Ambassadors, TV Stars, and 3 Girls on a Mission

I said to myself a few weeks ago, "If I can get through May, I can make it through the Summer."  I was referring to the unbearable heat wave at the beginning of the month--when we had to wait in our oven of a house daily without fans for the electricity to come.  Well, I am here at the end of May--more than a fourth the way done in Belize and I slept in a long-sleeved shirt last night. This last week has been fun.  Now, I just have to make it through the rain!

It has now started to rain.  We got back from working in the school today, and the clouds gathered in, and the rain came out of nowhere.  In fact, the vendor across the street had his cart tip over, so a bunch of the girls ran over with me to help him fix his cart.  By the time we got the gate open in the yard, we were each soaked to the core.  We helped him turn his cart right side up and save the fruit and other stuff.  WE then just played in the rain for a few minutes.  

I am devoting a lot of my time to the Mary Open Doors project.  Sarah has come on board and is working with us on the project and is helping us sell it.  Heather and Sarah compliment each other extremely well.  Heather is bright, heard-working and dedicated to the project.  Sarah would make a great politician--she can sell it.  It also helps that the organization has a really great reputation in the area.  Last Thursday, we went to the Rotary Club meeting in San Ignacio.  The breakfast didn't go as well as we had hoped.  We did, however, meet the guy who was on International House Hunters.  The night before I moved here, my mom had Tevo-ed International House Hunters-Belize and we watched it together.  It was exciting because they were even looking at houses in San Ignacio.  Well, we met, and it was great to talk to him.  He is retired young, but worked as a teacher at UNLV for Disaster Management.  You can imagine how excited I was to be able to ask a lot of questions about it.  He said that it is a growing field, especially in hospitals everywhere. 

Anyway, we went to Belmopan on Tuesday.  We started by going to Rotary Club meeting, and then we headed over to the British Commission office.  It went extremely well--except for the lunch, which was at a Chinese Restaurant that worried me.  Anyway, we were given a very warm welcome, and time to explain our cause.  Many people came up to us after and asked for more information and gave us more contacts that they thought would be interested in attending the event.  There is a Women's Club in Belize that works a lot with Mary Open Door as well as  CDF, which we are working with on another project.  We were also sitting at the same table as the US Ambassador to  Belize.  He purchased a couple of tickets, and got our information about a grant opportunity that would be perfect for Mary Open Doors. 

I have been reading a lot about nonprofit management this summer, and this week has been focusing on financial stability of organizations.  Mary Open Doors is a great organization that serves thousands of women, but the staff consists of two women who are stretched as thin as they can go.  The organization is trying to keep overhead expenses to a minimum, but hiring an additional fundraiser would probably benefit immensely, or getting board members to network for them.  Mary Open Doors would have never known about the grant if they didn't have people out in the area advocating for them.  The grant alone would more than make up for the costs of hiring a new employee.  I am enjoying working with Heather and Sarah on this project. 

Yesterday, we went to Belize City.  We took the early bus, and it was an express, so we got to the city in about 2 hours, which is so fast for a bus.  We didn't have a meeting until 11:00, so we meandered around the tourist areas for a while. We found one area where we had to give them our IDs to get into the area.  It was where the Cruise ships drop off tourists.  It was night and day from the world outside.  We found a chocolate shop that boasted Belizian chocolates.  I laughed because Belize is not big on the chocolate.  There's a little bit of it, but it only goes to foreigners because it is so ridiculously  expensive.  They did have lime-salt-milk chocolate, and chocolate perfume.  Even the tourist shops were air-conditioned.  We got out and I wanted to get away from the tourists.  We headed over to the Korean Embassy, which was moved, and we couldn't find it, so the taxi brought us over to the Raddison Hotel, which is where the Rotary Club meeting was suppose to be.  We waited there, and then found out that the meeting for the day had been canceled.  Luckily, some of the employees at the hotel said that the manager was a Rotarian.  We were able to talk to him and he gave us more information for next week's meeting.  We then turned around and walked back to the bus station. 

We were all craving burritos, so we stopped at a store and got three burritos.  It took forever to get us food.  The owner was so proud to serve us.  He was so nice!  The food finally came, and he asked us to prepare for a wonderful feast. The burritos came, and well…. It was shredded Chicken, Cole slaw, Kraft American Cheese, and Ketchup.  The owner was watching us, so I ate all of it because he was so nice, and soooo proud.  We then hunted for a fruit stand to find something that would put a different taste in my mouth.   The picture on the side is of Heather and I while we are waiting for lunch.  I think that the crabby-hunger is coming out in our face.  I also love the natural paleness of my arms in comparison to my face.  We were all a little concerned that we would be getting sick from the burritos or chinese food over the next few days.  We then saw a sign for "Belizian Chinese Fast Food," and all agreed that we probably shouldn't ever eat there.  So far, I haven't gotten sick here, but I have been pretty careful, and wouldn't have eaten the burrito if I didn't love the guy selling it to us quite so much.

