Last Days in Belize and Final Thoughts...

Hey Everybody, the end of the trip got a bit hectic and I wasn't able to write. First, I just want to say thank you all for your interest in the trip, reading the blog, and all of your support! And now, for the tale of our last 6 days...

"And my hands hold my heart, let love grow." - Mumford and Sons

Wednesday morning Justin, Liza, and I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed to go fishing off the island! We jumped on the boat with Captain John and headed out to do some reef fishing. Captain John took us to 3 good spots. The first spot was right next to the reef and the waves were-a-crashin', the boat was-a-rockin'. Everyone was feeling a little sick but we didn't let that stop us from catching some pretty gnarly fish.

I even caught a "lion fish" which is poisoness if its jagged body punctures your skin. I think it can even kill you. It's a bottom feeder so its that fish you hear about people stepping on... yikes!

The second fishing spot was a little off the waves so Liza and I started feeling better but Justin was down for the count- he slept the rest of the day! We caught a ton of grouper and snapper and lemon fish! Next we did some trolling for Baracuda! Liza and I both caught one and it was awesome. Those fish are a little tricky and they put up a pretty good fight! By the end of the morning we were feeling great with a TON of fish fillets to give Cruz to sell that evening.

After we got off the boat Kathy, Liza, and I went to get sandwiches from the man in the hole in the wall and went straight to the school to meet 2 classes of 4 and 5 year olds.

Justin stayed behind to go pick up our latest arrival to the gang, Geoff, off the water taxi. When we arrived to the school one class of 4 and 5 year olds came out, then another, then another, then another. Oh. My. Gosh. There were eighty 4 and 5 year olds running around. Taking the soccer balls out would have been a disaster. We played two fun games of chain tag and then we brought everyone in for our version of musical chairs. I had my speakers with me so we played music and all of the kids had to dance and when the music stopped they had to sit down. It was like a bouncing concert crowd of small kids all around me. The kids loved it and we had a great time.

Next we had the 8th graders come out for their second class with us but only girls. The girls played a fun shooting game and before we knew it time was out! Finally, we had the practice with the middle school teams. Every day we grew closer and closer to the kids and the practices just grew better and better. Mr. Coba was in meetings so I took the boys and Justin took the girls and we tried to teach them some tactical understanding of game- defending and attacking as a team. Once Mr. Coba came back out I went back with the girls and we ended with a fun scrimmage.

To celebrate the first night on the island for Geoff we headed to the local favorite, Waraguma. Great seafood. We had an awesome dinner and then Kathy and Liza turned in for the night while Justin, Geoff, and I checked out Ladies night at Wet Willies, needless to say, no cover for me :-) Wet Willy's is a bar located out on the water- you have to take the pier to get to it. It was just bought by Baltimore people a few weeks ago. We had an early morning of scuba diving and snorkeling so we didn't stay out late but really enjoyed some good music and tiny bit of dancing!
Thursday morning we woke up and pryed ourselves out of bed to go the Shark Ray Alley and Hol Chen- two of the more popular spots to visit off the island. When we got to Shark Ray Alley I threw my fins on and jumped straight in only to find 4 or 5 lemon sharks chillin' all around me and TONS of Sting Rays- huge sting rays! They are kind of mean looking!
The snorkeling was amazing and then we went over to Hol Chen and Justin and I went scuba diving while Kathy, Geoff, and Liza snorkeled. Justin and I waved up to the gang as we swam Eagle Rays, a ton of fish, eels, a beautiful reef, and even Conchs. Like the crustaceans that live in Conch Shells- that was wild.

Not your typical "deli"

When we finished up we headed to, where else, My Secret Deli. We're officially the best customers of this place. Food was awesome, of course, and then we headed straight up to the school for practice with the 4th grade. We weren't about to risk the debacle that was the crazy chaotic-ness of the 3rd graders we had earlier in the week so we got them organized into teams straight away and played a tournament for the entire class ending in a Penalty Kick Shoot Out! The kids had a great time- I think they enjoyed the format and organization of the time we spent with them. I gather they do not receive very much of that typically.

Geoff had already won over the kids in his short time, ready to coach or even step into play the games with the kids if they needed an extra player!
We had the girls team only in the middle school practice after school. It was really nice and we got a really good opportunity to teach them so great skills. This was definitely the most instructive we were with any of the kids throughout the week and the girls responded really well. At the end, I heard one of the girls say that she was tired but wanted to keep practicing and when I asked why she said, "because i don't want to go home, I don't like home." This seems to be a very common sentiment amongst many of the kids at Holy Cross, it is really Heart Breaking.
After we washed up we went and ate an awesome dinner at the Mojito Bar. This place was niiice. Great atmosphere, food, and mojitos... or so I hear, I'm not a big Mojito drinker but Justin was definitely hooked.
Friday morning Justin woke up at 5:00am to go diving the elusive Blue Hole of Belize. As for the rest of us, we slept in and enjoyed a lazy morning. We have been so on the go that we have had barely any chance to rest. After a late breakfast, we explored the town for a bit and then got ready to head up to Holy Cross. The kids had a soccer tournament Saturday so the coach wanted to play a practice game against the boys and the girls got a "rest day." This is typical of the soccer program in Belize. The girls seem to get pushed aside a little bit. I think that next year I would love to slant the camp towards the girls to give them a little extra attention and confidence/self-esteem building.
Anyways, the game was awesome. We played two 20 minute halves that somehow took 2 hours. 45 minutes to get the game started, and a 20 minute. We had a lot of fun playing against the kids and did not let up (as instructed). We beat them 4-0 with 2 goals from Geoff, 1 goal from me, and 1 from one of the teachers. Geoff got pretty beat up and had to take a seat at half time with a gashed open leg and hurt knee, poor guy.

