Monday at Holy Cross

A beautiful beginning to our work week~

and we are ready to go....it's 7:00 and time to head out.

It's been raining a lot...puddles everywhere.

We arrived and breakfast was ready to go.

After breakfast Lydia, the volunteer coordinator for Holy Cross came to give us an orientation. She started with a brief talk and two videos-one done by our very own Sandra Jacobi about the history and people involved in Holy Cross. After our talk we headed for a tour of San Mateo, the housing area where many Holy Cross students live.

The London Bridges (walkways) are still evident...
and water everywhere...
but things are changing...because of the road.

Several years ago Kim Shakelford, a Professor in Social Work at Old Miss, brought students down to visit. They went into San Mateo and learned about the social issues present there. They got tremendously motivated and felt they needed to do more. They organized a community meeting and invited the residents to come. A good number came to the meeting and they discussed what was needed to improve the community. From that initial meeting the group has organized in the San Mateo Empowerment Committee and last year worked together to begin a road into San Mateo which eventually will allow electricity, sewer, and water to come into the community. It has been a great success. Once their road was started, the community finally got their act together and began a road that would meet the SMEC road. It's given hope to the community and improvements have been made in the housing and other areas.

But the conditions haven't stopped happy children!

This is Lionel's families new house.

This guy is employed by the Empowerment Committee
to bring sand from across the lagoon for road construction. They meet each Sunday to build.

We headed back down the road to Holy Cross and started our workday.
Clara, Joyce, Holly and Linda started the heights and weights.

The new preschoolers weren't real sure about taking their shoes off and participating.

New playground beginning...great swingsets.

Sand....needed to be moved in preparation for climbing toys.

but Mr. Freddy has a new dump truck...

saved a lot of work....

until it got stuck in the mud....

good ole Doug saved the day--nice gentle tap on the gas works every time.

This is the new water garden for the sewage system.

Lunchtime for the older students.

Then it's our turn...spaghetti.

After lunch time for tutoring...Anna did reading today.

Denise worked on math

and Doug had a great first time tutoring experience with two Math students...unfortunately no picture. Good day of work for all.

There are changes around Holy Cross. This drawing of Mr. John is now on the wall outside the computer room and the dining room and porch are all in the same area.

Lots of great distractions around here.

A little rest before heading back to Ruby's.

After showers we gather for Evening Prayer and Reflections.

Lionel and Tiffany joined us for Evening Prayer and a little jewelry business.

It was a wonderful start to our week.

A Sunday Visit to the Manatees

It's a beautiful Sunday morning and our last day to relax before work. We're heading different directions today. Jan, Joanne, Wayne and Holly are staying around San Pedro and relaxing and the rest of us are heading to see the Manatees and do some snorkeling.

And we're off...

Had some dolphins escort us for a while.

through the mangrove islands...
We stopped for firewood along the way...
The guard who took our National Park Fee..

We cut our engine and began poling our way to the

shore, watching for Manatee along the way.

Searching...

There he is....
He's coming up again...

After watching for a long time, we headed for a snorkel sight...

Meanwhile, our guide prepped the Chicken for lunch.

Great corals and fish under here!
Prepping the rum punch.

After everyone got back on board we headed for

our lunch spot...the water was beautiful!

As were the clouds!
Here we are...Gotoy Island.

It was wonderful...white sandy beaches.

Nice warm water to relax in...

and a delish lunch - chicken (where are the potatoes!!)

After a delight couple of hours relaxing we headed back to the boat. We declined the offer of another snorkel stop and stopped instead for a brief visit to Caye Caulker...site of our first Mission Trip to Belize. They dropped us off at a dock about half way through town.

It hasn't changed much...same sand streets...

John and Jean headed for the Sandbox and got a quick order of Conch Fritters in honor of all those who have experienced those wonderful treats.

and picked everyone up at the Spit. It's
one happening place anymore. The
guys really enjoyed the view!!

We headed home, had showers and met to talk about how everyone spent their day...mostly relaxing and reading. Had a service and then headed our different ways...on your own for dinner since it was SuperBowl Sunday. A great day for all!

We're here!

We're here! There were spits of rain in the air as we deplaned. We breezed through customs and Mr. Philip was waiting for us and took us to the Water Taxi Station.

Mr. Philip loading all those supplies and suitcases into the van.

The Water Taxi was packed with folks.
Surprisingly, most got off at Caye Caulker.

Ah, back to Ruby's!

Saturday morning we headed to Estelle's for breakfast.

had Chinese for lunch...

Isolene stopped by for a visit. Jan sponsors her
at the High School. She's doing great!

We headed to Carrambas for dinner and while there there was a candlelight parade that went by. Several hundred folks marching for World Cancer Day.

And of course Dandes next door for dessert. They were delighted to see us and I'm sure their profits will skyrocket over the next two weeks! Yummy as ever. If you're thinking all we did was eat all day, that's pretty close to the truth. There was a little shopping, reading, sleeping and not much else on Saturday.

When we returned the stars were glorious and there was an almost full moon so most of us relaxed on the deck and enjoyed the evening.