Processions in Antigua

Easter weekend this year was wonderful!  I traveled with other PCVs to Antigua, Guatemala to see their celebrations.  Antigua is unique in that it keeps alive traditions that are hundreds of years old.  Each year, the city celebrates Semana Santa with processions that traverse through the old cobblestone streets and march over beautiful flower/sawdust murals that are made on the ground.  We arrived on Good Friday at the height of the celebrations.  At 7am we were just in time to watch a procession that signified the walk that Jesus took before he was placed on the cross.   I think it'll be better to let you view for yourself, so I'm posting pictures of the trip.  If you want to see more, just send me an email and I'll get them to you. 

One of the finished murals (mde of colored sawdust and flowers) before the early morning procession.

I dont know what he's supposed to be...but his outfit was stellar.

One of the ancient churches in Antigua that the procession passed.

Constructing another mural for a mid day procession on Good Friday.

More murals being made.

Busy street on Good Friday.

Taking a break mid-day.

Fetch!

Well, its officially spring break (or Easter Break for Belizeans) which means that I have two weeks of freedom!  Actually, it means that I have time for a vacation, laundry, and to update you all on the things happening here in Belize. 

Trafford and I seem to have a rhythym going in our day to day life.  He prefers to stay outside and relax in the shanty I built for him (he doesnt seem to notice its not as high class as the neighbor dogs' accommodations thank goodness). Its up at 6, play, eat, sleep and repeat all throughout the day.  Come evening, he likes to cuddle up on the couch with his head on my lap.  When he fails to get his quota of attention from me, then its whining until he realizes its not going to get him anywhere.

But, by far, my favorite activity to do with Trafford is playing fetch.  He's gotten quite good at retreiving anything that I send flying through the air.  In fact, its almost nerve wracking watching him dart through the house so quickly.  Now that the weather is warm and breezy, we take this activity outside.  I didnt realize how much of an obsession he had with fetch until I was cooking dinner one night in my house.  I looked out the back window to see what Trafford could possibly have gotten himself into, only to discover that he had taken fetch to a whole new level. 

See for yourself:

Yep, thats right...he's playing fetch with an entire branch of the coconut tree thats in my back yard. Apparently sticks are just not enough anymore...he preferst things three times his actual size... and he's thoroughly enjoying himself too...this is why I dont buy outdoor toys: nothing compares to coconut products!!  AH....i love my dog.

la routa maya weekend

Hey everyone! Just thought I'd share a few photos of my experience with the race last weekend...

La Routa Maya is a canoe race that spans the width of Belize.  Its a four day, 180 mi. race that brings out locals and tourists alike.  Its grueling, intense, and a great time.  I spent the weekend doing HIV/AIDS outreach with fellow PeaceCorps Volunteers (we have a committee for HIV/AIDS).
All in all, our efforts were a success:  6 PCVs, 4 days, 16.5 hours, 1,141 people reached through our efforts!!!!!

Enjoy. :0)

HIV/AIDS outreach group (l-r): Christine, Anthony, Diane, Holly, Terra, me, Zander

Racers and support crew's campsite.  Night 1 @ Banana Bank.

Setting up our outreach table day 2 @ Bermuda landing

Clothesline project @ Bermuda landing.

Sunset from the Black Orchid resort on the Belize River.

Last Day Start @ Burrell Boom!

easy like sunday morning

A day in the life: I realize that some of you are curious as to what I must do with all of my time here in Belize, so I thought I would share my Sunday with you. I wrote this Feb. 28th...enjoy!


Today...

I woke up to birds chirping frantically, like they always seem to do when the weather is cool and calm. There was a little light seeping in through my windows and the air was clean and fresh. I sat up and opened my aluminum blinds to the most amazing sun pouring in onto my bed. Ah, Sunday morning. I think I had forgotten what it felt like to be completely content in a moment until then. You know that feeling, right? When you wake up and you just feel new. That's how I woke up this morning.

