PROGRAM PHOTO ALBUM
Thanks for the checking out the blog for this Global Leadership Adventures program!
Here are a few things to know and expect:
- Blog posts are written by onsite program staff and/or students and sent to our Headquarters team who will post the blog on this page.
- We typically receive 2-3 blog posts per week from each program, so please don’t be alarmed if you don’t see a blog post every day – that’s totally normal.
- Blog updates received on weekends may not be posted until Monday.
- Due to many factors such as internet accessibility, program staff aren’t always able to send photos, so some blog posts may contain text only.
Thank you for your patience and understanding, and we hope you enjoy following along on these unforgettable adventures.
For frequently asked questions about the blogs, please visit our Program Blog FAQ page.
-The Global Leadership Adventures HQ Team
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BLOG POST FOR JULY 31
Hola from Belize!
We are all here safe and sound in the beautiful fishing town of Sarteneja! We woke up to a wonderful sunrise and amazing local breakfast with fry jacks, eggs, and melon. After eating, we did a quick get-to-know-you activity called speed friending. Once we all knew eachother a bit more, the group transitioned into talking about the Code of Conduct as well as the upcoming learning opportunities students will have here in Belize!
Before concluding, the students got into mentor groups and put them on the hot seat for a few minutes to see if they could win a “How Well Do You Know Your Mentor” competition. Lunch was served following a short break and mango picking. It was a delicious plate of corn, fish in a delectable sauce, and plantains.
Finally, the students left the gates of homebase and boarded the boats to tour New River where they learned more about mangroves and everything that relies on them. Our group chatted and relaxed in between swatting at doctor flies and leaning over the edge trying to spot crocodiles. The students asked lots of questions and even got to chew on yellow mangrove leaves to test a theory. Once we reached the hand crank ferry, we turned back around and headed for Cerros Ruins. We looked upon the ruins from the boat, avoiding the mosquito haven on shore and listened to Mercy teach us about the Mayan people who once occupied the area around the temple.
As soon as we arrived back to Sarteneja, the group detoured to some local shops, buying snacks and ice cream. Back at homebase, everyone showered, chatted around tables, and played basketball in anticipation of dinner. Dinner was beef burritos and carrot cake, which we all scarfed down, leaving the trays clean and empty.
Before heading to bed, we did our first shout out circle, went over tomorrow’s schedule, and decided leaders of the day.
Today was so great and we can’t wait for all the eye-opening and life-changing experiences we are about to have for the next 2 weeks!
Sincerely,
GLA Staff
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 1
We had breakfast at 8 am. We had eggs, pancakes, and some fruit: pineapple and cantaloupe. We had a presentation about mangroves and the different types and what they do for the environment. Next we walked around the town we are staying in, Sarteneja, to identify the mangroves using the information we just learned! We had lunch which was pork with potatoes, mashed potatoes, and a roll with orangey mango juice. We left the hotel to go to the mangrove activity, we picked seeds off the red mangroves which were ready to be planted and we mixed sand and dirt together to create a porous environment for them to grow in.
After that we took the swim test and everyone passed!! Then we played capture the flag until we came back a few hours before dinner. During this time we had free time and many of us played cards. For dinner at 6:30 we went to a local restaurant called Raquel’s Kitchen and had bbq chicken wings, mashed potatoes, rice, and a slice of watermelon with fresh squeezed lime juice. We also celebrated a birthday!! We played a game called Chalupa which is Mexican bingo. We came back to the hotel and have free time until 9:30 which is bed time!
– Sydney and Bridget
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 2
Hi! This morning we had an early start and had breakfast at 7. We enjoyed some scones, avocado toast, and deviled eggs. After breakfast we headed out to the dock for a 10 minute boat ride to rocky point. There, we spotted and took pictures of some bottle nosed dolphins. We also launched a drone to scans the area for manatees around a sinkhole. However we did not see any manatees this time. After that we anchored the boat in a shallow part of Wildtrack bay. Here we gathered some buckets of sea grass to later feed the manatees at the Wildtracks rehabilitation center. After a rainy boat ride back to home base we had chili with rice, chips and salad.
