Whit and I got to go diving today with the Go Pro!

Cool (or creepy?) eel.

Shark!

Pretty fish!

Riding down bumpy sand roads in an open air golf cart.

Stephanie was kind enough to ask me to write in the blog on my experiences in Belize. Her reporting thus far has been so spot on that I think I will write something a little more esoteric.
When Stephanie, Julia, Sam, and Iris came and picked me up from the airport, the first things I noticed were their slight tans and happy demeanors.  We had lunch and they happily filled me in on all that I had missed since their arrival predated mine by one week. After lunch we piled into our two golf carts and headed home to paradise, or so I thought. What we got was 3 ½ miles of a sandy, bumpy road. By the time we arrived at our condo I was ready to throw myself on Stephanie’s mercy because we were going to have to do that trip a minimum of twice a day and the average time it takes to get to school, town, etc. is about 25 minutes, 25 minutes of bumps and dust. And I was the one who chose Hol Chan Reef resort as the Yates residence while in Belize. Instead of recriminations, in Stephanie’s own inimitable way, she just said that she had gotten used to the trip the first day and didn’t mind it at all. I love my wife.
On to esoteric…now I ride that trip on average of twice a day with half of that time being by myself. There are many things to see on the road – from the multimillion dollar mansion “Whataview” (why do people feel compelled to name their large possessions?), to literal one room plywood shanties – we see it all. There are a couple of fruit and vegetable stands along the way and many different levels of dining options. Because the mode of transportation is a souped up open air club car I also see all of the people; in other golf carts, walking down the side of the road, and in the occasional taxi. I see all of them and interact with many, whether it is giving a hitchhiker a ride for a mile, or stopping at the MULTIPLE speedbumps, I see, wave, and converse with people in a manner that is impossible in Atlanta. In Atlanta, I go from my covered garage at home to a covered garage at work in my climate controlled vehicle and never have to or get to interact with anyone.
I also get to think about and miss my sister when I’m riding in the golf cart alone, down the semi deserted sandy road looking out at the beautiful water. Living here is so different from Atlanta, but I for one, love it.

I’m so glad to have my guy back!

I found this cute pic of Iris on my phone. It’s so cute I can’t even get mad at her for taking the phone.

Today we volunteered at our church (Sagebrush) in a program they do monthly called “The Pit Stop.”  The “mother” church back in Albuquerque started a monthly program where they do basic maintenance on people’s cars for free.  The Belizean version of it is a free bicyle repair shop.  You would not BELIEVE the condition of these bikes.  The salt air just corrodes metal and rubber so quickly.  They had about six volunteer “mechanics” and we acted as runners to get parts, bring water, feed the mechanics (literally put the food into their mouths as their hands were so dirty), and bring the bikes in and out of the work area.  I don’t remember the last time I worked that hard or sweated so much.  I am so proud of all of my children and how hard they worked.  Whitefield – mark Julia down for four volunteer hours!  I think they fixed 60 bikes.  Most of them needed new wheels (rims, tires, tubes), new chains, new grips, new seats, or new pedals.  If someone showed up with a frame, they could pretty much outfit it.  I think they repaired over 60 bikes.  My new hero is a woman named Matilda who could fix bikes and use tools as well as the men or better.  I need to learn how to put together a bike!  We’ll be back to do it again next month!

Sam worked “the field” to keep the bikes in order and bring them to the mechanics when they were ready.  It was dirty buggy sweaty work.  I’m so proud of my guy!

Julia is pictured here with Mike.  He used to live in the US and was a truck driver.  Now he lives here in Belize and works three jobs to support his wife and two children.  He is a greeter at the church and Whit and I met him last Sunday.  I’m sure life is not easy for him, but that didn’t stop him from giving his Saturday to share the love of Christ through service.  These foks are the real deal.

I don’t want to leave out Iris’s contribution!  She made two batches of brownies on Friday and brought them to feed the volunteers.  They were VERY appreciated.

Since Julia’s birthday was on a holiday here in Belize, we celebrated her birthday on Friday.  She invited some girls in her class over after school to swim, do crafts and have dinner.  Iris and Sam each had a friend over, too.  I don’t know why, but the prep for the party took me longer than if we had had a formal dinner party for 50.  I forget how much work even the most basic of entertaining is in a tiny kitchen with limited supplies.

When I was out shopping for the food and stuff, I did find a place that made me happy!

I had a delicious cheddar jalapeno bagel with honey chipotle cream cheese!  Sorry I didn’t take a picture…

At Julia’s “party” we made stressballs with balloons, water and cornstarch.  No, that wasn’t messy at all…I needed a stressball to get over the stressball making!

Cake time!

