Catching Up

So the past week has been incredible in so many ways that it’d be impossible to describe them all. I intended to give you the blow-by-blow when I tried to update the blog on Tuesday, but when the site didn’t save my work I decided that just hitting the highlights would be best.

Things all began last Thursday when we arrived at our host family’s home. We met our host parents, Juanita and Raymond Moguel, and their daughter Sharon. They live in the village of Succotz, between the city of San Ignacio and the Guatemalan border. Okay, already I realized that I cannot do our time here justice without doing a blow-by-blow report. I hope you have plenty of time to invest in our adventure. Anyway, Juanita is a 65 year old woman who epitomizes the Central American grandmother. She is short, sturdily built, and never comfortable unless you are sitting, eating, drinking, and insisting that she has done too much. Unfortunately, she has also been ill recently. Raymond is an 85 year old Kriol who has all the physical attributes of a bean-pole and, according to his children, has never been sick in his life. The rest of the characters—and I do mean characters—will be introduced later. Now back to the story.

Thursday, almost immediately after arriving in Succotz, Sharon insisted that we should go with her to visit her home in San Ignacio, the city about five miles away. Sharon is a single parent with two daughters: Shaneen, who is 21, married, and has one child with another on the way; and Shanice, a typical fourteen year old girl. On the way to her home, Sharon took us by a nursery to buy roses and some fresh milk (because every nursery needs to sell local dairy products as well). On our way back we stopped at the Mayan craft stands next to the Mopan River, the river that runs parallel to the main road and separates Succotz from Xunantanich, a huge Mayan ruin. As a side note, I can think of very few places I have ever been that match the natural beauty of the Mopan River in Succotz. That evening we met Otto, one of the Moguel’s sons. Otto is about 37 and has lived with his parents for the past three months. He and his wife have separated, and he and I talked about that, about his faith, and probably a million other things all in that first meeting. As overwhelming as it may have been, it really made me feel at home.

The next morning I woke up to the rooster crowing. Now I don’t know what you’ve heard about roosters crowing, but I imagine you think they crow about the time the sun comes up, which would be about six o’clock here. Well I regret to inform you that that is not the case in Succotz. The roosters began to crow at 3:30 AM. But it’s all good, I went back to sleep. The dog barking at 7:30 did it for me though. Sharon had already come back to her parents’ house to serve us cross buns as a traditional Kriol breakfast for Good Friday. After breakfast she took us to visit a butterfly sanctuary/Frisbee golf course (because they are an obvious match, right?). No one was working, but the proprietor (I assume he was the proprietor) said we could go through by ourselves for free. A nice walk, but burning hot. We made it to the Moguels’ about 10, and Sharon asked us if we wanted to go see the Good Friday procession in Benque, the next town over, which actually borders Guatemala. We said sure, and she jumped up to take us, insisting we should go but that she also needed to be back by 11 to start lunch. We pretty much just drove to Benque and back, but we did stop long enough to see a little of the procession. And by procession I mean re-enactment. These Catholics really take Easter seriously. Also, I didn’t mention that the entire country of Belize observes the Easter holiday from Good Friday all the way through Holy Monday. Well, back for lunch and a mini-siesta. About that time we had worked up a good sweat for the day and decided to go to the river to bathe. We swam and washed and had a great time with Sharon and Shanice. There were dozens of others there as well, which I heard was interesting since there is a myth that if you swim in the river on Good Friday, you turn into a mermaid. It’s okay, though; none of us did. After going back home, Sharon asked if we wanted to go with her the following morning to see the bicycle race. Since all the current PCV’s had told us that you really benefit from always saying yes, we agreed. The bike race begins early from Belize City, so we had to go to spend the night with her in San Ignacio to be there on time. In San Ignacio we drove around a bit, picking up and returning Sharon’s grand-son Jaydon. She also introduced us to her brother Johnny who lives just down the road from her. He took us to his house and introduced us to his wife and three children. After about an hour there we were exhausted and it was getting late, so we finally made it to bed.

