Pay Day

It has been two weeks here in Belize. Just two weeks! I am amazed that just such a short time ago I had just arrived here at Martha's Guest house and settled down.



So much has happened since then. From adventures around town to going to the botanical gardens, everything has happened so fast.



Last weekend, almost my whole program went out to Caye Cauker. I decided to stay behind and explore San Ignacio some more. After a tough week of school, I was ready to just relax. However, the Friday, when everyone left, we made plans with Martha's niece, Rachel, to go to Spanish Lookout, a Menonite community. Our trip was delayed, due to Rachel's car being out of juice, but we had an interesting encounter. A man came by, with a bottle of Belikin (beer) in his hands yelling at us saying,"get out of our country you tourists" and "we dont need your money here". It was really humbling, and the worst thing was that Rachel, who is white and has a British accent, is part Belizian. It made me feel very unwanted and, for a moment, in danger. We were not home.

Soon enough, the car got jumped and we were on the way to Spanish Lookout. There, I got to crank our way accross the river in a hand operated ferry. Spanish Lookout hardly had anything to do. We, Jess, Rachel and Jess's Roomate Jess H just drove around. The land was slightly different than the rest of Belize because it was rolling hills of farmland. It actually reminded me of Pensylvania Dutch country with all the Amish. Anyways, the menonite community is the biggest producer in Belize and controls all of the Western Dairy products, so we decided to stop for ice cream before we left. Aparently the Menonites are severely inbred because they try to distant themselves from the other Belizeans. This, I think, maybe why there is tention toward the white people who live here. Belize is a huge melting pot for races and culture, but underneath there is definitely lots of tension.

Saturday, we went to the market and then went to Pine Ridge, a close by nature reserve. The ride was the best part because some of us got to sit in the back of the pick-up truck. There was Jonas, Jess, Caroline, Brent and I. Jess H, Jackie Chris (the driver) and Rachel (a Rotary scolar studying in Belize for a year) and their friend Dawson. Again, all of the UVM kids were at Caye Cauker, so this was with the other group of international students from the GLS program (global learning semester). After a while, bouncing down unpaved roads, we decided it would be a good idea to stand up and hold onto the roof. It was. Flying down the road, we would get all the wind in our faces! It felt like a roller coaster ride.

Anyways, the destinations we went to were 1,000 Foot falls; an incredibly tall falls that plumited into a bottomless gorge. The land that overlooked the falls was a peninsula high above the ground below. It was very interesting geography. On the way out, we stopped to swim at Big Rock Falls. it was a short hike in and well worth it. The pools were cool, but the view was amazing. We swam in a small pool right below the thundering falls. Jess has an underwater camera so we brought it accross the pond and into the pool below the falls and swam right up to them and got some great pictures, even some underwater ones. I hope you check out her shots, maybe she will put them online.

We topped the trip off with a road side barbaque (sheep) and a vegan ice cream cone from Cayo Twist, the place to go for ice cream. Jess and I split an Oreo Sunday. Yum!!

The next day, the power was out from 6 am to 3 pm so that the government could do repairs on the grid. It was kind of rainy but we had to go out and find food on the street. One vendor sold us Tamales and another sold us some mini burritos. At the burrito stand, we entered a conversation with a local and told him we were staying for four months. when one of his friends came by and started hastling us (not maliciously) he said "take it easy mon, they live here". That made me feel alot better. Since we were immersing ourselves, not just being tourists, we were accepted.

Later that day, the Patriots won, the Packers lost, and the power came back on (obvioisly).

Tuesday, I joined the softball team, after some indecision on the bus ride, I made the dive. In practice, I played a mean 1st base, so I will probably start in this weekend's tournament in Dangriga!!!! I am not sure if we will play much more than this tournament, but it will be a good way to exercise and have fun. I dont know about volleyball, I think thats a fall sport :-/ sorry guys.

Anywho, my long tale ends with today: Pay Day. At dinner, we recieved our bi monthly allowance to tide us over for lunch and dinner on the weekdays. Dinero hasnt been so bad, since many of you gave me generous travel money. I havent touched most of it yet so I hope to go wild and spend a weekend out on the Cayes sometime soon!
Thats my story so far
Hope all is well with you in the states and around the world.

take it easy