Remember September

Or, let's party! To Belizeans, September, as well as being the doom and gloom of back to school that it is for everyone everywhere (although technically many high schools and college/university students went back mid August), is celebration month. On the 10th, they celebrate fighting off the dastardly Spaniards (quote from a play we saw about it) at the Battle of St George's Caye, and on the 21st (after I leave) they'll be celebrating gaining their independence from we Brits. For today however, the Brits are the ones who helped fight off the dastardly Spaniards, so we're OK.

Did I mention not to rely on me for a history lesson? Not without warning me first, anyway.

So, I missed the official launch of celebrations on August 29th due to being daaan saaath in wan lee place too small for festivities, but worry not! There was lots of marching around the church to patriotic music on Sunday morning (and an extralong service consequently, hooray). Then on Monday evening there was an Evening of Patriotic Song, in which I sang patriotically (for Belize, although good old Queenie got a mention, alongside the obviously far more important Queen of the Bay). The patriotic songs themselves, as we sung them, were disappointingly lacking in Caribbean Rhythm but there was plenty of that from the Steel Band, and then we got the Imperial Band (who did a Kriol Folksong Medley, and then threw in a whiff of Rule Brittania and God Save the Queen to their patriotic medley). There was much dancing and marching and waving of red white and blue, the Belizean national colours (if I ever went in for Last Night of the Proms, I could just reuse my colourful tat, but alas I do not.)

So; everywhere is red, white and blue. And everyone, too. Yesterday Ebenezer Primary were patriotically dressed, and Maggie went to a meeting with Red White and Blue Food. Today being the 10th there was a citizen's parade. With lots of people, in cars and on floats, all in red white and blue. (The man at the top was on one of the floats. I have also seen him twice in town, totally randomly, dressed like this, in my time here. I'm not sure of the cultural significance.)

This one is the Rev C David Goff (son of Rev Charles Goff who my parents met in Jamaica...small world...) who was the Grand Marshall of the parade and got to sit on this car waving. There are not many cars like this in Belize- I might have seen 4 cars that are neither in some way falling apart nor SUVs in my time here- so not sure where this one came from. It's not Rev's! (Some of the SUVs are very swish, mind. But the roads aren't good enough to merit a car like this one!)


Other things that have happened this week:
A Fire Engine Parade. This was exactly what it says on the tin; all the fire engines, and ambulances, paraded around the city from 7pm until well after 8pm, sirens wailing and lights flashing, and by all accounts lots of people went and watched. We did too, since it came right by our house. All in all it was very loud, but I waved at lots of firemen and worried that all the boys on bicycles in the dark in front of the trucks were going to fall off and get hurt, and laughed because I thought the whole thing was rather random.
The Queen of the Bay nominees got very upset about curtseys. As part of trying to win Queen of the Bay, they have to curtsey, but the curtseys are nothing like I've ever seen; as far as I can tell its just a leg strength exercise; they go as far down as possible, and then they have to try to raise up again without buckling or toppling sideways. And they have their arms outstretched. Really, considering the dresses, it strikes me more as the kind of thing drunk rowers would do after a ball to demonstrate their awesome power than something elegant you'd see in a royal court. but there you go. Only the rowers would be able to do it without looking constipated-with-fake-smile-stuck-on. Anyway, two of them Flunked it and cried and it was on the National News. No, really. (Some of them were really quite good at it, I should add; see the photo below; and they are very pretty, and other things too because it isn't-just-a-beauty-pageant.)