After lunch we split up into two groups, one group took a short car ride to the Wildtracks rehabilitation center while the other stayed back at home base to review and identify dolphins and drone footage. Halfway through the groups switched.
After we returned we took a quick trip to a nearby store to grab some snacks. Finally we returned to pizza dinner and cake for Bridget’s 17th birthday! We wrapped up the night by watching a documentary. Can’t wait for tomorrow!
– Alice and Kela
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 3
We had a late wake up call at 8:00 am and had a delicious breakfast of waffles, fresh fruit, beans, and eggs paired with pineapple juice. We then set off around Sarteneja with trash bags and gloves to clean up litter in the community as a thank you for the locals’ guidance and help.
After we filled two bags per group, we went back to our rooms to cool off in the air conditioning. We headed down for lunch consisting of chicken, mac & cheese, mixed vegetables, salad, and mango juice. We were then visited by Abi and Jamie, two local conservationists who frequently work with schools. They shared with us our plans for tomorrow with the students and we broke up into groups to work on the activities, like embroidering various local fish and creating Pin the Tail on the Manatee. Becca taught us about responsible photography and Leah led us through Sarteneja to observe local wildlife as a part of citizen science. We returned for a dinner of nachos and watermelon juice and participated in a debate about the pros and cons of deep sea mining during the thunderstorm. After the debate, we finished celebrating birthdays with a piñata!
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 4
Today we woke up to eggs with fresh fruit, chorizo, frijoles, and tortillas! We then went straight to an elementary school where we were greeted by GLA’s partners, Avi and Juliana, and 14 Belizean students at the school. We then learned the Manatee cheer, and then split off into four groups: visual, dancing/cheer, pin the manatee, and guess the body part of the manatee, all lead by GLA students towards the elementary school students. Each station had lots of fun and both parties learned many things from each other, GLA students and elementary students. We then took a break and paired up with buddies to eat lunch, rice&beans, plantenos, and coleslaw.
After lunch, we went off with our buddies and embroidered fish & facts onto a cloth. After each buddy signed their fish embroidery, we all headed to the community soccer field. We had a super fun match of futbol, with the students, mentors, and ourselves, and came to an end in the bleachers. After saying goodbye to the elementary school students, we loaded ourselves up into trucks and headed back to our home base. After hanging out at the home base for a while, we all headed to the stores in the town and got some snacks. After we got good Sartenejan snacks we split off into our mentor groups and had a chat about “voluntourists”.
After ending the conversation with our mentor groups we all headed into the dining room for dinner which was chicken, potato/egg salad, and other salad! Yum! Currently the GLA students, myself included are sitting on the balcony bonding and hanging out! Come back tomorrow to hear about what we do tomorrow!
Adios!
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 7
Hello from Bacalar Chico!
Today we woke up at 6:40 and had a delicious breakfast of avocado toast and bananas. We grabbed our bags and embarked our journey to Hol Chan and Bacalar Chico on the boat. We had a fun and bumpy ride to our destination, singing throughout and making a stop along the way to purchase some sweet snacks, including but not limited to a shared bag of Tostito chips!
We also stopped at Hol Chan Marine Reserve. There, we took some time to discover and appreciate the beauty of the coral reef beneath us through the lense of snorkels, catching a sight of some small nurse sharks and eagle rays. After snorkeling, the boat made its way over to an area in the park where nurse sharks congregate. We practically tipped the boat as all of us rushed to one side to see the striking creatures.
When we finally arrived to our home base for the night, we were greeted by a tour of the national parks museum and the breathtaking island! Some of us had a rustic style shower using buckets of with reclaimed rain water. The rest of us connected a little harder with nature and avoided the shower altogether. They generously made us sandwiches and passion fruit juice for lunch. Afterwards, we had some nice relaxed time to plunge in the warm waters around the dock on the island.
