A not so concise catch up

     So once again I have not had the chance to share with you everything that has been going on in our ever changing life in Belize. I do feel like I have a better excuse this time for being late in my post, I am in the process of completing two relatively complicated grant applications for the library and all of my writing energy has been expended through this. Now that I can finally share some of my writing time I want to briefly give you some of my thoughts on the Ruta Maya, the big canoe race, before I focus on new events.


     I don’t know how to explain the gravity of this event for me except to say it was nothing short of a spiritual experience. I have been hiking, camping, running, playing sports, rock climbing, and canoeing my whole life but this was by far the most difficult physical thing I have ever done and one of the most difficult mental things I have ever accomplished as well. When my fellow paddlers Kaitlyn and Heather agreed to do this race with me everyone kept telling us how difficult it would be and several people told us they didn’t think we would finish. I never expected such negativity I grew up with friends and family that always told me I could do anything if I put my mind to it. Well in this case both groups were correct. We had no idea how hard this event was and our training was completely inadequate. Although, as an aside I am proud of myself for being so unprepared and impromptu about the whole event because it is a testament to my work at relinquishing some control in my life and going more with the flow. I now know that halfway through my team’s first day of traveling we were all thinking how the hell are we going to finish this race. Excuse my language After we finished the first day things started to happen to our bodies that we couldn’t control or understand. One of my arms became unusable, my lips were blistered even though I used sun-proof chapstick, Kaitlyn’s right shoulder didn’t feel right, Heather was exhausted, and the list goes on. We camped that day and the only option for bathing was in the river and I almost skipped a bath because I was so tired but at the last minute I went with the girls to the river and at some point in the cold water my body started to return to normal. Thank God I took that bath because the cool water and flowing motion over our bodies was extremely therapeutic and a lot of our aches in pains went away. Now don’t get me wrong I was still in an incredibly about of pain and I am pretty sure I took more Ibuprofen in those four days then I have in all of the rest of my life. The next morning as you can imagine was terrible because we were in a lot of pain and we were preparing to paddle for the longest day of the race 56 miles in one day. Surprisingly, as we started paddling our bodies started to feel normal again and we realized that paddling had become the natural motion for our arms and was the only way they felt ok. I have to mention that if you can imagine sitting in a canoe all day long with two other girls in the hot hot sun knowing you have two more days to go you would think you would want to kill one another. Well this is why I feel like this experience was more spiritual than physical. The three of us communicated and worked so well together I can’t even begin to describe how proud of those women I am or how blessed I feel for getting to share this experience with them. I could not have had this wonderful an experience with any other team and this behavior and communication lasted until the moment we went under that finish line. We became masters as battling rapids, eating full meals in seconds, and peeing in a moving canoe into a small bucket. We sang the only two songs that we all knew the words, Alanis Morsette’s “Isn’t It Ironic” and Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” (our theme song), I know that is a little pathetic but give us a break we were tired I’m sure we must know more songs than that. We finished our second day in 9 hours and 30 minutes, next time you go canoeing don’t stop paddling for five minutes straight then imagine 9 hours and 30 minutes that is the only way I can explain how that felt. Ironically our third day which was only 7 hours and 40 minutes was by far the most difficult. We were expecting that day to be faster and we were very tired already but knew we had a whole next day to complete. The last day was simply magical, I think we must have been delirious. I have never tried hallucinogenic drugs but I think four straight days of paddling in the hot sun may have a similar effect. When we got in the canoe we looked at each other and all decided the same exact thing, we have nothing left to hold out for so let’s finish this! Kailtyn and I didn’t go to the bathroom, none of us hardly ate or drank, we just paddled as hard as we possibly could. We sang and joked and literally acted like crazy people but all the while paddling our guts out. When we saw the finish line we screamed go over and over and paddled with everything left we had and finished the 175ish mile race. I have never felt quite so proud of myself and my two other paddlers. It was an experience that tested me on a million different levels and I will never forget it!