Holiday pt3: Punta Gorda town and adventures in Stann Creek District

this is the last holiday installment, honestly!
Sunday 22nd-Weds 24th
After church on Sunday (8am, remember) I headed home and finished packing before catching the bus at around midday. After about 7 hours of wind-whipped bus travel, through dry flatlands and beautiful mountains, orange and banana plantations, two stops in towns and innumerable stops to pick people up in various villages, I arrived in Punta Gorda. PG is the district town of Toledo district in the South, an area of very different ethnic make up to the city- lots of Maya still live down south- and made my way to the home of the JVIs there, which sits on the seafront. The next few days were spent swimming, lazing on a sofa swatting mosquitoes and devouring 2 1/2 novels (I may have mentioned before that I sometimes risk treating the JVIs as a personal library), enjoying good conversation, admiring the views of Honduran and Guatemalan hills across the bay, having drumming lessons (!) and watching nightly lightening displays (big storms hit PG pretty much every night, but the days were still and clear.) All in all, a wonderful two days!
On Wednesday I took my leave and headed north as far as Hopkins, a small town on the coast in Stann Creek district (next up from Toledo) and found myself surrounded by American expats for the afternoon. I then met up with Shelly, an American volunteer at Sitte River Methodist School who I'd been emailing lots to arrange a meeting with, and went out for a fabulous dinner.
Thurs 25th-Friday 26th
Headed to Cockscomb basin national park and 'jaguar sanctuary'. Getting there was a minor adventure but once I did I enjoyed lots of butterflies, sightings of an armadillo, a tarantula and a hummingbird, two waterfalls and lots of climbing up hills in ridiculous heat! The views were well worth the exertion and the realisation that I have become very unfit. The second waterfall was visited in a torrential downpour however, which seems to have done for my camera screen. Which is bad. When I emerged from the national park I met Shelly again who took me on a tour of a shrimp farm and a VERY good evening meal before a good night's sleeo.
Sat 27th
Went out on a very nice boat (courtesy of Shelly's connections, again). I have never seen the sea so still, the way it merged into the sky, and the patches of colour, were truly breathtaking. Inside the reef, that was; outside the reef it was rocky enough to make some feel the worse for wear but I managed to stave it off and enjoyed a beautiful day clambering around the boat, swimming in the clear blue Caribbean, not getting burnt (!), eating smoked fish, watching people catch barracuda, and generally enjoying life. A pod of dolphins accompanied us back, too- what could be better? (except seeing a seaturtle, which others did while I was looking the wrong way. Doh.)
In the evening we hung out at a friend's house, listened to music, played games, and swam in the sea (a hazardous occupation seeing as I always end up with cuts and bruises when I swim in the sea in the dark- this was no exception).
Sunday 28th
Lazed before helping Shelly paint a mural at the school- she is a very talented artist and I can just about manage painting blocks of colour when instructed, and we made good progress. In the evening we headed into Hopkins to watch 'Duets', the Belizean xfactor type thing, on TV in a chinese.
Monday 29th
After another adventurous journey to get into Dangriga, the district town of Stann Creek, caught a very hot and sticky bus home to Belize (Belize City that is), where I swear it is hotter than down south!!!

