Time Flies ...

... When we're having fun. And we are. Here are the pictures to prove it.

Here's Rafe driving the ferry across the river on the way to Xunantanich. (and, yes, I can pronounce that). He must have looked like he knew what he was doing because, both coming and going, the ferry driver needed to do something and had Rafe drive for him.

Ernesto took Adrianne out on her first kayak ride. They survived and didn't even get wet. Well, not very wet anyway.

Brynn and Adrianne don't look too sure about the whole wet suit idea but they got into it eventually (and literally) as did Rafe. The kids went SCUBA diving for the first, but definitely not last, time. They had a great time diving with the manta rays, lobster and fish.

Alfred's brother, Darrell, his wife, Sheila and their kids Julia and Joseph came to visit. As we drove through an orange orchard, all the kids opened their windows and plucked an orange for a snack. They ate them the Belizean way. Like and apple - but spit out the peel. A warning, though, as Brynn found out, the orange oil on the peel burns like heck if it gets on your lips.

Walking through the jungle you are bound to find a vine or two. What else are you going to do? You have to take a swing! Watch out for that tree, Brynn.

And, after swinging through the jungle, what better way to cool off than to jump into a waterfall? There is no better way. Ask Derrick and Rhonda (Alfred's sister). They came along on the hike and Rhonda even 'swung on a tree' and swam in the falls.

Today at the zoo, Kori got a treat. She's hanging out with the boa. It was so soft and smooth ... and strong! The muscles in that snake pulling against my arm were definitely stronger than the muscles in the arm against which she was pulling. (OK awkward but fun)

It's been a great month! Heck, it's been a great 6 months. One thing, though, I miss the cold, the snow, the blizzards. For true!

Off Shore Snorkling

So maybe 'plethera' was a bit of an over statement as I seem, once again, to be out of ideas. I am surrounded at the moment by the definition of a peanut gallery trying to help me come up with ideas. So far I have: we are moving to a new church building (no one really cares); I have lots of company (again with the no one really cares) and (my personal favorite) 'sometimes I have good ideas but this isn't one of those times.' Consequent to that, you will get my snorkling story. If you find that you're bored to tears, don't quit reading just send questions and ideas. On to the snorkling story:
The Players: Alfred's sister, Rhonda
Rhonda's husband, Derrick
Alfred's mom, Betty
Brynn
Me
Terry the guide
The Place: Southwater Caye (pronounced 'key' for the uninitiated)
The story: Our company wanted to go snorkling so I set it up and out we went. Neither Rhonda nor Betty swims so we went to southwater to snorkle off the beach. Now, I must admit I was somewhat disappointed as I love to snorkle on the reef. I was not thrilled about just hanging out by the shore where the reef was dying and the fish were scarce. But, as you all know, I am a good sport and decided to make the best of it. Terry and I had a quick confab and decided that he would take Brynn and Derrick out further kind of around the reef and I would stay in by shore with Betty and Rhonda. After some false starts, Betty and Rhonda become comfortable enough witht he equipment and water that Rhonda is ready to try and get out a little further. So we head out to where our flippers barely touch the ground and start looking around. After bemoaning the fact that all the fish were white (they are so colorful out further in the reef), I notice that there is a fairly large school of yellow fish hanging out on, under and beside a large rock so I motion to Rhonda and we head over there. After a careful look, I get excited and dive down for a closer look. Sure enough, I poke my head above water and grab Rhonda. I am so excited. "Do you see what's under the rock?!" Rhonda looks confused and says 'no'. "A SHARK!" I am ready to dive back down for another look, Rhonda starts flailing around (sorry Rhonda but it was rather humerous) and decides she is heading back to shore. I decide I'd better get Rhonda to shore safely and leave the shark. After some serious talking on my part (it's a nurse shark; it won't hurt you; if it was hungry would all those fish be hanging around - you get the idea) Rhonda decides to brave it and we head back out to find the rock. I dive back down but the shark is gone. Bummer. I look over to tell Rhonda and ... there he is. Swimming along right beside and below Rhonda about two feet from her. YAY! Success! I point and Rhonda just stops. It was a variation of 'maniquin man'. She just stops. The shark swims over, kicks out a few fish and settles back down under the rock. And people pay big money to swim with the sharks. I guess snorkling off the beach isn't always a bad thing.
(caveat: Our internet is being stupid so I'm not spell checking, sorry)

