Jewish Teens Belize Trip

Cayo District - Week 1

Clarissa Falls

While in the Cayo District, we stay at Clarissa Falls, a beautiful riverside guest house that is also a working cattle ranch. We stay in thatched-roof cottages. When the Belizean heat gets to be too much for us, we can cool off in the perfect swimming hole of the Mopan River, which runs right through the property. Chena, the owner of Clarissa Falls and our host, is famous throughout the Cayo district for her amazing cooking! Chena grew up at Clarissa Falls; the property has been in her family for generations, and it is currently entirely family run. Clarissa Falls is the only guest house in the country owned by a Belizean woman.

Mundo Maya (Mayan World)

An all day trip into the Actun Tunichal Mucknal cave takes us deep into the Mundo Maya. The Actun Tunichal Mucknal cave contains an amazing variety of intact Mayan artifacts, including those from human sacrifices performed in this cave centuries ago. A spectacular archeological site, this cave was featured in a National Geographic Special, and is world-renowned for its artifacts and beauty. Our cave adventure also serves as a team building experience, since we must work together to help each other through some of the more challenging aspects of spelunking. The next day, continuing our exploration of the Mundo Maya, we visit Xunantunich, the first major Mayan ruin in Belize to be excavated and made available for tourist visits. To get there, we ride horseback from Clarissa Falls. For the return trip, we tube down the Mopan River, right back to our cottages!

Rainforest Medicine Trail

We canoe down the Macal River to the famous Ix Chel Farm, started and run by an American doctor who, coming to Belize to research potential cancer cures, decided to stay in Belize to study under the famous Mayan healer Don Eligio Panti (who passed away in 1996). A local Mayan guide with extensive knowledge about medicinal plants tours us through the Panti Medicine Trail, teaching us about the medicinal properties of the local flora and fauna, and how the Mayans have been using the rainforest as their pharmacy for centuries. We also hope to see a variety of birds and animals along our path, including the national bird of Belize, the toucan.

Other Activities in the Cayo District

explore the town of San Ignacio and its colorful markets;

learn about the Mennonites who have settled in this area;

Shabbat!! On Friday afternoon, we help Chena bake Challah, and once the sun sets we light candles together, have a participatory service, and a special Shabbat dinner. We spend Saturday day singing, celebrating, learning, enjoying our gorgeous surroundings, and getting some much-needed rest.

Indian Church Village: Community Service

Indian Church Village

We spend the next four days in the small village of Indian Church in the northern Orange Walk District. Indian Church Village is immediately adjacent to the southern boundary of the Lamanai Archaeological Reserve, and is home to approximately 260 people. The majority of residents are native Guatemalans who relocated to Belize primarily between 1976 and 1978 during political unrest in their home country. This is a remote rural village that is economically quite poor: there is no electricity, the school is substandard, and employment opportunities are few. However, most people are eager to learn and improve their standards of education and living. Our service to the community may take the form of literacy projects like a reading camp or labor projects like painting the school, library or artisan center. We will stay in a local guest house and eat all of our meals in the homes of community members. Don't worry, the first language of Belize is English, so all your hosts will be fluent in English.

Homestay & Community Service

There are a variety of small Mayan villages in the Toledo District, who don't see much tourism except by way of homestay guests. We will break up into pairs (of the same gender) and each stay with a different Mayan family. Don't worry, the first language of Belize is English, so all your hosts will be fluent in English. Our homestays give us an amazing opportunity to see what life is like in these small traditional villages, and to provide some much needed assistance on a variety of Tikkun Olam projects. Our projects are arranged by the Village Community with the assistance of a Peace Corps volunteer. Projects generally involve working at schools, playgrounds, and on community development projects, including teaching community members some basic computer and internet skills at their new computer lab. (Total community service hours = 18-24 hours.)

Wee Wee Caye - Week 2

Wee Wee Caye

Wee Wee Caye, an island so small we can watch the sun rise and set from the same place, is our home for 5 nights. Wee Wee Caye Marine Lab was established in 1988 as a biological research station to host groups of students and researchers. The main buildings are solar powered, and the showers are from rain water catchment tanks. The small, rustic cabins are located in the midst of the mangroves, accessible from a raised walkway. Islands, tidal seagrass flats, and pristine coral reefs are teeming with marine life; imagine an island less than a half mile long surrounded by warm, crystal clear water, covered with mangroves, tropical flowers, and coconut trees, and enveloped in coral reefs that wrap more than half way around the island. Imagine snorkeling in water waist deep, through barrier and patch reefs teeming with fish and marine organisms. This is Wee Wee Caye!

SCUBA Course

Belize is world famous for its spectacular SCUBA diving opportunities. The Belize Barrier Reef extends an extraordinary 190 miles, the greatest stretch of coral in the Western Hemisphere. It encompasses a huge variety of coral reef including walls, pinnacles, spur and groove, swim-throughs and more, and has been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The Belize Barrier Reef features three enormous rings of coral known as atolls, and hundreds of coral encrusted cayes (islands). We will be participating in SCUBA course called "SCUBA Diver", a 2 day course with very minimal book-work which will certify participants to dive with a dive master. Our course will be taught by expert instructors, our intro skills sessions will occur in the warm, shallow turquoise waters right off-shore of Wee Wee Caye, and our two dives will be performed at some spectacular sites along the Belize Great Barrier Reef.

Other Activities in Wee Wee Caye

At night, we investigate the night-life of the sea on a "night snorkel," using special underwater lights to find octopi, squid, starfish, and giant crabs, and experiencing the magical bioluminescence of the night sea;

sea kayaking, snorkeling, fishing, and looking for shells;

we spend our last group Shabbat singing, praying, and swinging in hammocks on our beautiful remote tropical island.

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