2

14/08/2022

Didn't manage to get an update out earlier on unfortunately, but our last day here, snorkelling, was very chill. We spent our time relaxing in the sun on the front of the catamaran and swimming around at three different points, seeing massive turtles, spotted eagle rays, and many other types of fish.

We're just now deciding where to eat dinner, have been for quite a while 🤔. We leave at 600 tomorrow so that'll be fun, 'early night' for us. 😂

12/08/2022

Here's proof 😃

I ended up dropping my phone in the flood but it's functioning at almost complete capacity, photos might be hit or miss, but mostly okay :)

12/08/2022

What a wild ride these last few days have been. Everyone is safe and okay, some a little more shaken up than others.

I'll go into more detail tonight but for those that haven't heard we were evacuated from a camp on the last day of trekking due to flooding.

Caye Caulker looks like it's going to be great though:)

06/08/2022

Sorry I didn't caption the pics earlier, we've been tired from a long few days of work and I wanted to get them out as soon as I could.

We've been doing a lot of mulching and macheting (macheting?) and I feel like we've definitely made an impact, as well as learning about the country, environment and wildlife.

When we were introduced to the local kids everyone was quite withheld at first but over time everyone started chatting and getting involved. Just now we finished our stay here with some drumming and dancing, accompanied by Emmett Young who runs a group called Drums Not Guns, getting youths involved in their communities and having fun, instead of being brought into gangs.

We've seen and tried so many different things here, I don't think anyone will forget about this for a very long time, from guava and sweet swap to seeing a pair of toucans (Belize's national animal) as we came back from a bird spotting walk.

There are more things than I have time or space to write, so I'm sure you'll all be filled in when we get home, but other things we helped out with included turtle, river macroinvertebrate, amphibian and reptile, and bat recording.

We're leaving here at 10:30 tomorrow morning, and potentially won't have WiFi for many days. I'll upload when I can, but for now - it's been amazing and an awesome experience.

05/08/2022

05/08/2022

Heyo! Haven't had time to post an update when I've had WiFi, I'll try and do a bigger post later on but for now I'll do a quick summary.

Over the fast few days we've been doing work on mulching the pineapple and banana plants, clearing paths and areas with machetes, going on walks to find frogs, and checking the nets for bats. Last night we had a talent show with a bit of cha cha slide and some traditional creole music and drumming.

We'll be doing drumming and properly getting involved tonight, on our last night.

Will update asap.

03/08/2022

Looks like the WiFi is available for 12 hours only every 24 hours, so I will be updating as and when provided I can sign back in each time. 😁

Today we went on a trek with the guide here who tends to all the plants and crops - Miss Irma. Both before and after lunch we went trekking in the nearby area, learning about Belizean remedies and local history.

Unsurprisingly it's been raining a lot and as such the chalky pathways were almost becoming slip'n'slides, surprisingly no one's been caked in mud ... yet.

Irma showed us more plants and treatments than we could count but the highlights were trying many fruits, including guava, sweet sap (pictured), and fresh limes.

Tomorrow, we'll be working down by the river (upstream weather permitting) and tending to the banana plants with the local community.

02/08/2022

Early start today - breakfast and packed ready to leave around 7:15, we took the flight and got into baggage collection around 1pm, a bag was misplaced by the airline which arrived not long ago at T.R.E.E.S. After a 2 hour drive and orientation with our ground team to us an introduction to the country, we arrived.

Featuring Alex taking a quick nap 😴

WiFi here is limited to 100Mb per 12 hours so updates should be fine but maybe unreliable these next few days

01/08/2022

Day 1 finished! Hasn't been much time for rest today besides lunch in Duty Free 😅 typical airline meal which tasted better than expected, then I'm sure leg cramp all round, but especially so for us taller guys.

We checked in at Ramada Worldwide hotel at around 8pm local, and then ate after a quick break to find our rooms.

Tomorrow's looking like much of the same - except much earlier 😳 6am breakfast to leave around 730 for a 930 flight

31/07/2022

31/07/2022

The whole group together before we checked our bags in 😁

30/07/2022

Heyo! I'll be posting updates here as well as Instagram: instagram.com/wcbelize