I also woke up to four other women sharing my space. That's just how my life works here in Belmopan...I have a constant rotation of friends sharing my space and its wonderful. We had all gone to a friends for dinner on Saturday night and after much conversation and lots of delicious food and wine, we meandered back to my house for some much needed sleep. I pulled off the extra foam from my bed and miraculously managed to make sleeping quarters for everyone. It reminded me of a childhood sleepover and was actually, very much, a girls' night I needed.

We all slept in and woke at various times. I decided to linger in the morning stillness and I put on some acoustic music I have and went about reading my current bedside book. As people stirred, there was a rotation of showers that made college dorm life less of a distant memory- thank goodness I have lots of extra towels- and a delicious breakfast of pancakes was made by my generous friend Christen (the girl has a way with the pancake!) It was great to sit with each other and laugh. I think laughter is one of the best ways to start your day, don't you think?

A little after we ate, we said goodbye to two and the rest of us went about getting ready for another gathering of friends this afternoon. I learned how to make bread dough from scratch and attempted garlic bread sticks....attempted, but failed. Thank goodness Zan was there to fix all my pathetic looking work – she's an excellent cook and worked culinary magic – the bread sticks were fantastic! (and don't worry, I already had made strawberry cheesecake to bring so I wasn't slacking)

Around 2, we walked with our food down the sidewalk that borders Mot-Mot lane to Cardinal street and Sandy's house for the Belmopan resident's pot luck lunch. There was shrimp, brownies, bread sticks, pineapple salsa, bean dip, spinach salad, rice, sobe noodles, terayaki chicken, chow mien noodles, bruscetta and of course, cheesecake. I'm sure I'm forgetting something. Needless to say, I did not need to have dinner tonight. Around 11 of us were there, enjoying each others company and watching the U.S. / Canada hockey game for the gold medal in the Olympics. Sadly, I had to leave before the final outcome because I needed to walk the girls back to my house to grab their things so that they could catch buses back to their villages, but what a great game!

I attempted to put leftovers in my fridge with some success, but left the dishes. I can always do them tomorrow.... Instead, I sat down and watched a movie (a new one...my addiction here is even worse! bless the market movie man). I paused it to watch the sunset through my front door. I think that view is my favorite...an iron gate with flowers and palm trees beyond. Its nice that something as simple as watching the sky change colors gets to be a routine part of my day. I mean, when I think about it, when is that last time that I actually took the time to watch the sky before I moved to Belize?! The thought would have seemed nonsensical and wasteful of time to me 6 months ago, and yet here I am....appreciating the crap out of my skyline.

When the movie ended, I looked at the time and realized that it was still before 8pm! Holy cow, so much time left in my day still. And before starting a next movie – because its Sunday and I'm allowed to be lazy – I decided to write this, because today has been a great day and you should all get to hear about it.

And...because I'm loving where the past 6 months have taken me. I'm in a place where personal relationships matter more than artificial ones, where the days are slow and time flows on in an endless, relaxed progression, where saying hello to a neighbor is expected and reciprocated, where meals are shared by friends on a regular basis, and where I begin my days with laughter.

Not all days are created equal, I know. Here is no exception. But, I find more days than not like today in my life in Belize and what a wonderful thing it is to know that no matter how far I travel or how different people may be from me...there is good in every part of the life I lead.

Ah, Sunday. :0)

P.S. Trafford is still the cutest dog ever and is growing like crazy – he is now the owner of a fancy new (& larger) collar and an absurd amount of dog bones given to him by my wonderful friend, Marla. Judging by his newly acquired things and his mad obsession with coconuts (which he proudly displays all over the front yard), I'd speculate that a day in the life of the dog isn't half bad either. He sends his love.

i smell a rat...

no really. this isn't some figurative pun on an experience i've had here in Belize. Actually, its just what it says it is...please join me in reliving one of the most disgusting experiences I've ever had in my life.

It's no surprise that I have rats living in my ceiling.  Its quite common here and once you get used to the scamper of their feet above your head, its really not so bad.  In fact, i was more or less okay with this...until they started leaving little presents under my sink in my kitchen cabinets.  Not okay...plus it was an unfriendly smell.

So, like any responsible tenant, I went in search of a rat trap.  No luck...apparently the only option here is good ol rat poison.  Since it's the only option, I happily purchased two blocks...It was me against rat turds and I was determined to prevail.

