Post Trip Thoughts: Communication is Key (Kryslynne)

Have you ever heard of the saying, don't judge a book by its cover? Of course you have. I am sad to inform you that I did just that with Belize. But after getting to emerge myself in experience I was able to connect with the people on a deeper level.

One thing that I really enjoyed was being able to talk one-on-one with some of the students from Tumulkin Center of Learning. Before our tour of the school, I spoke with two first year, female students. While we were talking to they shared with us some of the classes they were currently and what their favorite subjects were. I remember that one of the students said she enjoyed her math class and I jokingly asked her if she'd be my tutor but she declined. They also told us what role they played within the school outside of traditional education. The school has a garden that all of the first year students take care of and the food grown was then used in the kitchen to feed everyone. They explained to me how they woke up at 6am to tend to the garden. That just seemed absolutely crazy to me but to them, it was just their way of life. Even though looking after a garden is not considered a core subject it still teaches students important life lessons. These kids were learning how to provide for themselves and their families in the future. What these students are willing to do to receive an education is inspiring. It made me stop and think about how I might be taking some of my educational opportunities for granted. Without getting the chance to talk with the students I probably would have never realized how much the school relied on the participation and dedication of the students. 

If I would have to pick my biggest take away from this trip it would have to be that the best way to learn about an area or place is to speak with the people who live there. They can provide you with information that you can't read in about online because you actually have to go there to find it. 

Kryslynne is a sophomore in the Agriculture and Extension Education Major at Penn State 

Day 8: Orange You Glad I Didn't Say Banana (Kryslynne)

Today we got the chance to tour a local banana farm. Being involved in the fruit farming industry myself I noticed a lot of similarities and differences between the two farms. Also, I had somewhat of an idea what we were walking into when we went into the field. Even though I'm not as knowledgeable on the fruit growing in tropical climates I was still super excited to learn more about how they do things here in Belize.

On the banana farm, the growers prune or trim the trees after they remove the bunch of bananas. Even though we don't prune our trees after every picking we do make sure they are at least trimmed back once a year. This helps the plant regenerate growth by cutting off the "suckers". Suckers can be branches, leaves, or roots that just suck up all the water and nutrients taking away from the plant itself. If you don't cut off the suckers the plant will suffer. 

One difference I noticed between the two farms is how they distribute pesticides. The farm uses a plane that fly's over the fields distributing the pesticides. Back home at our farm, we use a pull behind sprayer that is attached to a tractor. Both methods have their own benefits but I don't think our farm would be able to use planes as a way to spray no matter how cool that would be. 

After touring the banana farm I personally think it would be easier to grow one fruit than numerous ones like I do. We grow so many different types and varieties of fruits that we have to know a lot more about each individual tree. For example, I don't just need to know how to thin an apple tree I have to also know how to thin a peach or nectarine tree as well. Plus there are numerous varieties of peaches or apples that must be cared for differently. So the fact that they can focus on one type of fruit sounds more appealing to me( lol get it bananas, appealing? no okay). Don't get me wrong, I love fruit farming and I love my farm, but I do think the way they do things is less challenging.

Kryslynne Vroman is a sophomore majoring in Agricultural Education and Extension at Penn State University Park 

Day 4: Climb at your Own Risk (Kryslynne)

This afternoon we got the opportunity to explore some mayan ruins. The site we went to was Xuantunich where Giselle our driver also became our tour guide. She took up on a quick hike through the woods where we came across some howler monkeys. As we went along, I couldn't help but wonder if the path we were using was once used by the ancient mayans themselves. When we arrived at the plaza the site before my eyes was breathtaking.

As you may know as sometimes I nerd out over mesoamerican ruins/information/artwork/artifacts/etc.  So needless to say, I was completely in my element today. The first ruin we got to climb was huge! And I've seen it in many pictures, but being able to see it in person was awe-inspiring. Just getting the chance to actually be there and touch the limestone made me feel more connected to the Belizean culture. Giselle also told us many fun stories about the structure. For example on the sides of the structure there were fiberglass replicas of the original carvings. The reason it is a replica is because the original stonework was uncovered around the 1950s and the elements quickly began to erode it. So as a way to preserve the structure and the artwork, the archaeologists filled it back in with rocks and put the fiberglass in its place.

In the replicas, you can see some of the Mayan gods. One of the gods she pointed out was the sun god. The mayans had a high appreciation for jaguars. Some believe man came from a jaguar mating with a human. So as as way of linking the sun god back to jaguars, he can be seen with a feline nose. Also the yellow and black spots represent day and night for the sun god rising and setting. Another feature the sun god has was crosses inside of his eyes. For the maya to have crossed eyes it was seen to be a sign of one of the elite. So when the children were young, a bead was placed between their eyes so they would constantly look at it. This caused their eyes to turn inward and give the crossed eye effect.  At the age of one or two the bead would be removed but the child's eyes would remain crossed. This practice became so common that everyone in the community started doing it to get the desired feature, which then in turn caused the elite to stop doing it because they didn't want to look like everybody else.
Just hearing these intricate stories of only one god made me realize how invested the ancient Maya were in their religion and communities. Additionally, learning how they modified their bodies in such a way to seem more powerful made me realize it's something we still do today.

For the people of Belize, this is just their history. I find it interesting how sometimes I take my own history and culture for granted and find it boring, but find theirs so fascinating. This makes me wonder if they find their own history as boring as I find mine. To say the least, today was by far my favorite day of the trip. I got the chance to hear stories of the Mayan people while actually being in the areas we were talking about.

Kryslynne Vroman is a sophomore studying Agriculture and Extension Education at Penn State.