Caracol, Blue Hole, The First Week of Work, and San Antonio Day

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!
Proffesor Powis suprised me with a HUGE birthday cake at dinner. It was chocolate outside and chocolate inside. The man knows me. The workers who are helping at the dig site brought me some Mayan wine for my birthday, I'll be drinking it tonight - with a little help from my friends.


Caracol:
Another huuuuge site. From the highest temple you can see all 360 degrees of the site. This is also the first site that Powis ever excavated so he was running around like a school kid. It was too cute for words. The same as the other sites, the buildings are fully restored. There is still excavation going on at some of the buildings. A lot of alters have been found and so have burial tombs.

Blue Hole:
Our first Sunday in Belize we went to the Blue Hole, which is a local nature reserve. There is a 100 meter deep hole in the center of a creek. The hole is spring fed and the water is a deep very clear blue. It's also freezing cold, like you hit it and you stop breathing for a second. A little bit down the river there was a huge cave. I decided to swim into the cave - no head lamps mind you. I was attacked by a fruit bat. A large one. I have never swam so fast in my life. Now...most people would not go back to the cave. I borrowed a flash light, tied it to my head with my bandana and swam back in. Multiple bats. Next time...I'm taking a head lamp and a tennis racket.

The First Week of Work:
I have never been so tired and so happy in my entire life. I swung picks, I moved 10 gallon buckets of dirt and rock, I sifted through mounds of dirt for shards of pottery, and I drew more maps and profiles than I ever imagined I would. We found a ton and I mean a ton, of pottery. Some pretty big pieces too. We also found some charcol and the bones of a deer. We found some other things, but until Dr. Powis has a chance to publish his finds, I can't talk about them online. We also have about 10 workers helping us. Most of them are Mayan so as a result I've been learning a fair amount of Mayan. I also have started speaking in a creole-slur type of speach where my words run together and I don't make full sentences. The workers were suprised how fast I've picked it up and how much of it I understand. For my birthday Moises and Marco, two of the workers, brought me a bottle of potato wine - it's a Mayan drink. I'm really excited about drinking it....responsibly.

San Antonio Day:
Our site is in a town called San Antonio, aka Little Texas. Today they had their town's holiday - we have no idea what they're celebrating but hey, a party is a party. We played a lot of soccer, and watched a lot of soccer. The town is where all of the workers from the site live so we got to hang out with them all day which was a ton of fun. Powis took a soccer ball to face, flipped over it, and landed on his feet. I think he suprised himself.

Not sure what the next update will be about.