Belizean First Aid

This morning the girls and I spent about 3 hours and 1/2 in the Silkgrass community hall learning CPR and first aid. The fun part was that the first aid was tailored to Belize. No 'what to do about frostbite' instead we learned what to do about jellyfish, stingray and scorpion stings and snake bites. We also learned what was wrong with Kori's hands. (that's supposed to be the hook that keeps you reading till the end - no peeking ahead!) So for those of you planning a visit to Belize or other warm coastal regions, here's the scoop on your Belizean first aid kit:

Jellyfish first. The only fatal jellyfish are the man o' war and they aren't actually real jellyfish, just shirt-tale cousins. If you get hit by the tenticles of the jellyfish we have here, close to shore what do you do? I hear all of you yelling 'pee on it!' Ok, you could do that. It's kinda gross and not the best choice but it would help. The best choice, though, is the one I would choose over that one - vinegar. Preferably at room temp. So your Belizean first aid kit should include a small bottle of vinegar to pour over the painful jellyfish 'sting' until the toxin that is on your skin is neutralized and the pain stops. The absolute worst choice (useful if you are really angry at the jellyfish victim and want revenge) is to pour fresh water on it. This will intensify the pain by releasing more toxin.

Next, stingray. There are lots of stingrays that hang out in the sand close to shore. They get irritated if you step on them and they fight back. The scarey part of the stingray is the tail. It can actually pierce right through your leg if you get hit just right by a fairly large ray. More likely is a puncture or poke. The tail releases a toxin into the broken skin and this toxin travels through the bloodstream causing the pain to move up the body. Not even close to fatal but painful! Sadly there is nothing you can put into your first aid kit to help with this. You need to get inside and soak the wound in the hottest water you can possibly stand without scalding yourself. Do this until the pain stops and the toxin is neutralized. Then treat the puncture with anti-biotic cream and a bandaid. (or see a dr. if you are one of the few unlucky ones that gets stuck straight through.)

On to scorpions. Contrary to popular belief, scorpion stings are not deadly. They are, however, painful. The scorpion will slice you and leave .... yes - a toxin. It hurts! Into your first aid kit goes one of those cold packs that you pop. That's right, ice or an ice water bath takes care of the scorpion bite. If you don't have access to cold, the mayan remedy is to kill the scorpion and squish the guts onto the sting. Mr Peck (our resident mayan that knows everything) says it will heal the sting in five minutes flat.

Snake bites: don't cut and suck! The one and only thing to do about snake bites is to grab the snake and run to the hospital. No first aid - just go!

So those are some of the important ingredients in the perfect Belizean first aid kit. Since you are still reading, here's the scoop on Kori's hands.

These are bruises that showed up about a week ago. She also got a blister on one hand so we thought she had maybe burned herself somehow. But it just didn't seem right. Then we thought maybe she had accidently brushed up against some coral when she was scuba diving. But, again, it didn't look quite right. We took her to Nurse Judy and she was stumped but told us to keep a very close eye on it in case there were more blisters or it started to spread. Then, today at our first aid training, Judy took another look at it. Because Kori's hands are actually clearer and less bruised now than they were (the pictures were taken today so this is them looking better) Judy could see the bites. Yes, bites. Kori was bit by fruit flies. They inject an anti-coagulant and usually leave a small bruise. For some reason, Kori reacted rather severely to the bites and got this bad bruising across her hands. We didn't even know fruit flies bit! Another proof to the rule: everything bites in Belize!

Curassow Hike

I thought it might be fun to take you all on a virtual hike. Let's go to the Cockscomb Basin, the only jaguar preserve in the world, and take the self guided hike through the jungle. We'll let Rafe lead.

Ok here's our first stop. Notice the log/stump on the right of the picture. 'This downed nargusta tree stump is evidence that the forest has been selectively logged, at first for mahogany then later for secondary hardwood like this nargusta. ... The rate of decomposition and nutrient cycling in the tropics may be up to four times faster than in temperate forests'

'The ceiba tree is a forest giant reaching a height of 50 metres and is found on forest margins and near rivers. Five or ten years may pass between flowerings, but one ceiba tree can produce up to 4,000 fruits each containing 200 or more seeds. The ceiba is a sacred tree to the maya, representing the tree of life. When a field is cut for a plantation, the ceiba trees are left.'
Continue walking down the path and look at the river flowing along beside the trail. The water is so clear. You can see the rocks and small fish swimming along with you. It is a beautiful day, not too hot but sunny with a gentle breeze blowing the tree tops. The forest smells fresh and green from the recent rains, the air is a little muggy but not bad, the birds are chirping along the way. You get the idea. But what's that? Loud noises in the tree tops. Animals? Birds? Leaves falling? No ... look ... howler monkeys in the trees. They are hard to see. Stand still and just watch. See that black thing swinging in the leaves? Howler monkey. No way to get a good pic of those. They are too far away. But you can remind yourself what they look like by checking out the pic you took of the last one:Hey, look at that vine. Cool! It's all curly.Oh wow! ' Notice the leaning tree has scratch marks made by Jaguars sharpening their claws. There are several marks up the tree, each older than the one before as the tree grew.' Really hoping we don't run into one of those!Well, it's been just over an hour of walking through the jungle. Lets stop by the Stann Creek for a snack.And home to make supper. Thanks for joining us on our hike. We'll definitely be back here. Lots more hikes in the basin.