We went to dinner at Caramba's the last night, a sure deal. Kathy, Geoff, and Liza hadn't eaten there yet and the food was awesome. A great way to end the last night. Promptly after dinner we crashed. What a week!
Saturday morning Geoff and I woke up early to grab breakfast and go take some pictures for him at Holy Cross. Geoff visit was coming to an end! Amazing how much you can do in just a few days! Once I got back from dropping Geoff off at the ferry Justin said, "He forgot his shoes!" Geoff wasn't going home- he was going for a month in Costa Rica! With no shoes! Oh no.

I jumped into a cab and high tailed it for the airport with only 15 minutes to try and meet Kathy and Liza before their puddle jumper took off! First airport, no sign. when I went to jump into the cab I gashed my leg on a jagged piece of rusty metal sticking out. "Do I have my tetnus shot?" (is that what its called?), is the first thing I thought. Next airport, there they were, hurrah! It was really nice to get to see Kathy and Liza before they took off for a hug goodbye!
And then there were 2. Again. Justin and I headed up to the school called "RC" for "Roman Catholic". They were hosting a soccer tournament for all the schools and our girls and boys were playing in it. There was no schedule, no one knew when they were playing, no water provided. It was futsal on a hard court (this is the only type of soccer they know how to play here).

We got there around 1 and left at about 5:30 and throughout the day we got to hang out with the kids between games and then cheer them on and give them some tips during the game! It was a lot of fun and a great way to end our time spent with them. The girls won the tournament! All their hard work in the past week paid off and the boys lost in the semis :-(

As we wished farewell to the kids, Justin and I embarked on our last stint of gift shopping through the stands in the town center. How exhausting! I was caught in the middle of a very intense haggling war between two vendors. Yikes. That was intense.

Sunday we woke up with no idea of the adventure we were about to have. We went to breakfast at this awesome new spot on the beach, well new for us. It had live music and awesome smoothies. Where has this place been all week! Come on, we find it on the last day! After breakfast we rented a golf cart and headed to the other end of the island. We had until 1:20pm to complete our adventure in Rojo, the red golf cart. Plenty of time to turn in the cart and get ready for the Ravens game at Wet Willy's. On the way we saw some incredible beaches and an entirely new side to the island. Less people, awesome hotels and condos. I thought, "next year, when I convince my parents to come, this is definitely where I'm gonna have them stay." We met some nice folks who told us that just a mile and a half up the road there is mayan ruins! Nice! They warned us that the road got a little bumpy but was fine.
That was an HUGE understatement, we were going through huge puddles that splashed up and over the golf cart drenching us!

Then we hit the mother of puddles, backed up the cart for speed, took a before picture, and then held our breath as we sped ahead. We made it through! and then... putter, putter, putter, dead, Rojo the golf cart was dead. Not only did we break down but this was in the middle of nowhere in an area that we know had Crocodiles, Coral Snakes, Vipers, and Rattle Snakes. Oh My!
Finally, in the distance a couple of bikers road up and helped us fix it enough to make it about 200 yards back down the road. Then we ran into a golf cart of Belizeans who really got into the engine and helped us fix it.

Justin pushing

A push from a few of the guys and we were off again. I was in the driver's seat since I was the weakest pusher and then once we got it going we were so scared to take the foot even a tinie bit off the pedal that we went full throttle the whole way back. Full throttle was like 10 mph haha. Once we hit the paved road Rojo got a little excited and started going mega fast and we were passing golf carts and bikes and cars, turning corners at full speed practically tipping the golf cart. haha. The entire time Rojo was making painful puttering sounds. If you can believe it, at 1:21 we puttered right into the parking spot in front of the rental place, thankful that we made it back in one piece and didn't have to pay the damage fee. What a ride!
Once we got back my eyes were BURNING from the getting splashed by the water and intensely staring down the street willing Rojo to make it back to town. There was no choice, a nap was out of the question, we had to watch the Ravens game. I'm not going to write about the Ravens game but I will say that it was a mood killer. At least the Sting Rays came up to make us feel better.

A little Sting Ray pet and a Belikin (the native beer) and I was ready to go grab a bite of dinner. We had our last meal at a new restaurant, Lily's and decided to go out with a bang and grab some Lobster tails! After we ate, we packed and got ready to go home and then passed out.
This morning we woke up early and went and got breakfast at our new spot and sat out on a table on the beach taking about 2 hours to eat, tan, and reminesce. We grabbed our bags, jumped on the ferry and went to the airport. What I took one last look back and then got on the plane.

I've felt more at peace in my heart than ever, but it weighs very heavily on me that we are leaving these kids. For this week, we watched out for them, took good care of them, had a great time. We walked Garyelle, my favorite 7-year old assistant coach, home every day. Who is going to walk Garyelle home now? The girls that don't want to go home after practice might not even get to have a lot of practices now because the coaches primary focus is on the boys- what are they going to do? Who will instill confidence in them and take the time with the kids? They are incredible, bright kids and if they were in the US they would have the education and means to create amazing lives for themselves but they don't have that opportunity in Belize.
They looked so sad when we left and I ran into two of the parents, Paulina, and another woman who sells jewelery in the town center and they were also so sad to see us leave. They said how much it meant to the kids, and please don't forget them, and please come back. Broke my heart. Paulina and I parted ways last night and hugged at least 7 or 8 times. I started tearing up. I've been feeling that way since last night. On the verge of tears. In Nicaragua and Belize what we have done in these communities and the many many relationships I have created with the kids and friendships I've created with the parents and teachers at Holy Cross and the Youth in Nicarauga have meant so much to me, and I don't want to leave. There's so much to be done, so much more we coudl do here. I want to be there for these kids all the time.

