Hello Everyone.
It is April 29, 2007 and today is our week anniversary of the field school and our third official day in Orange Walk Town. There is so much to tell family and friends back home, but today I will only limit myself to talking about our first day arriving in O. Town.
Alright, once again we had an early awakening at quarter to five in the morning. I woke up to the sound of about one hundred tropical birds and a very obnoxious rooster. After realizing where I was, we packed up our back packs and waited for our transportation to Orange Walk. We decided to take the early bus with most of the local Belizean workers to avoid extreme heat temperatures. This was quite the experience. The transportation system includes an extended school bus with local music pumped throughout the whole bus. Now let me tell you, these buses fly down those gravel, pot holey roads and do not slow down for anything...which makes things fairly risky . All I could do was grin and bare it:) Although the bus was painfully hot and crowded, I enjoyed riding with the locals and gazing at the passing scenery in the Orange Walk district.
Once we arrived in the town of approximately 17,000 people we checked into our lovely accommodation called Hotel de la Fuente. It is situated downtown Orange Walk and provides a pretty little place for us to call home for the six days that we will be spending here. First impressions of the town are very good. The people here are amazing. They are so friendly and they are always willing to talk to us and share information with us Canadians. Interacting with the locals has been the best part about this field school for me. I love learning about new cultures and getting a real perspective of what it is like living in Belize.
After settling in to our rooms, Larry Wolfe, a fellow Malaspina professor for the geography field school, arranged a quick informational tour of Orange Walk for our orientation to the town. The main purpose of our community tourism research is to gather qualitative information about what the locals think about tourism and what potential they see for Orange Walk in the tourism industry. We viewed the looked upon attractions in the area including the town plaza, the market place, and the New River. As we walked to a great restaurant, Lamanai Resort, I began to understand the impact we could have on the community with our strategic ideas and useful educational concepts to apply to Orange Walk's Official Community Plan. In addition, the people of Orange Walk give off a very welcoming vibe and we are happy to be here to talk with them more about their community.
That night, Carolyn, Ebony and I walked to a few places in town to buy some groceries from the "People's Store" to buy food that would last a us a few days. We also stopped by at a great little bakery and bought all sorts of goodies and even a pizza that we cooked in the hotel oven. I am still getting used to the Belizean food (Fried Chicken, Enchiladas and soooo much Rice and Beans....)
Later on we had a quick debrief of our day and discussed our game plan for the morning research approach. So overall, I am having a pretty great time on this field school even though I have a sore throat and sinus cold in 35 degree weather. It is pretty ironic that I would become sick in Belize, but really it is just my luck. Hopefully I can drug myself up on lots of vitamins and water to get better ASAP! I am really enjoying spending time with my fellow group members and I'm almost positive this will be a trip that I will never forget!
Until next time. Adios Amigos!
Erika von Poser
