You better Belize it!

So the past few days have been crazy. In addition to being incredibly busy, we have met 36 other Peace Corps trainees, learned an enormous amount of information about being a PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer), and had to adjust to a two-hour time difference. But I have no worries. Our first evening in-country we went to a wonderful dinner where we enjoyed the company of some 40 current PCVs and staff. We ate chicken, rice & beans, and potato salad. After settling in at the hotel, a group of the PCVs threw a welcome party on the third floor of our building. It was incredibly loud, but a great time nonetheless. I spent most of my time quizzing the current PCVs about their experiences and what I should expect. Like I said, a great time.
Friday we spent the better part of the day at the Peace Corps compound, which is about ¾ a mile from our hotel. We had beans, eggs, and fried jacks (deep fried flat-bread) for breakfast and chicken, rice & beans, and pasta salad for lunch. Lunch also included a plantain, which Kathryn has since fallen in love with. The day was really informative, but pretty monotonous as well. It’s not that the folks here weren’t presenting well or anything, just that whenever you have that amount of information to take in in such a short amount of time, it wears on you. We were on our own for dinner, which we had across the street from our hotel with Dena and Chris, two other trainees. I opted for a club sandwich, and everybody tried the ice cream. On the glass in front of the ice cream there is a sign saying “Pay $1.00 to make your ice cream more special and different.” I did. I definitely had M&M’s on my ice cream and loved it.
Yesterday was “Culture Day” for us. We met early and had Johnny cakes for breakfast (like pita bread biscuits with cheese) before departing for Bermudan Landing, a small Kriol town towards Belize City. The day was wonderful as we toured the baboon sanctuary (Kathryn actually had one of the baboons eat from her hand), enjoyed Kriol story-telling, listened to a local band, watched rice beating & oil making, and eating a typical Kriol lunch of chicken, rice & beans, and potato salad (hopefully you’re getting the idea of what we’ll be eating over the next two years). We returned in the late afternoon and spent the evening eating a delicious spinach pizza and returning to the Peace Corps office to access the internet.
Today was a bit less structured. We didn’t have any mandatory activities, but there was a river trip and kickball. We slept in and watched a bit of football this morning, finally going to a Chiney (grocery store, most of which are owned by Chinese or Taiwanese) to pick up food for breakfast and lunch since most places are closed on Sunday. After playing some Uno, B.S., and Guillotine with three other trainees, Kathryn went to the river. She said they jumped in from some rocks above the river and also played on a rope swing. I stayed in because I wasn’t feeling really well. Something about the atmosphere here has triggered some sinus issues, but I recovered enough to go to the kickball game. We played Business Organization and Youth Development versus Education and Healthy Communities. We stomped them, but it was a really fun game.
And that has basically been our Belize experience thus far. We’re going to the river this afternoon to play and will be participating in the kickball game this evening. It still feels like we’re on vacation, but I’m sure that will change very soon. We miss everyone from home, but thankfully have been too busy to dwell on it. Anyway, one of us will update again soon.
Peace,
Cisco