But then I think of my kids at home and it comforts me. I can't wait to see them. I realize that all the wonderful families and the community at home is what enables this whole trip to happen in the first place. The many donations of clothes and shoes fueled all of the soccer programs. It was amazing, you all are amazing. We are so blessed and these kids are so blessed to receive it. We can only build it up. Holy Cross wants us back for a longer period of time to work with other schools on the island and in addition to our already existing program in Nicaragua we are adding some work at an orphanage in Nicaragua to the itinerary for next year! I'm also looking into a school in Costa Rica to add to the trip. I had several wonderful people accompany me on this trip and help to enrich my own experience as well as having an amazing impact on the kids we worked with. I only hope that more people from home will want to come next year, parents, kids, whoever- all are welcome. Central America is a beautiful, wonderful, place on this earth and I cannot absolutely not wait to return. It is a truly life changing experience. I am coming back a different person. I can feel it in my heart and my outlook on life.

It will change you forever in the best way possible.

"And my hands hold my heart, let love grow." - Mumford and Sons

Day 12: Bullies in Belize

Early morning at Reef adventures fizzled out fast. Engine problems prohibited us from going on our dive and snorkel today! Buuutt... it was very windy and they said visibility would be bad. In fact, someone canceled their trip while we were waiting. So we grabbed a bigger breakfast and hit the beach. I started reading "The Last Lecture" (very good so far) and worked on my tan :-)

After I grabbed a sandwich from the man in the hole in the wall (that's what they call him), it was time to head up to Holy Cross for the afternoon. When we arrived at Holy Cross there was an American singer of some kind performing for the kids. I've also noticed that there is a group of college students here tutoring kids and an older gentleman that comes to the school to help the kids prepare for the high school exam. He says that when he arrives the kids are no where near prepared to take the exam to be eligible to attend high school. Only 10% of the kids here will attend high school and out of those students, most of them cannot afford to continue their high school education. The teachers in Belize are only required to have a high school education so the level of education for the students is not where it should be. It's amazing, however, how much support this school has from many different volunteers and various groups coming in. We are here doing soccer camp, tutors are here helping the kids, a singer comes in to perform, all in the same week! When everyone does a little bit for these kids it all adds up to give them a much better school experience.

To begin today, we had 2 classes at once, Standard 3 and Standard 4 (5th and 6th grade). These kids were out of control. Running all over the place. As soon as you got a few to listen, others would act up, then you would settle them down and the originally good kids would act up. Finally, we stopped doing organized games and just played a big fun game of world cup. I felt bad for the kids who really wanted to play. The ones acting up were ruining it for the rest. They all did seem to have fun in the end. When I say act up, I saw a 11 year old boy pick up a 3 year old by the neck as if choking him. I told him to put him down immediately and then checked on the boy and all he kept doing was rubbing his neck. There were other kids picking on little kids and fighting each other. It was nothing dangerous to any of the adults but these kids are like survival of the fitest. There is no kind of discipline enforced and the teachers just walk by without addressing it. The sad part is that instead of being the fun coaches, we, at times, have turned into drill sargeants to keep the kids under control. These two classes were the first to be a problem for us.

The kids are clearly acting out for lack of attention. There is nothing organized for these kids, their parents are working, they have no money. They have nothing to do but create this survival of the fittest lifestyle. That is why our work here is so important. We've really brought some structure to their physical education and after school soccer teams. All they do after school is make the kids run and play adults vs. kids scrimmages or make the kids scrimmage. Not to be critical, but this is very evident. It's been great to introduce a lot of technical and tactical education for the kids after school, not only for their own benefit but also for the coaches. Although they may seem like they are not paying attention, I saw one of the coaches use one of our drills in his practice yesterday, so I know they are picking some things up. Hopefully, this helps the coaches to get some new training ideas for the kids!

The school soccer teams that we work with at 3:00 every day have really taken to us. They want to learn, they work hard, they are excited to see us every day and we've had a great time working with them. The boys are really intense and the girls are really focused yet playful. A joy to coach. Today we had a HUGE downpour right at the beginning of practice for 30 minutes. We were doing some springing relays with the kids (since the coach wants to make sure they run). It was soooo much fun running in the rain. The kids loved it, I loved it, it made the contest seem so intense!

Tomorrow we work with the 4 and 5 year olds and I am so excited! I have my music speakers that I use at soccer camp to play musical soccer balls! That's always a big hit! We also have the 8th graders again who are really good to work with- they are focused and want to learn. The major distraction is that school lets out at 2:15 and all the rush of kids out onto the field is very distracting. Kids and even teachers will literally walk through the middle of the field, the middle of a drill on their way out. Cars will even drive through the middle. It's absurd. So we will have that challenge with the 8th grade class tomorrow. The idea we came up with was instead of trying to work on skills or play a fun game we should just do a mini tournament. This way we only have 2 balls out instead of all 30 and that should help keep the other kids contained.
"My Secret Deli" is our new favorite spot to eat. They have these ginormous smoothies that come in these chalice like cups. Very cool. And good food of course.
Early morning again tomorrow. We've been assured that the boat is going to be working and we can go fishing tomorrow! I'm so excited! We are going to take everything we catch to Cruz at the town center for him to barbeque and sell to raise money for his son! (Maybe he'll cook us some too :-)

Day 11: First Full Day With the Kids in Belize!

