Allgood Travels: Right Foot in the ocean; North, Left food in the ocean: South

Hope you all had a great St. Patricks Day! Thursday we explored the town a lot more! We walked around, and found out where all the good restaurants and our schools were at. This island is unique because 50 percent of the population is under the age of eighteen. We think a lot of schools in North Carolina have a large amount of growth, however, the growth of the island is remarkable. We were only able to have a quick meeting with the schools, and then we came and found a local bakery . We spend a couple of hours at the beach before our meeting that afternoon. I went snorkeling at the end of the Ramon’s Pier and saw my first lion fish of the trip L I talked to the dive shop there and they said that they have began killing them when they see them and that the government has passed a law allowing the spear fishing of lion fish. That night we had a meeting as a group to talk about our plans for the trip and after wards I went with Jessie and Katy to a local stand and had stewed chicken, rice and beans for dinner. Because it was St. Patrick's day that night we went and listened to local music at the place we were staying. It was funny because about half of the ‘local’ music was actually American songs. Friday all of the Interns who were going to teach at San Pedro High School met and stopped at the bakery on the way to school. You can get delicious pastries for about 35 cents US! After we stopped at the bakery the school was only a few blocks away.


This is the view from right outside the high school. The wall on the left is the school grounds.

San Pedro was having what they called ‘open day’ which was the perfect first day. It is basically where they showcase all of their projects that they have created throughout the semester. The highschool is home to about 450 students, typically having between 30 and 45 students in each class (which is actually very large for a high school in Belize). The students are divided into three ‘forms’, first, second, third, and fourth. The students all wear white uniforms with the school badge on them, and the girls wear a scarf to denote what form they are in. Open day at the school was very exciting! It really showed us how involved the students are in what they are learning! Basically, you walk around the classrooms and the students present their projects. There were different rooms, such as Science, Social Studies, Business, English , Spanish and Math. I thought it was great that they teach so bilingually, having both Spanish and English classes in school. Some of the students actually did their projects on the lionfish invasion, and there was a plethora of very interesting science experiments! I also found it interesting that the students learn about plate tectonics and religion in their social studies class. They don’t just teach Roman Catholic, which is the dominant religion in the area, but all religions. After the open day was over we went and had quesadillas at a place on the beach, right next to the school before a quick trip to the beach. Friday night we had a large group meeting and then dinner at a place called the Reef. I had snapper for dinner and it was so good!

The high school Auditorium.

Today Casey, Katy and I got up and went diving early with Amigos Dive Shop. We went to two sites, one called Victoria’s Canyon, and the other was Mermaids Ledge. They were both great dives, filled with nurse sharks, free swimming morays, angelfish, trunkfish, puffers and a turtle. The DM actually fed the sharks and they were so used to the human interaction that he held them and played with them like a guitar. While it was really cool, I didn’t like the fact that they were so used to the human interaction.