PCV: Paid Caribbean Vacation

I have always complained about things like Belikin Beer since arriving to Belize but until now, I only complained. It wasn't until now that it really truly effected me. Now the monopoly that is Belize is getting out of hand. Let's start with the big ones.

• Bowen & Bowen- These guys make every drink known to humankind in Belize. If you buy a Coke, a Fanta, a Beer, a bottled water... It came from Bowen & Bowen. They make a killing on everything and due to the high tariffs and taxes on all imports, they basically get to set their price on everything and no one has a chance to argue.
• Centaurus- This is the cable/internet company. With a country of only 300,000 people, I can understand how there is really only a need for one of these. But for the sake of competition, I think there should be at least be two. The problem with this company is they charge Belizeans $40 a month ($20usd) to receive about 120 channels. That's great! Until you realize they don't pay for it anyway. There are about 4 Belize channels that are made here and they pay for. All the other channels are stolen via satellite from Mexico, Guatemala, Taiwan, and the United States. This is why I can get ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNnews, ESPNdeportes, NBC, ABC, Fox, NFL network, NBA network, BigTen network. I'm not complaining about any of this, but to think of how much money they are making for pirating everything from other countries is a bit crazy.
• BTL (Belize Telemedia Limited)- This is the big drama doing on right now. BTL used to be the only phone company in Belize. It was owned by some guy named Mr. Ashcroft. Ashcroft is worth more money than the entire GDP of Belize. With that much money, you can see how he has some power. A few years ago, another phone company started up. SMART phones is now the company to be with. The tricky part is, Ashcroft owns this too. BTL just kept it under wraps for a bit. Most people couldn't figure out how SMART was operating and why BTL was letting them use all their towers. Now it all makes sense. The problem began when I arrived in Belize. The same week, the government of Belize took over BTL and made it government property. As you can imagine, this was big news. Good news for us because now there was huge competition. The now government run BTL was lowering prices trying to get customers and SMART just kept lowering their prices too giving free credit to anyone who bought some. I loved it. Then the news hit on Friday that BTL was now allowing SMART to use its lines anymore. The same lines that BTL (when owned by Ashcroft) paid for. This meant that all international phone calls are cut off. Being a SMART customer, this means that there will be no phone calls to family for Thanksgiving or no calls to my brother on his birthday.

Until a few years back, there only used to be 1 bus line for the entire country as well. There is only 1 nationally recognized newspaper. I guess this is to be expected from a third world country, but it doesn't have to be. The most depressing part is that it's not like people don't want to start their own businesses and compete. It is allowed, but the government has allowed through corrupt lawmaking only a few to survive and flourish. Starting a business to compete now would be harder than a Mom-n-Pop Shop to take over Walmart. The amount of resources is alarming. Then the situation like BTL happens that seems great because it will force competition, but instead of competing, it has turned into an all out war where no one may be allowed to benefit from the service.

All these monopolies really restrict the amount of money that the average Belizean can make. Not only that, but the amount of restrictions that are already in place in relation to commerce limit Belize enough. Everything is taxed. This is why even though I am about 4 miles from the Mexican border, its impossible to get tequila without paying an arm and a leg. Its a bit over the top. Belize is the arguably the most expensive country in all of Central America due to the monopolistic practices and the high taxes it places on all foreign goods. And they wonder why they have such a problem with people smuggling in everything from beer to tomatoes to even toilet paper from Mexico and Guatemala. I'd say when your citizens are smuggling things like toilet paper and not using it to sell, but to use, that you have a problem in your country in terms of how much money you are trying to make off your own people. So despite all the luxuries that I do benefit from, there are plenty of internal problems that exist that I cant even really understand.

The winter here is rapidly approaching. Last week I saw a woman wearing ear muffs. The children show up to school each day in sweaters and hats. I wake up to my host family talking about how they couldn't sleep the night before because they were shivering all night and couldn't get warm.

I think the lowest the temperature has gone is maybe 60 degrees.

I have never closed my windows and still often sleep without any blankets because I get hot. The one thing I have stopped relying as heavily on as a crutch is my beloved fan. I still consider the fan my best friend in the country of Belize. When I move out on my own in the next week, I will feel like Im cheating on my one true love when I have to buy a new fan of my own. It was never mine anyway, just my "sweetheart" for the time being. (A sweetheart is what is referred to as the 2nd girlfriend down here because men so often have more than one. The second one is sweeter... men.)

