Semana Santa, Belize
Trip Start
Jan 04, 2008
1
30
59
Trip End
Jul 16, 2008
Placencia, Belize
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
renew my visa, I had to travel to Belize. Of course I made a vacation out of it with
some of the other volunteers. We had the
week off school for Spring Break so it worked out perfectly. On Saturday morning at 5 am, Mel, Toby,
Nathan, Alex, Gerardo, and I loaded the chicken bus and spent the next 13 hours
traveling. Five buses and two boats
later we arrived in Placencia, Belize on the Caribbean coast. This place was incredible! It was picture perfect; sandy beaches, clear
turquoise water, palm trees, and sunshine.
Belize is the home of only 230,000 people. Socially, the Garifuna (black Caribbean
ethnicity) are at the top of the later, followed by Latin-Americans and then
Mayans. There are also a lot of expatriates
(commonly referred to as "expats") that have wandered to Belize and never
returned to their own country. It would
be a nice place to buy a chunk of land and start a small business, which many
people have done. In Belize, they speak
English with a thick Caribbean accent but it was a really nice change of pace
to be able to turn off my brain and just talk naturally.
I spent my
days lying on the beach soaking up the sun and swimming in the ocean. The temperature was perfect and the palms
made for great shade. The food was
amazing, but more expensive than what I am used to paying in Honduras (2
Belizean dollars= $1 USD, fixed rate).
Belizean food consisted mostly of coconut beans and rice served with BBQ
chicken. I discovered a love for seaweed
shakes too.
Mel, Toby,
and I brought a tent and camped out at "On Da Beach Campin", run by two
Californians. We were right on the water
under the palm trees with a perfect view of the sunrise over the Caribbean
every morning. They had bathrooms,
showers, and lockers for our belongings; nice facility. The town itself was probably only one mile
long and had a slim cement foot path through the center running parallel to the
beach, but set back behind the restaurants and shops. Everything else is sand. There are a few resorts already and I would
imagine that they will be popping up uncontrollably over the next decade. I hate to even write about how lovely it is
because I do not want to see it ruined by flocks of tourists. I met a lot of cool people with unique
stories. One family at the campground
drove to Belize from Canada with their six children. The kids are homeschooled and this is the 8th
winter that they have driven down! Can
you imagine the patience? They just
bought a camper this year in Kansas City, Missouri. All of the other years they have only taken a
truck.
Early in
the morning, I saw a school of dolphins jumping out of the sea. Then, I attended a Palm Sunday church
service. We started off outside in the
sand with fresh palm leaves. We sang
entering the building, with the service following. It was a pretty standard service, nothing out
of the ordinary. I have not been to
church lately because when all of the Honduran services are in Spanish, I feel
like I am attending only to go through the motions.
Placencia
has a peaceful, calm, relaxing, and safe feel to it. Reggae sets the mood. It saddens me to say that on our first night
in this small, seemingly safe community a man was murdered. He was the owner of the internet café and as
he was closing down for the night a man came in asking for a meal. As he was preparing the late dinner the man
proceeded to rob him and shoot him in the head, killing him in his place of
business. The community was devastated
and really pulled together. There were
wanted posters, community meetings, and plenty of mourning. From what I understand, the man in suspect
has done this once before and is now wanted for two murders in Placencia. Very sad.
On another
less than positive note, I have head lice!
I am trying to keep an honest blog and this is just part of the
experience, I suppose. My students are
all over me all of the time and getting head lice is as easy as giving a hug... it is pretty miserable so I am trying to take
care of it as quickly as possible.
Easier sad than done, my hair is super thick.