Holiday pt 2: Tikal and flores, Guatemala

Wednesday 18th
Maggie and I took a bus, which we were told was airconditioned but wasn't and which left about an hour later than we expected, to Flores, a couple of hours west of the Belize-Guatemala border. On the bus I met again a Canadian volunteer who's been in Honduras, who I'd met on Caye Caulker and who was also heading to Flores.
Border control passed without event, and not much was immediately different on the far side except having to speak in Spanish and pay in Quetzales. As we drove along I did think that the countryside was very different to what I am used to in Belize; there were many humpbacked cattle grazing by ponds and streams, and green hills. However, in retrospect, there is a fair amount of this in the west of Belize, it's just that I normally fall asleep in the passenger seat and don't notice it!!!
We arrived in Flores, an island jutting onto Lago de Peten Itza and joined to the mainland by a causeway, early afternoon, and spent the afternoon soaking up the uberly European traveller vibe, sorting out accomodations and our tour for the following day, and admiring lights reflected on the lake.
Thursday 19th
Rose early and admired sunrise over the lake. Our tour to Tikal, a large Mayan site in northern Guatemala, left at 8, and the journey there took just under an hour, plus an extended stop to shop! Walking around Tikal proved quite exhausting in the heat, not to mention climbing up three pyramids, the tallest of them 77m high I believe. However, we were rewarded with excellent views across the forest canopy, and sightings of tarantula, toucan, spider monkey, ocellated turkey, and a squirrel/monkey like creature I've forgotten the name of which pinched someone's much-needed biscuits and spent a long tim enjoying them, just out of reach (and out of sight of cameras, too). By 2pm when the tour ended we were quite ready for a lunch of meat, rice (but not a belizean portion, it was tiny!) and the torrential downpour which accompanied it. We also admired at length some rather spectacular black and yellow caterpillars, nearly a handspan in length, which were massed in a tree near our table.
Friday 20th
As well as making our way to the market in Santa Elena on a tuk-tuk (three wheeled cab thing), lots of looking for souvenirs and nibbling on fruit and less healthy snacks, we took a boattrip on the lake for about an hour, including a stop off to climb to a vantage point over Flores. We were brought back in the face of dark brooding clouds which waited to release their load until we were safely on dry land, although we had been silly enough to climb the short distance to the church and so got rather wet on the way back. (Flores is tiny, however). Also managed to hear a little bit of beautiful marimba music.
Saturday 21st
Headed back to Belize on another not-so-comfortable bus. Spent my evening first at a young adults social at Wesley and then at the JVIs' (Jesuit Volunteers International)'s BBQ, which was a nice party with fairy lights and EVERYTHING. Once again I tried to dance and once again I made a lot of Belizeans laugh. And Americans, for that matter.

holiday time

Hi! I now have two weeks holiday and I thought you might like to hear about it so I'm gonna do brief journal type entries
Mon 16th
Headed to caye caulker on the early water taxi, taking about 40minutes. Checked into a neat little hostel and spent some time chatting to other people staying there, having some breakfast and reminding myself how nice the place is by taking a stroll. Not fancying snorkelling again I was wondering about trying out a watersport- windsurfing, kitesurfing, kayaking or sailing- and had lessons for sailing recommended, so popped to talk to the guy recommended. after rain delays and too-little-wind delays, we got rigged up in a little 'splash' for my lessons. Two and a half hours eventful hours later (including five capsisions, several near heart attacks (for my instructor) and near concussions (for me), a lost and recovered hat, one near miss with a wharf, a scraped arm, and me accidentally going off south and away from civilisation-and my floating instructor- at great speed after one of the capsisions before I managed to turn around again) I decided
1) I need to go to the gym so that when I capsise boats I can easily right them again
2) To revere Ben Ainslie far more than I have done previously, which was already quite a lot
3) that I was wise to try the sport out first in the Caribbean, not in chilly England.

After that rather tiring session (I was assured I wasn't too atrocious for a first time sailer and told to come back tomorrow so I could practice more) I resorted to more relaxed activities of sunset watching, walking, eating, drinking, chatting, dancing, stargazing, and shooting star 'ooo'ing until 3am.

Tues 17th
After going to bed with the prayer and the fervent resolution 'i will get up for sunrise', but no alarm clock set, woke at 4:52, and got outside to see darkness except one thin slither of lit up cloud. For the next hour I watched: the sky lighten and pinken and reveal a magnificent cloudscape, with towering, menacing cumulonimbus set beside light, peaceful cirrus set in the palest blue, all above darkened strings of cumulus on the horizon. Then came the golden tinging of clouds as the sun itself graced the morning with its presence, in a hurry strangely at odds with the laid back atmosphere of the cayes. Rays of light in what I like to call an 'Ascension Sunshine' beamed down once the sun had risen, and I wandered back to my bed, the myriad of reflected colours now gone from the waves and replaced with welldefined patches of azure, deep blue and sky blue.
Back in bed by six, I couldn't however sleep, so the day then passed in reading, conversing, lying on a mattress outside in blissful laziness, eating, and a swim across the split (which didn't try to kill me with evil currents this time.) I was too sleepy either to sail again or to go on a bird-watching crocodile-seeking kayak north.

