Barton Creek Outpost

For the last 2 weeks we have been living and working at the Barton Creek Outpost in Belize: http://www.bartoncreekoutpost.com/

The deal here is we help out each day, starting at 7:30am with cleaning, and work until 1:30pm doing what ever needs doing, whilst still helping with dinner and cleaning up or bits and bobs through out the afternoon. In return we get free food, accomodation and discounts on local tours.

We started off there weeding the flower beds and were then given the big project of making a stone patio. This involved going to the river and thowing big stones up to underneath the outpost (which is mounted on stilts) which we then placed in the ground which we first levelled. The effect was a rustic style stone floor to replace the bare earth which was there to begin with. It took 5 of us 4 days of work to complete the task, you can see a section of the floor in the photo below.

Other tasks at the outpost besides cooking and cleaning were cutting grass, attacking plam leaves with machettes, starting generators and water pumps and various other odd jobs. After we finished and had lunch each day, we cleaned and cooled off in the river and had some fun on the rope swings.


The outpost is a family affair. Run by a couple who simulaneously look after and home school their 3 kids there. Helping us out with the volunteering were a couple of Quebecers Dominique and Joanie from French Canada and John from England.

It was all fairly relaxed and not too much like hard work. We did have one disaster though as Caroline got an ear infect whilse there. She managed to put up with it for 2 nights but by then had taken the last of my Anadin Extras (originally intended for the treatment of several hangovers) and the American medication other people there had wasn´t up to the job so we needed to get to town to see a doctor. Unfortunately the guy there with the truck had Dengey fever and we were unable to get a lift with anyone else, so just started walking. We covered a good 8 or 9 miles on foot over a very rough road in some rather uncomfortable heat before eventually getting to a proper road and hitching a ride to town. Once there we went to hospital and saw a doctor and Caroline was able to enjoy the novelty of free health care, something that is frighteningly absent in America. Despite the pain of such a long walk it paid off and after some antibiotics and ibuprofen she was feeling much better.

On our last day there we went to some water falls for a day of swimming and cliff jumping before heading back to San Ignacio for a final night in Belize.


We are now back in Guatemala in a place called Flores. Planning to stay here for a few days then maybe do some more volunteering or go to Tikal so see the Mayan Ruins there.