     Not too long after the race Cisco and I had another wonderful thing to look forward too, my Mom and Danny my step-brother were coming! They stayed for ten days and we had a fabulous time. I have to say this was a pretty busy trip and I even had to cancel some of my plans but I really wanted Mom and Danny to get to see as much as possible on their first big trip out of the country. We went to Pine Ridge and visited Caracol the largest Mayan Ruin in Belize it was our first time getting to see it. We stayed at the Five Sisters Lodge a beautiful resort in the jungle overlooking three small waterfalls, it was beautiful. We spent a day there at Big Rock Falls and had a picnic packed by our resort and swam and jumped off the rocks all day. We also got to explore the small Rio Frio Cave and I can never get enough of the beauty of the caves. After returning our rental car we spent a day relaxing in Cayo and of course eating at Hannah’s. We travelled farther west and introduced Mom and Danny to our host family in Succotz. We spent the evening talking and visiting the Succotz fair, that we unfortunately didn’t get to experience last year because we were on a site visit. We played some overly expensive games and won some stuffed animals and I rode on a very spinny and creaky ride with my host brother Marlon for which I wanted to vomit on out of spite for making my ride the stupid thing. The next day we visited the second largest Mayan ruin in Belize good ole Xunantunich and took our host brother with us. Afterwards Marisol and Cruz made us a delicious lunch and it was a lovely day. Marisol and Cruz spoiled me on this trip making sure to have all of my favorite foods including tambrans that I made into juice, fried plantains, curry chicken, and her pasta with salsa. I am extremely grateful for this family and so happy that my Mom and Danny could spend some time with them. We returned home and after a brief reprieve in sleep Belmopan we started some slightly more relaxed trips. We took Danny and Mom to the Belize Zoo which I can’t get enough of and that I was happy to see didn’t look to bad after the hurricane damage. Another day trip was to ATM caves and this is probably one of the coolest things we have done in Belize. ATM Caves is a large caving system that takes an entire day to explore. We organized a trip with our guide, my family, and three friends from Peace Corps, Allison and Clyfton Klaverweiden, and Elsa George so we had a pretty big group. To explore the cave you start by hiking to the cave and once there fixing helmets and headlamps to our heads. You proceed by swimming into the mouth of the cave and walking through a shallow creek of water. It didn’t take us long to realize that albeit knowledgeable of Mayan traditions and the cave system our guide was a surly old man that spent more than enough time reminding us to follow his every word and to adhere strictly to all of his rules. That aside, we explored the cave while our guide explained the different uses of the pottery artifacts that had been left in the cave, the history behind the ashes from fires, and showed us different ways the shadows played off the walls to create monster like creatures, once believed to be usedby Mayans to scare off unwanted visitors. We had to climb, swim, and shimmy through small spaces which made the whole thing very exciting. The last stop before turning around is a climb to a high section in the cave where a perfectly preserved women’s skeleton lay. This was pretty amazing to see in real life and not on the History Channel. This was an exciting day and one of the coolest things to do in Belize so if any of you ever visit make sure to add this to your itinerary. The last few excursions were a little more lazy and relaxed, such as spending one day at Guanacaste Park swimming and eating fried chicken at the river, and playing with the kids that skipped school. The next day we spent at Blue Hole National Park swimming again, it’s hot here by the way, and jumping off rocks that say Don’t Jump, I haven’t changed too much It was incredibly hard to see them go but all around we had a wonderful visit and I hope they feel they got to truly experience a new piece of the world.

       Not too long after Mom and Danny left I had a birthday! I am now 26 years old heading towards 30 and I am realizing age is really what you make of it because I don’t feel a day over 18, lol. Cisco surprised me with the one of the best birthdays I have ever had! Cisco invited several friends to join us and go canoeing for my birthday. He magically kept all of this a complete surprise and I am not lying until I was practically sitting down in the canoe. We even had two of those friends stay the night at our house and until the next day I had no idea they were travelling with us for my birthday, sneaky little buggers. We ended up with six friends joining us to paddle upstream to Chaa Creek. One friend that couldn’t come with us joined us briefly that morning to drop off homemade pancakes and a bag of mangoes for our breakfast in the canoes, it was incredibly sweet! When we got to Chaa Creek we explored the Medicinal Trail Museum and the Butterfly Farm. We then shared an impromptu and overly expensive lunch at the resort and headed back downstream to paddle home. Each of us was in a canoe with a guide which was something we rarely used because it usually costs more money. This was actually a great experience because our guide was very nice and he shared with us the different names of birds and things we normally wouldn’t have been able to pick out on our own. For me the most exciting moment was when the guide told us the bird sound we were hearing was that of Toucans, and I have been trying to see a Toucan in the wild for a year now! We paddled to shore and from our canoe sure enough we saw a family of four Keel Billed Toucans playing together in the trees, it was awesome! This was truly one of the most thoughtful things anyone has ever planned for me. I had been missing canoeing since the Ruta Maya, which is strange because I thought I may never want to see a canoe again but honestly I just fell in love with it and Cisco knew this and made it a perfect reunion.