We got on the bus, and came back to San Ignacio.  Sarah and I were laughing that it was a flashback to the mission--a perfectly planned day that completely fell through.  It's fun to have Sarah here because she  often says, "wow, this is like Korea" and it is fun to have someone else say what I have been thinking.  Now, I just have to survive the rain!

Hiking in the Jungle & Splunking in a Maya Cave-Temple

This trip has amazing day after amazing day. While we were working with "Juice" out in the villages yesterday, we mentioned that we would like to go to the ATM Caves. ATM stands for "Actun Tunichil Muknal" which actually means…Cave of the Stone Sepulcher. 

It was an AMAZING experience. 

We started by meeting our guide on the speed bump in front of our house.  We had fewer participants than expected, and he offered to lower the price even more.  (We were already getting a smoking deal on the day's activities).  He said that it was more about sharing his culture than the money.  We then got in the back of a 15 passenger van and started out toward Belmopan.  About half way there, we turned off the road, and had beautiful vistas of the foot hills.  We passed Mahogany and Tea farms along the way.  It was a bit of an adventure just riding in the car.  We got there, and they gave us each a helmet, and we began hiking in the jungle.  It is the very end of the dry season right now, so there really isn't a lot of lush greenery--comparatively speaking.  We were still hiking in the jungle under the canopy.  It was still a life tile.  We had to cross the river 3 times, which wasn't too bad since it is the dry season.  We got to the cave mouth, and had to leave our bags.  They don't allow cameras into the cave. 

The first hour in the cave was filled with swimming up the underground river, crawling up the boulders, and squeezing in.  It was a phenomenal experience just hiking in the jungle and hiking up the cave.  Once we got to the main cavern, they had us take off our shoes and walk barefoot.  The ancient Maya used the cave as a temple, and believed that it was the connection with the underworld.  The ancient artifacts were out for us to see.  The cave was discovered in 1986, then rediscovered in 1989, and archeologists decided to leave the cave as it is.  There are many pots and pans half buried in the cave.  We were able to see 3 adult skeletons and a baby; however, there are many more.  They have banned packs and cameras because someone dropped a camera into the scull and broke the scull of one of the human remains.  Someone else dropped a bag and broke one of the baby skeletons.  Too bad… how frustrating!?! This is why cameras are strictly banned from the caves. 

I could feel a deep sense of pride and respect for the traditions of the Maya from our guide.  Although I appreciate the culture, I still find some of it repulsive.  The princess would get really high, and then split her tongue in two.  This doesn't bother me half as much as the human sacrifices.  Many of the sacrifices came because the people were trying to sacrifice blood--the life-giving agent.  Babies were especially popular to sacrifice because of their purity.  They would sacrifice when the culture was at it's downfall in order to win favor from the Gods to save them.  I, of course found all of this fascinating, disturbing, intriguing, and humbling. 

They believed that God has created man 3 times, each time out of something else.  The second type were made of clay (I think), but they were disobedient, so they were turned into monkeys.  The current type are made of corn.  They did the head deformations to make the head resemble a piece of corn more. 

After we got out of the cave, Sara and I ran back to the car, and had quite a fun time.  We may have also found a vine in the jungle to swing on.   

I felt a lot of honor that I could go into the caves and share a piece of history.  I pulled a few pictures off the internet because I couldn't take any pictures.  Ok, here you go!  Enjoy!  

Life Tiles:
-Hiking in the Jungle
-Swinging on a vine in the jungle
-Splunking
-Seeing a Maya temple
-Being in a Maya temple where all the artifacts are still in their original position in nature
-Feeling a bit like Indiana Jones (priceless?)

The Projects

I decided that I need to talk a little bit about some of the projects from the last few weeks.  Here we go!

Sacred Heart College

We just finished a garden project at the high school across the street from our house.  It is very expensive to go to the school, and a lot of the students don't have the money to get lunch.  The students in the feeding program can work in the garden and then get lunch paid for.  The project was done last year, but then the rain flooded it out.  We used cement and created permanent beds.  It was a lot of fun, and really hard work. 