This was about 2 weeks ago...one brick disappeared from under the cabinet, and the next one was slowly being nibbled.  I was stoked...any day, the pattering of rat feet would surely stop and I'd have a clean cabinet yet again.  Was I worried about dealing with a dead rat...no, I knew there was a chance of it, but I had a friend tell me they went outside to die. Therefore...this process was perfect.

How gullible am I?!?!

Needless to say, the poison did its job.  On Sunday, I woke up to a funky smell coming from my kitchen.  I chalked it up to rat poop, cleaned out my cabinet yet again and went to my hammock to read a book.  It was during my relaxing swing session that large flies started to drive me nuts. After about 20 min. I got up to see where they could have possibly entered my house from (after all, I have screen doors and windows..this should not have been happening).  I walked into my kitchen and to my horror, there were about 20 large flies swarming about!  I immediately went to work shoo-ing them out.  Successful after a few tries, I went to work attempting to locate what I thought was attracting the flies - coke bottles.  Again, REALLY, what was I thinking?!

After this task was done, I went out swimming for the day.  I came home late after enjoying friendly company, pizza and wine and headed straight for bed, completely missing the nastiness of what was happening in my kitchen.  No worries, Monday morning it hit me like a ton of bricks.

I attempted to fan out the kitchen and couldnt believe the potent smell, not to mention, the annoying flies were back!  I decided that there must be a dead animal somewhere because it was really the only explanation for such foul odors.  After a quick swipe of the house, I came up with nothing.  In a hurry, I just left to head to the school for the morning and figured I'd deal with it when I got home.

Big mistake, by the time I walked home for lunch, I could barely walk through my house. I immediately went on a search for the animal...looking under the cabinets, behind the frige, under the stove...I even tried to glance up in the roof thinking maybe it was on an edge.  My neighbor came home around this time and told me her house smelled the same way...

Great, we now had a dead, decomposing rat stuck somewhere between our walls where no one could reach it.  All I could think was that I really didnt think I would make it that much more with the smell. I resolved that after I returned home from working at GCPS in the afternoon, I would call the landlord and demand him to take care of the situation.

Opening my door in the evening nearly brought me to tears...rotting flesh is not a welcome home scent!  I decided to try one more time to locate the smell and save myself...I got out my flashlight and started hunting.  10min. in to my 3rd and final hunt...success.  This horrid, stupid, dead rat had managed to die in the smallest crevice of my house.  I could see its body, but couldnt figure out how to reach it.  I ended up tearing off a corner of a cardboard box I'd been mailed and fished the animal out.

To my complete horror, the rat wasn't the only thing I ended up pulling out.  That sneaky carcass that took me so long to find came complete with a large stash of developed maggots...crawling in and out of where the animals abdomen should have been.  Revolting. I disposed of it as fast as I could....telling myself I couldnt get sick because then it'd be an even more disgusting mess to clean up. May it rest in pieces at the bottom of the trash barrel at the end of my street.

In the mean time, I'm enjoying a rat free house and am airing it out continuously.  I can finally breathe upon entry!  But, this whole experience has made me think:  which really is worse -a few rat turds or a decomposing rat full of maggots???  I haven't yet made up my mind.

Your thoughts?

back in action!

 It has recently been brought to my attention that some of you would like me to update this blog.  I suppose that a month-long hiatus is long enough, but I'm finding it hard to write about my 3 week break.  What do you do in Belize over winter holiday? A whole lot of nothing.  I had every intention of getting a good start on my garden, finishing up some work on a manual I'm creating for the primary school, and in general, getting things done.

However...things rarely go according to plan.  Take the garden as example.  Day one: got a good start with attempting to shovel up the rock mixture that suffices as my backyard.  Ample progress, but still a long way to go.  Day two: yard is getting chopped (yes, they cut my entire yard with a weed wacker). Day three: rain.  Day four: rain. Day five: yard is now flooded from rain.  etc.  It hasnt dried yet!  So, my poor garden is sitting unfinished, half flooded and in need of TLC.

