Early morning wake up call today to go Snorkeling! This morning we headed out to Hol Chen and Shark-Ray Alley- 2 of the best snorkeling spots in Belize! We walked over to the tour offices and got fit for our fins and masks. Once everyone had their gear we walked to dock and boarded the boat with our Captain, Gavino! Gavino is both our captain and tour guide on this excursion. First, we went to Hol Chen. Holy Chen, is a marine reserve with all kinds of coral, and different kinds of fish. We all got in the water and although Zach gave it a real chance, he did not feel comfortable in the water and swallowed a little sea water right away so we loaded him back up on the boat and started on the snorkeling tour. Gavino showed us all kinds of fish, live conch, a huge green moray eel, and a ton more. It was really fun to see all of the life on the coral reef! 
Next stop: Shark-Ray Alley. Okay, this is my spot. I love Shark Ray Alley- before we even got there I already had my fins back on and ready to go! I jumped in as soon as Gavino gave us the go ahead and I landed right into a group of maybe 10 sharks. SO COOL! These are only nurse sharks- pretty docile. Everyone jumped into the water and we swam along side a ton of sharks and giant sting rays. So fun. Gavino came in last and then took us on a little shark tour. I couldn’t believe it when he actually let us pet one of the sharks! It felt kind of like wet sand paper? I guess that’s a good way to describe it. The shark was kind of thrashing around a little bit, clearly ready to say goodbye. We swam on and then Gavino grabbed another shark! We all started petting it again... then, I couldn’t believe it when Gavino asked if I wanted to hold the shark! This shark was maybe 4 or 5 feet long and Gavino handed him right over telling me to hold the shark’s top fin and then hug it with my other arm. It was so cool! I held the shark for only a moment before it really started wiggling. Then it started to swim away…. but I didn’t quite let go of the fin right away so I got a short little ride…. which was so cool. I’ve always wanted to take a ride on a shark! 
Snorkeling was awesome today and it was all over by 11am, which still gave us a couple of hours to relax before we had to head to camp. Everyone got back, some hit the pool, some showered- those seem to have been the 2 preferred methods of body cleansing this week. haha. Almost everyone in the group bypassed a shower at some point and just jumped in the pool. Phil, Zach, Katie, and I, decided to go into town a little earlier to pick up some lunch on the way. We stopped at My Secret Deli and got the stewed chicken, rice and beans and smoothies! It was delicious…. the perfect meal after snorkeling and before a big day at camp! We spent lunch telling ghost stories… Phil had one of the best ghost stories I’ve heard. Those paranormal shows have nothing on his friend!
After lunch, we headed over to the field for camp. The whole group ended up doing different things for lunch and we all met at the school. Today we are down a coach again! :-( When we woke up this morning Luke was still feeling pretty sick. What a bummer for him and a bummer for the kids. Looks like he was out for the entire day again. Even though he was still feeling pretty sick it looked like it was at least working its way through his system.
Before long, the kids came running out of school and over to the field and the coaches did a great job of getting everyone organized quickly into small groups for passing, playing small games, learning moves, and getting some great individual attention. Today we did some soccer relay races and all of the kids really enjoyed them. After the first round of relay races we asked the kids, “What is Teamwork?” “How can we be a good teammate?” We encouraged the kids to cheer for each other and give high fives. We told the kids we wanted to see which team could win the relay and which team could cheer the loudest! Before the next round we had each team huddle up and come up with a super-cool team cheer! After all of the teams did their cheers, we had one final race. It was good to see the kids working together. We really want to encourage them to be good teammates and learn how to work together. Finally, we split the kids up into 2 teams and played a big game at the end. They love the big game at the end because they get to run around all together and because the coaches play!
As the little kids ended, we made the coaching chain and prepared for the older kids. We had a huge turn out today and being 1 coach down was definitely a concern as we went out to the field. Luckily, everything went really well. We had a shooting station, small-sided station, world cup station, and I did a skills station. We also separated the boys and girls again today.