Justin's alarm went off and I woke up, tried to wake Justin up, took a shower, tried to wake Justin up, got dressed, and then shook Justin awake! Justin usually works a late shift so, needless to say, he is not a morning person. Once we finally got underway we grabbed some breakfast and then met Kathy and Liza to gather all of the gear and grab a taxi to take it to school.
We arrived to the school around 9:00 and then started unpacking and sorting all of the gear. We ended up with 150 shirts, 125 shorts, 100 backpacks, 51 pairs of shoes, a net for the goal, and some other miscellaneous items. It took us about an hour to get it all organized and then we packed it back up and put it into the storage closet for the Mr. Coba to go through and decide who would receive what. We did see some of the kids practicing today in some of the clothes that we brought. When we travel to Nicaragua and Belize, sometimes we have a plan for the clothes, like the League in Nicaragua and sometimes its merely to bring supplies and it is clear that the kids at Holy Cross can use some supplies.

We put the net up on the goal and once we finished preparing everything for the afternoon, we took a tour of the school by Lydia. Lydia showed us San Mateo, the community behind the school. Many of the houses were in the water on stilts that the community literally walked wooden planks to get to their homes and some even have to take boats. The country of Belize uses this part of the island as a landfill for the entire country. The people in San Mateo cover the trash with seedweed to help it decompose but for trash like plastic bottles that will take 10,000 years. Not only are they literally living in trash but they also have terrible septic systems so the water their houses are built over is teaming with dangerous bacteria.

Lydia told us the story of a student at the school 2 years ago that had an open cut on her leg and while playing on the bridge to her house she fell into the water. She didn't want to tell her parents about falling in because she didn't want to get in trouble. The cut on her leg got infected and she died. Apparently, these people are lost in Belize, a blind eye to the government and not even taken care of by their own people. This school was completely built by volunteers and completely relies on donations to continue functioning.
Once we received the tour we went back to grab some lunch before starting the afternoon.

When we returned back for our first afternoon PE class the kids were ready to go! We taught them 3 moves, how to pass, and how to shoot. The kids had a really great time. Lots of laughing, cheering for each other, and interest in working on new skills! They seem extremely excited to have us here making their PE classes new, different, and lot of fun! Next, we coached the school teams after school ended.

We started with the girls team and they were really intent on learning new skills and had a lot of fun playing new games. After working with the girls we taught the boys how to do 2v2 defending and attacking and then we did a big scrimmage adults vs. students. Everyone had a great time especially the students. Even though they were winning the whole game, we came back and won in the end. Now they want a rematch!

It's clear that the opportunity we have here, other than bring supplies, is to create good relationships with the kids, show we care, and have a lot of fun with them since the kids don't get a lot of sports instruction, physical activity, fun, or attention. There are no sports or youth programs here at all.

We were starved. We came straight back and showered and then headed to eat some of Cruz's yummy barbeque chicken. Cruz was excited to see us back. We were still a little hungry so we went to "Mojitos" and had an awesome lobster dinner. There is lobster here everywhere and they have such unique spices and sauces that the seafood is really really amazing. Over dinner we talked about how are first day went, what we could have done better, and preparation for tomorrow.
Tomorrow is a big day :-) We have a dive and snorkel trip in the morning to Shark Ray Alley and a couple of other sites and then we go straight to work with the kids at the school. It really is the ideal schedule. All of the sports are in the afternoon and the majority of dive trips are half day and you can even do half day fishing trips. So we are diving/snorkeling Tuesday and Thursday morning and Wednesday morning we are going deep sea fishing! What a trip!
Well, 7:30 wake up call so its time for this girl to go to bed! I hope everyone is enjoying the blog!
I'm so tired right now so I'll add all the great pictures from today tomorrow when I get some free time.
Good night!

Day 10: A Stormy Day In Belize!

Last night was crazy. About an hour after we laid down for bed we heard the fan start going off really loud and then we realized that it wasn't the fan, it was pouring outside. It poured the loudest hardest rain I've ever heard until about 6am. Very difficult to sleep. When the rain finally stopped, I got good sleep for about an hour until the neighbors started talking abnoxiously loud for such an early time in the morning! It may not be passing trucks and roosters but it looks like the headphones are back in play for tonight.

I woke up about 8:00, which is sleeping in for me now but Justin was wiped. Even with all of the loudness outside he slept through it like a baby. He must have been extremely tired from the travel. Apparently he only slept an hour the night before because he had such an early flight. Once we finally got up and out it was clear that there was a storm brewing, high winds, and our scuba/snorkeling trip might be canceled so we went to check in and, of course, it was.

After grabbing some breakfast we mozied around the town trying to find a place to watch the Ravens. Turns out the new owners of our favorite beach bar down here are from Baltimore and were showing the game on two big screens. PERFECT! Liza and I went up to watch the game and, I have to say, it was a little nerve racking at the end but Ed Reed came up with a big interception! AWESOME! Go Ravens!

