Huge Storms Blast San Ignacio and Santa Elena

So I think Jim had filled you all in up through Thursday afternoon. Little did we know what we were in for for the rest of the afternoon evening. After our meeting w/ the local Health Educators, Jim headed to another healthcare facility to pick some things up while I headed to the 'Greenhouse' where everyone else lives to have a meeting on planning our summer camp. As I walk there, I see the BLACK storm clouds move in. I saw lightening in the distance but assumed it would be just one of our normal afternoon showers. Most of the volunteers were at the Greenhouse and we all just sat out on the covered area to watch the storm. Though, as the rain started, the winds picked up a lot - much more than usual. Then it began to hail and the winds got even worse. We ran inside to seek shelter. One of the women that helps at the house (who only speaks Spanish) was freaking out that her kids might be walking home from school in this. Though, we can see the school from the Greenhouse and we assured her that the kids were ok. All of the sudden, we see the roof of the school get blown off. Then a huge tree falls down in the road and pulls down a power line. Things were flying everywhere - there were hurricane/tornado strength winds. It was scary. We were holding Miss Bianco back from going into the storm to pick up her kids. We saw a lot of the school kids huddling under a balcony - I assume these were the kids on the left side of the school where the roof blew off. After about 30 minutes, the rain stopped and the sun shined. All of the volunteers went out to see the distruction. There were roofs everywhere, major flooding in the road, trees down everywhere. WE did what we could to help the people. The worst was yet to come when we got to our house. We all are ok but our house, specifically the trees around it, were hit HARD. We are still without power and are going to take off for the weekend to Caye Caulker to relax at the beach a little. Last night was SOOO hot w/ out the fans but we made it threw. The stand that held our TV and strereo even blew over in the house and broke a lot of the woman's pottery. The couch was drenched because of the rain and so were Jobby and I's beds. Our roommate Jackie was freaking out but we managed to calm her down adn tell her these things happen. 1/2 our clothes were out drying for the day on the clothes line but are now entangled in a huge tree adn power line that is down in the yard. Hopefully things will look up when we get back on Monday. Anyways, we have to head to the bus because we hvae a meeting in Belize City and can't be late :) Have a great Memorial Day Weekend everyone! We wish we could be at your wedding Melanie and Alex! Miss you all!

Weekend Update (with Jim & Carla)

So I'm finally getting a post up here. I still have to get used to this blogger thing. Please note, I'm filling in on the last few days, so this is gonna be a bit of a long entry. Also, I've decided to blog in lieu of a journal, so I'll be a bit more detailed.

Carla's last entry took us through most of FriDAY, so I'll fill in FriNIGHT!

But first, remember that rope swing Carla mentioned. It was AWESOME. We had about a 30 minute hike North of San Ignacio to get there through some farms and woods. We finally got to the water and had to cross a wooden rope bridge. It swayed like the one in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (it didnt' help that I kept swinging it from side to side). When we got to the other side we realized that there were pigs swimming in the river. Not just some cute little piglets, these guys were 3-400 lb monsters. It was slightly disheartening to realize that they were rooting around upriver of us, but that didn't stop us from giving the swing a go. When we got there, a bunch of local kids from town were swinging out on it. Aged 8-12, they had no fear of the 30 FOOT DROP! No joke. It was definitely the best rope swing ever, and I'm sure we'll be back. Carla and I were fearless as the first two newbies to jump off. But on Carla's second try, she dragged her foot and bruised herself up a bit. The water was nice and refreshing, even with the pigs, and when we had enough, we trotted home.

Also, before we get to Friday, Carla forgot to mention when the a branch from our next-door-neighbor Frederick's backyard Mango tree broke on Thursday night, and almost fell on his dog. It sounded like a lightning strike and we all ran out to see what happened. Frederick only has one arm (i haven't asked why yet) so Colin and I went over to help him move the branch out of his yard. He gave us as many Mangos as we could carry in return.

