Belize: Broken Toes and Great Adventures

Well by golly! I’m home! WEIRD. I’m totally happy to be here, and I’m totally missing Belize. Talk about mixed emotions! I can’t believe the past 4 months happen…sometimes, they almost seem like a dream.

The last 2 weeks in Belize were pretty crazy. The zip-lining and cave tubing field trip was really fun, minus that whole I’m terrified of heights thing and ended up in tears on the last repelling drop thing we did. We had SO much homework two weeks ago—Possibly more in a short period than I’ve ever had, so by the time the second to last weekend rolled around, we were ready to CHILL OUT.

That Friday we went over to our friend Ingrid’s new house where she lives with her husband. It was great—As usual, it involved a ton of us piling into a vehicle and driving over bumpy roads. When we got home, the back doors wouldn’t open and people got stuck in the back! It was pretty funny. The next night was CUMQUAT COTTAGES! It was GREAT. It was kind of like us throwing our own little going away party in the little house we rented out. It was amazing to have another night with my Belize babies—I love those people! We spent the whole night eating amazing food that Nick and Travis made/grilled (along with a few other people, including Winter’s amazing mashed potaters). We danced the night away, and around 3:00AM, myself and 5 other people decided we wanted to go home instead of stay there, so we piled into a cab. When I was getting out of the car I managed to nearly poke the cab driver to death as the kabob sticks in my backpack poured out when I leaned over. Excellent. Then, on Sunday, we had our last Maximizing class and had our group dinner as usual, but this time it was a potluck in which Nick and Travis cooked for us!

The next week was finals, which, surprisingly, weren’t half as stressful as all the homework from the 2 weeks before. On Tuesday, a few of us hiked up the hill to the Cahal Pech Resort for a day at the pool, which was really fun, minus the hike in the heat. Our last few weeks in Belize ended up being during April, which is the hottest month in Belize, as we so learned in about March. Oh good, it’s not like I sweat a lot. One day, the heat index was at 126! No joke! And it was totally normal for it to be 100 degrees or more. Good God. As the week drew to a close, we had our last community dinner (PIZZA!) and started “taking care of business,” if you will. We all started packing and getting our lives in order. SO WEIRD! It was totally crazy to realize 4 months had flown by. Thursday night we all got together and had dinner at Tia Maria’s and then hung out and had some dranks. At one point we went back to Martha’s to get something and played with a baby possum our night guard found. The night ended with most of us and some other internationals/locals (23 in all, I believe) going to the local karaoke bar, which was HILARIOUS. Lots of older people singing either songs in Spanish or 1960s country songs from the U.S. Matt sang Living La Vida Loca which was hilarious and most of us sang Lean on Me, which was just lovely (painful for everyone else, I’m sure, but great for us!). Friday we slept in and ran some last minute errands and packed. It was nice to have one last day of just hanging out. It was too hot to do much of anything! Em, Win, and I made our last dinner at Martha’s (veggie burgers) and watched The Gods Must Be Crazy (well, most of it…sleep took over!). Saturday, I got up early and went to the market with Sara and we sold our bikes, surprisingly pretty fast. We definitely felt awkward walking around the market looking so out of place with a sign that read “Bikes 4 Sale.” But it ended well! Then almost all of us headed out to a neighboring village, Succotz, to eat pig from the pig roast one of our professors was having. It was DELICIOUS. First pulled pork I’d had in 4 months—And that’s my favorite food! So that was fantastic. We had it with homemade corn tortillas and salsa…Man, I miss food like that already! Then we came home and got ready for the final group dinner we were having at the San Ignacio Resort. It was REALLY nice! We all got dressed up and had a fancy dinner. It was a little sad because we all knew it was our last night, but we all had fun. Then we came back and all hung out of course! We all piled into Room 1 (the room next to mine) and had a couple locals and other internationals over. The night was amazing, as usual, and I ended up getting a breakfast burrito at 2:00AM, also as usual on those nights. Then I came back to the room, climbed into the “lovebed” with Winter one last time, and went to sleep.