After the game we went for a run on the beach and I took Justin up to the other side of the island to show him Holy Cross School and the area that we'll be working in. Such a difference between that side and this side of the island, it's shocking. Then we went to find a snack and ran into our friend, Cruz, cooking chicken. His son needs an operation that costs $5,000 so he's grilling chicken and trying to make as much money outside his normal job hours to get his son to Mexico for surgery. He only needs $1,000 more. The chicken looked awesome, he's a great guy, so it was a unanamous decision on dinner tonight.

First, we definitely needed to shower. I let Justin shower first since he takes longer to get ready (that's legit, even if i'm doing my makeup). Even after I was finished, Justin still had about 5 minutes to primp and then we were ready to go :-) When we got down to the town center and Cruz had wrapped up his cooking so we had to find another spot to eat. It was a hard decision to make between Carambas and the "OK restaurant" (hahahaha) but we eventually settled on Carambas and I got the same thing as last time and it was awesome! Caramba's was a ton of fun, we made a few friends and had a great time at dinner.

Next, we walked down the street to find Justin a cuban cigar and me a bottle cabernet :-) What a nice and relaxing day. We really enjoyed it because we know that starting tomorrow, we have our work cut out for us! We are meeting at the school at 9:00am with 6 bags of soccer gear and various other materials for the school. After sorting through it we will begin with the soccer program with the kids ending at 5:00pm! I'm so excited to get in and really start working with the kids! 7:00am wake up call, wish us luck! Hopefully, tomorrow I will have some good soccer stories about our work with the kids for you all!

Day 9:El segundo Dia a la Isla Bonita

I woke up this morning with plenty of time to get ready. Too much time. I had planned to sleep in and thought that with no roosters or passing trucks I would be able to sleep in like a baby. Have you ever seen "Failure to Launch" with Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew McCaunhey (sp?). If you have then you know here roommate has a mockingbird living outside of her bedroom window with a piercing sound that they tried to kill with a BB gun. Well, if you haven't seen it you should, its a good RomCom.

Anyways, this bird was as piercing as it comes with a sound that I didn't even know existed. So I woke up around 6:30am this morning. Awesome. (Sarcasm). So I laid in bed a while and then made it up to the school aroudn 8:45 to get ready for the 9:00 soccer practice. 9am and 2 people are there. 9:15 the coach roles up. 9:25 we actually start. Belize time. Finally, we get practice started and I taught the boys a few moves and did some drills to work on it and then how to properly shoot and then a fun shooting game, world cup, and a scrimmage. Periodically, throughout practice a player would go and just sit down or walk away because they didn't feel like practicing. hmm. For the most part they were all having a good time, didn't want to stop, and were disappointed when practice was over.

After practice I met some of the boys that go to the school and are around 5 years old. One of these boys, Ronan, just started juggling and doing all of these tricks... it was amazing! After a little bit I made my way back to my hotel and went to get some food. I found an amazing breakfast place, grabbed a bite to eat and then came back and got ready to go for a run. I didn't make it farther than reef adventures. Keedall was there and we hung out for a while, he introduced me to some of the friends on his team. Finally, an hour later I started to run. On Belize time, remember? A great run to the end of the beach, through the town, and back.

Before I knew it I had to shower and get ready to go meet Justin at the water taxi. While I was sitting on the edge of the dock waiting I saw a huge mana ray swim right under my feet! Wow! With a huge gear bag packed for the kids in hand, Justin made his way off the boat and in my direction. "Stop!" I yelled, "Picture! to capture your first moment in Belize!" It was evident that Justin was wound up from the travel and still in America mode. Quite a stark contrast between his American and my well-conditioned central American slow-mo vibe. It took Justin a couple of hours to adjust and later on, margarita in hand. He was good to go.
Once we got all of the luggage back to the room, Justin got organized and then it was time to meet Kathy and Liza! I went to meet them at the boat and there they were! They decided to take a plane and got there a little earlier! Perfect!

We were all hungry and went to get some food at Wura-something which had all fresh seafood in burritos and papusas and regular plates of food. It was great! We walked back along the center square of town so that everyone could see the jewelery stands and then headed back to the hotel. Justin and I cleaned up a little and then went to check out the local scene on a Saturday night starting at Wet Willy's. Wet Willy's was a very cool bar with some very nice people who talked up a storm! Love talking to all the people out here. The owner at Wet Willy's moved here 7 years ago and is never going back. Same ol' story on this island.

Next we went to Fido's with a live reggae band playing a lot of Bob Marley and all of your reggae favorites. We also got to watch the Patriots game there! Can you believe that? I had such high hopes for Tebow. Next year.
Well, the day is at a close, we are smoked and ready to have a great day tomorrow. The school is closed so we have the day off and are going diving at Ho Chen (a popular dive site) and then we are going snorkeling at Shark Ray Alley so we'll probably have some awesome pictures for tomorrow! They feed the sharks and mana rays there!
It's amazing that we can do our work in the Holy Cross community and have this amazing island experience at the same time.

Day 8: Bienvenidos a Belice!

