Filling in the Weekend

I have so much to fill everyone in on! It has been an eventful weekend for me! One of the best in my life!!

So last Thursday I had to go to the villages to gather info in my project. I needed to go to San Felipe, where Haley is staying at Cyrilla (the chocolate farm) and then Santa Ana., both of which are in the Jungle. I had to take the bus at 8 am. I told Olivia before I left that I wasn’t going to find my stop but she insisted I wouldn’t. The conductor (the guy on the bus who collects the money, and they are school buses fyi) was told I had to get off at San Felipe. He was in the back collecting money, so of course, they missed my stop. They dropped me off several miles passed it when he realized his mistake. Luckily Juan come to my rescue and picked me on the side of the road. I made it to the farm and Haley got to have the day off from the farm and hang with me. We went to the community health worker/community leader’s house but he was not home. I talked to his wife and children for a bit to gather the info and then we left. There isn’t much validity to this data; it’s just an estimate, but still great information to have. From there we had to walk to the next village over, Santa Ana. We were told it was about 3 miles and you just had to walk on the main road. The walk there wasn’t too bad since Haley was with me and we talked the whole way. We knew we had to be close but it was taking forever. After an hour and a half of walking, we finally made it to the Santa Ana Poly clinic. I talked to the man inside for about 10 minutes and he wouldn’t give me much info. We sat under the fans for another 5 minutes and decided the sooner we walked back the sooner we would get there. The walk back was awful! We didn’t say much except for the occasional, “this sucks” or “cold shower, water, and sitting.” When we finally made it back an hour+ later, we were exhausted and burnt to a crisp (yes I wore sunscreen mom). We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the upstairs deck, reading and doing nothing. It was relaxing and my body was unable to move anyway. When Juan and Abellina got back, I helped cut the cacao beans. They will soak it in water to make chocolate wine.

This is what to cocoa pods look like. The cocoa beans are covered in the white.

Being on the chocolate farm was great! They grow and raise all there own food, plus they make the best chocolate in the world!!! I will never be able to enjoy it the same way again. Their avocados were awesome! Abellina made us burritos for dinner with egg and vegetables. We had orange squash to drink, which was delicious. When the food is good here, it’s amazing. I spent the evening talking to them about their Mayan history and the community. It was awesome (another Public Health moment). Since we are in the jungle, we had to sleep under bed nets. Mine held up pretty well and I didn’t get any bites. I definitely want to go back.

Friday we came back to PG early in the morning. Niki came back in town as well, but Coi had to go to Belize City for a spelling bee since she is working with the schools. We pretty much had a free day. We went to the ocean for a bit, the water is super warm. And It was very relaxing. After that Perlina had someone she wanted me to talk to about info so I left the office to meet up with her. I wasn’t too excited since it was late afternoon and I was in my swimsuit, looking unprofessional. But, I did it anyway. It ended up being one of the offices I planned on visiting the following week, since it was the public health inspectors. The guy ended up emailing me some great info. When I told him what I was working on, he said they planned on doing the same thing at the end of the year. I am hoping to make sure this project coordinates with them since I am gathering the same info they want.

After that, it was time for drumming and cooking lessons with Jill and Emmett!! Jill is an American Belizean who has lived here for at least 20 years and Emmett is her husband who is a native creole beliziean. They own the café that is below the bunkhouse. This was so much fun. We learned to make a Creole soup that is served with rice and fish. It was fun to make. The drumming was the best part! We learned creole drumming since there are a million different kinds of drumming with the djembe. He taught us a beat and we kept it pretty well the whole time while he played all these crazy ones. It was a blast and I really wish I could do that more often. Since it was sleepover at the bunkhouse night, all the PW staffers had the dinner we made and then stayed for the movie “The Gods must be crazy”. It was an interesting movie and fit our cultural discussion. Sarah made some amazing cookies to go along with it. Overall, it was a great night.

Photo of the drumming lesson.

The stew we made.

This is what our dinner looked liked

Coconuts don't actually contain milk. You have to squeeze it after grating it to make the milk.

Saturday was the day of all days. One of the best in my life!! We got up early and Jill made us breakfast downstairs at the café. Then we headed off the Blue Creek Cave. We drove for about a half hour to Blue Creek village. From there we hiked a short distance to the mouth of the cave. The hike and the water were beautiful!! We had a local from the village be our guide through the cave. It was amazing. We wore life jackets, which was hilarious because our guide turned them into floaties instead of the way you’re supposed to wear them, and headlamps. We swam through the tunnels of the caves. It was seriously the coolest thing I have ever done. I am super disappointed that I didn’t bring any underwater cameras to take in there with me. We went all the way to the back of the cave where there was this awesome waterfall. It was definitely a powers family kind of trip and I wish the family could’ve been there to experience it. After we swam back to the entrance of the cave, we hiked a short ways back to a dock where there were rope swings and platforms to jump off of. We had an awesome time jumping in the water for a good hour or so. We had an amazing lunch prepared by Abellina which consisted of coconut crusts, pineapple, banana chocolate cake, and of course chocolate. It was delicious! The coconut crust with peanut butter was my favorite! We came back in town and decided to do a little shopping in PG. I bought a pair of earrings and a bracelet from the local shops. My favorite was the DVD store. It is legal here in Belize to bootleg DVDs. You could pick any of the DVDs in the store and he would copy it for you. They even have some more current DVDs that are in theaters in the U.S. I bought a movie called All Good Things because it had Ryan Gosling in it, I’ve never seen its, and it was $4BZ ($2U.S.) I will definitely be forming a collection before I return.

Sorry its sideways but the awesome look of swimming through the cave.

The amazing water a Blue Creek Cave.

Saturday night we went to Central Park for a candlelight vigil. Nicole, the country director, put the whole thing together in two days. It was for a girl named Jasmine Lowe who was murdered in Belize City for no reason. She was 14 years old and was on her way to get her nails/hair done since she was to give a big speech at an event and she was later found dead. I do not know all the details, but this is something that is often looked over here in Belize. To make it more known, and show this is unacceptable and won’t be forgotten, several candlelight vigils took place throughout Belize. It was a beautiful ceremony, small but I found it powerful. There was an awesome quote next to a painting of her that read “words can inspire, but change only comes through action.” After the vigil, we went to Bamboo chicken for dinner and some drinks. This is a local hot spot in PG, run by a woman from Louisiana. It was definitely a fun night.

It has been a crazy couple of days and its only week one!!