OK, FINALLY ON TO FRIDAY NIGHT:
Jackie, Colin, Carla and I went out for dinner to do a little celebration of Colin's birthday (which was Sat). We went to a little restaurant called Eva's which is a bit of a tourist trap here, but they have good food. C&J had cheeseburgers, while Carla got a vegi burrito and I got Nachos. I talked to the waitress, and she ran across the street to get a peice of cake (please note, I am told it is proper blogger etiquette to leave in mispellings so as not to be a pretentious perfectionist so please beer with me as I spead thru this stuph. 8-)
Anyway, Eva's dug up a birthday candle and we sang to Colin, it was a nice surprise, and tasty cake! As I was preparing the bill, the owner came up to me and asked why we (aka Gringos, aka White Folk) were living across the river in Santa Elena. His name was Gringo Bob, and he lived on that side of the river. We told him we were volunteering, and he said thanks. He also said to avoid the wooden bridge at night, since there have been some muggings there. (There are two bridges from Santa Elana where we are staying, to San Ignacio, where we are volunteering, a wooden one on the north side, and a steel suspension bridge to the south that looks suspiciously like the Golden Gate Bridge.
Anyway, we went next door to a place called Serendib (the old-world name for Sri Lanka) and had some beers there. The local beer is called Belikin, and it comes in two forms, a "Regular" and a "Stout" (the only difference is the color of the bottle cap, green and blue respectively). They don't recycle glass bottles here like they do in the states, but they do recycle. They collect the old bottles, wash em out, and refill them at the factory. As a result, we tend to drink from straws a lot. Guinness also licensed a Belizian beer company to brew their famous Irish brew, so that is available as well (not the same as the real stuff though), but both Carla and I prefer the Belikin Stout.
The place was real nice, and the waiter named Swift (his last name) was a pretty funny dude. We tipped him 20% (10% is the usual tip for EXCELLENT Service) and he gave us all hugs and taught me what I interpritted to be his gang handshake (it looked a lot like what David Ortiz and Kevin Millar do after one of them hit a home run, a lot of slapping, and shakin and hugging and chest bumping). Then we trotted home (across the Suspension Bridge of course Mom!).


SATURDAY MAY 21st, 2005:
We got up at 6:30 am to go to the local market, which balloons in size on Saturdays, as everyone from the surrounding countryside comes to town to buy. Supposedly, you have to get there by 7am to get the Tofu or it is all gone. Neither Carla nor I like Tofu, so I'm still not sure why we got up so awful-early, but Carla insisted and dragged me along. We got a bunch of fruit and veggies for super cheap (the most expensive vegetable here is Lettuce believe it or not) and then went home for breakfast.
We had decided to rent a van and go to a local ruin called Caracaol. It was about a 1.5 hour trip, and we got 7 people to chip in. The van rental was $125 Belize ($62.5 American divided by 7 of us) so it was a great deal! We took off around 9:30 and got to the site at 11am. The roads are terrible here, all broken rock and dirt. Supposedly they wash out a lot in the rainy season. We hiked around some great ruins, giant temples 12 stories high. In fact, the main temple at the site was the tallest man-made structure in Belize (which says something about the Mayans and the lack of a skyline in Belize City). We took pictures, so I won't bore you with much more description here. We did meet and befriend the drummer/vocalist of a local reggae band here who we're going to try to see next Thursday night.
After the ruins, we stunk of sweat, and we took off for some natural pools at Rio On. The pools were beautiful, and incredibly refreshing (we have pictures there too). We were only there for about 20 minutes though, when one of the other volunteers heard from a local that we get to Big Rock Falls which were supposed to be even better. We piled back into the van and got to the falls where we had to hike down a steep path, but were rewarded with the COOLEST PLACE ON EARTH!!! A giant 40 foot waterfall spilled into a pair of crystal clear pools of water more than 15 feet deep (we have pictures). It was amazing. We swam over to the falls where a couple of other people were jumping off the walls from about 15 feet up. A much smaller feat than the rope swing the day before, but nonetheless a lot of fun. We then learned that you can climb back under the waterfall, but the current was so strong that it was difficult. I decided to have a go at it, and started climbing into the waterfall cavity which was about a 6 foot space at the entrance. As I went farther back, I was getting pelted with more water until it felt like I was one of the Egyptians after Moses dropped the Red Sea back on them. Finally I got to a point where the water let up a bit, which was the base of the falls, but it never really stopped falling on me. At that point, I dropped back down into the bottom of the cavity and was rushed back out to the open pool by the current. It was a blast!
We hung there for a bit more and then decided to head back. We tried to stop at a place called 1,000 Foot Falls (which is actually 1,600 feet tall) but all of a sudden our gas tank dropped from 1/2 to 1/4 and the group voted to turn back. We got back about 1 hour later and filled up. The deal got slightly less great, when we had to get gas which was $8.53 Belize a gallon ($4.25 American, that's almost twice as expensive as California!!!!) We then went home to clean up, and get ready to go out to celebrate Colin's actual birthday.
We all got together at a place called Nefrys (which is also an Ex-Pat hangout/tourist trap). Carla and I got Colin a shot of Tequila for his birthday and then all the other volunteers followed. I threw some darts with a fellow volunteer named Amber, while Colin entertained Jackie and Carla (I don't think he was used to drinking hard liquor). Anyway, long story short, Colin was drunk, and we were going to walk home. As we started to walk out, a local guy came up to us and told us not to take the wooden bridge. He said we should take a taxi, and although we thought it was a taxi scam for tourists, it was also a good idea so we drove home.


