Jim Kane memorial mission trip to Belize, February, 2009

3. Belize is located on the Yucatán 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 main
land live primitively in thatched huts. There are
very few paved roads…the main highways are
shown in red. The rest is all dirt roads
Off the coast lies Belize Barrier Reef, the world's
second 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.

4. Garifuna
Maya
Most Belizeans are of mixed
ancestry
(Maya and Spanish; African and
British), with smaller groups of
Maya and Garifuna.
Garifuna
Maya

5. 1. Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Flew into Belize City
2. 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 border…near the
Dem Dats Doin Dot.

6. My “puddle jumper” Plane Yep, it is a SMALL plane!!!
owned by Maya Island Air
The “airport” in Punta Gorda
Flying over Placencia

7. The Charlton’s Inn, Punta Gorda

8. Carol Hunt
Valerie Kane

11. 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 no
running water, and use gas stoves or wood fires for cooking.
They wash their clothes and bathe in the nearby river.

12. The Pulpit
The Current Nazarene Church
Here is the
inside…unfortunately
everyone’s stuff is
hanging all over the
place.
And I thought my old
churches pews were
uncomfortable!!!

13. The New Church…with the old
one in the background.
The new church as seen from
the door of the old one.

14. Walking up to the Bathroom
Yep, its for real.
Ewwwww!

15. Wednesday, February 4, 2009
This is where we eat breakfast in the
morning. The locals have been brought
food and paid to cook it for us.
Sister Patrona from Big Falls Village was
our cook (Orange Blouse)

16. Breakfast was Fryjacks (Fried
Flour Tortillas…very good)
Stew Beans, Spam, and
scrambled eggs.

17. Wednesday
Morning.
Working on
the church
laying
block

18. With no
power tools
available,
blocks are
painstakingly
cut with a
machete.

19. There was only a single
hacksaw available to cut all of
These were used to tamp down the rebar.
the dirt inside the church

20. Scaffolding was a very
shaky experience. It
was simply a piece of
wood laid on top of
stacked blocks. Only
the brave ones tried
standing on it. I was
not among them!

21. Someone brought us all a snack of sweet corn to enjoy. It was good!

22. Julian and his little sister, Sylvia.
They said their Mom had died, and their
father was working. They were supposed
to be at school, but skipped so they
could hang around and watch us.

23. Lunch was some
kind of Chicken and
vegetable stew. It
was really good. It
was served with
fresh corn tortillas.

24. After lunch there was
more work to do.

25. More working on the church

26. On the way back to Punta
Gorda there was a giant
tarantula in the middle of
the road. Ron just HAD to
go try to play with it.
UUGGGHHH!!!

27. Thursday, February 5, 2009
Its Thursday morning, time
for breakfast again.

28. Abbey did lots of
Journaling

29. Today we are working on
pouring the forms.

30. Today is all about mixing the
concrete and carrying it to the
men who are pouring the
forms.

31. The Pastor of the Church is
working hard on the new
building.
His name is Martin Tot.

32. I am not needed at this point, so I walk around
the village with Carol and take pictures. Several
villagers 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.

33. Several girls ask us to take their pictures. They love to
run up and see themselves on the digital display.

34. This woman’s name is Elisa Chub. She asked me
to take a picture of her beating the rice for her
family. Then she showed us a few “handicrafts.
Carol bought a purse from her.

35. 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 we
hung 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 was
so thrilled!

36. This is a picture of the
Catholic Church of the
village. I believe they built
the school for the village,
which is very nice.

37. While we were wandering
around, we were invited in to
watch the family make the corn
tortillas for our lunch.

38. Conditions are rather
primitive inside the homes,
with no real furniture to
speak of, and simple
cooking fires.

39. That’s my friend Lupita
next to me in the red
dress.
Carol and I were invited to give it
a try. The ladies had a good
laugh at our attempt and then
fixed them.