Sunday was a bit chaotic. It started out with my phone going off at 6:00AM and before I could even pick up, Emmy’s phone started going off. My Dad informed me our flight was cancelled, but that I had been switched to Winter’s flight, which left at 1:55PM. Emily’s mom called to inform her that our flight had been cancelled and that she had been rebooked on a 1:55PM flight…the next day. Poor Jeff had to deal with chaos as everyone got flight details worked out. In the end, 3 of us ended up on the 1:55PM flight on Sunday, and the 4 other people who were bumped got a flight into Dallas where they would spend the night and fly home early the next day. The day was emotional as the first bus took off and the rest of us stayed. Win and I walked up the hill to Mom’s and she got a breakfast burrito and then we came home and waited for the next bus. The bus ride was pretty emotional, as we said goodbye to our home of four months, as well as the 2 students who were staying for an extended period of time. The airport was a rush, with all of us moving stuff around in our bags so as not to go over 50 pounds and then rushing through security because we only had 25 minutes till our flight. And then it was time to go home! I’m a nervous flyer and I was starting to feel quite emotional about leaving, so we asked the man sitting next to me if he would mind switching seats. He didn’t, so Winter got to sit next to me for the flight, which was really nice. Before we knew it, we were landing in the United States! I only had 50 minutes to get my bags, get through customs, go back through security, and get to my gate, so I booked it ahead of the rest of the group, although things kept taking forever so I kept running into them…which meant I had to KEEP saying goodbye, which was awful! I made it as one of the last people onto the plane (sweating profusely), which ended up not making much of a difference because there was a problem with the plane (so comforting because it ended up being the exact same plane I had come into the States on), so we were delayed 2.5 hours between sitting at the gate, switching planes, and actually getting into the air. We finally arrived in Minnesota around 12:15AM. MAN, was it great to see my Dad at the airport! After bonding with my parents some at home, I fixed myself some AVOCADO and salsa, as well as fruit, and chatted with Winter who was stuck overnight at the Philly airport. Between being overwhelmed with being home, working Internet, and chatting with Win, I was up till 5:00AM!

Today (well now yesterday), I slept in until about noon and then got my butt out of bed. I hung out around the house, showed my parents my souvenirs, gave them their presents, and ate some brunch. Then, my Dad and I went to the Apple store and got good and bad news. My iPod is officially dead (the little one I got for the trip), but they fixed my computer for free! Oh hey functioning keyboard for the first time in almost 4 months! YAY! Then we went grocery shopping and I got ingredients for black bean dip (thanks for the recipe Trav! Hope I can make it as well as you!) and guacamole, and I got SUSHI for dinner from Benihana. We got home as my mom was taking off for the store, so I reheated leftovers for Dad and Kendall while I ate sushi. Then I finally got to have a nice long conversation with Dill Pickle which made my night ☺ Then Kendall and I got a little goofy and had quite the dress up session…after which we went to Wendy’s to get frostys in our get-ups! The guy at the window was cracking up at us. We had fun hanging out and eating them in the car. Then I came home, did some serious music swapping over the web with Alyssa and chatted with some of my other Belize babies. Gosh I miss those people!

Now I’m finally headed to bed and tomorrow is going to be a day of organization and getting my life in order so I can run errands on Wednesday and Thursday. Goodness, so much to do in such little time! It’s really nice to be home with my parents as kind of a “debrief” period before I go home to Burlington and am thrown back into real life, although I can’t wait to see everyone! I’m definitely experiencing reverse culture shock—Civilization is freaking me out! And last night as I got in bed I freaked out a little because I haven’t gone to bed by myself in 4 months. I’m REALLY happy to be home, but I miss Belize and the people I’ve been with more than I expected to! Life is bittersweet and all good things must come to an end, but it’s going to take a bit more than I thought to adjust. Can’t wait to see all my Burlington babies!

Well by golly!

It's the morning of the day that I leave Belize...hopefully! I was woken up to a phone call this morning from my Dad that my flight was CANCELLED for the love of God. I was really lucky and am currently assigned to another flight leaving later, but some people got bumped till tomorrow and they're trying to catch a flight to Dallas that won't get them home till tomorrow morning. Good God!! Haha, what would life be if it wasn't complicated?

