PCV: Paid Caribbean Vacation

As I'm sure many of you stateside have seen, its been a bit cold on the southern part of the country lately. Oranges and Tomatoes in Florida are freezing and it has even snowed in Texas. While this sounds crazy, it has even become cold in Belize.

While most of the time I sit around complaining about how hot it is here, it has been uncharacteristically cold the past week. I even had to break out a blanket that Peace Corps gave me (they weren't supposed to, but I happened to be one of the lucky ones). I haven't had to close my windows yet because I love waking up in a cocoon of warmth every morning. Showering has ceased. I like cold showers now, but the idea of a polar bear plunge every day is not something I look forward to.

School is back in now and the students have thrown their uniforms out the window. There is no need to look the same when the clothes you usually wear to school don't keep you warm. Instead of keeping the air conditioning on at school, I opt to keep the door open and I think its colder than it would be if I had the AC on.

Some people say that its dropped as low as 50 here and as low as 45 in other parts of the country. This may sound like nothing, but you must remember that people here aren't used to these kinds of temperatures. One of the elders in Yo Creek (who's family says he is 82, but he swears he is 55... sounds like grandpa) says this is the coldest its been since the winter of '74. When its put that way, it sounds like someone is talking about the flood of '37 in Cincinnati. Everyone remembers how much of an impact it had on their lives.

I know in a month I will be complaining again how hot it is and this weather hasn't really effected me that much. I still wear shorts around, but usually opt for one of my long sleeve shirts. The same shirts that a month ago I put into a pile of "why did I bring this if I'm never going to wear it." Well, I'm wearing it now. Good job me. The problem is much bigger than me and how I enjoy waking up in a cocoon of warmth.

The problem begins when people's lives start getting ruined. Crops may be ruined. Cane may not yield as high of a price. Farmers may not be able to pay the bills. Most people don't have blankets or sweaters to keep themselves warm. My host sister told me on Saturday night they had the entire family in bed with them to keep warm. They all had on long pants, sweaters, socks, and socks on their hands (they don't have gloves/mittens) under blankets and they were still cold.

In the north of Mexico, it is snowing. People are dying of the cold. We thought this would be an isolated incident until 2 people died in Sarteneja over the weekend. Its only about 30 miles from me. It is on the coast and there were high winds with these low temperatures and some families couldn't keep warm enough to survive.

The only good that will come of this for Belizeans is that some of the oranges in Florida will be ruined and therefore the price of oranges here will rise, but that is one small benefit that doesn't come close to outweighing all the hardships that are caused by this cold.

No houses are made with heat, most people's windows consist of wood shutters that let air pass through them freely. The culture is simply not prepared to deal with the elements they face maybe once every 40 years.

I know it gets so much colder in other parts of the world. It drops below freezing and people survive all the time. But here, people aren't that lucky. Things like shelters rarely exist, and items like blankets or coats are not thick enough to keep an entire family warm.

In a few weeks it will all be over, it will be horrible and hot again. I will have something to complain about instead of smiling when people ask me if I'm crazy for wearing so little clothes on such a "cold" night. In a few weeks it will all change when I complain of the heat, and they laugh at me for sweating so much. The only difference is, I wont die from the heat. People here might not be that lucky when the coin is flipped onto the other side.