How I have come to love Belize!

A reflection by me...Kathryn

So our time in Peace Corps is rapidly coming to an end and in the last couple of months instead of feeling complete excitement for our return home I have started to feel a squeezing in my chest reminding me of how in love of Belize I have become.  For a year in Peace Corps we struggled on a daily basis with our work, our relationships, and all the other changes surrounding us. There where many times in that year I could honestly say I did not like being in Belize. Then something happened and things started changing. Next thing I know it and my work is moving forward and not only are my work partners trusting my advice but they are becoming my friends.  I suddenly didn't have to fight for every penny because I am white instead people either already know me or I can talk just enough Kriol for them to realize I have been here awhile.  And one of the most helpful changes happened when a few boys in our neighborhood showed up to Cisco's ultimate frisbee game on Sunday and suddenly all the 19 year old boys that gave me trouble in my village were my best buddies.  How is it possible that in the last three months of Peace Corps I suddenly feel completely at home, and now it is time to go? Well that being said I want to share something about Belize I will miss the most including the stories of when I have felt the most at home.

One of my favorite memories in Belize is when we just returned home from spending almost two weeks in Mexico, meeting Cisco's family, over Christmas break. The taxi pulls up in front of our gate at around 7 at night and we get out to pick up our baggage.  As soon as we exit the car screaming children come from all over the place yelling our names and cheering that we are home. Immediately we are immersed in hugs! Then the kids all start grabbing our bags and helping us open the gate. They all walk us to our house and put our stuff inside as I look around to assess the damage. Since our homes are very open, the windows are barred shut, and there are just screens separating the inside from out. Our table was covered in dirt and I was started complaining about how dirty it was and the little boys started wiping the table down for me.  I go to walk them all out because we need to get settle in and one of my favorite little boys, Tito, who was seven at the time stops me puts his hands on my shoulders, looks me straight in the eyes and says, Katarine, I am so glad you come back! Talk about the best way to come home from vacation. About a half hour later our neighbor Zoila sends some Escabache, onion soup, over because she knows we don't have any food in the house too. This is what it feels like to be part of a community.

Another story that is much shorter and completely random is to me a prime example of Belize.  The other day I was staring out my front window, as I tend to do alot, and I saw a little girl on her bike. This girl was probably 5 riding a little kids bike, which she probably had been riding since she was 3.  She was dressed in a very fancy strapless red gown, she looked like she was going to a wedding. She of course was barefoot and as she passed the house the chain on her bike slipped off.  Well unlike any kid I know in the States, and I grew up in the country, she hopped off her bike leaned over it and fixed the chain in seconds. In her adorable little gown and bare feet she quickly hopped back on and went on her way. Love it!

Every Sunday at 3 pm Cisco has organized an Ultimate Frisbee game on a field about a mile from our house. He sends out flyers and texts to people all over Belmopan.  The game has not surprisingly become one of our favorite times during the week.  But to our surprise one day when we were playing a couple of older boys on bikes were watching and hanging around while we played. After we finished and Cisco and I were packing up they came over and asked to throw the disc around and we of course said yes and quickly realized these were our neighbors, the boys that lived directly around our home.  Well in just a month or so three 19 year old boys, their 17, 15, and 14 year old siblings all regularly play Frisbee with us each week and have become our best pals on top of that.  Now whenever there is a holiday we all go to the closer field right behind our house and play sports together. With the older boys we are always talking through the fence, playing games, and one has become my Spanish tutor. This has proved to be a monumental change for us, I no longer get harassed on our street because all of the boys know me, and for once we feel like we really have a Belizean family. A couple funny stories have come out of these games and interactions as well…

Probably the third time we played Frisbee the three 19 year olds wanted to play against Cisco, myself, and my friend Bart.  Cisco and I are the best and most experienced players and we tried to explain to them that the teams weren’t very fair, but they insisted. At about the same time I was picking on one of the boys about how I’d like to see him cook because I was sure he couldn’t. This was just one of many “discussions” I have had with these boys about gender roles.  He insisted he could and said he was going to make me dinner and blah blah blah. Well these two conversations ended up molding into a bet that the losing team had to cook a barbeque for the winning team. Well of course Cisco and my team won and the three boys promised to cook for us the next Friday.  Well the BBQ was meant to start at 5:30, I was coming late from an event at 6, and the food was supposed to be ready when I got there. Each boy had their own responsibility making tortillas, cabbage salad, beans, and most importantly the chicken. I arrived at 6 and nobody was even around except Cisco. Needless to say we didn’t eat until 8:30 and there were two trips to the shop for beans and charcoal during the process but I have to admit it was some of the best chicken I have ever eaten.