Well, the last 2 weeks have been an emotional roller coaster with the schoolwork being out of control and everyone being happy and sad to leave at the same time. I'll write another entry or two once I'm home catching up on the last 2 weeks, but I've gotta say, this semester has been the wildest ride of my life!! Through all the ups and downs, I couldn't be happier I decided to come here. I can't wait to see everyone in Burlington, but it's weird to say goodbye to life here!!

Be seeing y'all soon!

Hello Hello!! I'm back at blogging!

Saturday, after sleeping in, we all legitimately did homework all day, in honor of the approaching hell week. This lasted until almost 10:00PM and then a bunch of us went over to Wendy’s next door. She was turning 29 in a coupel days, so she was celebrating! It was kind of like a block party BBQ, it was really fun. Winter was drinking out the goofy mug all night, so clearly it was a good night! A few people went to Benque Rock, a nearby club, around 1:00AM, but Win and I called it a night since we had to get up early-ish in the morning.

Sunday was our the day for our ecotourism field trip. Em, Win, and I got up and made breakfast and then hopped on a bus for an hour bus ride to Jaguar Paw, a touristy reserve place near the zoo. When we first got there and checked in, we suddenly were flocked with what looked like furry armadillos, but really it was about 12 coatimundis (pronounced “cat-a-mundi”), a little animal that lives in Belize. Then we got geared up (they made us wear helmets and lifejackets, you know, just incase the tube didn’t work?) and grabbed our tubes and then headed down to the water. After Nick pushed me in, the fun began. It took about an hour to go through the cave. It was fun, but not too exciting. I went cave tubing the last time in Belize, too, and I seem to remember it being a bit more enthralling. We used our headlamps as we floated through, although there wasn’t much current. After that, we went back to the lodge and had lunch, which was the first time that I’ve eaten out in awhile. I got a burger and it was DELICIOUS. I barely ever get those, but it was great. After that, we went zip lining! That was crazy! I’d never done that before. I’m scared of heights, so it was quite a feat for me to get up there. I definitely had a mild, hyperventilating panic attack before we went up! We put on harnesses and then went up to the first platform. It was a series of 5 platforms, the highest of which was about 45 or 50 feet high. I was freaked out, but it was still really fun. To get off the last platform you had to repel straight down and that was by far the scariest part. You just had to essentially sit down off the side of the platform and then they just DROP you. And fast too! I screamed and was slightly in tears by the time I got to the bottom. Scary!! A guy at the bottom was trying to take pictures and I just said…No. Before we left we got the pictures from the day burned onto a CD so we could have them and then we took the hour bus ride home.

Ever since then, everyone has literally been doing homework all day every day. It’s hell week! I think it’s going to be even worse than finals week. I don’t think I’ve ever had this much work once. It’s Wednesday, so we’re halfway through, but I don’t think the weekend could come soon enough. I went to bed at 1:00AM the past two mornings, which is normal at home, but far too late here. This weekend, however, will be AMAZING because on Friday we’re going to a BBQ thrown for us as a going away party-type-thing by some our Belizean friends and then on Saturday we’re renting out the Cumquat Cottages (well, one of them, the cottage where Dani’s parents stayed) and effectively throwing a going-away part for ourselves. It’s going to be so great to have us all in one place hanging out and we’re also going to invite over the other internationals and some Belizeans. I can’t wait!! I just have to survive this week first. Oh, AND, on Friday my group project for my indigenous perspectives class is presenting for this conference being held at Galen about what Belize needs to do to be successful by 2030 and we’re going to be on the Belizean national news!! Crazy!!

