Punta Gorda and around...

On the way to Placencia to meet up with the other half of our group on the weekend, the four of us decided to stop by the Cockscomb Wildlife Sanctuary home of the highest density of jaguars in Central America. We went hiking up in the rainforest and saw all kinds of neat plants and wildlife. We also scored free dinner from a group of senior birders who were also staying there. Anyone who has traveled on a budget will know that free dinner is worth its weight in gold...especially when you're eating peanut butter every day (although we have gotten creative with a banana hot dog with peanut butter).

The night was a long one. I spent very little of it sleeping and much of it listening to the birds chirp or convincing myself that the pack of jaguars growling at the decibel level of a lawnmower wasn't going to eat me if I had to make the trek to the outhouse 500 yards away. Somehow I survived the night and found out that the growls were actually from pekaries a type of wild pigs.
In the morning we hiked up another trail in the jungle and went swimming in the basin of a waterfall. We hiked to a peak that overlooked the entire jungle. It was beautiful! We also saw a jungle snake on the hike down...that was NOT so much fun.

We then made our way to Placencia, a touristy beach location to meet up for the weekend. Placencia is known in the Guiness book of world records for having the smallest main street--only 3 feet wide. There is one other normal main street and the rest of the town is sand. We sat out on the beach, went snorkeling (until we realized that the only wildlife we saw was jellyfish) and listened to the stories of the other 4 travelers.

We have now been in Punta Gorda for a few days. The town is more vibrant and exciting that Dangriga and our teaching has been a little more interesting too. The past two days we have been busing out to remote Mayan villages to teach. And by busing I really mean busing and hitchiking in the back of banana trucks or whatever car happens to pass by. Some of these places give new meaning to the word remote! Most of the schools only have two or three classrooms and all the villagers live in thatch huts with dirt floors. We even got to tour one of them. All the children wear uniforms or their best dresses and most don't have shoes. They are also a very different bunch to teach as they don't participate at all, a totally 180 from the kids in the city. But they were very intrigued by us and I ended up making friends wit ha 3year old mayan girl while we were waiting for the bus. She was adorable and we played for nearly and hour...she wasn't too pleased when we had to get on the bus... For most of the ride I chatted with a menonnite girl about my age who was heading into town. That was really interesting.

We are now off to teach another school this afternoon in town! This weekend is a four day weekend and we're thinking of heading to Guatemala! Should make for some exciting stories.