Nazarine School

A few weeks ago, I met with the principal at a school down the street from our house.  She said that the teachers of the Infant 1 (Kindergarten Classes) were in need of help.  The Nazarine school apparently takes anyone--even the students that have been kicked out of other schools.  We brought 6 volunteers and were working in 3 classrooms.  I didn't go the first few days.  One of the parents in the PTA said that they really need rain gutters and a play ground.  I decided to go to the school to see the project the next day.  I was there in the morning, and was blown away by the difficulty of teaching.  A lot of the kids learn Spanish at home, and then they get to school and it is in English.  You can imagine the difficulty that 5-year-olds face in trying to understand.  We were trying to explain the difference between 'a' and 'an', but they couldn't understand--they didn’t understand what a vowel was and what a consonant was--many didn't even know the alphabet.  Then, the other half of the class is much more advanced.  Although it is super challenging and requires a lot of patience, I really enjoyed being in the school.  I also am less concerned about rain gutters and painting murals on the walls, and am more concerned about how we can help the students learn English and ABCs….  The teachers were really grateful for the extra help in the classroom. 

Health Classes

Today I went with the group to the health clinics.  When we were in the Cayes, we met Kendra who came down to Belize for the month to do medical clinics.  They go to schools and teach students about the health issues in the area.  They also take blood pressure and sugar levels.  There are a lot of diabetics here in Belize.  Since there was no school today, we went out to a tiny remote village and went door to door talking to everyone about health.  We showed the children how to brush their teeth and then showed everyone what to do if someone is choking.  We basically did mini health clinics.  One of the families said that volunteers could go stay with them for a few days if we wanted.  I'm still trying to figure out what the volunteers would do, but we are getting more information about it. 

Going around today was a lot of fun, though.  "Juice" picked us up and we were in the back of his pickup.  The view was incredible, and it was great to finally meet the infamous "Juice" as well as Colette.  Colette is a Senator for Belize, and he apparently worked with Help Intl. the first year that they were here coordinating health fairs throughout Belize, even down in Toledo.  It was kind of a dream for Hilary and I to get down and work in Toledo.  It would be super nice to get there and work more in that region.  It's so hard for us to reach the rural populations since we rely completely on the buses. 

George Price Center

We went and met with the George Price Center last week.  It was super wonderful.  I really like Elsie, the Director of the Center.  She is really wonderful to work with and said that she would be more than happy to collaborate on any projects that we are going to plan.  She said that we can plan the projects and the curriculum and she will provide the facilities and the publicity.  She also indicated that summer reading  projects and a computer project would be great.  Our volunteers are heading up both of the projects.  At the end of the summer, we will also be doing a peace camp with the volunteers.  :)

Mary Open Doors

This is going to be a little bit tricky.  Mary Open Doors is a great organization that provides relieve to women who have been battered and are looking for an escape.  Unfortunately, it is very expensive to house the families and they don't have a reliable source to fund.  <I honestly would love to work with them to get the costs down and devise a reliable income so that the center could be self-sustaining>  We talked to them and she said that she doesn't have time to do fundraising.  We are trying to put together a fundraiser for her, but it has been extremely difficult to pull in all the resources--specifically, we are American girls who don't know how to sell the tickets in this country.  We have a plan, and we are trying to go for it!  We got the resort to donate the venue, and are negotiating food prices. 

To promote the activity, we went to the Rotary Club meeting on Thursday morning.  It was funny to watch.  We met the guy from International House-hunters who bought his house here in Belize.  The funny thing is that I honestly saw the show the night before moving here.  My mom recorded it not knowing that it took place in the exact city where we are living! 

We have a few other projects in the pipeline.  I'm getting excited for the rest of the summer.  I just wish that we had more volunteers for the projects.  :(  Oh well, we can work with what we have, right!?! 

I realized that I have taken hardly any pictures.  I'll repent and try to be better.  It's really been an amazing month!  I can't believe I'm already 1/4th the way through the summer!  

Search for a Beach

Wow, what a weekend!  Hilary and I took off on a crazy adventure to find a beautiful beach.  We were in an area where they did not speak a word of English and I felt completely lost and totally reliant on Hilary.  It was overwhelming.  I loved hearing the Spanish, but I felt completely helpless.  Everyone in Europe--that I needed to communicate with--spoke German, Italian, or English.    At one point in the adventure, a gentleman got on the bus, gave the driver a CD, and provided an hour of entertainment for us--complete with singing and dancing.  I wish I would have taken a few pictures.  He was great!    We were there with the strangely familiar brittish young man, the tatooed Canadian, and the Brittish couple.  We also all ended up at the same hostel that night.