SUNDAY MAY 22nd, 2005:
Sunday was a day of rest (and hangover for Colin). We slept in (or tried, even though the Dog gang wars were on again. To add to this sleepless situation, we also have a neighbor named Austin who has the loudest stereo system in Belize (he showed me the entry in the local Guinness Book of Belize Records!). He plays techno from 1am-7am every night. (note, since this time, we've become friends with Austin, and he plays Bob Marley music for Carla instead).
It was ridiculously hot Snday, so we really didn't do anthing except sit, say things like "It's pretty hot out!" and "Man, it is hot out!" I can see why things move slow down here. We managed to walk down to the river between Santa Elena and San Ignacio and go for a swim, but that was about it.

SUNDAY NIGHT:
We had a few volunteer friends over to our house to hang out. They were sufffering from TV withdrawal and we have cable here for another 2 weeks (we never watch, except for the occassional Red Sox update on Sportscenter - Clement is 5-0! - and news about the Hurricane. Among them was the newest volunteer, Melissa, who happens to have been dating our neighbor Austin (who she knows as Paul, which is his first name, Austin is his Middle name which all his friends use) for the past year. So Austin, Melissa, Annamalie, and Jen come over and we chat. I battle a coconut, trying to cut out the fruit from the husk for the better part of the hour witha 3 foot machete and a butter knife (eventually i won). Then everyone went home (Colin and I walked the girls back over the Suspension Bridge Mom), and we went to sleep.

SUNDAY LATE-NIGHT:
This warrants mentioning as the weirdest thing that has happened to us in Belize so far. Around 1:30 am, Carla and I were sleeping. Carla awoke to see me white faced, stairing at her like I had seen a ghost. A moment later I jumped on top of her and started hitting the pillow above her head and yelling at her to GET UP! GET UP! She jumped up out of bed and yelled what was wrong! I started to come to at this point. It turns out, I was having a nightmare that someone was trying to reach in through our window and grab Carla (that or an Animal had gotten into our room and was at Carla's head). I can't remember for sure, but it scared the poop out of both of us. Obviously nothing was there, and there's no way that anything could get in our windows as they are designed specifically to prevent theft or animals getting in. It was just plain weird.