FYAHHHH and prayer requests

Just a quick one;

First, the delegates from the youth encuentro youth conference in Trinidad and Tobago just got back and are bringing the Encuentro FYAH, the Jesus FYAH with them. Went to a fab service this morning- the first of many I believe- at which they gave their testimonies on the week AND got us singing and dancing! which is sometimes harder than you'd think given stereotypes of Caribbean congregations as jumping dancing waving. But we got there. Really inspiring, a reminder that we need to recommit every day.

Second, on a much sadder note but still connected to the subject of this need for commitment, the congregations here have had many blows recently in news of the sudden and untimely deaths of many known to us, and the illness of others. Yesterday we had a funeral for a 22yr old girl dead from meningitis. Without naming any individuals, I hope your prayers will be with her family and all those who have to face our mortality in such painful ways. Violence also continues to claim lives here in Belize City, and I heard just today of the first such death of someone I knew. We pray for sense in the senseless!

All reminders to love and cherish and value each day and each person in our path. Which is easy to say and hard to do. but, on a lighter, related note, I am off on holiday to enjoy the life and the creation we've all been given for a few weeks (not that I don't do this when I'm not on holiday, too, but this is different!)

(Home in a month :-) )

July

Hi all! Well, July has just drawn to a close, and with it my planned work, although I'm still going to be doing some bits and bobs, just not exactly sure what at present. Mostly I spent July helping with Vacation Bible Schools (VBS); one was at Ebenezer Methodist Church and School and run by the church, and two were at Wesley Lower School, run by teams with help from teachers and church members here at Wesley. My role for the first two seemed to be jumping around a lot teaching songs and actions; the first theme was 'Galactic Blast' and the Second was 'Camp E.D.G.E' (Experience and Discover God Everywhere). The fact that I have had a cold for most of the time probably meant that said jumping around and shouting/singing was not the wisest thing in the world, but I haven't collapsed yet so all is well. For the third VBS I got to move through various activities with a bunch of kids instead (we had over 100 all told by the last day) so got some relief, but there was still singing involved, and I spent the afternoon painting Wesley Lower School so I'm sure the paint fumes didn't help much either. I woke this morning with neither my left ear nor my right eye fully functional but things seem better now. The VBSs were generally a lot of good fun, the kids get to make some really neat crafts, learn songs, hear/experience Bible stories (I say experience because they are interactive and one made use of a water pistol), play games...and eat some snacks. Always a good thing!

On paint removal
As mentioned above I did a spot of painting when the final team was in (from Baytown, Texas). Now, having never used a roller before it was perhaps inevitable that not all the paint ended up on the wall...and despite one of the team volunteering to be 'rag lady' and run around cleaning up the mess we made, the large yellow splodge that ended up on my trousers when I trod in a tray was pretty much irretrievable...

UNTIL...

I used the magic of google to discover that a toothbrush and 70% alcohol can go a long way towards saving Alison's trousers. Not all the way, alas, but now they just look like an old pair of trousers and not the victims of an explosion in a paint factory. They even got out most of the oil based ceiling primer that somehow ended up all over my right knee...

On Americanisation
I find it ironic that as well as learning about Belizean culture I've learnt a lot about the US; a combined effect of the teams that I've spent time with and made friends with, the Jesuit Volunteers whose house I crash occasionally (and vice versa), and the general popularity of American TV, music and film. (Though the only American 'franchise' in Belize is Subway, in other ways American culture is quite pervasive). In the last fortnight I have watched The Simpsons movie (yey), and Footloose (WOWEE), and since I've been here I've watched more American shows, including the news, than ever before (though still not a huge amount.) Not to mention now knowing a little about basketball (a very little.) Anyway, there's a really nice little art gallery and coffee shop down my road which I try and avoid going into because it's the height of temptation and the lovely lady who works there is very good at trying to persuade me I need a plateful of calorific ambrosia (not the rice pudding, just the Food of the Goods, in this case containing gooey centred chocolate cake and icecream). It's Belizean so it doesn't belong in this bit, except that they have a talent evening once a month, and we went the other night, and it felt very much like an artsy studenty thing back home (aforementioned chocolatey goodness and acoustic guitars rather than soursop icecream and garifuna drumming. There was lots of Belizean poetry too. It was very good.).

