Day 4

 Day 4 in Belize

We began the day with an all you can eat breakfast at the San Ignacio Resort, after breakfast we packed up our stuff, hopped in the van and started our journey to Maya Center which was about a 2 hour dive. On our way, we stopped at Hot Mamas Hot Sauce Factory, where we learned about all sorts of different sauces and heat levels.

When we got there, we met with Michelle and she had us try different types of peppers and ingredients from their garden that they include in their different sauces including, guava, lemon, golden plum, lemon grass and mint. After the garden, Michelle showed us where they store their peppers and where shipments are made and received. We were brought through the process of receiving the products from farmers and how they sanitize and clean them before using them in their sauce. They also showed us each piece of equipment they use and what they do. There is lots of testing of PH, sugar levels, and salt all before packaging. Michelle then got us to sample all the different sauces, jellies, and spreads. Some of us had a high heat tolerance and some didn’t, but Hot Mamas had a sauce for you, no matter what heat tolerance you are. We then looked around in the gift shop and went on our way. -Alaina Coote


  


We then took a two hour drive into Maya Center. We arrived at our second location Nuuk Che’il Cottages. The girls stayed in a room with 5 bunk beds and we were all very happy to hear they recently installed air conditioning so our first task when we arrived was to figure out how to turn it on. We had an amazing Mayan lunch where they served us rice and beans, chicken, and cucumber and tomatoes. We then headed to a Mayan school down the road. When we arrived we could tell that the kids were very happy to see us and came running welcoming us with lots of hugs and love. We started playing games, colouring, and talking but that quickly turned into us teaching them our favourite dances and songs. I would say their favourite of our dances was the Macarena, but we taught them YMCA, cotton eye joe (line dance), and the cha cha slide. The kids continued to teach us there favourite dance Punta. We could all tell they were under privileged but they where the strongest happiest kids I’ve ever seen. After their school day was over we headed back to the cottages We ended the day with with dinner that consisted of mashed potatoes, chicken, and sautéed vegetables followed by learning a new card game from Chris. - Cassey Roth

  

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