In Belize - part 3

Our bus ride from the orphanage to the church was about 2 hours. We were still not a tight group or anything, so the bus ride was somewhat quiet. There were pockets of people talking, but there was also a lot of looking out the window at our new surroundings. The roads are incredibly narrow and we went very fast. (It was a little too fast for my liking!)

We were in a very populated area at first. There were houses that clearly belonged to very wealthy people. Then, right next store to these gated homes/complexes, were houses that looked like sheds for lawn equipment here at home. In fact, the sheds here are in better shape! Some of the houses were rather open. It was definitely our first glimpse of the poverty we were going to encounter. We also so huge fields of sugar cane.

There were a lot of dogs. Some looked incredibly sick and hungry, while others looked like they at least ate somewhat regularly. It seemed like people must have kept them for protection. But, they obviously didn't have health care - or worry about reproduction!

We arrived at church and were shown where we would be staying. The men stayed in the church sanctuary, while the women were sleeping in an attached building. We got to work pretty quickly inflating our mattresses and organizing our things. Some of the women encountered some rather large bugs in our bathroom, which didn't make me super happy!

Our meals were prepared by some of the women of the church. Dinner that first night was homemade chicken tamales. They were heavenly!

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I've started to realize that I can't do a day-by-day report for you; it will take forever! I will try to do more condensed version in 1 or 2 more entries, ok?

Have you ever gone a trip that pushed your comfort zone?