We had a pretty cool little hotel.  The owner was Israeli--German-Belizian.  Quite an interesting mix!  The hotel had Wifi, but only in the hall, so Hilary went out in the hall and I decided to flip through the stations… guess what I found--Pride and Prejudice.  Yes, I watched it.  Actually, it put me to sleep.  I woke up to a man walking into our room and Hilary wasn't there.  I freaked out, even though the man left.  He was super nice, and so sorry that he walked into the wrong room.  I partially freaked out that Hilary wasn't there. I ran into the hall, and found her skyping, and said, "Oh good… you're alive."  I then gave her the keys and locked myself in the hotel room. 

  We got there and were overwhelmed by everyone wanting us to go on their boat.  The captain actually let us ride on top, with the crew.  It was AWESOME!  The water was super choppy.  They gave us life jackets and said that we only had to wear them in the dock, but the boat was rocking so much that I just left it on the entire ride.  The waves were coming over the top of the boat, and the entire boat was tilting.  We were totally save, but it was quite the adventure.  It was WAY FUN!  The crew was super nice--they pulled out some coca cola and we all had some.  After two hours, the water calmed down a bit, and I fell asleep in the sun.  I got just a little bit of sun, but my face turns super red for a little bit, so it looked a lot worse than it is.  Later in the afternoon, they warned us that it was going to rain.  The third girl that we met in the cab went down under, but Hilary and I stayed up top for the ride.  I was actually cold, and enjoyed it as best I could.   It  poured for about 15 minutes, and then it was fine.  We watched dolphins jumping behind the boat, and then we saw fish jumping in the wake.  We also passed a lot of remote cayes along the way--it was amazing to see!  We would have missed all of it if we were down in the hull without any windows.  Hilary went and changed into dry clothing, but my back pack was already wet, so I didn't have anything dry to change into.  We were standing on the dock  when I saw the storm getting closer and closer.  It hit just as we got off.  We started running across the dock, which was missing boards, and looked like it was going to fall apart any day.  Downpour.  Beautiful downpour. Hilary was super annoyed because she had just changed into dry clothing and her shorts were yellow and quickly became see through.  We started running to the bus, and people commented on how we were in the rain.  It was super funny until one guy yelled out, "Wet t-shirt contest!"  I turned to laugh at Hilary and her shorts when I realized that, although my shirt was blue, it was still sheer, and you could see my red bra.  I was so embarrassed. We got to the bus station, and I ran into the bathroom and changed my shirt into another wet, but opaque and black t-shirt.  I felt fine about it until some guy came up to me and said, "ahh, wet t-shirt girl."  Hilary just laughed at me. 

 

Wow, I just read over this and it sounds a bit confusing.  Oh well-- I can fill in the details of the awesome adventure in real life sometime!  :)

Exerts from my journal--

Friday, May 12

On Friday, we all headed over to the Sacred Heart College to work on the Healthy and Ready to Learn feeding project.  They did this project last year, but the rain flooded out the beds, so we are re-doing it with a more permanent structure.  We all spent the day working in the garden.  After lunch, the landlord drove by and stopped to talk to us.  He said, "Oh, you are never here!"  I said, "you should call before you come by, so that we can be here" and he asked when we would be home to fix our gas tank for the stove.  I told him that we were home at that moment, and he could come in and fix it.  He told me that he did not believe me, and told me to call when I was home, and he drove off.  (we were at the gate of the house when this took place).

Saturday, May 12

We started the day by heading out to the Market in the morning.  It was really funny because we found a stand that was selling American brands--like the Gap, Limited, Banana Republic, and Aeropostale.  The clothing was all new, but the prices were ridiculously low--like $4 US for a pair of shorts. 

After going to the market, we headed out to Succotz to go to Xunantunich.  We hiked up the hill to see the ruins.  All of the volunteers seem to be under the impression that I am expert on the area.  I feel bad when I don't have a clue--they asked me how much further to the ruins (we had a 1 mile hike up), and I had no clue.  There was a remarkable peace at the ruins.  I can't imagine being the first one to discover the ruins.  We hiked to the very top of the tallest building.  There were a few drops of rain, and it was so nice to relax at the top.  The view was incredible! 

Sunday, May 13

Happy Birthday Mother's day!  I woke up this morning to a downpour of rain.  It was actually very nice!  Some of the locals were telling us that the week that we lost power was the hottest week of the year.  It makes me a little happy to know that it is just going to get cooler from here on out.  I have to admit that I have already seen a considerable difference, and I am soooo grateful for it!   