I knew the skills station would be tough because the kids want to just play but it is important that we teach them some skills and, especially, the discipline to pay attention, work hard, and receive the benefit in the big fun game of knowing some new moves. The older boys did pretty well listening, the middle-aged group did a good job listening, and then once the little kids got to me, chaos erupted at my station. I knew they wouldn’t be able to do a dribbling skills today so I played Head-It, Catch-It, which is a game that all of the kids enjoy. I told one of the boys that he was “being a VERY good boy” because the rest of the boys were so rambunctious. After they overheard me saying it they all started running up and saying, “Coach Ali, am I a good boy?!?!?!” They all wanted an answer so I went around as they asked and said, “Yes, you are a good boy!”or “You are MOSTLY good” and then to a couple of the boys I said, “No, you have not been a good boy... but will you try to be a good boy for the rest of today and tomorrow?”... and they said yes! and it actually worked! They tried for the rest of the time to get along and work together! After about 20 minutes with these crazy kids I ended the stations and we set up the big game! Because it was pretty hot today and the kids took a long water break so it took a little longer to break the kids into teams, we did not start the big game until 4:50, only 10 minutes before camp is supposed to end! Camp is supposed to end at 5:00 so the kids have plenty of time to walk home before it gets dark at 5:30. I let the kids play until 5:10… the latest possible time and even that is pushing it.
It’s hard to believe that there is only one more day of camp left. Many of the kids were asking if tomorrow was the last day, if we would be back next week, and when we were leaving. We told the kids that we would be leaving on Sunday but that we would be back next year for another camp! Then the kids started asking if we were going to have camp on Saturday. I felt guilty saying no even though we would still be here. Saturday is a rest day for the coaches after the week of camp before the travel day on Sunday. We even had some of the group heading out on Saturday. I could sense that the kids were beginning to get sad that we were leaving soon... and this started to make me sad as well :-(
We said our goodbyes and went back to shower up. Today, the plan is to shower quickly and head back in town so that we can check out the different street vendors that sell all kinds of cool jewelry and hand-crafted wood carvings, etc. We had fun walking around… I spent some time with my dear friend Paulina. Paulina is such a gentle soul and so tiny (I'm only 5'6"). She had a son at Holy Cross when we first started doing our camps up there. I have kept in touch with her via Facebook since I first came down to Belize and each year. Over time, we have formed a really nice friendship. I also had the chance to see one of the original campers, Rafael. His mother runs a jewelry store in town and I always stop by and buy a few things from her each year. As I started to catch up with Rafael, I asked him, “Are you still in school?” I was disappointed to find out that he had an incident in the high school and they would no longer allow him to attend. The next option is for Rafael to attend high school in Belize City (90 minute ferry ride) which means he would likely live in Belize City with family or friends while he finished school.
His Mom really wants him to do this but the problem is, Rafael wants to help his mother and help take care of his 6-year-old brother. His mother has a ton of jewelry that she needs to cart into town every day for her jewelry stand where she works from 7am-9pm at a table in the town center. After we talked about it for a little bit, Rafael promised me that he would go back to school, shook my hand, and I told him that when he graduated I would take him out for a Lobster Dinner. Rafael is one of my favorite players from our first camp and it’s been so great to be able to see him each year when we travel back… we have stayed in touch with a few of our high school players from the first year but Rafael is particularly easy to track down since his Mom is always working in the center of town. I really want to see him succeed. I believe that he can. We are Facebook friends now and I’m going to keep tabs on him (and he knows it)! I bought a necklace and matching earrings from his mother and then asked, "Could you make me a bracelet that matches?" Rafael said he would make me one as a gift! Very touching. 
One thing that has been unique and neat about this trip is that we have eaten the majority of our meals together as one big group. Usually, when dinner rolls around everyone is on a different schedule… some want to go into town, some want to eat at the condo, some want to go out to eat nearby. This time, everyone was on the same page most nights of the trip. We often spent a good portion of the dinners reminiscing about our day at camp, our favorite campers, crazy and funny things that happened, etc. It was fun to hear everyone’s stories every night. During camp, we are all in charge of different stations and we all have different experiences with different kids.
Tomorrow is the last day of camp :-(
Good night from Belize!
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