Placencia with the Boys

Who in their right mind would volunteer to wake up at 4:30 in the morning to get on a bus with 47 teenage boys and spend the next 15 hours with them? This girl. This was exactly how I spent my Wednesday. And it was perfect.

This all started Sunday at the youth thing when a couple of the 2^nd Form boys asked Kelley and I if we were going on the trip with them. We had no idea what they were talking about. It turns out they were going to Placencia for a dual Science and Social Studies trip and as soon as it was clear that our favorite students were going to the beach for the day, we thought oh yeah we have to go! Aside from just wanting to go the beach and be with our favorites, on a practical note we know that you can never have too many chaperones and Kelley and I each have a good solid relationship with most of those boys. And not to sound arrogant or conceited but we were the only Americans who went, and frankly if we didn’t go, I don’t know who would’ve actually chaperoned the kids. We were the ones who did bag checks, we were the ones keeping kids under control on the bus, we were the ones trying to keep the group of us together. But I can honestly say it was one of the best days I’ve had this entire semester. Those boys are crazy, but they are some of the funniest and most enjoyable group of kids I’ve ever encountered. Ok where to begin…

Well they were absolutely wound up as soon as they stepped onto the bus. Thankfully I was too, so instead of wanting to kill them, I was able to enjoy how ridiculous they are with their tons and tons of food. Pretty much all we did the whole day was sit on a bus and eat, and we ate everything from chips to granola bars to weird cookie marshmallow things to cheese dip. We also got offered hot dogs, but we passed on those. Goodness, I can’t even remember all the antics that went on during that bus ride, I can just remember laughing and laughing for the whole 3 hour ride down there. I also can’t believe it’s only 3 hours one way, it seems much longer. The ride down was broken up a little though because maybe about 45 minutes/an hour before we got to Placencia, we stopped at a Mayan museum that’s right off the highway. This was part of the Social Studies part of the field trip. Of course when I say museum I mean the Belizean definition of a Mayan museum which was a rather large thatched roof hut thing. The presenter man is 100% Mayan and pretty much runs the place single handedly, so he was incredibly informative and was quite pleasant to listen to. However I missed most of what he said because we had children going outside and kicking around coconuts and throwing them around (towards the thatched hut. Not smart) and no adult had gone out with them. Really what happened was Kelley and I ended up outside with about half the boys while the quiet good kids stayed inside actually listening to the presentation. We got to try roasted cacao beans which are totally disgusting by the way and this is coming from a girl who likes bitter chocolate! Some of the kids also tried the small chile peppers, but they, being the funny protective students that they are, wouldn’t let me try it because “it’s too spicy, Miss!” Well after a few Mayan chocolate samples and many of the kids clamoring for Kelley and me to buy them chocolate bars, we got back on the bus to finish our trip. But not before one of the students became my cousin: we told them all we would only buy chocolate for our families and one of them who is so shy and sweet comes up to me and says, “Miss, I’m your family.” So of course I say, “Oh really? And how exactly are we related?” Long story short, we decided we (meaning Kelley, the student, and I) were cousins. I still didn’t buy him chocolate, but now I call him primo and he calls me prima. I love it.

Ok so finally we get to Placencia and the only thing scheduled is later in the afternoon a lady from the tourism bureau is talking to the students to give them the answers for the worksheet they had. What did we do in the meantime? Played on the beach and ate lunch. I’m telling you, all we did was eat! But I’m just going to let the pictures do the talking.

 These are from the museum:

 Our guide. Everything there is handmade.

 Some students standing outside of the chocolate factory. It was nothing like Willy Wonka's.

 This is a super great candid photo of Juan Carlos, Manfredy, and Edwin!

 This is Christian who is my favorite student. He always looks mad like he hates the world until all of a sudden he gets this huge smile that just takes up his whole face. 

Ok beach pictures!

 Some of the "cool kids" of 2nd Form: Christian, Orvic, Rahim, Ellsworth, Jonathan, and Juan Carlos

 Yay for being at the beach! And calling it work!

 Some of our quieter sweeter boys. Except Jerson who really isn't quiet: Gian, Jerson, Johnny, and Darwin

These 3! They used to drive me absolutely nuts in the beginning of the year because they always goof off and don't really stop. But with a little perseverance, we are at the point where I love them and they are always sure to say hi to me: Istvan, Alberto, and Rafael.

 Here is a progression of pictures. It started out with Kelley and I wanting to take a picture together with a couple of students jumping in.

 Then we saw more coming and called them over.

 And this is how our picture of 2 white girls ended up being

This is Nigel. Being a kid.

Kelley with Manfredy and Lulvin, the two that threw her into the ocean

Manfredy with his stack of starfish that he was so very proud of

 Here they all are!

You know what it was that actually made the day so great? Because all of these boys never get the chance to be boys. They all have so many adult responsibilities, have problems that a high school student shouldn't have, and Wednesday was a day when they could run into the waves as fast as they could and do flips off each others shoulders and just be. It was so very beautiful to watch. It's days like Wednesday that just make me absolutely love my life.

St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us.

Totus Tuus, Maria.