Day 7

            Our day today started with a boat ride to the island of Caye Caulker. On our way there our tour guide Minor Tom and the captain Kareem spoke to us about the different islands we passed by. I learned that George's peek used to be the capital of Belize, but since hurricanes hit the island often, the government decided to change the capital to Belize City. This was to avoid the loss of important documents. However, a hurricane hit Belize City and destroyed large part of the city, so the capital was moved to Belmopan, where it is currently. Tom mentioned that we would pass by a lot of islands that are owned by famous and very wealthy people. There was one island in particular that stood out to me, and that was one that had a beautiful three-story house. Tom mentioned that it belongs to the owner of one of the water taxi companies that travels from Belize City to other islands such as San Pedro. At that point, Tom mentioned that the owner of one of these companies is Chinese. That stood out to me because I have entered several convenience stores in Belize that are owned by Orientals. Actually, once at the island, we asked Kareem why a lot of the shops are operated by Orientals, and he mentioned that a lot of the products are imported here from those countries and so they have opened their own shops here. I think that this shows how diverse Belize is. It is such a beautiful country that I would not mind opening a business here if I had the means. It would be like a vacation all the time. As we continued on the boat ride, we also saw a resort where Tiger Woods has golfed, according to Tom. Tom and Kareem say these things with such pride. I love that they love their country so much. After about an hour, we arrived to Caye Caulker. Everything was so colorful! This island is about 5 miles long and less than a mile wide. The first thing I noticed were all the tourists sitting by the water. They all seemed to be having such a great time enjoying the beautiful clear water. While a group of the girls went snorkeling, some of the girls decided to stay on the island and explore. Tom and Kareem said, “Meet at the split at 3:30.” At the ‘split’? I didn’t know where that was or why they would call it that. I later found out that the island was split by hurricane Hattie and they began calling that area “the split”.  We had lunch sitting in the sand under a palm tree.

            While we were having lunch, a 4-year-old boy named Antony said cheerfully, " hey guys!" I love that he was so friendly and talking up a storm with us. As a SLP student, I immediately notice how a child communicates. Antony brought over his 2 year old brother Noah who has Down syndrome. Noah communicated with one-word utterances but it was mostly jargon. I joined Tessa in giving him therapy. I expanded on everything that he was playing with and tried to get him to say some words. I was very proud when he imitated some of the words that Tessa and I would say. Mostly I was very proud of Tessa because she did not hesitate to join the kids while they were playing. It was interesting to me because the kids' parents were off working on other things while the children were alone by the water. I think that in America, parents, well at least mine, would be a little bit more concerned, especially when they are both so young, and one of them has a disability. I thought about it, and came to the conclusion that the parents are probably like this because this is what they are used to; this is their life and I’m sure they only do it because they know that they will be ok, not because they don’t care. Actually, Tessa let me know that at one point, the mom came up to her and told her to watch them while she went and did something else in the family’s shop. I think that goes to show how trusting and kind Belizeans are to complete strangers. I love that we ended up eating at that particular spot because we would not have met these two little boys otherwise.

            After we ate, we visited the shops where I bought some souvenirs to take back home. I love seeing all the work that goes into the items they sell; from embroidered items, to hand-made jewelry. Some of the jewelry at a table caught my eye so I decided to walk towards the couple that was selling it. I found out that the woman was from France and the man was from Argentina. They told me that they make jewelry and go around the world selling it. How amazing is that!? I think that is so incredible and would not mind having that opportunity to travel to beautiful places. Why was I not born with that jewelry-making talent? But at the same time I think that I love my profession and I hope that the traveling will come later. We got to do some other amazing things, such as feed tarpons, watch seahorses, all while listening to crazy stories from Kareem. Like I have mentioned in previous blogs, the kindness of the people in Belize never ceases to amaze me. Both of our tour guides today went above and beyond so that we would have an incredible experience throughout. They even took a detour on our way back so that we could see dolphins. I have never seen Coralie so happy before. Dolphins are her favorite animal and when she mentioned that she wanted to see them, they didn’t hesitate to do what they could to make her happy. They even traveled to an area where we might see manatees so Tessa could be happy. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any. During dinner we found out that the people that worked at the zip lines found Coralie’s phone in the jungle.  I think that this is so amazing and incredibly nice from their part. I’ve had experiences in the US where I lose something or something is stolen and people don’t even try to help. I am very excited to go to the Mayan Ruins tomorrow. This is what we were supposed to visit the first day when our flight was cancelled and I am very ecstatic that we will get to see them after all.