1. Belize is located on the Yucatn peninsula. It is bordered by Mexico on the North, and Guatemala on the West and South.Belize is a land of mountains, swamps, and tropical jungles. Most of the people on the mainland live primitively in thatched huts. There arevery few paved roadsthe main highways are shown in red. The rest is all dirt roadsOff the coast lies Belize Barrier Reef, the world'ssecond largest barrier reef. The islands, called cays are beautiful and have been made into very touristy tropical destinations.There are numerous Mayan Ruins throughout Belize.

2. GarifunaMaya Most Belizeans are of mixed ancestry(Maya and Spanish; African and British), with smaller groups of Maya and Garifuna. Garifuna Maya 3. 1. Tuesday, February 3, 2009 Flew into Belize City2. Took puddle jumper to Punta Gorda, with stops at Dangriga and Placancia on the way. The flight took about an hour and a half.3. Stayed in Punta Gorda at night, and rode out to church site (2 hour trip) during the day.4. San Benito Poite Village is about 3 miles from the Guatemalan bordernear the Dem Dats Doin Dot. 4. My puddle jumper PlaneYep, it is a SMALL plane!!! owned by Maya Island Air The airport in Punta Gorda Flying over Placencia 5. The Charltons Inn, Punta Gorda 6. Carol HuntValerie Kane 7. The Village of San Benito Poite. Thatched Huts are what most of the people live in. Some have Solar Panels for minimum electricity. They have norunning water, and use gas stoves or wood fires for cooking.They wash their clothes and bathe in the nearby river. 8. The Pulpit The Current Nazarene Church Here is the insideunfortunately everyones stuff ishanging all over theplace.And I thought my oldchurches pews were uncomfortable!!! 9. The New Churchwith the oldone in the background. The new church as seen from the door of the old one. 10. Walking up to the BathroomYep, its for real.Ewwwww! 11. Wednesday, February 4, 2009 This is where we eat breakfast in themorning. The locals have been brought food and paid to cook it for us. Sister Patrona from Big Falls Village wasour cook (Orange Blouse) 12. Breakfast was Fryjacks (FriedFlour Tortillasvery good)Stew Beans, Spam, and scrambled eggs. 13. Wednesday Morning.Working on the church laying block 14. With nopower tools available, blocks are painstakingly cut with a machete. 15. There was only a singlehacksaw available to cut all of These were used to tamp downthe rebar. the dirt inside the church 16. Scaffolding was a veryshaky experience. It was simply a piece ofwood laid on top of stacked blocks. Onlythe brave ones tried standing on it. I was not among them! 17. Someone brought us all a snack of sweet corn to enjoy. It was good! 18. Julian and his little sister, Sylvia.They said their Mom had died, and their father was working. They were supposedto be at school, but skipped so they could hang around and watch us. 19. Lunch was some kind of Chicken and vegetable stew. Itwas really good. Itwas served withfresh corn tortillas. 20. After lunch there was more work to do. 21. More working on the church 22. On the way back to PuntaGorda there was a giant tarantula in the middle of the road. Ron just HAD togo try to play with it. UUGGGHHH!!! 23. Thursday, February 5, 2009 Its Thursday morning, time for breakfast again. 24. Abbey did lots of Journaling 25. Today we are working on pouring the forms. 26. Today is all about mixing the concrete and carrying it to the men who are pouring theforms. 27. The Pastor of the Church isworking hard on the new building.His name is Martin Tot. 28. I am not needed at this point, so I walk aroundthe village with Carol and take pictures. Severalvillagers beckon for us to come inside, and then show us their handicrafts they want to sell us. I bought bracelets here from these ladies. Their names are Alsenia and Lucia Makin. The older baby is Lovinia. 29. Several girls ask us to take their pictures. They love to run up and see themselves on the digital display. 30. This womans name is Elisa Chub. She asked meto take a picture of her beating the rice for herfamily. Then she showed us a few handicrafts.Carol bought a purse from her. 31. This is my friend Lupita,who was visiting from Guatemala. I think the little boy, Matthew is her brother.She only speaks Spanish, and though my Spanish is terrible, she loved me for trying to speak with her.I painted her nails and wehung out together a lot. She showed the other kids her nails, and many girls came and asked me to paint theirs. I gave the nail polish to Lupita when we left. She wasso thrilled! 32. This is a picture of the Catholic Church of the village. I believe they builtthe school for the village,which is very nice. 33. While we were wanderingaround, we were invited in to watch the family make the corn tortillas for our lunch. 34. Conditions are rather primitive inside the homes,with no real furniture tospeak of, and simplecooking fires. 35. Thats my friend Lupitanext to me in the reddress. Carol and I were invited to give it a try. The ladies had a goodlaugh at our attempt and thenfixed them. 36. Lunchtime was a lot of fun. The kids loved to play with Ron and I painted all the girls fingernails. 37. Lee, Henry, and Ron with Brother Andre and Ricardo they are from Big Falls Village, helping build the church. 