I woke up this morning at 3:30am to get ready for my flight. Mike, Sergio, Luis, and Chicho all woke up in the middle of the night to take me to the airport. What great guys and great hospitality. It was very very sad to say goodbye and I really couldn't imagine what Belize was going to be like so it felt like I left my heart in Nicaragua and was now on some strange plane. To ease the pain, the TACA Airlines representative accidentally checked me in to seat 1D first class. The first person to exit the plane. Wow. That has absolutely never happened to me before!  I slept the entire first flight and then arrived in San Salvador for an hour layover. Remember yesterday when I was so excited about Subway and  my hallucination of Starbucks. Well, in Nicaragua and San Salvador airports there was Subways and gourmet coffee/tea shops. I was so excited for some "normal" food yesterday and and craving my favorite green mint tea and then when I was back in the world where there was an abundance of it around me,  I felt an odd sensation of... meh, whats all the fuss about... and was actually a bit overwhelmed by the abundance of everything.  I putzed around looking into different stores and then I heard them announce my flight and didn't see anyone in the gate move. It took a second and then I asked the flight attendant. La puerta de Belice fue cambiado? She then said yes, it's a get 11 now! So I sprinted my butt from one side of the airport to the other to make my flight to Belize. (Another first class ticket by the way).

When I spoke to the Lydia, the volunteer coordinator at the school, she told me to just meet someone at the airport and take the taxi to the ferry with them. I thought, "this is shockingly similar to the plot of taken." So I talked to Lydia and she arranged a driver to come pick me. 30 bucks for a 9 mile ride to the ferry- what a jip... and to top it off it was SUPER safe at the airport and all the taxis were legit! Better safe than sorry I guess.

So I got to the ferry about 15 min before the next ferry- perfect! The ferry was packed tight but I didn't notice much because I made a new friend, Joe! Little did I know that this would be the first of many friends that I made in Belize on my first day. Joe and I talked continuously for about an hour and a half on the ferry ride! He lives in Caye Caulker, one island over, for the winter time. It seems like a lot of people who come down here to vacation end up here permamently from what I can tell.
Once the ferry arrived I walked off the dock and was greeted by a jovial man named Caesar! He directed me to a taxi and sent me on my way to the Hotel Del Rio. Once I checked in and dropped my bags off I looked up and saw a beautifully tiled and more importantly heated shower. I could not resist. I'm sorry to say but after 7 days of cold showers, Holy Cross School could wait 20 minutes. We're on island time anyways. The shower felt surprisingly uncomfortable. The heat was too much. I guess my body had adjusted to the cold showers... but it only took one to break the ice. My hot shower tonight was lovely.

Once I got to the school I met Lydia and she toured me around introducing me most importantly to Mr. Corba, the sports coordinator and Mr. Fritty, an assistant soccer coach. We created a schedule for the week coming up where we play soccer with the kids from 1:00-5:00 each week day and a couple mornings with the preschool and kindergardeners. Tomorrow morning Mr. Corba's team has a practice that I'm going to go help with. They say the biggest problem on the team is that the kids don't like to run or work hard! Uh oh, this is most definitely my pet peave. Time to whip these boys in shape. The daytime with the younger kids is, of course, all fun.

After we got our plan set for the week I went to Reef Adventures, a dive center here in Belize and made friends with Keedall and Chucky and they set us up with 2 really cool scuba dives- a shark dive and a reef dive for Sunday!Then I walked into town only to find Caesar again. I said, "Caesar, I haven't eaten all day and I'm starving, where should I go?" Caesar, with his jamaican sounding accent and huge smile, told me to check out Caramba's so I did. It was awesome! I had a whole red snapper fish that was ridiculous. I think we'll be eating a lot of seafood this week! At Caramba's I made friends with "Spongebob" who directed me to the best ice cream on earth where I met Ilene and Dan, two Pennsylvanians who started a custard shop down here! Ilene and I talked for a good half an hour and then I walked down the beach street and there were all of these little stands. At one stand I met Andres who didn't try and sell me anything, just a nice guy.

Then I met Paulina. Paulina is really into symbology and the Mayan Calendar so she hooked me up with an awesome necklace and explained to me why all the end of the world stuff is probably not true according to the Mayans. Her son walked up and I asked him where he went to school and he said "Holy Cross" and I said "Well you know what I'm in town for right? A soccer camp for your school!" His face lit up and he said it was really cool. Paulina was really happy and seemed a little emotional. She said there is nothing for the children on the island and this will be a really fun thing for them! When I said that I brought down backpacks she got excited, patted her son on the back, and said, "You need a backpack!" It was a real wake up call. Paulina was selling her jewelery at a stand on the street to support her family and she could not get a backpack for her son. It was my first personal encounter with a family from the school and it was really touching. They told me that often times the kids will follow you back to your hotel because they just want to hang out.
It's amazing that on this island of tourism that is an absolute paradise all you need to do is cross a very small bridge and you are back in extreme poverty in the San Mateo community. Lydia said it is some of the worst poverty in all of Belize.
Finally, I met Blackee, "the blackest man on the island" who was trying to recruit me to the local bar, but of course I declined.
The people seem so nice and this is a beautiful island. There are cocunut trees everywhere. I wonder if anyone ever gets hit- you know you can buy life insurance for getting hit by a cocunut. That more people die of getting hit in the head by cocunuts than by plane crashes.
The stars are BEAUTIFUL. It's like you can see every one in the sky.
Looking forward to my first practice in the morning and then Justin, Kathy, and Liza, my 3 new travel mates arrive late afternoon!

