Our Itinerary in Belize

I’m sure it gets old for some, but for me, getting on a plane leaving the country is exhilarating. It was an overwhelming feeling just stepping onto the jetway and walking to seat 20E for my 3 hour flight from Dallas to Belize City. Compared to a number of my colleagues, friends, and students, I haven’t traveled a great deal internationally, so the excitement I feel in going to a different country and culture is palpable. Of course, I hope that feeling never goes away. All of the worries that went into the planning of this trip just melted away and were replaced by possibility.

I had a few questions on Facebook about where we were going, so I thought it would be worthwhile to share our itinerary, or at least the highlights. I am typing this on my flight to Belize City and will post when we arrive at our lodging at The Great House in Belize City (Picture above is the view from my room at The Great House). I am going with the director of our program a day early to get settled, before we greet 15 students and our program coordinator at the airport tomorrow.

So, we will spend one day in Belize City before we venture inland to a conference center called Jaguar Creek (www.jaguarcreek.org). That will be our home base for the majority of the trip, and is located south of Belmopan which is the capital of Belize. Jaguar Creek was originally founded as an environmental education center, and is now owned and operated by Pathlight Ministries. It is set on over 700 acres of rainforest, and is really a remarkable place.

From Jaguar Creek, we will visit a university in Belize called Galen University and our students will get to meet and learn with Belizean students. They will also get to hear from a few experts on issues of sustainability and leadership in Belize. Next we go to Belize Natural Energy (www.belizenaturalenergy.bz), the first and only oil company in Belize, to hear about their efforts to develop the oil industry in Belize in a sustainable manner. Other highlights include visiting the Mayan city of Caracol with EcoQuest (www.fcdbelize.org), the Belize Zoo (www.belizezoo.org), and the city of Dangriga to learn about the efforts to preserve the Garifuna culture (www.ngcbelize.org). Oh, yeah, we are also probably going cave tubing on our “off” day (www.cavesbranch.com).

From there, we cross back over the mainland to Belize City where we will board a boat or two to go to Long Caye at Lighthouse Reef (www.belizeisland.com). This is an island that is being developed and the owner of the island is going to great lengths to ensure that it is a model of sustainable development. From there, we will go snorkeling and SCUBA diving around Belize’s barrier reef, which is the second largest continuous reef in the world. Finally, we come back to Belize city to hear presentations from business leaders further exploring the concepts of sustainability (www.belize.org).

So, those are the details/plans for the trip, the content, if you will. I hope you follow my blog to hear the experience and the process of this trip.