One of my other favorite moments in Belize happened just a few weeks ago right after Cisco’s sister arrived.  Cisco and I had been away for a conference and only had the morning of Alicia’s arrival to clean up the house and get prepared. I was doing chores and grocery shopping all morning when I heard the guys hail me from the fence. I had been having trouble with my bike tire for weeks, Cisco kept patching the inner tube but it still kept going flat and I had to go everywhere with a pump. We were gone for a few days and I hadn’t had time to fix it again and this time it was flat flat!  Anyway the boys called for me and told me pull my bike up front to the gate to fix it for me. I did as I was told and they told me my whole tire was no bueno. The one boy Victor told me to give him $20 and he would go buy me a new tire and replace the old one. He went halfway across town and fixed my bike for me, and gave me change. A month ago these boys wouldn’t even talk to me and now they are taking care of me like a sister. I have never felt so appreciative of something so simple.

Other random things I will miss…

The constant sounds of nature, I don’t know if I can sleep without chickens, geese, dogs, and blaring reggae tone.

Food being the greatest offering of friendship and love. It seems every day now someone gives us an orange, banana, sweet bread, or soup just because that is what they do. I made 60 cookies the other day and distributed them out around the neighborhood and it is the best feeling in the world.

Riding my bike everywhere, the exercise, the opportunity to see things, to feel the sun, it’s a blessing.

Watching out my window and seeing a carnival every second of every day. Snotty geese bullying all the other animals and chasing down poor bicyclists, hardworking guard dogs barking at everything that moves and the smaller the dog the louder the bark, chickens just scavenging for anything edible, children making use of every movable object to create some kind of game or entertainment for themselves, gossiping ladies, men working hard and drinking hard, domesticated turkeys (which I will never get used to), one annoyed pig, an occasional free roaming cow, 5 minor bicycle accidents a day, a women carrying 3 kids home on her bike, a man carrying a weed eater, can of gas, and other equipment on his bike, a 5 year old using a machete to cut the grass, the ladies washing their laundry every day in the outdoor sink, rain or shine, and of course the kids incessantly throwing rocks at each other despite our frequent warnings.

Everyone singing and dancing all the time unapologetically and without fear that they look or sound bad. I love that music is constantly flowing through their daily lives.

Hammocks

Fighting to get on the bus like a herd of cattle and all easily finding a seat

The snacks... ideals, cold cups, wagon wheels, fruit in bags, fruit with lime and salt in bags, ketchup on everything, nachos with cheese, meat, and hot pepper, tacos, panades, and believe it or not rice and beans!

Kriol and its beautiful rhythm. Spanish and everything about it!

Hearing fireworks at 4 am and knowing its somebody’s birthday.

Quinciñeras

Churches in session at 10 pm with the worst singing I have ever heard in my life!

Walking into a classroom and watching all the kids stand and say together Good Morning Miss Kathryn and welcome to Standard 6.

School Uniforms... it's nice to know where the kids go to school, it's a conversation starter.

Waking at 6 am, running, coffee, reading, eating, getting ready to go to work. Yes 3 hours to prepare myself for the day is just the right amount of time.

Hour long lunches at home.

Buying dvds from the market a week after they come out.

The weather, sweating 9 months a year is really a beautiful thing.

The landscape and fauna, green, pink, purple, red, blues everywhere it is just beautiful. 

Going to the beach whenever we want.

Taxis, water taxis, sailing, buses... I guess I love public transportation.

Things I will not miss...

Wearing a helmet when nobody else does, lol

Fire ants... little bastards.

I guess all in all somehow in the last year Belize and I have become friends and I am going to miss her.