MONDAY MAY 23rd, 2005:
This was a national holiday (I think Independence Day for Belize) so everyone had the day off and downtown was a ghost town. We decided to spend it by hiking 45 minutes to the closest Mayan ruins in town, called Cahal Pech with Colin and Jackie. The ruins were not quite as big as Caracol, but were impressive nonetheless. There were a lot of trees spread in between the ruins, which provided a lot of shade which was a refresher after the hike which was almost entirely uphill. After the ruins, we decided to spend the day the pool of the local hotel on top of the hill. It's called Cahal Pech Village and they have a nice view of the valley, decent but overpriced menu, and a pool which features a plaster-paris waterfall and a cigarette smoking dinosaur who sprays water on kids. It was a nice refreshing pool nonetheless, and we wasted the better portion of the day there, swimming and reading on the porch (it was too hot to even lay out in the sun for more then 5 minutes at a time, and you were dry in 3). ALl and all, a very relaxing day.

MONDAY NIGHT:
I was supposed to play basketball with Austin at the "Superstar" court, and word got around to the other volunteers, so we were going to have a big crowd. I heard they talk a lot of trash down here on the Belize courts, so I spent some time reviewing my best "Your Momma..." jokes. I was saved from certain humiliation however by the most tremendous thunderstorm I've ever seen. It started as lighting from the back porch to the Northwest and the sky was as black as Mordor in Lord of the Rings. Then we started to get crazy bright lightening strikes, it looked like a war was going on. Then all of a sudden, we got three drops, then the rains started coming down in gallons. We quickly pulled the lawn furniture inside and watched from the front porch (which had a roof). It was great. We then went to bed for our first cool night of sleep in a LONG TIME!

That was it for the weekend. It's now Thursday, and almost time for another weekend, but hopefull I'll catch everone up with the last few days tonight!

Just another day in Belize

So we just had our second afternoon with the children. They are AWESOME. Yesterday why we were in Belize City, Colin and Jackie held ground with them and had them complete a 'Who am I' sheet. We are trying to get them all to know each other and us to get to know them. We then had them draw a picture that represented one of their favorite things. We are going to ask them to draw these pictures with street chalk to decorate the grounds before the board meeting next week. Today we made paper airplanes with the kids and then held a bunch of contests. The kids are great! The LOVE getting their pictures taken and then seeing them on the digital cameras. We dont think they get much attention at home because they are hanging all over Jackie and I especially. They are adorable. We are off to hike to the mouth of the Makal and another river. Apparently there is a huge rope swing there. We have to cool off somehow!
Also, since Lindsay asked, our shower is normal! We have tile - we lucked out because we got a house that we are renting from a lady for the summer :) Have a great weekend!

A few days into things

So we are finally settling into San Ignacio. There are some things that are hard to get used to. One of those being you can't flush any TP because everything is on Septic tanks. Kinda crazy. You have to put it in a bag and empty it out every morning. On Wednesday night, there was a DOG WAR I believe ALL NIGHT LONG. All of the dogs all over the neighborhood were running around howling, barking, running through the bush etc. Needless to say, I didn't sleep a wink. We have also had to get used to all the little ants and bugs. The heat is finally becoming bearable, or maybe we are just getting use to it. We were going to hit up the beach this weekend but the Tropical Storm is going to put a damper on that. I think we are just going to stay in town and do some day trips instead.
Jim and I are taking Spanish lessons three times a week with 4 other people in our program. The teacher is from Nicaragua and is just great. We are also helping with the children that come to Cornerstone house everyday during school for lunch because they can't afford food otherwise. We are planning activities for them with our roommates, Colin and Jackie. The kids are adorable. We are also helping them after school with their homework.
Yesterday Jim and I woke up at 4:45am to head on the bus to Belize City to take part in the first ever Belize meeting for discussing the effects of HIV/AIDS on orphaned or vulnerable children. Cornerstone put it together with UNICEF and was the largest event they have held to date. Jim and I learned a lot about HIV/AIDS in Belize and heard some heart breaking real life stories. In the afternoon sessions, we broke into smaller groups and were paired with some of the National players in Belize - the department of human services, the department of health etc. Cornerstone has been granted $50K to distribute from UNICEF to orphaned or vulnerable children due to HIV/AIDS and Jim and I have signed up to help coordinate the process of it. Jim with his database experience and mine with my analytical background are going to try and help streamline the process. It should be a really interesting project to work on because we will be working with many local organizations. We are excited about both of the projects we are working on. On the other hand, spending the day in Belize City yesterday was enlightening to say the least. It is VERY dirty and there are so many children just running around. Most of the wooden houses are run down and rotted. It is not the beautiful city you might imagine it to be since it is right on the Caribbean coast. Anyways, I will let Jim write some more. Take care.

