Sandra Phinney, Writer

Destination Discovery

If you want more out of a vacation than a sunburn and hangover, here's the perfect solution for you: the YMCA Eco-tour in Belize-an exotic trip that engages the mind, spirit and body. Last winter my husband Barrie MacGregor and I signed up for the tour. It promised sun, fun, culture and challenge, and it delivered big time.

Belize is a poor country in a material sense but it is rich in diversity and soft adventures. Above all there is beauty. It's everywhere ... in people's faces; in the rainforest with its magical healing properties; in intricate systems of caves and in deep turquoise pools of water. There are birds with colors that will leave you breathless. Although there is a huge educational component to the week, it doesn't feel like you are going to school or taking a course. Rather, life as it is lived in Belize, is the teacher.

Barrie jokingly renamed the Eco-tour the "phobic-tour." You can expect to be challenged at some level. Afraid of snakes? You'll come to grips with that the day you meet "Juliasqueezer", a 17-foot boa constrictor. Claustrophobic? A wander through the rainforest or intricate cave systems will cure that. Feel edgy underwater? Surround yourself with nursing sharks and stingrays (tame of course) along with comical rainbow colored fish. Personally, I suffer from terrifying spells of vertigo, so climbing to the top of Xunatunich-a famous Mayan ruin over 130 feet high-was bloody miraculous.

Added bonus: after expenses are met, any profit is used by the Belize YMCA to expand much needed community services. These include remedial programs for young men in jail and giving kids options to stay off the streets and away from drugs and crime.

So make a difference in your own life-and someone else's. Look into the YMCA Belize Eco-tour. Contact Rick McDaniel: mcdaniel@nbnet.nb.ca, 506-462-3084

This article first appeared in Lifestyle Nova Scotia, Winter edition, 2003

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