At night, we had a comforting dinner of bbq chicken and potato salad, followed by a meeting of shout out circle and an amazing presentation by the leaders of the day. We stargazed for a while, appreciating the mystical starry sky, and (some of us) finally went to sleep. Others stayed up immersing themselves in the musical buzzing of bugs and soaking in the warmth in the air.
– Noa and Adriana
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 8
Our day started off early with a wake up call at 6:40am. Emi and Zoie decided to wake the group up by signing a special song and banging very loud on everyone door. We then ate tostadas prepared by our wonderful chefs.
We left the Sarteneja inn at 9am and began our journey to the mayan ruins. We had one small stop along the way where everyone could get snacks from 123 supermarket. The group ended up arriving at the mayan ruins tour at 12:30pm and had lunch prepared for us. We walked through the many ruins shortly after learning about the history of the people, gods and culture. The buildings had a variety of significances and story’s behind it. The first building we saw was the homes of the rich mayan people where they found prices of jade artifacts. We then saw the buildings that represent the 13 gods and steps to heaven then the 9 steps to hell. Along with this we discovered that there were many sacrificial ceremonies including, orphans, winners of ball games and invaders.
Finally, we learned about the massive jade artifact that has face carvings of elongated head signifying riches and power. This artifact is rented by museums for over 2 millions dollars and travels the world. We ended this adventure by going into the souvenir shops and buying little trinkets and bracelets.
We then started our journey to our new home base called TEC and settled in. We had swimming time in our pool shortly before dinner where we enjoyed fish fillet, cilantro rice and roasted vegetables. After dinner we had mostly free time and completed the night as always with shoutout circle and a performance by Emi and Zoie.
– Emi and Zoie
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 9
We spent our first night here at TEC (Tropical Education Center) waking up at 7:40 with a breakfast of ham, cheese, and bean sandwiches at 8:00. We were visited by The Real Manatee Man, Jamal Galves, who gave us an enlightening and inspiring presentation about his work with Manatees and conservation in Belize! After the talk and questions, we played Just Dance before lunch at 12.
After lunch we ventured to The Baboon Sanctuary which actually houses almost 5,000 Black Howler Monkeys! We were given a talk about their work, and then took a tour looking out for monkeys and other various wildlife! After the sanctuary we came back and had downtime to go in the pool, or take a hike looking at all the plant and animal life here at TEC. We then all gathered for dinner of BBQ chicken, tortillas, and a banana bread dinner.
After dinner we all came together as a group and created our “one meaningful goal” to accomplish once we get back home! We ended with an early night to prepare for our busy day tomorrow.
– Maggie and Lainie
BLOG POST FOR AUGUST 10
We started off our day early at 5:30am and made our way to the bird misting activity. We learned lots about the birds and how tagging is beneficial for them and their species. The rangers started off by showing us how to set up the nets that are so thin they don’t harm the birds. Our group ended up catching two birds one of which we had to release right away because hummingbirds legs are too thin and the other escaped as we were taking it out of the bag. After this we made our way to breakfast and then hopped on the bus and made our way to the belize zoo. This zoo is centered around native animals who cannot be re release because of injury’s or being held as illegal pets. We then took a tour of the zoo until lunch time at 12pm.
After lunch we made our way to the service which was split into two parts. the first part was painting railings at the Zoo and the second worked on cleaning up the paths. Eventually we went back to home base and had some swimming and nap time before dinner. After dinner we went back to the Zoo for a night tour of the nocturnal animals. We saw all sorts of animals such as jaguars, otters, tapirs, owls, royal rats and many more. The tapir ended up spraying pee all over Emi and Becca and it made quite an interesting ride back. We ended off our night with shoutout circle and went to bed to prepare for the next days early wake up.