I have been researching a bit about how to go to Cuba legally.  There are stipulations that give permission to people to go.  Cuba welcomes the visitors with open arms--and doesn't stamp US passports so that they don't get into trouble for going to Cuba.  I am looking into going through legal methods.  One of the stipulations is if you go as a Graduate Student, or for humanitarian purposes.  I am going to apply.  I'm not interested in going just to lay out on the beach all day.  I'd like to go walk around and see what Cuba is like.  I was fascinated by the stark differences between Austria and Slavakia, and I feel a similar curiosity with Cuba.  How is Cuba different?  What are the humanitarian needs of Cuba?  Are there any? 

I also find the cultural diversity here in Belize very interesting.  Here in San Ignacio, all of the grocery stores are owned by Chinese, and all of the appliance stores are owned by Indians (the south-east Asian country).  There are several Menonite communities.  We went to one, and stopped for breakfast.  It felt like being back in the United States.  This led me to ask the following question:  What is it that keeps Belizians from bettering their situation? 

A few days ago, we stopped to eat at this new hut down the street from our house.  They were the cutest, nicest couple.  He was from Belize City and she was from Guatamala.  We had to ask what a lot of the things on their menu were, and she laughed.  She does not speak English, and he explained that she was laughing because we are the first Gringas to eat there.  We were right across from the Red Cross, and we asked what the RC does.  They said that they came down a few weeks ago and did eye exams and gave them reading glasses.  The generic sets were for free, but the specialty glasses were given to them at an affordable price.  She pulled out her glasses in pride and thanked us for our generosity. There are eye doctors, but the Belizians can't afford them.  The next day, I saw the generic reading glasses at the market. 

One of the justifications for slavery was that these people were not capable of taking care of themselves, so we have to tell them what to do.  Are we still doing that? These people need to live at the same standard of living as me, so we have to help them achieve that level. But do they?  They see it whenever they go to the Menonite community, yet they don't necessarily want it for themselves.  Everything that Belizians need essentially comes from their markets.  The grocery store comes from the Chinese.  Do they need it?  No.  Does it help them?  Maybe. How?  It provides a wider range of options--most of which American groceries--to the people.   Is it hurting the Belizian people?  Possibly.  Where is the balance? I don't know, but we are giving away reading glasses, while reading glasses are collecting dust on the shelves, and the locals selling the reading glasses are not making a profit.  On the other side, it is possible that tiving them to this generation will create a standard that the next generation is willing to work for.

Back to the slavery thought… I wonder how long slavery affects a population.  The more that I think about it, the more evil it comes to me.  Taking away someone's freedom not only demoralizes an individual, but also affects generations to come. Parents no longer know how to teach their children to take care of themselves, to think freely, to be ambitious.  How many generations would it take to bounce back from this mentality?  Belize has a strong Afro-Caribbean influence, and still has a British appointee (in exchange for financial help from the Crown) in the government.  I am curious about the affect that this has on the culture--feeling powerless.  What is the motivation to work hard?  Where does it come from?  I'd like to study the influence of slavery and colonialism on development.  I'm sure it has been done, and I just have to go find it.

Monday, May 14

Heather and I headed over to Mary Open Doors for a meeting with the Director. Mary Open Doors is a homeless shelter for women who are battered.  We met with the director this morning.  She said that they have plenty of volunteers coming in, so they are putting a price tag on the volunteers.  There is a $250 charge for each volunteer because they really need money.  We asked about how they have fundraised in the past, and she said that they had a dinner at one of the resorts.  The Ka'ana Resort donated the venue and the food, and Mary Open Doors sold the tickets for $100, and 100% of the proceeds went to the organization.  She said that she hasn't had time to do the fundraiser.  Instead, we are going to organize the fundraiser.  We are hoping that we will be able to continue working with them, and we can start up the business help next wave when our business girls get here.  We'll have to see! 

Tonight, we went to "Sweet Ting."  It was really interesting because I got to witness a menonite double date. 

Caye Calker

Hilary and I have been waiting at the hot, oven of a house without electricity with the promise that the electricity would be turned on that day.  We waited, and waited, and had everything set up, but the electricity. After working straight through the weekend, we decided to peace out Sunday after church and head over to caye caulker.  We got there and walked around the island.  We got lost the only non-tourist district, and stopped this little girl to ask her what the quickest way to get back to the north side of the island was.  She looked at us and said, "where's that?"  So we pointed, and asked what the quickest way to get over there was.  She replied, "with a boat."  True.  Unfortunately, we only had feet. 

While we were there, we made friends with some people who are here on a medical mission.  They traveled Belize with the Senator doing health fairs.  Two of them are staying for the summer to go door to door.  Kendra said that the major concern is sugar consumption.   It's through the roof, and there are a lot of people with diabetes.  We talked about her using some of our volunteers to help her with her project. 