The hardest part of my day is the dreaded shower. Its a bitter sweet moment really. I used to love them. It was the only cool part of my day. I still I sweat in the shower when it's hot. Now it has turned more into the Hokie Pokie. It goes a little something like this...

I step into the shower. I get myself psyched up. Take a few deep breaths. Look at the red valve on the wall and think about the decision I'm about to make. Sometimes I reach down and touch my toes and stretch. repeat. I always find myself looking at the red valve and taking deep breaths before finally turning it and sealing my fate.

The water comes on but doesn't touch me. I'm lucky enough to have a block of concrete to take a shower in where I can face the water to the wall and only small drops of water get on me. The worst part hasn't even begun yet. Now comes the Hokie Pokie.

I put my right hand in, I take my right hand out. I put my left hand in and I shake it all about. This doesn't usually help at all. All my skin is just tightening everywhere and I immediately turn into the 3 year old kid standing on the edge of the swimming pool refusing to jump in ready to scream blood murder to anyone willing to listen.

I put my left foot in, I take my left foot out. Right foot in, and shake it all about. This proceeds to the arms, then the calves and thighs. If I'm feeling confident I'll dip my head in. I usually stand there for about 2 minutes thinking of what to do next. When I have come back from the initial shock, I think I am ready. I wet my hair and do the shampoo thing. My entire torso is still dry. I then wash my legs and arms delaying at all costs what lies ahead. Then it is time.

I take a step forward and every cell in my molecular body shrinks instantly but at the same time it is so refreshing that I stay. I wash up and by this time my body is used to it and its not so bad. Not so bad at all.

The alternatives are easy. I could wash myself with some warm water in a bucket. Some even call those "bucket baths" but that would be too easy. I made a stupid bet with myself when I got here in Belize that I wouldn't be taking a hot shower for 2 years. Well, 100 days in, I am still faithful to my word. More because I have yet to find a hot shower, but I also have been too lazy to warm a pot of water on the stove. I prefer to dance in the shower thankful that no one can see me, knowing they would do the same thing if they were in my shoes.

The biggest decision of my day is turning the red valve. We have a love/hate relationship, or should I say hot/cold?

My host mom, Anita, celebrated her 54th birthday this weekend. It was a grand celebration that included BBQ and a good meal. Everyone sang songs and then quickly left. The reason they left was that 2 of the 5 grandchildren needed to go to the hospital. The family was terribly sick. All of them were running a fever and Kayshaleen, the 3 yr old, was vomiting. I did my best to stay away from them for the most part for my own health.

After they left, I asked what they thought they had. They said they thought Abelito (9) may have Dengue Fever and they wanted to get him tested because he had nothing wrong with him besides a fever and his bones hurt. These are symptoms of the Fever, but also of so many other things. This wasn't nearly as interesting as the story that was coming about the curse of the "bad eye." It goes a little something like this:

Anytime a child is seen by a drunk, or an outcast of society, they can often be given the "bad eye," meaning that he looked at them and put a curse on them. The child often gets really sick and doctors can not explain what is wrong. If nothing is done, the baby can often die of the curse. There are only a few ways to help the child once they have been cursed with the "bad eye." My family was worried that Kayshaleen had been given the "bad eye" that day by a man at the market that was looking at her, who was drunk.

The only way to cure the baby of the spell is to find the man that gave her the curse and have him hold the baby. The problem with this is, often times, the family doesn't know who the man was that gave the child the sickness. If they do know, and can find him, then if he holds the baby, the sickness is cured and the baby will be fine. However, this is extremely hard to do.

The only other way to save the child is to find someone that can cure children. We just so happen to have one woman in our village that knows how. You must take the child to this woman, and she will go fetch a hen. We will wait for the hen to pass an egg. Once a fresh egg has been passed, the egg must be cracked over the baby's forehead. The egg then takes the "bad eye" away. It's almost like the yoke of the eye has the power to heal, but only from this special woman and only with a fresh egg produced from a hen.

While I may not be a total believer, I have been told stories from people in the village that swear it is true. My host sister Malanie was telling me about Abelito when he was only a few months old. He came down with this horrible sickness and wouldn't move. She was living in Independence at the time and called her mom in Yo Creek after going to 2 doctors and they told her there was nothing they could do. My host mom went to fetch the woman who cures the "bad eye" and they drove to Independence right away. After the egg had been broken over Abelito's head, he fell fast asleep and woke up a few hours later happy as can be. She says she remembered seeing a man pass her on the street and look at her baby. She thinks this is the man that gave the spell to her baby that almost killed him.

