First Day at King's Children's Home (a local orphanage)
We were up by 6:30Am. Breakfast at 7. On the road to King's Children's Home/Orphanage by 8am. We were there from 8:45-4pm. VERY HOT AND HUMID!!! I made sure everyone drank lots of water! Half the group stayed at the orphanage (Kelsey, Monica, Lincoln, Sasha, Jazzi and Alex) and the other half (Mitch, Ryan, Griffin, Sam, Nicole and Chiara) went to the new orphanage construction site about 15 minutes away. I stayed with the orphanage crew and Miguel went with the construction crew.
Those of us at the orphanage did several chores: washed TONS of dishes (breakfast and lunch=ALL the kids come home from school for lunch daily), mopped floors, dusted all the rooms, removed clothes from the outdoor clothes line, folded the clothes that did not need ironing (I nixed ironing as NONE of us can iron), took care of the younger kids (under school age) and played games with all the kids after they came home from school. The kids LOVED the new balls and games we gave them as gifts (I was surprised that an airport agent charged us an import tariff on the donated items). The orphanage crew were amazed at the unbelievable amount of dishes there were to wash! None of us had EVER seen such GINORMOUS pots, colanders and pans in our lives! Plus, the amount of spaghetti and sauce needed to feed everyone was astounding!
Tomorrow we will leave earlier in the afternoon so the students are not as exhausted as they were today. I want them to have enough time to go back to the Red Cliff swimming hole (instant fake suntan) before dinnertime. Plus, I am hoping they will have energy to finally do a nighttime jungle hike to see the nocturnal animals.
Construction crew: Mitch, Ryan, Griffin, Sam, Niclole and Chiara.
Per Mitch this is what they did today: Started out leveling the base area for the foundation using shovels and rakes which involved removing ALL the limestone rocks. A caterpillar would dump a load of dirt and the students would then have to spread the dirt (minus the rocks) out over the building site. They also cleaned out and leveled the rebar areas. They were EXHAUSTED by the end of the day and drank ALL of their water! In spite of applying sunscreen, some still got sunburned.
Per Nicole: LOTS of digging, shoveling, scooping and raking!!!
Many of the construction crew students have blisters and I will be sure and clean them with Bactine and then apply Band-Aids. I will send Moleskin and heavy duty Band Aides with them tomorrow!
After this LONG, HOT, and GRUELLING day, I had our van driver stop for ice cream. What a treat!
We are all eating very well! The students love the Belizean hot sauce and put it on everything! Even the vegetarians are getting plenty to eat!
While Mitch was at breakfast, Kelsey and Lincoln decorated his room with balloons and streamers for his b-day. I took pictures at the end of the day but all the balloons had fallen to the ground. Oh well! A picture will be on the blog tonight. Brenda and Chris=I gave him the birthday cards you sent with me.
Adventure Life is always an excellent choice when planning complicated, extreme, or exotic vacations or expeditions. They provide friendly professional services and advice and are enthusiastic and encouraging in helping us to prepare and thoroughly enjoy our trip. They handle all the details which greatly reduces the stress of planning a difficult trip. I'm very impressed with Adventure Life and definitely recommend them to friends and family.
Scott Trochim
2 days ago
The response from Adventure Life to my first inquiry was prompt and promising. I worked with Jamie Broeckel, Trip Planner, via text, email, and phone calls- always extremely responsive and thorough with information and explaining the process to arrange a private tour for me to Malaysia Borneo. Within about week, the booking was complete and I made decisions because of Jamie's great customer service , friendly manner, and overall competence on behalf of the company's travel expertise. Now I have an itinerary, additional Trip Planner Assistants, several links for vital information for traveling to Maylasia, etc. Still many details for Sept. trip, but now the heavy lifting is done and I can enjoy the rest of the anticipation and research!! Thanks Jamie- you are amazing!!!!
Susan Campo
4 days ago
The trip was not only memorable for the amount of animals we saw but also for the people and accommodations at the two camps where we stayed. Our first guide, BK, was a wealth of information about the animals, landscape and down to the plants and what they were used for. Everyday out was a learning experience with him. All the people at the camps were gracious and the food was excellent.
Our second camp in the Okavanga was just as good as the first as far as the staff, accommodations, food and animals. After our experience at the first camp we amazed that the high quality remained the same. Our guide, G, made sure we were able to enjoy every experience including a rush through the bush to witness a cheetah and an ensuing hunt that he heard over his radio.
In both camps there were enough guides out that if they saw something the other guides were informed which helped in seeing as much as possible. It was also nice that the concessions were large enough that we did not have vehicles following each other throughout the day.
Normally there is always something in a trip of this length that we think could be improved upon but this is the rare case where we cannot think of anything. From the time we left the States to when we returned it was one of the most hassle free vacations we took.
Perhaps emphasizing the use of the laundry facilities at the camps would be useful because of the luggage restrictions would be the only thing I can think of as an improvement to future clients.
Kenneth Dropek
5 days ago
Mary was so pleasant and professional. She made sure all of our questions were answered.