Day 7: Un Viaje para Cambiar Tu Vida

My last day in Nicaragua started off with a very welcomed relaxing morning. After a very long and tiring day yesterday, I got to sleep in (which was 8am since my body is used to 6am now). I lasted the entire night with my headphones in so my sleep was completely uninterupted by roosters and passing cars. When I woke up there was a huge plate of eggs waiting for me, and let me tell you, the Nicaraguans know how to scramble an egg. Good spices and sliced onions. Yummy. After a little facebooking and e-mailing, Mike and Phil picked me up to go to the market.
Oh, the market, a shopper´s heaven. Anything you could think of at a ridiculously low price. I bought 6 of those cool wooden bracelets that you would get at a beach shop for $5.00 (sorry if you now know the price of your gift Bridgette, Cait, Mom, Amanda, Maria, and Ida... it´s about the thought, not the cost ;-). I also got a cool purse and a gift for the family I have been staying with here in Managua. Phil found some cool jewelery for his family as well and then we headed for the airport!

On the way we stopped for lunch at the mall in Managua. The mall was really nice and we went straight to the food court. Last night, when we were driving, I legitamitely hallucinated and thought I saw a Starbucks sign... it wasn´t a Starbucks sign or a sign at all. So when we got to the food court and I saw a Subway sign, I thought for a second that I was going crazy again. Low and behold, IT WAS A SUBWAY! A break from arroz y frijoles (rice and beans)? Be still my heart! I got a foot long turkey sandwich and IT.WAS.WONDERFUL, a total taste bud explosion, melted in my mouth! For any of my Eagles players, yes, I did manage to find a subway in Nicaragua (they give me a hard time bc I always make them eat subway at our tournaments) haha.

After lunch we took Phil to the airport and said Adios! He was sad to go of course, but I know he was really excited to get back home to his family! Hello Sheehey´s! I know you are reading this...

After we dropped Phil home we went to Mike´s Nicaraguan family´s home and hung out for an hour before we had to leave for the soccer game. Tonight we rented out a turf field for the youth of the central church to come together and play a soccer game! It was a lot of fun, I got to play with everyone and I´m sorry to say that our team got creamed. Twice. Ugh. It was great to see everyone having a great time and it was also the last time I was going to see the majority of the youth that I had become so close with over the course of the past week. It feels like I´ve known them forever. Oh, the water works. It hit me out of no where. I was fine and then all of sudden when I went to give my first hug goodbye I burst into tears with that quivering lip you can´t control. How embarassing.
Finally, after I hugged everyone I jumped in the car and we came back to Sergio´s where Sergio and I were able to have a nice dinner and talk together. He told me how he originally came to the church (they lured him by telling him they would teach him the drums) and how much of a blessing it has been since he has been there. It was really great to hear about the church from the perspective of a Nicaraguan.

I´m all packed up ready to go and writing to all of you for the last time in Nicaragua. Tomorrow morning I fly to Belize at 6:30am and arrive at 9:30am. Then I have to take a taxi to the water taxi and the water taxi to the island where the school is located. I have no idea what to expect or what the travel alone through central America will be like but I´m looking forward to it and hoping that it´s a safe travel. I´m so sad to leave Nicaragua. It truly does feel like home. Phil and I both agreed that it feels like we´ve been here for a month and yet the trip flew by. I think it´s because you can´t imagine being this close to people after only knowing them for a week. Friends for a lifetime, hence the tears. Not to worry, many of the Nicaraguans in the central church have FACEBOOK! yay!

This is my fourth time down to Nicaragua and the amazing affect that these people and this experience has each time I come down, does not cease to amaze me.
It changes your heart.


See you in Belize!

Greetings From Phil Sheehey!

I thought it was about time that I contributed to the blog beyond tales of my exploits with small dogs or my history with Queen Latifah. The following are my Top Ten memories of my 5 days in Nicaragua.

10. God was with us from the start - Ali was excused by the TSA officer for packing a knife just smaller than a machete. On the flight to Miami, I noticed that one of our soccer bags had been checked to Venezuela. Although I have never checked my baggage claim checks in the past, I did this time and the airline was able to reroute our bag of soccer balls to Nicaragua on our flight. Based on all of this, we knew we were in God's hands.
9. Nicaragua Time - A simple calculation... Just take any "planned" time and add 60-90 minutes. For those of you that work with me, please note that I am considered punctual in Nicaragua.
8. My adopted son and daughter - Mike, a missionary from the U.S. and a Florida Gator Alumni, chauffeured us all around all week, answered my stupid translation questions, and helped me every step of the way. Ali, my adopted 4th daughter, has challenged me to improve my soccer knowledge, my Spanish, and my ability to recruit more parents to participate in this trip next year. She is a "rock star" with the children of Nicaragua and a joy to travel with.
7. The "boys" from the Central Church (& Pastor Mario & Maria). Although I only understood about 20% of what they were saying, the "veterans" from the church were a blast to coach, travel, and enjoy breakfast, lunch, and dinner with.
6. La Familia de Lester - Lester's family was so gracious to me all week, letting me stay in Lester's room, feeding me, and welcoming me into their home. I can't thank them enough for their hospitality.
5. On the soccer fields of Nicaragua, I am "Señor Felipe" - The only place where I could fully communicate was on the fields of Western Nicaragua. Uno o dos (the coin flip), pelota o cancha (kick or choose your side), listo (ready?), blanco/rojo/ amarillo/gris ( the team colors for throw ins), ...  As in the states, it's not as important for a ref to be right as it is to be completely confident. This is particularly important when players a screaming at you in a language you don't understand well.
4. Rice for breakfast (and lunch and dinner) - I have eaten more rice and beans in 2012 than I did in the previous 10 years. With that said, I really haven't missed pizza, Starbucks, Miller Lite, ...
3.The 10 Passenger Pickup Truck - Its a little known fact that a Toyota Pickup Truck can seat 10 people. Holding on for dear life is far more important than wearing a seatbelt.
2. "Soak up the sun" - No doubt, the warm sun felt fabulous. Beyond that, the Nicaraguans constantly reminded me of the line from Cheryl Crow's song of that title; "it's not having what you want, it's wanting what you've got." Most of the Nicaraguan's have only the basics, but their abundant joy and love were a constant reminder that the best things in life aren't things.
1. More than Futbol-  I learned quickly that my trip wasn't just about Futbol and certainly wasn't about me. The week was about family, joy, love, faith, and supporting each other. The winning Parish Team shared 3 pairs of shoes among 7 players (not cleats, shoes), wearing one shoe and going barefoot with the other. You can imagine that receiving a bag of cleats donated by Maryland Families was cherished by the boys.