Well, since I couldnt work outside like I had intended, I opted to utilize the office internet for a bit and attempt to tackle some projects I have going for Garden City Primary.  Snafu #2.  After my half an hour walk, I discover that the office internet is on the fritz and does not work for wireless.  No worries, I will use one of 2 DSL connected computers and work that way - but I have to wait my turn.  Oh yea, the Toucan Times (a quarterly publication that the volunteers create) crew is in working and they need the computers for deadlines.  I attempted to watch television but the remote is also not in working order....  Groups were in the office like this off and on during the past few weeks...

So, naturally I opted to search out a drill to attempt to finally get my hammock hung.  I could swing in it all afternoon reading or just enjoying the sensation of a gentle swing.  After several attempts, I still have no hammock hung in my house.

Oh, life in Belize.  I finally resigned to just enjoy the free time for whatever I chose.  I napped A LOT and entertained myself with books and borrowed DVDs.  BUT, I also was able to visit friends for those big occasions.

For Christmas, I traveled west on the Hummingbird Hwy and stayed with my friend Emily.  For full report, check out her blog at 
         http://emily-belize.blogspot.com/
I believe she has photos posted.  It was both wonderful and strange spending the holiday in the jungle.  I'd recommend to experience something like it at least once in your lifetime.  I even returned home with a gift of homemade jam from one of the locals!

For New Years I traveled out to Caye Caulker to celebrate with other volunteers.  We took a water taxi from Belize City to the little Caye.  Once on the dock, shoes were off until we made our return trip three days later.  Caye Caulker is a destination traversed more by the backpacking crowd than the average tourist.  It has an amazing Carrib atmosphere that lets you relax and soak it all in.  Within the first hours of my arrival, we had changed into our suits and jumped off a dock at one end of the caye, at what is called the 'split'.   You can't beat the blue/green salt water and friends to chase your cares away.
We also participated in quite the karaoke session late into the night. It was impressive...take that anyway you choose.
New Year's Eve Day, 17 of our group (there were 24 PCVs celebrating together) coughed up some cash and went sailing/snorkeling for the entire day.  If you get a chance to ever get to Caye Caulker -take a Raggamuffin tour.  We snorkeled through shark/ray alley where I was able to pet sharks and stingrays and then we went into a guided tour of protected reef where beautiful sea turtles roam.  The trip provided food and drinks and we had an amazing time!  It was the perfect way to end 2009.

I ended my trip a day earlier than planned because the weather was rainy and cold.  It's been like this for most of the past few weeks...and I'm freezing.  All of you can insert whatever "oh yea, I'd trade you" comment here. I'm dismissing all of them.  For Belize, its COLD.  I finally broke down and bought a fleece blanket just so I could get a good nights sleep.  They warn you about the heat when you come, but never how cold it will feel once you're used to the heat and it only reaches 70! Bonus for 2010, I finally have warm water in my shower!  And it only took me nearly 2 months to get. Its fickle and sometimes disappoints...but I'm on a 3 day run of all warm water and counting my blessings. There is nothing worse than a cold shower when you're already covered in goosebumps.

Ah, the complete happiness that blankets and warm showers bring...definitely simplifying my life here.

Recently, school has started back up and I've been busier.  I participated in an HIV/AIDS training at the close of last week and have some events in mind for outreach work here in Belize.  Things at the school are slowly resuming and my counterpart and I are attempting to create a behavior modification plan to address some issues the students are dealing with.  I also am moving right along with this manual and hope to have it finished and another one started within the month.  WooHoo for progress!!! slow as it may be  :0)


  Hopefully you all are braving your weather as well and keeping warm!

A serious case of the Mondays

Its been a while...but thankfully, I have another lovely adventure to share.  This past weekend I travelled north to visit friends in Yo Creek and Orange Walk.  The idea was that I would stay Saturday night and head back to Belmopan Sunday afternoon.  Well, that was the plan.  Instead, Sunday turned into my marathon recovery session and I decided against a bus ride.  I think it was the right choice as I dont think anyone would have appreciated me on the bus that day.