38. More Village Pictures. They LOVE the camera! 39. Here is a toddler that I scared away when I took his picture. After running in he came back and peeked at me. 40. Dogs have a rather rough life in Belize, most are malnourished. They all have pretty much the samefeatures from breeding from the same gene pool for so long. 41. Its the end of the day, and we are leaving. We can not go any further on the construction of the church until we get someone who can puton the roof. Its sad to have to go. 42. Good Bye New Church! 43. Friday, February 6, 2009 As we leave the hotel, a few villagers have come to show us their Handicrafts. Most of us buy a few. 44. Friday is a gorgeous day as we head out of Punta Gorda. We are alllooking forward to a nice time in Placencia. We are packed into thevan enjoying the breeze. 45. What most people come to Belize for 46. My post-card-perfectpicture 47. Cool carvings in Placencia 48. The Cozy Corner Hotel, Where weenjoyed Lunch 49. Signs in the Garifuna Language at our restaurantin Placencia Village 50. Placencia is well known for it's very laid-back, no-shoes ambience where locals go out of their way to make sure you enjoy your visit. 51. Neat places in Placencia Imagine the beach as yourfront yard 52. A one mile concrete sidewalk serves as the main street for Placencia Village, around which wooden houses built on stilts rest underneath palms. Constructed over 30 years ago as ameans of wheel-barrowing fish around without fighting the sand, Placencia's walkway now has the distinction of being the narrowest street in the world, acording to the quot;Guinness Book of World Records.quot; A number of village accommodations, restaurants/bars, and gift shops are located along the walkway. 53. Along the 1 mile street 54. Enjoying Italian ice-cream in Placencia Villagers come to sell theirhandicrafts along the sidewalk in Placencia. 55. Roberts Grove Resort 56. Jim catches some ZZZsduring our downtime 57. Yep, this is the lifeahhhhhhhhhh 58. Enjoying the beach 59. Abby and Henry try out the kayak 60. To my photographerseye, The doors inPlacencia have a character all their own. 61. The photographer in me couldnt resist taking some pictures of the many flowers. 62. This is some kind of OrchidGorgeous! 63. This is another Orchid that was growingfrom a tree. It looks like Angels withwings and fluffy dresses to me. 64. Dont forget to try the cowfoot soup while youre hereummm no thanks. Of course Ron was all for it, and just about everyone else tried it. Not me. 65. A quaint little gift shop on the1 mile sidewalk This old couple looked so grumpy I just HAD to takea picture of them. LOL! 66. Lots of neat little signs in Placenciaand apparently the HokeyPokey is thata way! 67. The Cat I rescued inPlacencia. She was so thinand pitiful. Ron and I named her Cleopatrabecause we knew she would be beautiful one day.She is now with theHumane Society in Placencia and will be shipped to me when healthy. I cant wait! 68. A Beautiful end to Friday 69. Saturday February 7, 2009We travel to Banana Bank Lodge in Belmopan to stay Saturday andSunday Night. 70. Tikatoo was just a baby in Octoberof 2007 when Jim and I first sawher. Here she was still timid and afraid to leave her cage in 2007 71. She is big and beautiful nowand NOT afraid at all! 72. Tika was VERY playfuland seemed to love attention. 73. She was very aggressive, no doubt she would love totake a bite out of all of us. She tried to bite the cameraseveral times. 74. Sunday February 8, 2009 We began our morning attending services at a Nazarene Church in San Ignacio. 75. After a nice lunch, we went to see the Mayan ruins of Xunantinich. We had to cross a river toget there. 76. Our guide was a Mayan himself, and explained everything to us.He was very informative andhelpful. 77. The main temple was HUGE! Its so high you can see into Guatemala from the top. Some of us dared to climb it. 78. We climbed, and climbed,and climbed. 79. This is only HALFWAY up! 80. I made it!!! 81. Yes, the view was worth it. 82. They always say dont look downToo Late!!! 83. Time to head down. Henry looks like he is about to take the plungebut its just the camera angle. 84. Cool pictures on the way down 85. Going down was scarier than going up. 86. The ancient ball court, where many losers literally lost their lives. 87. Its a full moon tonight, so we are going to go horseback riding in the jungleby moonlight. How cool! 88. The horses hate me pretty much immediately for flashing the camera in their eyes. Mine made sure to run me into every tree in the jungle to get me back. 89. The ride lasts about an hour and ends up at a nice bonfire, where we get to know the other guests, roast marshmallows, sing songs,and tell stories. 90. What a great ending to another beautiful day. 91. In the morning we all ride quietly together one last time, as we prepare to say good-bye. Its been an amazing trip, one that brought strangers together as friends, building relationships as well as a church. All of us have been touched and changed in hundreds of ways that we only just have begun to understand. It was a precious time, and a beautiful tribute to my husband. He would be proud to know how much was done to honor his memory. Thank you for letting me be a part of it.Valerie Kane