This past week was entirely low key for the most part, which was great. Tuesday was Miss Winter’s burfday, so I spent all of Monday night sneakily making her a huge card that listed with drawings 21 things that I love about her. Haha, so cheesy, but with my artistic ability (AKA none) it was pretty funny! Em and I woke up Winter with a little bottle of Lerskaa (local vodka she’s infamous for loving) and a “coupon” for brinner (breakfast for dinner!) and a day up at the Cahal Pech Resort pool. That night, Em and I cooked her breakfast for dinner and a bunch of us celebrated her birthday with some drinks and card games. Yesterday, Friday, was Dani’s birthday. I made her a silly card and got her a liter of coke and a fifth of rum (her favorites) and drew a picture of Lady Gaga and a picture of Beyonce and taped them each to one of the bottles. It was great. A bunch of us celebrated her birthday was some drinks and hanging out with some neighbors and going to the local club, Faya Wata (which is now under new management and not as fun). There was a HUGE storm last night—maybe the biggest I’ve seen in my life. I’ve never seen rain come down in sheets like that it, it was crazy. A tree next to our residence fell down, too, but it wasn’t too big. Apparently it’s common knowledge that after a storm like that, it’s going to be hot as hell the next day because it signals the end of a cold front…and everyone is right. It’s scorching today!

School is wicked stressful right now because we have about as many projects as we have in an entire semester at UVM to be done in a 2 week period. Whew! People are definitely feeling the pressure. I’m also super annoyed because I decided not to go on a field trip yesterday because of all my work, and the teacher was being pretty mean about it, even though the reason I wasn’t going was for school work! Silly silly. This morning, Em, Win, and I slept in a little and then Winter and I headed down to the market and to do some errands. We went to Annie’s, a little dive next to the market, for our usual breakfast burritos, something that’s not even on her menu. They’re amazing! Now we’re back at home and I REALLY need to concentrate on my work for the rest of the day. I have a HUGE project due Monday that our group has barely started because of our other huger project, the Mary Open Doors project for me, other service-learning projects for others, was due on Friday. Speaking of, I am finally finished with that project (about to email in the paper….the final product is 53 pages long! Whoo!). My group was the very first to present, and we had a good crowd, about 40 people. I’m so glad that’s over!

This upcoming week is the last week of classes, and hopefully I, and everyone else, survives with all the crap we have coming at us. Tomorrow we have a fun day trip of cave tubing and zip-lining planned as a field trip for our ecotourism class…and then back to work! Wish me luck and I’ll see everyone ridiculously soon!!

Luckily, after a long (but great!) weekend away and a very hectic week, I had a nice, laid back weekend.

Nothing too exciting happened during the week last week, just a ton of homework, some quizzes, and the usual school workload. On Thursday night, Em, Win, and I decided to lay low and watch some T.V. and just hang out.

Friday morning we got up early, went to Martha’s for breakfast as usual, and then hopped on tour buses up near the police station, and took off on our field trip to Caracol with our Aracheology class. Our bus ended up getting a flat tire after about an hour (it was a 2 hour drive into Western Belize toward the boarder), so they asked a few of us to get out and go into our professor’s car. So, Win, Em, and I hopped into the backseat of Dr. Awe’s truck, along with the guest-lecturing professor that came along on our field trip. It was fun to ride in the car because it was less bumpy and we got to hear a bunch of stuff about the area from Dr. Awe. Caracol was pretty cool. Definitely the biggest Maya ruins I’ve been to. I’ll put up pictures ASAP! We spent about 3 hours touring. It is AMAZING that these people built those structures without modern technology. It was so tiring climbing to the top of those things! I had a lot of fun messing with my camera settings too (color swap, color accent, etc). On the way home (the three of us rode in Awe’s truck again), we stopped by Rio Frio Cave and Rio Falls (or something like that). Rio Frio Cave was really cool—it was a little cave, where you could see both entrances, but it was still really neat! Dr. Awe took us climbing around inside and we went in the water some. It had some amazing rock formations! And the falls were beautiful. It was kind of weird because we were in a pine region so it kind of looked like it could be somewhere in New England! The waterfall was small, but gorgeous. We went home after that and got cleaned up and then took off to our group dinner for the week (it had been postponed till Friday because of Guatemala) at Flava’s down the street. I had chicken fajitas, which were pretty good, although that place isn’t my favorite. They did come with sour cream, another one of those things I started liking right before I came here, but it’s really expensive, so I barely ever eat it. After dinner we came home and basically everyone decided to take it easy. Em went to bed and Win and I went upstairs to Matt’s room and played a drinking game to finding Nemo with him and a few other people and just hung out for awhile. Around 11:30PM a few people headed out to the local casino, but Win and I were tired so we went to bed.