Let me tell you about the hostel that we stayed in.  We asked for a private room, but it wasn't really all that private--there wasn't a door on it.  We got in, and climbed some stairs, climbed some more stairs, went through a wall, and then climbed up more latter-like stairs to the attic of this bungalow.  I loved it.  I felt a lot like Peter Pan.  The attic has a sweet view of the sunset.  We thought that we would have a nice view of the sunrise, so we woke up to see it, but only saw a tree, so we rolled over and went back to bed. 

On Monday, we got up and went kayaking around the Island.  It was Hilary's first time, but she really loved it every time we were in the blue water.  It was so beautiful.  I have to be honest, though. Caye caulker doesn't have the prettiest beaches… or any for that matter.  Still, the kayaking made up for it.  After kayaking, we met the new friends for lunch and had Caunch Ceviche and ice cream.  I have to be honest, I haven't loved the ice cream--I actually don't like it.  I am holding out for Cayo Twist, which is supposed to be made from Coconut milk, and I have heard good things about them.  Anyway… I got a little burned.  Ok, anywhere that is not normally covered by my cycling shorts/jersey is scorched.  That night, Hilary and I went to get dinner.  Half way through dinner, I started feeling queezy and   the culmination of it came when they brought me the chicken.  I couldn't eat.  I ended up just getting an orange juice and stopping for gatorade on the way home.  I drank soooo much water that night, and soaked my poor skin in aloevera. 

We had set up a time for the power company to come turn on our power, and when we were back early, we called the power company to make sure they were coming and tell them that we were back early.  They asked what time I would be available tomorrow, and told me that I would have to be home all day tomorrow to wait.  I tend to be very laid back when I am the foreigner, but this was about my limit, and I said, "no, you will come today.  We have made ourselves available today."  It worked!  They came, and we have power again!  Yahooo!  We cleaned out the fridge, and are going to put the aloe gel and ice cubes in there.  

Life Tile Checklist from the weekend:

1. Drinking coconut water out of the coconut with a straw

2. Kayaking/swimming in the Caribbean Sea

3. Staying in the attic of a bungalow

4. Eating caunch Ceviche

5. Eating at a restaurant on a swing overlooking the ocean

Electricity? Hopefully soon.

We did it, we are no longer homeless! The last few days have been a lot of fun. On Sunday, I went to church at a local branch. They were having a district conference. We were able to meet the mission president and the area authority. They were both extremely nice and asked us how they could assist us. I really enjoyed the one talk that was in Spanish, and tried my hardest to understand. I am still amazed at how easy the Spanish is to understand. He came up to me after and said, "Ah, you speak Spanish (I looked at him, and not the translator). It broke my heart just a little that I said, "No... just English." I want to start studying the language and see how much I can learn this summer. After that, Hilary and I walked up to the top of Cahal Pech and looked over the valley.

On Monday, we met with Richard to see the house across from the school. This house is a lot more spacious than the other. We decided to go with the more spacious house because it is more secure. After we looked at the house, we went and met with Berta at the school. After lunch, we went with Richard, Berta, and Lucille (Richard's wife) to an agricultural center outside of town. We are trying to figure out a way that we can prevent the rain from destroying the gardens. We are going to build the beds out of concrete instead of wood and then put up structures over them so that the rain doesn't kill the plants when it comes in June. The agricultural center gave us a lot of really good information. We were initially thinking about building a steel structure to protect the garden from the rain, but it would have been very expensive. We might still use steel, but only to cover the beds, rather than an entire green house. I liked the design that the agriculture center used--sort of a half dome over the top. That evening, we went up to the track above the church and ran a few laps. It was good to get out for a bit!

Tuesday was a holiday. Labor day. The only difference between the US labor day and the Belize Labor Day: they actually observe Labor Day here in Belize. It looked like a bit of a ghost town. When we met Gilly on Sunday (who is ironically married to a friend of mine's former mission companion), we set a time to go visit him in Soccutz to finish a project that was started last summer. The town of Soccutz is right next to a cluster of Mayan ruins, but no tourists ever visit the city. They get off of the bus stop or tour bus and go right up to the ruins. Gilly (the mayor) worked with Help last year to put up street signs in the town, and then have a large town map by the bus stop and small handouts with the map and some advertizing of the city. Some of the shops in the town have bought in for advertizing on the map. We need to contact them to get their help in paying for the printing of the maps and we need to get the big sign printed and posted by the bus stop. Getting to Soccutz was a bit hard since everything was closed, and the busses ran half as often. We got back from Soccutz, and couldn't get much else done since the city shut down. We stopped at a hut for lunch, and it was the best burrito that I have had since arriving. Not as good as the beans, rice, shrimp in mango sauce, and jerk-flavored veggies from the first night, but this place was supper yummy. We then went back to the hostel and did some research and office work.