      Most recently we had more visitors! Have I mentioned how unbelievably lucky we are? Our friends Tim and Erika from North Carolina came to visit us for a week. This was a whole different type of visit and equally as wonderful. Most of our time together was spent being lazy, talking, and of course.. playing 11 games of Settler’s of Catan. We spent the first part of our week together in Caye Caulker laying in the sun, shopping (buying another necklace from my favorite jewelry maker in Belize), and swimming. We spent one evening taking a sun set and full moon sail. It was gorgeous I have never seen so many stars! There were only nine people on the boat ourselves, another family, and our two guides. We spent the time listening to Reggae, drinking Caribbean Rum mixed with an extremely sugary juice concentrate called squash, that incidentally ended up making me puke, and eating chips and salsa. Other than the fact that the nasty drinks and the choppy sea made me vomit a few times it was a wonderful experience. The next day we rented sea kayaks and went paddling for an hour. I had forgotten until this moment how much easier it is to paddle a kayak then a canoe, they go so much faster!! Cisco and I were in singles and Erika and Tim were in a double. My kayak was extremely streamlined and fast, it was very exciting and Cisco and I didn’t realize how far out into the sea we had paddled until we eventually look back and realized it was going to take a lot long to try and get back into shore then out. While we were noticing this I saw fins 6 feet ahead of my kayak and after being a little freaked for a moment I realized two Dolphins were swimming and playing right in front of our kayaks. I think one may have actually swam under Cisco’s kayak it was amazing, when we told Tim and Erika they didn’t believe us. It took awhile to convince them we really did see them. The whole trip with Tim and Erika gave us the boost we needed to be prepared for another year here but all the while made us really look forward to coming home to our friends and family.

          I will briefly mention that our work here is going very well and is exceptionally busy. As of right now my primary project is the Belmopan Library where I have three main goals. First, to search and apply for funding opportunities for a sign, building expansion, children’s section, technology center, and of course books for the library. Second, to promote awareness by the community to the library through monthly family oriented events. Third, to add and restructure after school programs at the library for children. Like I said before I am working on the first by applying to different grants. To address my second goal I started by having a family movie night at the beginning of April on the library yard where the movie was projected onto a sheet. About 120 people showed up and it was a wonderful and successful night. We earned $200 from selling snacks that went straight to the library and promoted the library and our desire to see families spend more time together. The most demanding and rewarding thing I am working on right now at the library is a reading program that has already went above and beyond by expectations. At one point I had 120 children show up for the reading program in a building that comfortably seats 35-40 people. I have now re-structured and I am directing the program over two nights with a total of 60 registered children. In addition to my responsibilities at the library I still direct the choir at Our Lady of Guadalupe Primary School and I Co-Lead a Cub Scouts Troop there also. My newest secondary project is at a young girl’s children’s home where myself and my friend Sylvia lead a one hour a week GLOW Club (girls leading our world). The purpose of this is to cover a large variety of topics such as HIV/AIDS, sexuality, self esteem, leadership, stress management, future planning, friendship, fashion, peer pressure, healthy relationships, responsible use of Facebook, and so on. As of right now I will continue with all of these groups until summer but I have reverted to some old behaviors and am afraid I have bitten off a little more than I can chew. I am hoping to start finding more Belizeans or new Peace Corps volunteers to take over some of my secondary projects.

      So there! I hope that makes up for my absence! Just know we are happy and busy but that even though we get to do amazing things here it is often very difficult and we miss you all tremendously. Love you all and hope you are doing well.

Con Amor,

Kathryn