January 9, 2020
Day 10: Transfer to Hopkins
We started our last day at Punta Gorda with another amazing breakfast at the Sea Front Inn. Leaving such a hospitable establishment with a great staff was hard, but we were heading to our last destination in Belize. We departed on a two-hour drive to Hopkins. When we arrived, we were blown away by the beachfront view of our new home at Coconut Row and Buttonwood. As soon as we unloaded our things, we ate lunch at The Coconut Husk Restaurant & Bar located in Coconut Row. At lunch, we were greeted with fresh coconuts filled with coconut water - they really hit the spot!
What was originally planned on the itinerary to be a free afternoon in Hopkins, turned into a surprise we will never forget - behind the scenes, some strings were pulled and our group was able to enjoy an afternoon of ziplining at no cost to us! The beautiful scenery from the surrounding green mountains took our breath away as we glided down the cables. After spending the last couple of days doing clinical work, this was definitely the break we needed. A big thank you goes out to several people, for which this wonderful experience would not have been possible without. First, we would like to thank our professors, Dr. Eric Swartz and Dr. Christine Fiestas, for reaching out to the Office of International Studies & Programs (OISP) at Texas A&M University - Kingsville (TAMUK) to assist in funding and for coming along with us on this amazing journey. They believed that, after all the hard work that we have all been putting into our clinical work, we deserved to have a fun experience like that. Secondly, we would like to thank Peter Li, the Director of OISP, for the generous donation that funded our wonderful afternoon activity. Finally, we would like to thank Chad and Ellen at Therapy Abroad for scheduling transportation and finalizing the ziplining for us.
We ended the day with a delicious dinner at Driftwood Beach Bar & Pizza Shack, an outdoor establishment located right on the beach. We lucked out because it so happened that they have “One Love Thursdays” with live reggae soca calypso and cultural music provided by The Larubeya Boys. It was raining when we arrived so we had to move one of our tables under the patio, but once we were finished with dinner the table was moved back out onto the sand so we could enjoy the music. One by one, people were coming onto the makeshift dance floor, including several of our students and both our professors! (Sorry about the photo quality, everyone was busy dancing!) We are definitely sad that tomorrow is our last full day here in Belize, but seeing the smiles and hearing the laughter and cheer at Driftwood was a great way to end tonight. I’m excited to see what’s in store tomorrow on our snorkeling adventure!
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