It seems as if everyone I have talked to knows of this tradition of the "bad eye." Not everyone thinks it is true, but so far it seems as though everyone believes it. When children seem to get sick for no reason, this is usually the culprit. Sometimes they are lucky enough to find the man that gave them the spell, other times they are not. I guess we are just lucky to have someone in Yo Creek that can save our babies.

After telling me their testimonies, they always ask if I believe them. I tell them I believe them, but I'm not sure if I believe in the "bad eye." There is no use in me telling them they are wrong, and for all I know they are right.

Regardless, one thing is universal. Any child that is sick doesn't seem to understand why they feel that way and depend on their parents to make it all better. No matter the culture, race, religion, or location this seems to be a universal truth.

I love to hear the stereotypes that people have of our country in the USA, but until now have I never found it funnier than to hear some of the questions that I have been asked since arriving in Yo Creek. They include:

• Do you have a moon in the US?

My response was "yes," but I found it extremely hard not to laugh. How was she to know? It's a perfectly logical question if you dont know.

• Does air conditioning make you obese?

This was I did laugh out loud because my audience was one that I felt comfortable with that I wouldnt hurt their feelings. There is only one place in the entire village where air conditioning is at and that is my computer lab. Then they see the big American coming out of it everyday and it seems like a perfectly logical question. My answer was that it didnt cause obesity but it probably didnt help it either and then went into the whole debate of calories in vs. calories burned.

• Did you know that water is bad for you?

This was asked because they think I drink an absurd amount of water. I'd estimate that is around 1 gallon per day, sometimes more, sometimes less. People in my family may drink 1 glass of water per day, but they even it out with about 10 Coca-colas per day. Im not sure which one is worse. Water or Coke? It doesnt have high fructose corn syrup in it like the US, but water is a main ingredient. Doesnt that mean that too much Coke is bad for you too? Eh, never mind, I guess I'll just continue to drink water and hope that I dont die.

• How will you eat when there is no woman to cook for you?

I have no idea! Yo Creek has no restaurants so I will be lost when it comes to food. I may have to hire out someone every day because we all know that men are incapable of cooking food. At least good food that is. If they only knew how I really felt about a question like this on so many levels, but the language barrier and my persistence not to judge keeps me quiet.

• Where did you learn to run so fast?

This I just find hilarious after beating a bunch of 9 year olds in a race. I wish I could say that I felt good about myself afterwards but really, I was just the bully who was twice their age showing them that I can run. Forget all about how my legs are twice as long as theirs, and we all know I have short legs which just tells you how small they are.

• Do you know Lebron James? Do you know Barack Obama?

This was hard because here, everyone really does know everyone. Our taxi driver in Belmopan asked us what we were doing one night, we told him going to Independence and trying to catch a water taxi to Placencia. No worries, his uncle lived there and he could give us a ride. The Kevin Bacon 6 degrees of separation is no more than 3 degrees here for the entire country. Just because I live in the same country doesnt mean I get to play 1 on 1 with Lebron and kick it in the Oval Office with the President. It's a shame though.

Im sure questions like these will continue to pop up and I will try my best to post them to the blog when I remember. I can only imagine the more people I meet, the better they will get.

I may have finally broken through last night to Coralis, the 4 year old that lives with me. She usually challenges me to a staring contest of sorts where I ask her questions in both English and Spanish and she responds to none. Yesterday during lunch, I kept saying "tardes" (afternoon) to her until she would respond. It only took about 30 times. Finally she screamed "TARDES TIO KEVIN." Tio means uncle in Spanish. It was cute. Little did I know that I had just forced a 4 year old to be my best friend and I will now never get away from her. She is the best Spanish teacher I have had yet. She asked me the name of every person in my family that I havent even met yet, what color was their hair, how old they were, and if they had a radio. It was priceless.

She then began to show me how she is learning new songs in school. She is in preschool so there are plenty of songs she learns. Many of them are similar or the same that we would learn except for a few minor adjustments.