On BOATS
Don't worry, not rowing boats! I went on a boat trip to the Mayan ruins at Lamanai yesterday, ruins which apparently have evidence that the Mayan civilisation arose from Mongols (I don't give full credit to any theory I hear about the Mayan, I am happy to find them fascinating and be done.) Anyway, though the ruins were impressive, I was far more excited by the (motorised) boat trip, on which we saw various birds, BIG grasshoppers and the blue morph butterfly (alas neither my camera nor I is up to far off photography of moving objects) and which took us swerving at some speed down a wide and windy tropical river. Alas we didn't see crocodiles, manatees or sea otters (unsurprisingly) but I did enjoy myself exceptionally.

Anyway, in summary have had a wonderful month, with all new friends both Belizean and American, only hope August is as fabulous! Sorry for lack of photos, I'll try and filter some to post shortly.

Tropical Storms and CAMP

You'll recall that in my last post I was looking forward to a week of camp. However, last Saturday, the 26th, the first tropical storm of the season, named Alex, was projected to hit the coast around about the Belize-Mexico border, near our destination for camp. Since it was quite conceivable that this would flood out our destination, which is at sea level across the road from the sea, we postponed for two days to give us just five nights at camp. As it happened, the storm, named Alex, hit just north of Belize City, and with less ferocity than predicted; we sheltered in our house, hosting a family from church who we know well. There wasn't too much flooding either, but we hope it is our only brush with tropical storms for the season, although it is predicted to be a busy one!

So, camp...
We travelled up on a bus (an old American school bus, bright yellow and very warm indeed) on Wednesday afternoon and settled into dorms, a.k.a classrooms. I was with the little girls (the 7-10 year olds), and had a good time in it, despite being on a floor, far too hot, and eaten by hungry mosquitoes. Oh, and waking up around 5:30 every morning with the light. Official get up time was 6:15, followed by a prayer, and then by exercises by the Caribbean sea, showers and duties.

We had just under 60 campers in all, split into 6 groups named after 'watery' Bible characters (Noah, Moses etc; I was with Peter, included because he was a fisherman). Each day each group had a duty, whether cleaning the yard, the bathrooms, or helping with a meal. Unsurprisingly this was many people's least favourite bit of camp!



We talked about Jonah ('obeying God'), and Jesus calming the storm (trusting God) and stuff we did included themed arts and crafts, themed games, themed new songs (courtesy of me), lots of praise choruses, bible 'study', and a quiz. Then there was a banquet (turkey dinner, standard celebration food, followed by corn flavoured icecream and served with fizzy drinks; a rare treat for many. We all dressed up, even the counsellors, although we had to serve the dinner so we had to be sensible!)

And, since water is not a problem in Belize, we did lots of watery stuff; we couldn't swim in the sea, even though it was right across the road, coz it was choppy, but we went to a small water park (with a slide), made our own water slide with plastic, water and fairy liquid (only it isn't fairy liquid), and played races where you had to transfer water between buckets.


On top of all that we had a movie night, did some skipping, played ball games, got to know each other, and found time to eat and sleep (although not very much). And of course, the Sunday morning service.

Now we're back, and I've just about recovered, our house is left full of camp stuff that needs sorting...woop di do.


In other news, I have fresh milk for the first time since February (Maggie wasn't feeling well and needed a pick me up) it is amazing the difference it makes to a cup of tea. Small blessings!

Prayer requests;
1) for flu, dengue fever and malaria to stay away!
2) for continuation of the friendships started and seeds planted at camp
3) for the teams coming in to do building work, medical and general missions over the summer
4) for safety for all in any future storms
5) for all the children who might come to vacation bible schools over the next month

love to all in the 'heatwave' back home

xx