Snapshots of San Mateo and San Pedro

Sunrise...

Greetings from San Mateo, the neighborhood that many of the students at Holy Cross reside in. As we took our tour through this neighborhood, we were greeted by two small girls. Following are snapshots of San Mateo, Holy Cross and the greater San Pedro area.

The new road hasn't reached everyone...still plank walkways to many homes.

The lagoon side of the island.

Sandra renewing friendship with girls she worked with 6 years ago.

Drs heading for home visits in San Mateo

Destiny's House

Destiny at school for meds and treatment.
San Mateo resident after reconstructive surgery on her ear.
The San Mateo road

The day begins at Holy Cross.Lydia Brown, Volunteer Coordinator at Holy Cross

Lunchtime.

Dr. Jim and friends.

The wonderful kitchen staff--great cooks!!

Jocelyn who is deaf plays with the resident dog.

Football practice.

The Women's Sewing Group learning sewing techniques
from Leonardo, a local tailor volunteering his time to
help this fledgling small business of Holy Cross mothers.

Girls talking after school.

New solar panels on Computer Room roof.

The downtown PolyClinic where Jim, Peter
Paul worked part of the week.

English Medical Students working at
PolyClinic. They did a morning in San
Mateo...a real eye opener for them.

The newly paved road and old bridge to school.

Elections signs everywhere and frequent rallies and parades.

Cleaning the catch from the fishing adventures.

Any kind of water sport available.

Parasailing too.

Joyce hit it right off with Ashley who is 3. She sells jewelry with her Mom and Dad on the beach by Ruby's.

Our thanks to Sandra Jacobi, Jim Short, Scott

Chapman and Jean Willard for sharing their pictures.

Check back one more time.

Please check back one more time in the next day or two to see more pictures of our Belize adventure. Thanks for your support and prayers. We look forward to sharing our stories with you personally.

Off we go...

The moon was still out when the sun began
to rise this morning.

We all had breakfast at Estelle's and then headed back to finish up the packing and head to the 9:30 water taxi.

All the baggage checked.

This pelican settled in to preen while we waited.

The in-coming water taxi was about 30 minutes late.

Lots of space on the boat this time...at least til Caye Caulker.

A beautiful ride through crystal clear
blue water.

Almost there.

Philip was waiting for us when we arrived in Belize City. We had a good ride to the airport.

Check-in went smoothly. And much to his surprise,
Jim got his bag back with the meds they had taken
at customs when Team 2 arrived last Friday.

A hot dog and last Belikin from Mr. Jet's.

And equipment to fly us home...late, but here.

We left Belize City about 40 minutes late. Upon arrival in Miami we headed to immigration where they had opened a side section which proved to be much faster than the regular line...then to baggage to claim our bags...then recheck our bags and head for our gate. By the time we grabbed a quick sandwich to eat on the plane, we arrived at the gate as the plane was boarding. We all arrived home safely to the smiling faces of family and friends. Another wonderful Belize Mission Trip under our belts. Thanks be to God.

Friday - the last day at Holy Cross

Joyce and Clara enjoy their predawn coffee.

Scott's caught the photo bug!

Peter doing his stretches after his daily run.

Ah...there comes that sun!

Took the right walkway over the bridge this
morning..it's rusting away. There are plans
for repairing the bridge but who knows when
they'll be implemented..it's an election
year though so maybe some quick action?

Our last breakfast at Holy Cross...the
food has been amazing as always!

The wonderful kitchen ladies after Sandra
presented their thank you tip envelopes.
They do an amazing job feeding 450+
students, staff and volunteers on top of that!

Group picture up next! Thanks Freddy!

It's number crunching day in the computer room.
All those med files have to be back in the file
cabinet completed this afternoon!

Bob and Scott doing last minute scrounging of materials
for the closet. Only one new piece of wood needed!

Miss Clara having a little quiet time
in the breezeway after a busy morning.

John finished the display rack for the Women's
sewing group. It's high enough so folks can see
it through the windows when they come
pick up their children--these ladies are covering
all the bases. Mr. Lorenzo was back today.

There was a lot of wrap up work today and odd jobs. Clara, Ginny, and Kathy spent a fair amount of time in the library sorting and shelving books. Jean finished up the medical files as the rest of the Dr. sheets came in and completed the heights and weights data base....only about a dozen kids we didn't get due to absence. Jim and others returned to San Mateo to finish up home visits. A few students who had been absent earlier were seen by Joyce and Virginia. John did tours for some folks who dropped by.

Mr. Coba loved his new sports
equipment shelves!
Now he can really find out what he has!

and the shelves are certainly strong enough!!

Great job Bob and Scott!

It was Cheap Sale day after school. They sell
clothing etc. that has been donated to the
school as a fundraiser for Holy Cross. The
teachers set it up this time.

and the community comes!

It's a wrap for another year at Holy Cross School. We accomplished a lot and met our goals. More importantly, we were able to renew and expand friendships in this Holy Cross and San Mateo community. There were frustrations, hot days and tired bodies from lack of sleep and physical labor. But the rewards far outweighted all of that as we experienced the hugs, the healing and the daily miracles that are the story of Holy Cross School. Thanks be to God for the opportunity to serve this school and community.

As we were leaving school, Mr. Freddy was
dumping sand for the football team to spread
to fill the holes in their practice field.

Following showers, shopping, liquid refreshment and packing we all headed back to the Blue Water Grill for our final dinner.

Paul tests the Chilean wine.

and many enjoyed the special with locally grown carrots.

It was a wonderful end of the week.