The famous ABC song is pretty much the same. It goes something like this:

"ABCDEFG... WUXY and Z teacher teacher dont lash me, because I know my ABCs, next time won't you sing with me"

Then there is Happy Birthday in English which I had never heard of before. Almost the same, but different.

"Happy Birthday tia Rosi,
Happy Birthday tia Rosi,
Happy Birthday tiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ROSI,
May we wish you many more."

I dont really think that anyone sings it like this, but it was a cute adlib for a 4 year old that she continued to sing for about an hour straight. Once I get my camera, I'll be sure to get a video of it and post it.

For the past month, I have been looking into finding a place to rent so that I can actually be a big kid and live on my own for 2 years instead of leeching off a family and living such an "easy" life as some would say. Now, I want to be able to do all the stuff that regular people do like make food, wash dishes, and clean up after themselves. It's going to be "rough."

Originally, I was told there are no places in Yo Creek to rent. Then within the past week, there have been about 4 places pop up out of nowhere with rooms or houses available. Keep in mind this is a village so things are very cheap. Peace Corps gives us about $100usd a month for rent but doesn't expect us to actually use all of it unless we are being ripped off. I never thought they would try so hard to do just that.

House #1 original offer was $150bz per month. There are additional charges like water, electricity, and maintenance of the yard. It is a 2 story house and I would live on the ground level below the family that owns the house. It has 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and shower. Nice living if you ask me.

House #2 was only $100bz per month but it wasn't quite finished yet. Only had 1 bedroom and the bathroom is a latrine (outhouse) with an outside shower. Nothing wrong with this besides the fact that it was very small and I'd like more space. I might as well be picky if I can be.

House #3 is currently being rented by a Japanese volunteer named Yumi. JICA is the Japanese equivalent of Peace Corps. She leaves in March. Its a nice house with 2 stories. I would live above the family. We'll come back to #3.

House #4 was just finished this past week. The nicer of the 4, with 2 bedrooms, a bathroom with tile floor and a ceiling fan (a rare find in Belize). We went yesterday during the afternoon to check it out. The woman said that we'd have to come back later to talk to her husband about the price. No problem.

We come back around 7 to have a little chat. On the bike ride there, Damian (my fellow teacher/facilitator) tells me that realistically I should never pay more than $100bz to rent a house in Yo Creek unless it is huge. We arrive, the guy takes one look at me and assumes I understand none of the conversation. I may not be able to speak as well as I'd like, but I'm starting to realize I can pick up on most conversations and I'm far from dumb. His initial price was $300bz a month which includes nothing. Electricity, water, furniture would all be separate. I almost laughed in his face. We told him how much others were charging and he said he'd be willing to go as low as $275bz per month and throw in a table that I can use. What a guy.

No thank you. He seemed upset that we would turn him down. We went on back to house #1 to let them know that Peace Corps would come by soon to check on the house. She then told me that they talked it over and were willing to cut me a deal of everything included for $250bz per month. I started doing the math. Electricity was about $15 per month, water was $7, yard was $20 and if I wanted it cable is $20. That's only $62 a month. She wants to charge me $100 for that. When I wrote down the numbers for her and showed her that it would only be about $212 a month instead of $250 she seemed disappointed that her trick didn't work.

Now, just for fun, we decided to ride our bikes over to House #3. We were riding our bikes for adventure after all and it was only about 100 yards away. Nothing in Yo Creek is really too far away. They tell us that Yumi is leaving in March and that the house will be available. Only problem is JICA sets up a contract for 2 years that pays the family $415 a month! This is absurd and probably a good reason why people want to charge me so much. Yumi has no idea what JICA pays the family. She moved to Yo Creek and the house was already set up for her. Peace Corps makes us find our own housing. I think it has its pros and cons each way. Needless to say, I dont think house #3 will ever be mine.

Something I am quickly learning, and am not surprised by is the color barrier that exists in Belize. I have talked to many other PCVs and this seems to be the problem in most places. Usually the villages dont get it nearly as bad because there arent as many Gringos running around with money. The color barrier Im talking about is not as much about white vs. people of color, but more about green.

White = Green. Or so it seems. Regardless if you tell someone you are a volunteer or not, or the fact that you work at the school their children attend, they think you have money. This is to be expected. Missionaries flood the country often just giving out hand outs, praying for people, staying for a few weeks and leaving. To stereotype, most of these missionaries are white.