Saturday was a nice, much needed relaxing day. I ended up sleeping in pretty late and then doing a little homework, then headed downtown with Win to run some errands and go to the market. We ran into the crazy garbage man on the way home who was trying to convince us to trade him a hot plate of food for an empty coke bottle…interesting. Then Win and I made some breakfast. For the rest of the day, Em, Win, and I hung out in our room and did some work and just relaxed. Then we got dolled up and went upstairs for the AMAZING eggplant parmesan dinner that Travis made a bunch of us! He somehow was over-budget this week and treated us to dinner. It was great! About half of our group went to a girl from school’s BBQ and the other half of us ate with Travis. Then, that half still at Martha’s hopped into a cab (yes, we smushed 7 people in a cab meant for 4…Oh brother, Belize) and went out to the Log Cab-Inns where the other international students stay. We had a really fun night! The rest of the UVMers ended up coming later and everyone just hung out, played some drinking games, swam, and it was just a grand ol’ time. We headed home before midnight, this time with only 6 people in the cab, but a man that had been in the passenger’s seat shut himself in the trunk so we could all fit! It was ridiculous (it was a Sedan). When we got to Martha’s, he just nonchalantly got out and was like, bye! We all just walked away, as usual…Oh, Belize.

Sunday we slept in again and then finally got upstairs to make brunch around noon. I had my delicious eggs, beans, cheese, toast, veggie, and salsa concoction, my current favorite. Jeff, our supervisor, had been in Belmopan for the night and we found out he and his friend got mugged, which stinks. Apparently a few teens with machetes came up to them so they just handed over their money! Oh, Belize. Everyday here brings something crazy! I spent the rest of the day doing Mary Open Doors stuff since the cumulative project based off our service learning experience is due this week. The rough draft is finished now—52 pages! Whoa. I don’t think I’ve ever worked so much on a project in my life. At 6:30PM we had our maximizing meeting, which was actually really fun because it was show and tell. I brought in my guidebook, on Alyssa’s suggestion (I couldn’t think of anything) because I love that thing. At the beginning of the trip I was known for quoting it, so I thought it was appropriate because we were supposed to bring in something that related to our Belize experience. Hannah brought in the family that owns the glass shop at which she’s been learning to blow glass, including their 3 year old son who was a) the cutest 3 year old I’ve ever seen and b) probably the smartest one at that! After the meeting we headed over to George’s, the Indian restaurant under Tia Maria’s (the other residence for UVMers) and had a delicious chicken curry dinner. Then we came back to Martha’s and Em, Win, and I watched the movie The Men Who Stare at Goats. It was pretty funny! I managed to fall asleep with only 20 or so minutes left, so I’ll have to finish that one later. I was the one in the middle of the bed holding the computer, so I guess it started slipping off when I nodded off. Whoops! I’m not a good table. It’s amazing how early I go to bed here. It was 11:00PM by the time I really went to bed, and that is just far too late! At home I go to bed at 1:00AM or later…When did I become such a grandma?!

Today, Monday, has been a rather usual day. Got up, ate breakfast, went to class, and then came home and have been doing homework all day. We have SO much to do! This service-learning project for MOD is seriously taking over my life. Unfortunately, I appear to have eaten something that did NOT make my stomach happy and I haven’t been able to leave Martha’s all day in fear of not being next to a bathroom. AND our toilet in our room is broken, so luckily everyone here is very bathroom sharing. Oh dear. Hopefully it’ll get better soon, but I’ve been waiting on it all day. Good Lord. Oh Belize! I’ve been working on MOD stuff all day and soon I’m going to go downtown to take a break and run some errands. Then I’ve got to do a bunch more home. Tomorrow is Winter’s birthday so I’ve got to do some stuff to get ready for that special day—the big 21!...In a country where she can already legally drink. Oh well!

I’ll post pictures from the weekend soon and hopefully continue to actually keep up with this sucker for the last 3 weeks. I’ll be back in the U.S. in less than 3 weeks and back in Burlington in less than 4. CRAZY! I love Belize, but I’m definitely getting ready to be home. Ready or not U.S., I’m coming back!