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LA RUTA MAYA

It's a 3 day canoe race starting Cayo and ending in Belize city.  People come from all over the world to take part in it.  So we woke up really early one morning and walked down to the river.  We got there really early.  Plenty of time to find a good spot to watch the race.  Before long the river banks and bridges were full of people.

The race itse;f was exciting.  The people watching were really into it and were yelling and cheering on the people in the canoe.  No  one seemed to have a favorite.  Here are some pics of the race.

When they got to the low bridge a few canoes got stuck going though and apparently one fell over.
:(  sad.  We didn't see it from where we were standing, but I guess they just got right back in and kept going.

After that Maine Millie Tara and I went to Socutz to do some souvenir shopping.  One man was making the things he sells right in his shop.

The next day Millie and I took Tara to Belize city to catch her plane.  The bus was packed when we got on.  We had to climb in the back and I spent a good part of the time standing on the spare tire.  Thankfully I was able to keep my balance.  Meanwhile Crystal went to work on the Kingdom Hall.  They were painting in preparation for the Memorial.  And Maine was home sick.  :(  We all had some bad nachos...never again!

So anyhow, Tara went home...

A couple days later Millie came with us to preach in Guatemala.

It was Maine and my last time. :(

This is a study I went on with Lourey.

Both of the kids are hearing, but their mom and the aunt that they live with are both deaf.  They each study the Bible also.  But we studied with the little girl.  It was in Spanish so I wasn’t much help.
Here's everyone at lunch.

Later that week Millie also came with us for our last trip to Spanish Lookout.  It was really sad.  Tomasa and Rosita couldn't study but I got to say goodbye.  Tomasa gave me a really big hug and her eyes were watering.  It broke my heart.  She is so sweet.  She just has the kindest eyes.  I will really miss going there.

AFTER SERVICE SWIMMING

On a happier note, on the way home we drove through Bullet Tree and so we decided to stop for a little R&R.  Unfortunately we didn't have swimsuits with us, so the clothes we had on had to do.

At our last Saturday meeting I had a talk with Tanya.

We didn't plan on matching...

And fittingly Maine had the Public Talk on our last Sunday there.  (He also had the Public Talk on our first Sunday.)  He as always did excellent!

I'm getting ahead of myself...Saturday after the meeting was the start on Memorial Invitations.  So a large group met for preaching at 2.  Maine Millie and Myself got to go with a group to a village called San Antonio.  Now there are two San Antonios in Belize, one is WAY south.  We didn't go to that one. :)  The drive was beautiful!

Also saw this sign as we were going through a village.

In Belize they call the speed bumps sleeping policemen cause you still have to slow down.
This is the Kingdom Hall in San Antonio

Sunday after meeting a brother and sister had us over for dinner.  She made fry jacks!  They were so good.  And she gave me a tip for making them.  Hopefully one day I can get the knack for it.  The next night the same brother and sister had us over for a goodbye dinner for Maine and I.  The whole congregation was invited to that.  I can't believe how attached I felt to them all after only 2 ½ months.  It was a bittersweet evening.

LAST DAY

The next morning Maine got up to do some last minute errands.  Then at 11 we walked down to the gas station to wait for out shuttle.  A group of brothers and sisters that were out preaching saw us so they pulled over and waited with us too.  Crystal and Millie were already there waiting with us.  It was nice taking the shuttle to the airport instead of having to lug our bags onto the bus then off again at Belize and finding a cab...the shuttle took us right to the airport.  So here is our final pic in Belize.

Thanks to all for following our Belizian experience.  Can't wait to see everyone!

-Becky

TARA-FIED MILLIE-WAYS

So we are officially back in the states. However because of a few internet issues we weren't able to make our final posts while we were in Belize.

Ok, where did I leave off last time....Tara and Millie came. They are Crystal's cousins. Poor Maine had to live in a house with 4 woman! Thankfully he survived.

The first few days they were here we took them out for papusas,

Caught some frogs in the ditch in-front of our house,

Got some Shilling water at the market,

(If I haven't said before, shilling water comes in a plastic bag which you bite and then suck the water out of. Probably not the most sanitary, but on a hot day in the ministry a cold shilling water is really nice. And it only cost a shilling. $.25 BZ)

then we went in the ministry and met a cow,

and got some “ideals” at a little store.

(Ideals are like otter pops...except better)

We took Tara and Millie walking pretty far the first couple days of preaching. Their poor feet were so blistered. By this time the rest of our feet was/is hard and calloused. I seriously need to get a pumas stone. Anyhow, all of us needed a break after that, except maybe Crystal. :)

We took Tara with us to Spanish Lookout. Always one of my favorite places to preach. We went to my and Lauren's study/ies with Tomasa and Rosita. The kids were sick :( so we got through the studies much more quickly then usual. While we were waiting for Maine and Tony to get back from their study Tomasa and Rosita started working on the little baskets they make to sell.