Damian told me that before he moved into the house he is living in now a family of 8 lived in it. I wouldnt call this a huge house but it has 2 bedrooms and is slightly larger than any of the houses I have been looking at with a bathroom and huge backyard with a fence. This family of 8 before him paid $40bz per month and they were kicked out because they couldnt afford it. Even Damian was finding it shocking how much people were trying to charge.

I am not discouraged by this "Gringo Tax" that is put on me. I have benefited enough in my life already due to my white privilege. It's actually kind of eye opening to see what the other side lives like. To be stereotyped and judged based on something so trivial is actually becoming real. I feel as if I could react in a few ways. I could just pay whatever price they offer me and shut my mouth, I could negotiate a bit and then find a happy medium, or I could throw a Gringo fit.

I think I will go with the middle ground here and try to negotiate. I dont expect to pay what Belizeans pay. I think I'd be happy with paying double what Belizeans pay. The Gringo temper tantrum option seems fun, but will get me nowhere. Especially when I am trying to integrate into a community. I was told by someone else to say, "Listen, Im a volunteer, we dont get a lot of money and I think it is rude to charge me as much money as you are trying to charge me. I am here to help you and you are stopping me from doing it effectively." As I remember this "advice" given to me, I realize even more how bad this advice is.

I am asked to be here be the community. Mostly by the school I work at. However, not everyone in the community has any idea who I am or what I entail. It is rude of me to assume people know who I am because I am the sole white person in town. Why would I receive special treatment because I can wear a t-shirt that says Peace Corps on it? To them, I am just another Gringo. Just some other tourist coming in to take their land, steal their money, and water down their culture.

Before I even begin to complain about petty prices that in the long run wont mean that much, I would prefer to make relationships with those in the village to show that I am not here to profit from them. This cant be shown in a few weeks, maybe not even in a few months but this is hopefully why I am here for 2 years. Any outsider coming in has no right to expect preferential treatment regardless of the t-shirt they wear. Most Belizeans dont even pay attention to t-shirts (this is proven by older men wearing "world's sexiest mom" shirts). All you are to them is another outsider until you prove otherwise.

Perhaps even more in the village than in the towns, respect is earned. Families are tight. It's not easy for anyone outside to be granted permission in. It takes time. It takes patience. And I assume it might take a lot of minor disappointments, but with enough energy and persistence I may just become a "Yo Creequeno" like my host mom says.

They have been telling us for months that there are two seasons in Belize: rainy and dry. Rainy season usually lasts from June-November and the dry season is December-May. Give or take a month. The difference has been that until the last few days, it has rarely rained and many have said it was one of the driest rainy seasons in a very long time. Somehow I think Al Gore warned must have been right.

I brought this nice rain jacket here because someone told us it rains all the time. I have carried it for roughly 77 of the 80 we have been in country. It has only rained 3 days during the day where I've been. I'm assuming you can guess just which 3 days it rained.

But today, I am ready! Yesterday I witnessed some of the hardest rains I've ever seen in my entire life that have been fairly consistent for the past few days. Why is all the rain coming now? That's an easy answer: It's still hurricane season. The Caribbean has a new friend named Ida hanging out right now.

Currently Tropical Storm Ida, but formerly Hurricane Ida, is messing around with Nicaragua. She goes back and forth between tropical storm and a hurricane like women go from the blue dress to the red dress. We wont even get into shoes. Current projections say she will take a dip back in the sea tomorrow to gain some strength then cruise up the coast before making landfall again around Cancun, Mexico. The course just so happens to be Belize's coastline. hoo-ra Belize.

Now don't get all worried, Peace Corps has a safety plan for everything. Probably too much to be honest, but its for our own good. They have different stages of safety. They are:

• All Clear - Just any regular day where nothing is going on
• Standfast- Danger is lurking and we are not allowed to go anywhere. Sit waiting for further instructions. Report to your warden your location (there is 1 warden in each district that reports every one's location to PC).
• Partial Consolidation- Everyone meets at a consolidation point in their district and waits together for further instruction.
• Full Consolidation- They bring every PCV in the country to Belmopan and put us up in the luxurious Gar Den City Hotel until everything is back to "All Clear."

Currently, we are at Standfast waiting for instruction. Don't be worried, I have a Leatherman and I think I know how to use it. I have my trusty rain jacket too!

Everyone in Belize right now doesn't seem to be worried, so I will let my paranoia come from them. All the kids still run around, the teachers are smiling, life is good. "Belize is a blessed place," says my principal. I guess I'll believe her.