Wednesday marks one week in Belize. We moved into the house, and I am missing electricity, internet, and the AC that we left behind. We got the keys to the house at 10:00 this morning. We then went to one location to open the accont for electricity and then to another to pay for the account. We asked when they could get it turned on and they said, "Soon, maybe tomorrow." That wasn't too comforting. We then went to the water place and they told us that we have to have the meeter number and a receipt from the landlord saying that we have paid rent. We got it, but they were closed for lunch and we had arranged for a driver to take us to Belize City to pick up the beds. They were given to the mission while we were gone, but the missionary that they left them with had gone home, so we have been calling around to half a dozen different people trying to figure out where they were. We didn't think that we would get it, but they were tracked down this morning and we were able to go get them. When we got back, we went back to get the water figured out. We had all the necessary information, but they told us that we have to have the landlord with us in order to go. Luckily, we have water in the house, but it isn't in our name. After we finished up with getting the water, we realized we hadn't eaten all day. Hanna's came highly recommended, so we headed over there to try it out. It was BIG and pretty good, but I think that I still prefer the hut by the bus station. We then went to the main street and used the WiFi at a local restaurant that we made friends with and did some office work.

We got back at the house and it was still dark. At one point, Hilary just asked me a question, and I looked up to respond. After me talking to her for a few minutes, she said, "You know you aren't looking anywhere near me, right?" It made me laugh. We ended up doing some shadow puppets with the lights from the street for entertainment. 

Other tid bits:

1. We went to an elementary school, and they had a hyena tied up outside the school. The picture above is not of the Hyena school, but it is one where Richard recently finished building new bathrooms (they are not pictured).  We have the principal of the school on the right, and Lucil (Richard's Wife int he middle).

2. Tigers are apparently wild. I want to catch one by the toe.

Oh, our house is super secure. The previous owner was robbed in his home outside of the city, and this was his pharmaceutical office, so it is SECURE! I mean, a huge, thick fence, and padlocks everywhere, and bars on all the windows. The one thing that we are going to remove are the cameras in the house.

On Thursday, we went to get the electricity secured.  We brought them an old bill that we found in the house so that they would have the meter number and address.  They said that they would have it set up by the end of the day.  We  had more difficulties with the water company in the morning, and then we had a meeting with the George Price Center of Peaceful Development.  We had a really great meeting with them, and we talked about working on the peace camps at the end of the summer.  We also talked about reading camps.  It was good to go meet with them.  They also said that they would be more than willing to work with us on any other projects that we come up with.  We got back to the house... and we were still without power.  We decided to go running and just enjoy the evening. 

We woke up early and called the landlord and went straight to the electric office.  Apparently, the last tenates of our house took the meeter with them.  The landlord had to call an electrician to come and instal everything.  This meant that we had to spend the day in the house  without electricity.  It was soooooo hot.  Hilary and I ended up tag teaming it to go run errands.  We went back up to the electric company at one and gave them the new meter number.  She said that she would send someone over immediately.  This did not happen.  At about 5:30, HIlary and I gave up and decided to go charge our phones (which are dead) and computers at a local cafe that has WiFi (and that is where I am at currently).  Once we got here, I realized that I left my charger back at the house (it was dark!).  I ran back to the house and made a friend on the way home.  This guy rode his bike up to me.  He told me all about himself.  He works at the boxing gym (don't worry, he showed me his muscles).  When he said that he was a blackbelt, I thought "Crap, I'm in trouble if he tries anything." He offered to teach me how to box.  He said that I need to keep my body in shape so that I can be strong when I am old.  He was 60.  This is where Hilary and I are now... in a cafe in what I call the tourist district.  There are more americans than locals.  I'm not complaining.  There is light and a fan pointed right at me.  Unfortunately, we will not have power until next week because it is the weekend.  We were also able to set up some more project with a great local NGO here.  I'm pretty excited, and look forward to having our volunteers arrive.  It should be a lot of fun! They get here next Thursday....We have almost everything done.  We just have to get water delivered to the house, and get the electricity turned on.  Other than that, we are about ready to go!  At least we have running water...  It has honestly been a lot better since I found my head lamp and can ready by light at night.  I finished my first book, and have started studying spanish.  I am understanding why every one from the MTC district was catching on to Italian so quickly--they are so stinkin similar! 

Hilary took a picture of me and the shadow puppets.

