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.
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