Basically this is nothing, but I'm still new here so it's exciting to me. In a few months, Standfast will be some joke until the next thing happens and real action begins. I do not wish to see anything too serious because we all know those who lose out the most will not be Peace Corps. It will be those who have the least and live closest to the sea. Most things are all fun and games to us, but the truth is that people's lives could be at stake. Houses may be destroyed, roofs will have to be replaced, crops will be ruined, and we will all be safe and sound inside a hotel room.

It's the biggest contradiction to Peace Corps' mission of integration into a community. Send Americans there to support a community until they need it most, then pull them out to be with the rest of the gringos. Sure, it's about safety, but it's still not fair.

So for now, I will Standfast with my community in Yo Creek, and wait for further instructions.

As I age, I usually try to refrain from going back to my inner child. The problem with this is it is just so damn fun and so easy. We pulled up to the hotel that Adam's host parents had stayed at before and all became pre-pubescent boys giggling like mad. No one else there (those who were not gringos) didn't get what was so funny.

The hotel was named Hotel Ucum. My first question was if it was a promise? Apparently it is not. My next question was wondering who slept in the room before me? I never got an answer for that one.

Someone told us this was one of the nicest, cheapest places to stay in all of Chetumal. When they said cheap, they weren't talking about the price. It was much more expensive than I would have expected to pay, about $35usd for the nicest room haha, and what we got wasn't really all that great. This may sound stupid after my last post, but I complain since they had no other rooms available besides the best rooms there. We expected big things. What we got was a room with 4 empty beer bottles, about 200 pistachio shells on the ground, a floater in the toilet and a 13" tv.

The tv was by far the best part of the room. By best part, I mean most comical. I wasn't aware of this before, but people must really like to steal tvs from hotels in Mexico. That was all I could think of. It was in a small cage that is welded to the wall. Adam, who weighs about 200 lbs. after a nice meal and a few beers, hung on it and it didn't budge.

While no one seems to know exactly what Ucum means, most said that it probably was something in the Mayan language and they didn't understand it.


The entire day, it did nothing but rain. As you will see from the pictures we attempted to walk around a bit but we preceded to get soaked. I was the smart one who only brought one set of clothes. Adam decided it would be best to remain wet at Ucum for as long as possible and took a little dip in the kiddie pool. He could have chose to swim in the adult pool, but at Ucum I guess we all have our preference on how we like to stay wet.

This was Adam's family, Adam and myself on the balcony of the hotel. Let's just call this the money shot. The family was a great help and for some unknown reason trusted me to get around a city I'd never been to with a language I didn't speak. I'm still alive


Ucum wasn't the only thing that kept us wet all day. This was some of the rain that never seemed to stop. Its not just rain either, its some of the hardest, most torrential downpour I've ever seen. Without a taxi in sight, we waited for a long time before just deciding to get soaked.

If you don't believe me, or if you want the Ucum experience of your own, please visit their website at http://www.hotelucumchetumal.com/


Now for some other random pictures of the weekend and the Expo...

Kermato? I think this may be where Jim Henson got his idea for one certain green frog.



Later in the night, we went to the Expo which was apparently the thing to be at in Mexico for that weekend. It was the last night everything was on sale. It was basically like a State Fair on crack. Only problem was, like you guessed... it rained the entire time. There was no one there unless you were working.

The one place we did seem to find people was at the mechanical bull. I was almost tempted to get on, but if I have learned anything down here in Central America it is to never draw more attention to yourself than you are already granted. Having this "clear" skin as they call it, I get noticed enough. I'll be damned if I am going to get up in front of a few hundred people and get embarrassed. Embarrassment is exactly what would happen, too. Not only because I cant ride a bull but because the thought process would have gone a little like this, "ooh white boy, lets get him! How far can we make him fly?" Only difference is it would have been in Spanish and I wouldn't have even known of my almost certain upcoming death.

What do people in southern Mexico know about snow? This is more for all those people up north complaining about your blizzard, road closings, school closings and below freezing temperatures... We have snow too! Ours even comes in a convoy.

This may look like a roller coaster. It kind of was, however, each car only head 4 people. We didn't see anyone get on it for 30 minutes so Adam and I figured since the Mexicans thought it wasn't safe enough to ride that it would be perfectly ok for us.