Tomasa

Rosita

I have explained this before I think, but they are sisters. They are Mayan and they moved up here from way southern Belize (where most Mayans live), with their brother and his two children, whom you've seen in pics before. They are all deaf. And such a nice family. I will really miss them.

Tara got a couple of the baskets they had made, and the next week when I went back Millie and I got the very baskets they are working on in the pics above. But more on that later...

Spanish Lookout was great as usual, and we were happy to not be walking all day.

Later that week our neighbor and landlord (she is also in our congregation) came over with lunch! She is such a good cook and wanted to make sure that we all had real Belizian food while we were here. I don't remember what this was called, but it had plantains and fish and what YUMMY!

Yep that's a fish head.

Ana and her daughter Ana Marie are sitting by Crystal who is at the head of the table.

TIKAL

We got up at 5:30 in the morning to go catch a cab to the Guatemalan border. Once we got through that, we waited for a friend of ours that lives in Melchor to meet us to help us find where to catch the bus to Tikal. We had to walk quite a ways through Melchor. This is a Guatemalan bus.

As we were riding along they of course stopped along the way to pic up for passengers. The “bus” had 14 seats. By they time we reached out stop there were 26 passengers including ourselves!

We had to wait to catch another bus to Tikal from the crossroads. The next one wasn't so crowed. When we got to Tikal we found some people selling tamales. Yum!

Then we found a tour guide. His name is Hector. He was very informative. He's been working there for 14 years. Of course I have a really bad memory, so all the interesting facts he told us have completely left my brain. Sigh :(...But here are some pics...

Howler Monkey!!!!

Tallest Temple in Tikal

We climbed all the way up...well as far as they allow people go.  It was high believe me!  Here are some views from the top. You could see all of Tikal, which is severl square miles in size. Fun Fact:  The view from up here was the first shown in the show Survivor- Guatemala.  Or so our guide told us.

This is actually one of the ball courst the Mayans would play a game in. It was an extreme honor to play in the tournament. The players were only allowed to use their elbows knees and heads to touch the ball (which was a wrapped human head) ...and it ended in someone being sacrificed. Originally it was the winning team cause being sacrificed was considered an honor. But eventually politics started to change and the looser got sacrificed.

After you walk through the ball court you see...

Tourist Tree. Why is it called that you ask? Because it turns red in the sun and then peals! HAHA

Tucan! National bird of Belize...to bad we only saw one in Guatemala.

Weren't allowed to climb this one.

CENTRAL PLAZA

Probably the most famous part of Tikal. And for good reason it was awesome. Temple 1 was built by Lord Chocolate. He was like 6ft tall which was giant to those people. Of course he was considered to be part god as all the rulers were. They think the ruling class was so tall because they were the only ones to eat meat. It should be noted that the entire area of Tikal was off limits to any of the common people except for the few that may have worked there as servants.

Tikal at one time was under the control of other Mayan cities such as Corazol. However when Lord Chocolate came into power that all changed. He freed Tikal and built it up as a formidable empire. He built Temple 1 for himself, and Temple 2 for his wife. And on the spring equinox the shadow of his Temple stretches across the lawn and climbs the steps of Temple 2 until it matched up perfectly with the shape. Cool huh?

Anyhow, here are the pics...

Temple 1

Temple 2. It's the tallest one in the picture.

Burial Places and Tombs.

Where the Royal Family lived

That was the last stop on the tour. So we walked back and said good-bye to Hector. On the way back we learned that Hector and his wife are studying the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses. Small world.

We caught the last bus leaving Tikal which dropped us off at the cross roads. We waited there for a long time as bus after bus passed. All of them were already crowed. Finally a bus stopped. It was packed. However is was the last bus to Melchor, so in or should I say on we climbed...

Yep Maine rode on top. Only for a little while, then it started to rain so they had him and the other guys climb inside. He did have to hang out the side door for awhile. And they had me sit up by the driver with two other people. That last bus had a total of 34 people at one point. 30 inside and 4 on top. We all couldn't stop laughing. And I'm pretty sure the other people were laughing at us.

Thankfully we made it back to the border and Melchor in plenty of time. And had lots of great memories! :)

This post had gotten to long so I will have to pic up where I left off in a couple days.

I almost forgot!  We also saw allot of these little guys.  They are cousins of the raccoon called Caodi Mundi.  Cute huh!

 For more pictures click here.

-Becky