Saturday we were up bright and early for the bike race. The race begins in Belize City, goes through the capital of Belmopan, to San Ignacio, and all the way back again. The total distance is about 80 miles and it literally goes all the way across the country (I dare you to find a map and see for yourself!). Sharon dropped us off at a prime spot outside San Ignacio—in town it gets too crowded and the view is bad—before going back to pick up Shaneen. Unfortunately, she got stuck on the way back and had to wait until the race passed. So Kathryn and I spent about an hour or so on the side of the road with Shanice, surrounded by crazy Belizeans. Definitely a unique experience. It really was cool to watch the race go by (twice), and I’ll post pictures when I get the camera-battery-charger from mom in the mail (because I can’t be trusted to do simple tasks like remember to bring it with the camera itself). Afterwards we went to the market, because Saturday is market day. That afternoon was relatively low-key, we went with Sharon to her cousin’s house so she could have her nails done—we watched about an hour of Michael Jackson videos, exactly what I wanted to do in Belize! That night Shanice accompanied us to the fair. It was a typical fair with sketchy rides, sketchier food, and tons of people. The highlight there was probably watching the marching band. We knew they would play because Johnny’s two kids play in it, and Kathryn especially was thrilled to see it. They didn’t march so much, though; they mostly danced in place. It looked like a pretty grueling thing, especially since they played standing for about 45 minutes. After that we were about spent. We watched a movie with Shanice and then went to bed.

Sunday slowed down a little. We didn’t do much of anything in the morning except try to find an internet café before getting caught in a torrential rainstorm. After the weather finally calmed down Sharon took us to a barbecue at Shaneen’s house. Apparently Belizeans love to barbecue and do it on a weekly basis. You really can’t go wrong, though, with chicken, beans, tortillas, and coleslaw. We finally made it back to the Moguels’ that night. Kathryn and I were so relieved to be back. It still amazes me how quickly an overnight stay turned into a two-night marathon. We bathed in the river again—the water was out in Succotz when we arrived—and were finally able to relax. That night Otto took us for a walk all over town, showed us where the other Peace Corps Trainees (PCTs) were living, and took us to the top of the ridge that separates Succotz from Benque so we could look out over the entire town. We finally had a break.

Monday was similarly easy. It was our last day before training began, and we wanted to make the best of it. We ate lunch with Nadine, the Moguels’ daughter that lives immediately behind their house. We even had a chance to play Scrabble with her daughter Rhylie. I think I spent most of the afternoon in the hammock on their back porch, completely content.

Tuesday the rubber met the road as we began our community-based training (CBT). Not a lot to talk about, but definitely a drastic change from the weekend. Tuesday night was the kicker, though. After class our trainer drove by the house to say that the training manager had been trying to contact us. I looked at the phone to see that I had missed five calls. Worried, we finally got in touch with the training manager. She said that someone had contacted the Peace Corps office concerning Juanita’s health. They said she has had a history of illness and were concerned that she might over-do it trying to take care of us. They told us we would have to move out of their house and in with a new family. They said the family had not been contacted but that someone would be out Wednesday to talk to them. It was an awful evening, knowing but unable to say anything.

Wednesday came quickly, though. We arrived at home for lunch to find Juanita laying on the couch crying. Peace Corps had called to tell her that we would be leaving. We ate lunch and before we had finished the person from Peace Corps arrived to take us to our new host family. Of course, we didn’t know we would be leaving during lunch and had to do a very quick pack job. I think everyone was in tears when we left. I hate that we had to go, but I also am happy to know that now Juanita won’t be causing herself to get sick for us. We only had about three minutes to recover before being introduces to Marisol and her son Marlon. They live two streets down and accepted us with open arms. We were given Marlon’s room, but being twelve makes him very adaptable and able to sleep on the couch. We still haven’t spent much time with the family, but even two dinners and a tortilla-making session have shown us that we have nothing to worry about.

So that’s about everything. Today was busy going to visit the other PCTs on the other side of San Ignacio, but I suppose we should be getting used to that. Thanks for your endurance. If you made it through this in one sitting you deserve a prize. But not from us, we’re only volunteers and cannot afford such luxuries.

Peace,

Cisco