I know I will be back next year and will be working hard to recruit other Lutherville Parents.. We can do alot to help here.
Best to Ali on the remainder of her adventures in Central America. I can't wait for her next blog.

-Phil Sheehey

Day 6: The Last Day in Somotillo :-) :-(

Sitting down right now to write about this morning seems crazy because this morning seems like a week ago after everything we did today! So the day started when I accidentally woke up at 5:00am. We were supposed to wake up at 6 to get the day started and I set my phone at this time and my phone is still on Maryland time and Nicaragua is an hour behind! I didn't realize this until I was already in the shower and so I got all my stuff ready and then went back to sleep. Before I knew it it was time to get up again. We packed up the car and said goodbye to Don Francisco (who invited us back for next year! Definativamente!) and headed over to meet everyone for breakfast.

Breakfast was the same as the day before, an excellent Banana Smoothie and Hot Dog. The world's longest skinnies hot dog on the world's largest hot dog bun. I attacked it a little differently today. Phil switched it up and got a hamberger and after our nutritious, stellar Nicaraguan breakfast we headed for the field! When we arrived the field was buzzing. Usually, when we arrive there is no one there. Today we were 30 minutes early and most of the kids were already there ready to go. After all, today was the playoffs of our tournament! In the semifinals we had El Bonete vs. First Lutheran and El Rodeito vs. Acentamiento.

Before we got started with the tournament there had been several small children hanging out during the camp and so we decided to play a fun game with them! We paired each of the children with their choice of one of the older central church leaders and then we played a world cup game where only the children were allowed to score.



They had a great time and we were able to award the winners with balls and give all of the participants a jersey or shirt. The kids couldn't get enough- they cheered on the sidelines for all of the games and even wanted to play more so we set up a game for them during the championship game that was really fun!
We anticipated that the playoffs of the tournament would be pretty intense so we sat everyone down and explained what exactly is a foul and smaller things like throwing the ball in correctly. Because these kids do not have very much organized instruction, they don't understand exactly what a foul is and so they yell at poor Phil and I! Once we were confident that everyone understood the rules we began the semifinals.

The semis were ridiculously awesome. It may as well been the actual world cup championship for all it meant to the players! It was really fun to watch/ref!The keepers were flying out of the goal to save goals and everyone was working incredibly hard. Unfortunately, the team I was secretly rooting for lost in the semis. Before the championship game we had a fun consolation game and after the championship.


El Bonete won the tournamet, which was very exciting because they beat the team in the finals that beat them 8-1 yesterday! Impresivo! We had an awards ceremony where Phil and I had the opportunity to thank everyone for their kindness and say how much fun we had being a part of their community. Phil is really adamant about returning next year, which is awesome. This trip really is a life changer- you will see things that you've only ever heard about when it comes to extreme poverty and at the same time you will see how happy these people are with almost nothing- way happier than people in the US that have everything they could possibly ever need. You will also have the opportunity to see how much of a differnece you can make in such a short period of time.

Each team was awarded a bag of shoes beginning with the tournament winners. Then we took a bunch of pictures and said good bye to everyone. It was sad! The ninos (children) were especially sad. A group of the girls were following me around as we were preparing to leave and one almost followed me into the bathroom (or outhouse)! We promised to see them again next year and in the meantime we hope they practice their skills!

Once we got everything loaded up we began the long and hot journey back. After about an hour and a half of driving we stopped in Chinendega for lunch. A town smaller than Managua, but bigger than Somotillo. We ordered lunch and realized that the owner was an American who lived in Miami- not just any American. I'm pretty sure that is the closest I've ever been to someone with some serious gang tattoos. He was nice though :-)

After lunch we loaded back up for another couple of hours in the car and then we arrived in Leon, a city about an 2 hours outside Managua. This city was very nice and you could tell a little more affluent than the places we had visited. There was a big catholic church that had been built in the 1600s and a really neat square in front of the church with all kinds of little stands selling jewelery, gifts, and all kinds of things. The church was beautiful inside. Phil said it looked like a church you would see in Italy. Beautiful.

Otra Vez (again), we packed up the car and headed for Managua. Once we finally arrived home I took a shower and here I am. What a day, what a day! By the way, it's 12:15am right now and the roosters have already started.

We have only one day left in Nicaragua before Phil goes home and I go to Belize. I am so sad to leave here... not just because this was a great experience but also because I've become so close with all of the people from the central church... Chicho, Sergio, Luis, Alex, Kevin, Mario, Mike, Alex, Ravin (pero es un poco loco ;-), and Lester... it will be so sad to leave them :-(