Politics

I am not a terribly political person. Sometimes I think I should be but I just can't muster up the energy. Oh, I vote in all the elections and I have very strong views an one or two issues but I just don't care enough to get all hot and bothered about it. So, despite the blog title, don't be expecting any heavy duty, in depth analysis of Belizean politics. I just have a few items that, I hope, will be of interest and a picture that I love.
Everyone knows there is an election pending in Belize. I don't think it's actually been called yet but it should happen around March sometime. Were I in any other Central American country, I'd probably be getting out about now. Last year during Guatemala's federal election process, 50 candidates, family members and campaign workers were murdered. Scary!! Luckily Belize is less politically volatile and I feel quite safe.
The election process here is much like Canada's. The exceptions seem to be in the campaigning rules. Although the election has yet to be called (unless it has been called in the last week or so and I missed it), posters and lawn signs started going up about 6 or more months ago. There are two basic parties in Belize and then a few fringe ones, like in Canada. The main parties are the People's United Party (PUP) and the United Democratic Party (UDP). The PUP are blue and the UDP are red. Don't ask me their political platforms - I have no real idea. I know that the current government has been in for about 12 years and are totally corrupt. I know that the expectation is that they will be voted out and the other party will take over. I know the new government will also be corrupt but it will take a few years before the people care too much. I also know the UDP got into some serious hot water for painting all the power poles red in Belize City because they didn't have permission and BTL (the power company) doesn't want to be politically aligned with any party. I know that the cops in Hopkins went around to all the druggies in town and asked them to take a weekend vacation about two months ago because the PUP was coming to town for a political rally and having druggies all over town looks bad. And I have to laugh because all the outward 'political correctness' doesn't even begin to fool anyone. It is crazy because there are so few people in Belize that everyone knows the political candidates personally or knows someone that does. Consequently, the life story of each candidate is public knowledge. There are no skeletons to uncover because there are no closets. Those skeletons just sit out in the living room with everyone else and their grandma. It is almost like children playing make believe. They all know what they are doing and saying isn't true but they choose to believe it for the time being. I guess that could be said about all political activity in this world, by the cynics if no one else, but it seems to me a little more blatant in Belize. I have been enjoying the campaigning - probably because I can't vote so I don't have to take it seriously. The following poster is hanging in the ladies bathroom of the Pickled Parrot Bar and Grill in Placencia. I think it contravenes all copyright laws but Belize in general contravenes all copyright laws in all areas of life anyway. I thought the poster was great and definitely pays tribute to the Belizean sense of humour!
Gotta love Belize!

Holiday Traditions

Well, I guess the holidays are officially over. Our tree is down, as are the decorations, school and seminary are back in full swing. It was an interesting Christmas season for us and enlightening. There are a few new traditions I learned about this year that were totally foreign to me. I thought I'd share:
In Belize: The time before Christmas is a time to spruce everything up. Houses are cleaned inside and out. Repairs are done and very often the house is painted (also inside and out). Yards are raked and cleaned and cleared of all garbage piles. It is a time of constant activity and all must be done before the big day. It is important to Belizeans that everything is fresh and clean and in order for the Christmas season. Obviously this is a tradition best left in places that don't have spring thaw and mud! A bit of a waste of time in cooler climes when you know you are going to have to start again in May.
Another Belizean tradition we were fortunate to be included in this year is the jankunu. Actually, this is more a Garifuna tradition carried over from the days in Africa. The jankunu may happen at any time during the holidays but likely on Christmas Eve or New Year's Day. For us it came on New Year's Day. I looked out my back window and saw a group of about 15 kids coming across the yard. Some were carrying drums and shakers and the rest were dressed in outlandish costumes. The costumes included paper masks to hide the face, dresses and sticks. All but one of the costumed kids were dressed as ladies in dresses with stuffed bras and butts, carrying walking sticks. One of the costumed kids was dressed in a white shift with a pattern, the ever present mask and carried a very long stick. I asked what was going on and was told (in that 'how stupid are you' voice kids use) that they were here for the jankunu. I must have looked pretty blank because one of the drummers took pity on me and explained that they play and dance for Christmas. I asked if they would dance for me and they very happily set up on my back porch. The musicians played and sang and the mummers began to dance and, in their dance, act out a scene. The white figure sneaks around, hiding behind bushes and crawling on the ground until he is upon the others. Then he begins to hit them and poke them with his stick, eventually killing one of them who falls to the ground in the throws of death. It was all very dramatic and fun. We gathered quite a crowd. Afterwards they 'collected' by passing the hat and then all came in for some water. I asked around later to find out more about the whole thing and got conflicting answers. One lady said the white figure is a cow and it gives lashes. The internet says it is a hold over from the slave days and the white figure is a slave getting revenge on the plantation women. My kids thought it looked like a jaguar hunt. I don't know what the real answer is but it was very enjoyable at any rate. A rather sharp twist on the British tradition of caroling, for sure!

