Day 4

Day 4 Belize SGC Trip Blog

Today, we continued our travels in the town of Punta Gorda by learning about the cultural traditions and living experiences of the local civilians. We started the day off with breakfast at our hotel, the Beya Suites, where each of us were served a home cooked breakfast. Upon finishing our meals, we loaded up the van, took our assigned seats, and started our journey to visit the Indian Creek Mayan Arts Women’s Group located in Toledo.  We were warmly welcomed by the six sisters and their mother who run this cultural experience and have lived on the grounds their whole life. Fresia taught us how they prepare their meals from freshly picked farmed goods, and we were able to help prepare the food we would soon be having for lunch. We peeled jippi kappa for the women to roast over a man-made stove and kneaded a bulk of corn masa to make fresh corn tortillas. Then, we participated in grinding cocoa beans on the mortar pestal that was made by the women’s mother back in the 1940’s. We were so grateful to witness these incredible cultural events and preparing our own lunch made the experience much more emotionally meaningful. After eating our lunch, we were escorted by Evangelita outside of the thatched hut to see where their vegetables are grown. She showed us the water reservoir where the women typically obtain water during the rainy season but explained that during dry seasons it is difficult to accumulate. When this happens, they must hire an outside resource to go into town and acquire water for them.