I can’t believe it, but on Thursday we hit the 30 day mark.  If you are not a resident of Belize and you stay longer than 30 days, you have to go to immigration and pay a fee and get your passport stamped.  Just as you might imagine, it’s not a fun process.  I was reminded a little bit of a trip to the DMV.  After we finally found it with a teeny tiny sign up on the second floor:

Then we had to find the way up there:

It’s a three step process.  First you speak to a person (DMV personality) who glares at you for staying 30 days and paying for the privilege.  Then she asks if the children are in school and, if so, where are their student visas.  Gulp.  You don’t actually have to have a student visa, particularly if you are only staying four months.  I knew this already, but they just ask these questions to make you nervous and be stressed.  After that person reluctantly decides you deserve to stay another 30 days and feed their economy with US $$$, she sends you down to another office to pay the fee.  At that office, the cashier glares at you when you hand them $100 bill for payment of the $100 fee.  She is mad that it is a US $100 bill instead of $200 in Belize dollars.  This makes zero sense since every single shop, vendor, bank, etc. uses US dollars interchangeably with Belizean.  Ah yes, this is the venue of no sense.  She walks around the office making a show of disapproval and acts like she is getting some sort of authorization to take my evil Ben Franklin, when I can clearly see that she doesn’t talk to anyone.  She comes back, prints out four pages, stamps them, hands them to me and tells me to go back to the immigration office with the pages.  I take them back and that woman, who acts like she has never seen me before, takes the four pages and fills them in, by hand, in duplicate (two per page, eight total).  She carefully tears each page in half and gives me half.  She keeps half.  She stamps and gives us our passports back.  I ask if we need to keep the pages in the passports.  “No.  Those are just receipts of payment.  You are due back October 20.”   Oh goody, can’t wait to see you again, mam.

I should mention that in each step, there is a long line of joyful people being raked over the same coals.  This is the only place in Belize that I have encountered anyone who is less than 100% friendly and welcoming.  Sooo looking forward to Oct 20.

On a cheerful note, we left the immigration office and went to the kids sailing lesson.  This is Iris getting the feel for handling an Optimist boat.  Isn’t it cute?

Every day, we drive past the Croc Pond, but we have yet to see a crocodile.  Until today!  Sam spotted one, but we couldn’t get it to come any closer for a photo.  Selfish croc.  He must have once worked for immigration.  That thing that looks like a stick in the water is our croc.

Just in case anyone thinks it’s all glamor and amour here in Belize…Here’s a reality check.  Since arriving, I have been plagued with the WORST athletes foot.  It doesn’t make any sense because I haven’t worn a pair of socks and shoes since I got here.  The good news is that the soaks in apple cider vinegar seem to be working (thanks Nurse Akopov).  The bad news is that I’ve gotten completely addicted to watching Gray’s Anatomy re-runs on Lifetime while soaking.

Ambergris Caye has ZERO recycling and they use styrofoam and plastic a TON.  I didn’t realize how much I had been converted to an “earth friendly” person, but I cringe every time I toss a plastic water bottle.  The exception, however, seems to be at the butcher, where they just throw raw meat into a sack.

OK, here’s some pretty stuff from the Independence Day parade yesterday.  To be honest, we didn’t actually SEE the parade.  It was WAY too hot and the parade that was supposed to start around 10am didn’t start until after 2 (that’s Belize for ya).  Sam saw a few of the people in costumes as they were lining up.

You gotta love the phone tucked into the teeny costume.  Priorities.

Saturday we took a full day sailing trip to Caye Caulker with a snorkel stop along the way.  It was a super fun day with lots of salt, sunscreen and soda.  Actually, “sailing” is a little misleading because, while we were ON a sailboat, we mostly motored, despite the fact that we had plenty of wind.  When I asked the captain about it, he explained that sailing would take us way too long because we would have to cut back and forth too much to stay in the wind.  Ah.  Learning.  Anyway, we felt authentic even it if wasn’t.

 

I knew Sam and Julia would not be far behind me when it came to learning to dive.  Yesterday they achieved their “Bubblemaker” status, which is the first step to becoming an open water diver.  They start off in the pool for some important first lessons (how to clear your mask and regulator if you get water in either) and then it’s off to the reef to see fish!  I was able to dive with them on their first dive.  Lucky me!  Gimer is a sweet and patient teacher.

Julia and Sam give the “OK” signal.  Another important lesson.

The pre-dive briefing:

and into the water they go…

Have I mentioned that I left our Go Pro back at the lake?  ARGHHHH.

Whit and I have been having fun when the children are in school, too.

The view from my seat:

The girls wearing the white dresses are local high school students.  Can you imagine a US high school girl wearing this?

Today the children had mommy for breakfast. Well, actually, they had Mamey, which is pronounced “mommy” in English or “may may” in Spanish. This is all according to Esperanza, the woman from whom I buy my fruits and vegetables each day.

Any time I see something I don’t recognize, I ask her what it is and, sometimes (to my children’s chagrin), I buy it. Here is a Mamey:

It is unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. It sort of has the consistency of a baked sweet potato, but is much sweeter with a slight melon-y flavor. Sam choked his down. Iris ate one bite and Julia refused to try it. I tried it plain, with lime, with salt and in a smoothie. The smoothie is the way to go. I probably won’t buy another. There are rumors that the seed, boiled in water, has hallucinagenic properties. Intriguing…