Finally in Belize - WITH our BAGS!

Hey There! So it is Wednesday afternoon and our bags have FINALLY arrived. For those of you that didn't hear, we left Cristina's house at 4:30am on Monday morning for Dulles. We get there, check in, wait for our flight. 6:45am rolls around and they tell us the flight is delayed for engine problems. Our connection time in Charlotte was only an hour so they put us on a flight to Dallas on American instead of USAir and PROMISE us our bags will get there. After a long lay over in Dallas, we arrived into Belize City at 3pm (2 hours behind east coast time because they don't use daylight savings here). Our shuttle that was supposed to pick us up earlier in the morning was obviously not there but we see a guy holding a sign that says CORNERSTONE which is the place we are volunteering. So we wait with this guy and out comes a group of 12 undergrads from the University of Memphis who are coming to cornerstone for a week to do a natural healing course. We all manage to pile about 15 people into a small van - thank goodness Jim and I didn't have our luggage because it would not have fit. Jim and I both sat on the hot wheel hubs. These girls packed like they were going away for 3 months!
So a two hour not so comfy ride later, we arrive outside of San Ignacio. It is about 6pm there and the office of where we are supposed to go is closed. We are able to convince the driver to take us to the house we are supposed to be staying at. The place is actually pretty cute. It is a SMALL two bedroom house that we share with a great couple from Rhode Island, Jackie and Colin. They are a bit younger than us, 24, but are really cool. Most of the volunteers here are between 19 - 25. There are two other 28 year olds though! That first night, Colin and Jackie took us on a tour of the town and over to meet the other volunteers at "The Greenhouse" (the place they live). We got lucky at our place compared to theirs! We share our bathroom with just the four of us and we have our own washer and dryer. Our backyard looks out onto the Makal river which is really nice. We are renting the house from a lady that is in Canada for the summer and does some work with Cornerstone. We are even taking care of her 5 year old dog, Killer. The dog's name is a misnomer though - she is pretty timid actually! I feel pretty safe with her there though. We haven't seen many insects in the house except these tiny ants and a few small spiders. Apparently in the greenhouse the girls have seen 2 tarantulas so I feel pretty lucky!
Tuesday we spent in orientations with Cornerstone and getting to know the town. They are holding a huge conference in Belize City on Thursday with UNICEF for helping orphaned children with AIDS so everyone is pretty busy working on that. Jim and I have tried to get involved but people seem too busy right now. We spent the rest of the days swimming in the river with Jackie, Colin, Anna Mellia (a 19 year old quaker girl) and Jen (a college aged girl from Canada) talking about ideas for projects we would like to work on.
Wednesday the 18th, we just waited around at the house in the morning for our bags to FINALLY arrive. Jim had been wearing all of Colins clothes and I think my shirt was starting to mold to me. We just had lunch at Cornerstone, where we have it every weekday. Rice and beans with fried bananas and a tomato and cucumber salad. Fruit is everywhere here which is great. I think we are planning to head to Caye Cauker on the caribean this weekend with Colin and Jackie since it's a long weekend (some sort of holiday on Monday!).
Hope everyone is well in the States and we miss you all. We will try and write more about the people we are meeting etc. Just trying to catch up now on things!

About to head out!

Good morning! It is Sunday, May 15th! Jobby and I are about to start our travels to DC to fly to Belize for the summer! We are volunteering with an organization called Cornerstone. We will be living in San Ignacio, West Belize from May 16 - July 18. You can check out the orgnazation here:

http://www.peacecorner.org/cornerstone.htm

We look forward to keeping ourselves and everyone else up to date on what we are doing and where we are traveling through this blog! Have a great summer!