Still lovin' Belize--think Pirates of the Caribbean.  That is the best comparison.  :) 

House Hunting

Wow, what a crazy few days we have had! We met Richard on Friday morning. He is great! We met him for coffee and juice. He started talking about some potential projects for the summer. He is one of the most amazing people I have ever met in my life. He works as a welder and builder, and dedicates a lot of his free time to helping improve the schools and Belize in general. I am really amazed by people who are so dedicate to building their communities.


He recently was able to redirect a dental x-ray machine to Belize that was suppose to go to Africa, and he is trying to get it set up here in Belize. The hospital in Belmopan has a room for it, and he is working with a local doctor to arrange for a specialist in Guatemala to do a training on how to use the machine. We would be working with him to prepare the room for the machine by cleaning and sanitizing the room.

After three cups of coffee and two cups of orange juice, the three of us went to look at some of the projects that past schools have worked on. One of the projects involves a local high school. The local high school is very expensive and a lot of families have a difficult time paying for books, uniforms, supplies, and food. Because of these high costs, many students do not have the money for lunch. Last year, volunteers helped put together a garden and then taught nutrition lessons. The vegetables were used in the cafeteria, and the students could work in the garden to get lunch. Unfortunately, the rain damaged the gardens, and the natural dirt is very red and it does not hold water very well. Richard has procured some black soil that will hold the water better, but we still need to figure out how to help the gardens not get destroyed by the rain.

Richard also took us to visit the technical school where he would like to replicate the project. Apparently, there is a group of Native Americans who are coming down in December to do a similar project. We are communicating with them to see what we can start now, so that they can tak over next December. They come and teach aggrcultural lessons about improving organic aggriculture and the practical uses of different plants. It'll be great to collaborate with them!

We also visted the Elementary schools where Richard has worked; he showed us one where he build new bathrooms, and another where he built several classrooms. It was impressive. The government will pay the salaries of the teachers, but the communities have to build the schools. This why locals have to pay a lot for high school (I think), but elementary school is still more affordable, since there aren't as many needs for text books.

We are working on expanding a lot of our contacts. I was researching partner organizations for some of the projects that the volunteers are interested. More information to come later. Let's just say that I am super excited. It is a lot easier to understand the country once I am here. It is a collaboration of cultures. It has a culture that is a lot closer to Jamaica than it is to Mexico or Guatemala. One thing that has surprised me a lot is the large number of North Americans here. I hear a North American accent almost every day. There are also a lot of Chinese people here.

Also, Richard warned us to not talk to the Rastafarians too long because they are watched closely by the police. If the police see us talking to them too long, they will assume that we are buying drugs. I had this in my head (along with the silly roller skating youtube sensation) when a rasta brother offered to sell me some "herbs" while Hilary and I stopped to buy mango. I didn't understand, so I kinda ignored it while we finished paying. He asked me once again if I want to buy some "herbs to smoke." We were done by now, so I said "No." and turned away. As we walked away, I realized that I probably came off extremely rude. At least I didn't finish it with a, "No! I'm going rollerskating!"

Day #1

Hilary and I stayed at the Raintree Inn. We are looking for a house for the summer. We saw one that was very promising this morning, and we are going to go check out another house tomorrow morning. It is nice that there is at least one house that is available. We looked at several that are already rented or partially rented. We contacted several that we found on the Internet, but they are all rented, or too far from the city center. We have to find somewhere before Saturday.

We went out for dinner tonight. Flayva's. No joke--awesome name. Dinner was so good. I got mango shrimp with sautéed vegetables with jerk seasoning. I love the Caribbean influences in the food, and the culture for that matter. I hadn't seen a single bug until dinner-- I now have legs covered in bites. Hilary got none.

Everyone is super friendly. WE met with "mamma Kay" this afternoon to look for houses. We met a lot of people, and when they hug you, it feels like they actually mean it. I like that.

Hilary is passed out no her bed fully clothed. It's 7:00 local time (which is the same as Utah). I'm so glad that I brought books to read in the evenings.

Ready. Set. GO!

Well, I did it. I started a public blog. I am sitting in the airport--though I'm not sure which--sitting in the laptop charging area running out of things to do on my first of two 5-hour lay-overs.

Tah Dah! I will start a blog about my adventures this summer. I knew that I'd be leaving the country this summer, but I didn't anticipate working as a Country Director or taking 20-30 volunteers to Belize. I feel excitement, nervousness, adventurousness, peace, tiredness, anticipation, and anxiety. In J.M. Barrier's book, Peter Pan, Tinkerbell is described as having all the extreme emotions of the world, but being so small that she can only have one at a time. I'm that girl; yet, I can and have cycled through all of them in any given ten minute time frame.

Ready. Set. GO!

*~*Summer of Belize Adventure 2012*~*