The jungle wakes up early ....

That’s what I told them last night at dinner.

Oh yes, dinner. Homemade chips and salsa. Then fresh tomato and cheese salad (the local cheese made by the Mennonites – looks like orange cheddar, tastes mild), fresh green salad, fresh fruit, split pea and pigtail soup, fresh rolls. Dinner buffet choices: ratatouille (local version), steamed cauliflower w/cheese sauce, okra, cilantro rice, ziti alfredo (with or without shrimp); chicken meatballs in a tomato sauce. Dessert: more fresh fruit (picked-it-in the field-across- the- street- fresh), lemon meringue pie, chocolate cake. Thomas: “Ms. Perkins, I think this is literally the best food I’ve ever tasted.”

We can tell our students’ collective awareness about where our food comes from is much heightened since we began running this trip because they are constantly commenting on the food. The fare here is very, very simple, but it is grown onsite or nearby (critters included), has never been processed or frozen, and they notice. The original organic lifestyle, I suppose.
The group crashed early because, as I said above, the jungle wakes up early (also, many had not slept for more than 24 hours). And it did. Dawn broke before five and gray light began to filter through the palms and into our huts (palapas in local parlance). No monkey noises, but lots of birds. I popped out at about 6 a.m. to take advantage of the jungle shower (picture to come if I can get one without seeming creepy hanging around the showers with my camera) and heard guitar strums coming from the bunkhouse … the boys, who had slept early, were up and greeting the morning. It was lovely!

This morning – off to the zoo to catch up with the extraordinary American biologist Sharon Matola (Google her!), who has built the zoo from scratch and who is now undertaking to make it the first handicap-accessible public facility in Belize – I love the way she thinks and the way she pushes this developing country in all sorts of directions it’s not yet thinking about (look up the book about her saving the scarlet macaw from near-extinction – Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw).

After that, down to the Caves Branch to meet our friend Alfredo, have a Belizean picnic and descent into the caves for the afternoon.

More later!