Friday, March 20
Last night after dinner Rachael, Roy and I had planned to prepare the buckets for today's visit to Machakil ha. Within seconds Lee, Rick, Lester and Ingrid joined us to drill and file holes and remove the edging from the lids. With their help, we had thirty buckets ready and loaded in less then 30 minutes! It's a beautiful thing when Midwesterners, Belizeans, and Canadians join forces to help others!
Lee was kind enough to prepare a delicious breakfast for us before we hit the road at 6am. After picking up Manuel in Otoxha, we drove to Dolores to load up the horses for our ride. Our guides bagged stacks of 30 buckets and lids and then strapped them to a disgruntled horse. We had heard that the trail was passable during the dry season, but I think most Americans would disagree. Marcos and the other guides had to coax the horses through hilly, horse-belly deep mud, over fallen trees, and over extremely narrow wooden bridges. Without stirrups, we just had to hold on with our legs and hope for the best!The teacher, Mr. Rash, had to abandon his dirt bike in the mud about ten minutes into the ride. We strapped the 50lb suitcase of hygiene care bags to the back of Rachael's horse.Mine already carried assembled buckets and filters on each hip. Roy had a large duffle bag in his lap.Poor horses! The 6+ KM ride lead us Machakil ha where we waited for men from each household to join us in the village's Catholic Church for a bucket filter purification system workshop. We felt like a well-oiled machine just two days in. Roy provided most of the step-by-step instructions while Rachael and I chimed in helping students requiring further assistance. Manuel translated and answered questions.The men seemed pleased with their handiwork and thanked us several times. After some water testing and a meeting with Guillermo, the village health worker, we were invented to Mr. Pukul's home for lunch with his family. Thomasa Pukul prepared eggs, stew beans and tortillas.Finally, we rode the horses back to Dolores, and drove Manuel home to Otoxha. After a quick shower and refreshments back at the lodge we drove to Punta Gorda for dinner at Emery's. Now we are all happy to be sitting on cushy couches at the lodge. This will be an early night. Roy just commented that if anyone complains to him about having a big but he is going to tell them it's an ASSet for riding horses through the muddy rainforest
-Ann


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