So, instead I stayed another night and decided that I would accompany my friend, Emily to Chetumal, Mexico on Monday morning.  I mean, I was soooo close and I'd already missed one day of buses...what was a few more hours?!  If only I'd known...

We woke up early and ate a delicious breakfast made by Christen (where we had stayed Sunday) and took a little walking tour of OW on our way to return a bicycle and check out the House of Culture there.

An hour or so behind schedule, we boarded our bus headed for the border.  Mind you, neither one of us had been to Mexico and the directions our friends had given us weren't exactly stuck in our heads.
A perfect example is our arrival.  When crossing the border, you have to get off the bus and go through Belizean immigration. check. Then you get back on the bus and ride a few minutes to the Mexican border.  In between is the free zone where you may purchase alcohol cheaply!  We got off the bus and were about to head into the free zone, when we decided to do so on the way out...that way we wouldn't have to carry our alcohol all over Chetumal.  BUT, in the time it took us to make this decision, our bus was gone.  So we went through the Mexican immigration and hailed a taxi to the mall.

I believe all I could say was a repetition of this feels bizarre.  The mall was like stepping into America.  Air conditioning, nicely tiled floors and storefronts galore.  It had a food court and even those massage chairs that you pay a dollar to sit in for 10min. - Craig, I know you get how amazing that is - We walked around with our jaws to the floor.  Didn't buy a THING...it was just too overwhelming (although we did grab lunch at the food court).  We headed across the street to the Mexican version of Sam's club and I got a few things for my house really cheap.

Looking at the time, I realized that I needed to start the journey back to Belmopan - it was a good 6 hour trip and I was already starting to feel tired.  Being the amazing friend that she is, Emily got me a taxi headed in the right direction with her brilliant Spanish skills.  I hopped in, said my goodbyes,and gave a silent prayer that I would actually arrive at the correct bus terminal. And I did.

The hour and a half bus ride back to OW took a little over 2, but I had just enough time to grab a drink and pick up t-shirts from Christen that she wanted placed in mailboxes back in Belmopan before the bus to Belize City departed.  It was an express bus and I have never been as excited to pay extra for air conditioning.  The bus was sparsely occupied and we reached Belize quickly.  Mind you, I had now spent 6 hours on a bus...shopped in Mexico...and crossed a border twice.  I was tired.Exhausted even.

So, you can all imagine my reaction when about 5 min after arriving at a bus terminal, a NON-STOP to Belmopan arrived.  YES...those are the quickest buses of all!  I climbed on, paid my $4 and put on my music.  Home was an hour and a half a way.  RIGHT....my trips never do seem to end that nicely.

About 40min into the trip, the bus pulls over.  I, of course, am internally irate! WHY?!?!!? is the non-stop bus pulling over. I can feel the anger boiling up over my exaustion to the point that I see smoke.  Oh wait, thats not me...thats the bus.  Immediately, all the windows in the bus are put down as far as they will go.  Doesn't help...in fact, there's more smoke pouring in and people are coughing and choking as they try to grab their things.  We all quickly grab our belongings and file off the bus as its engine catches fire.  PERFECT. We aren't near any village and its completely pitch black.

After about 15 min...the police arrive and ask if the bus is alright. Clearly not...but I love that they were gracious enough to ask. Sweet, really...they even turned on sirens (which is a first since I've been here). We stand around for another 15 min or so....all of us knowing that our options are to hitch or hope for another bus.  Luckily, the bus came first and our bus load piled into a full bus.  I would say that it was unsafe to pile soo many people in one bus, but seeing that the last bus I was riding caught fire...I think its a mute point. 

So, finally I reach Belmopan...safe, tired, and so excited to be walking distance from home.  After all, the worst part of the day is over and I'm finished with the long bus rides...can't wait to unlock my door, shower and crawl into bed.  But I think karma has a way of completely entertaining itself on my behalf....because no sooner had I started walking through the park, when it started to rain...then pour. Having no umbrella, I simply hung my head and took it....squishing my steps all the way home. It was then that I realized I'd forgotten to grab my cheap bottle of alcohol in the free zone...and man, I could really have used a drink.

Ah.  I love Mondays....really.