Yes, that is a mini horse and yes that is a 3 liter bottle of coke. I am not sure which one is bigger. Horse or the coke? They wouldn't let us ride him, but we did try.

This was Tope's (Toe-pay) big mistake of the afternoon. He decided he wanted some calamari. Thats squid for those of you who don't know, and its usually delicious. Not here, and it wasn't an appetizer like it usually is back home. Home for him is the UK but apparently he expected the same thing. He ended up getting 2 meals and half the bill. There were 4 of us eating. We told him it was his own fault for all the colonialism his country forced on the rest of the world for the past millennium . He was a great sport and told us all about how "Braveheart" is a movie based on absolute truth and how every single person in the UK lives in London.

Cow Hoof anyone? As disgusting as this may look, we hear they make amazing soup out of it and I someday hope to try it.

This is Adam showing off that his camera can take pictures in the rain. Good for you, Adam. I now realize that he was just documenting how well we fit in with all the common folk you see around us.

Growing up in the good ol US of A has made most of us slightly biased over our lives about different places other than what we call home. I can say to an extent, despite traveling internationally, that this still holds some truth.


Let's take Mexico for example. Sure, sure they have cheap tacos and Carona but other than that what do you really know about Mexico that wasn't told to you by some horrible depiction of Mexican culture in a movie or from Taco Bell? The only state any of us have probably heard of is Chihuahua, and I guarantee you didn't know about it other than the ankle biting dogs that rich pompous celebrities love to dress up in their Sunday's best and Halloween costumes. I may be stereotyping the hell out of Americans right now, but it's exactly what we do to Mexicans and I think if you identify with anything above you will agree.


While I am no expert on Mexico (I cant even speak Spanish), I got my first real Mexican experience last weekend. I went to Chetumal. "Where the beer flows like wine & beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano." Ok, it was fun, but it was not that good. It was Mexico though.


Many still refer to Mexico as this 3rd world country so far behind anything in the US that its like living in the land of the dinosaurs. Not in Belize. Belizeans often think of Mexico as a nice place that people go for a good time. Chetumal is far from a tourist hot spot, but after being in Belize for a few months, it seems to be the place to go when you want a taste of your own culture. American Culture that is.


Chetumal has malls, street lights, and even highways with overpasses. This may sound stupid to all of you old glory Americans sitting in your LayZboy recliners with your laptop snuggled in your lap connected to your wireless Internet but its not the case down here. An on ramp to a highway was like seeing MacDonalds for the first time. It makes you sick and also gives you hope all at the same time. Then it makes you sick again. It's capitalism at its best.


I wont lie, I was excited. If I had a camera, I would have taken a few shots of things that no one else would have deemed important. It was a small slice of home in a place that I never thought I'd find.


I guess the moral of the story is after all the rumors you hear from the ignorant of the US, you might even start believing that Mexico and all countries that are not the USA are dirty. This is not true. They have a beauty all unto themselves. And for those of you who have been to Mexico, but never left your all inclusive resort... shame on you. You might as well have stayed at home.

Having never been to Mexico, I was expecting big things. Had I not lived in Belize for the past few months, I would have been disappointed. But it all comes back to perspective. When you go without things like video arcades and giant movie cinemas, you kind of appreciate them more. I say kind of because we didn't go to any of them. They were nice to drive past though and do the occasional "ooh ahh." Come to think of it, I didn't even partake in the rumored national past time of Mexico... drinking Tequila. I had better things to do... like walk about in the rain looking for something I never found and never knew I was looking for.

It rained the entire weekend. Non-stop. But you know what? Mexico has drains in the streets, something Belize has at times but are often so full of trash that no water can get in. I like to think irony is when you go to a place expecting filth and your preconception of what clean is has changed remarkably in just a few months.

I may be living in a village, but I am far from the most remote volunteer in Belize. This blog is proof of that. I have the internet! I have a tv in my room with more channels than I ever had in the US. Some people get excited if the bus comes once a week to take them somewhere so they can get a shower that is not the river. It's all about perspective. Mine has changed, and this is only the beginning. I cant even imagine what a place like Las Vegas or even Newport on the Levee would be like in a year. Me, the socialite that I am, may have an anxiety attack. Flashy lights give us all quite the level of excitement but help the company sell us anything. Often we are just amazed at how much electricity is wasted and how many people we have met that live without it. Perspective.