40. Lunchtime was a lot of fun.
The kids loved to play with Ron
and I painted all the girls
fingernails.

41. Lee, Henry, and Ron with Brother Andre and Ricardo
they are from Big Falls Village, helping build the church.

42. More Village Pictures. They LOVE the camera!

43. Here is a toddler that I scared away when I took his picture.
After running in he came back and peeked at me.

44. Dogs have a rather rough life in
Belize, most are malnourished.
They all have pretty much the same
features from breeding from the
same gene pool for so long.

45. It’s 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 put
on the roof. Its sad to have to go.

46. Good Bye New Church!

47. 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.

48. Friday is a gorgeous day as we head
out of Punta Gorda. We are all
looking forward to a nice time in
Placencia. We are packed into the
van enjoying the breeze.

49. What most people come to Belize for…

50. My
post-card-perfect
picture

52. Cool carvings in Placencia

53. The Cozy Corner Hotel, Where we
enjoyed Lunch

54. Signs in the Garifuna Language at our restaurant
in Placencia Village

55. 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.

56. Neat places in Placencia
Imagine the beach as your
front yard

57. 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 a
means 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.

58. Along the 1 mile “street”

59. Enjoying Italian ice-cream
in Placencia
Villagers come to sell their
“handicrafts” along the
sidewalk in Placencia.

60. Roberts Grove Resort

62. Jim catches some ZZZ’s
during our downtime

63. Yep, this is the life…ahhhhhhhhhh

64. Enjoying the beach

65. Abby and Henry try out the kayak

67. To my photographers
eye, The doors in
Placencia have a
character all their own.

69. The photographer
in me couldn’t
resist taking some
pictures of the
many flowers.

71. This is some kind of Orchid…Gorgeous!

72. This is another Orchid that was growing
from a tree. It looks like Angels with
wings and fluffy dresses to me.

75. Don’t forget to try the “cowfoot” soup
while you’re here…ummm no thanks.
Of course Ron was all for it, and just
about everyone else tried it. Not me.

77. A quaint little gift shop on the
1 mile sidewalk
This old couple looked so
grumpy I just HAD to take
a picture of them. LOL!

78. Lots of neat little signs in
Placencia…and apparently the Hokey
Pokey is thata way!

79. The Cat I rescued in
Placencia. She was so thin
and pitiful. Ron and I
named her “Cleopatra”
because we knew she
would be beautiful one
day.
She is now with the
Humane Society in
Placencia and will be
shipped to me when
healthy. I can’t wait!

80. A Beautiful end to Friday

81. Saturday February 7, 2009
We travel to Banana Bank Lodge
in Belmopan to stay Saturday and
Sunday Night.

82. Tikatoo was just a baby in October
of 2007 when Jim and I first saw
her. Here she was still timid and
afraid to leave her cage in 2007

83. She is big and beautiful now…and NOT
afraid at all!

85. Tika was VERY playful
and seemed to love
attention.

88. She was very aggressive, no
doubt she would love to
take a bite out of all of us.
She tried to bite the camera
several times.

93. Sunday February 8, 2009
We began our morning attending services at a Nazarene
Church in San Ignacio.

94. After a nice lunch, we went to see the Mayan
ruins of Xunantinich. We had to cross a river to
get there.

95. Our guide was a Mayan himself,
and explained everything to us.
He was very informative and
helpful.

97. The main temple was HUGE! Its so high you can see into
Guatemala from the top. Some of us dared to climb it.

98. We climbed, and climbed,
and climbed….

99. This is only HALFWAY up!

100. I made it!!!

101. Yes, the view was worth it.

102. They always say “don’t look down…Too Late!!!

103. Time to head down.
Henry looks like he is about to take the
plunge…but its just the camera angle.

104. Cool pictures on the way down

105. Going down was scarier than going up.

106. The ancient ball court, where many losers
literally “lost” their lives.

107. It’s a full moon tonight, so we are going to go horseback riding in the jungle
by moonlight. How cool!

108. 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.

109. 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.

110. What a great ending to another beautiful day.

111. 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