Guatemala take 2

After months of blogger's block, I am now faced with an entirely opposite problem. There are a plethora of possible posts vie-ing for the honor of first post of 2008. What to do? OK, here's the deal (pronounced deel not dill in case Ashli or Todd are reading this) I think I'll start with the one I have pictures for and move from there. This indicates there may be a flurry of posting over the next few days for those of you that complain when the posts go on Belize time and show up less often.
As our big family Christmas present this year, we took the kids to Guatemala to visit the Mayan ruins at Tikal. (just an aside here for those of you who, like my kids friends, believe that the Mayan people are extinct. The Mayan empire died out for sure but there are still large communities of Mayan people living in Central America. They have a distinct look and culture and most still practice the ancient Mayan religions) So, on the 26th we all piled in the car and headed out to Cayo. We had found a fairly inexpensive resort in San Ignacio where we could stay and they do a day tour to Tikal that we could get in on. The resort was very quaint. More like camping than resorting. The cabanas were cute and very, very clean which was the important thing for us.
The kids had one cabana and we had another which was also great for all involved. The first day, after signing up for our tour, we took a walk to the river. The road we walked along was nicknamed 'iguana's lover's lane' by one of the other tourists. It's true! There was at least one iguana in each tree lining the shore of the river. I can't see that there was much lovin' going on, though. There seemed to be an over abundance of male, and we didn't see one female, iguanas.

The next morning, the dining room opened early just for us and by 6:30 am we were on our way. Within an hour, our hosts had us through the border loaded into a van in Guatemala and we were on our way down the road headed for Tikal. It's a two hour drive from the border to the ruins and the scenery is beautiful. Guatemala (as I've probably said before) is a beautiful country.
After entering the park gates and driving up to the ruins, we discover that there are no english guides available for at least an hour. There is, however, a lovely little Guatemalan man that speaks english only slightly better than we speak Spanish (un porcito) and we agree that we will be fine with him. His name is Naftali and he is very fun. It was actually more fun, I think, to have to work at communicating than it would have been had we found an English guide. Naphtali took us straight to temple iv so that we could climb it and see the view before the crowds started to gather. Later we were very grateful for this foresight! The temple is being worked on but we were still able to climb the millions (OK maybe not but it felt like it) of steps to the top. It was amazing!!













That was the last climb of the day for me. Alfred and the kids did others but I am not fond of heights and once I'd conquered that climb I no longer felt the need to prove myself! I'm sure you'll concur when you look at the next pic which is of the next climb we came to. I should point out that the Guatemalans are really not much better than the Belizeans when it comes to safety measures!
The ruins are the most elaborate and well restored of any we've seen. Originally the city of Tikal comprised all the land 16 km in all directions from the centre. All of that was paved roads and buildings. The guide we had said that to see the ruins properly and in their entirety it takes about three days. There are hotels on the site and people do stay there and take the time to really see it all. We are not that obsessed with ruins nor could we possibly retain more info than we got. It was totally overwhelming. We did buy a couple of books at the gift shop that explain everything so we can go back over it at our leisure.
By the time we made our way to the town centre (so to speak) there were hundreds of people everywhere. This is when we realized how smart our guide had been. It would have been a crowded, frustrating mess trying to get to the top of temple iv in that crowd but seeing so many people milling about this part of the city gave us an idea of what it would have been like back in the day. It also helped to put the size in perspective. The last pic I have for you is of the main plaza and the last word I have for you is this: if you ever get the chance go to Tikal.