Belize

Always looking for opportunities to reduce, reuse, and recycle, in April Mom donated a box of  3-ring binders to Gary Hunt, a.k.a Bookbag Santa. A few days later we signing up to go with Bookbag Santa and 20-some others to Belize. Through our checked luggage, we delivered 1,000 pounds of school supplies to three elementary schools in Stann Creek District of Belize. While there, we soaked up the rays, enjoyed time with new friends, and had lots of great first experience. Mom kept a travel journal while we were there so I'm going to let her do a little bit (ok, so maybe a lot of) guest writing. I'll chime in my commentary when needed. Go grab a beverage and a snack, prop up your feet, and enjoy the story of our journey to Belize!

We have arrived! We are standing in front of the 11-passenger plane (no co-pilot) that brought us into Placencia. You can see some of the boxes we brought for the schools in the background. 

Day 1 - Sunday, July 21

Thacker is an international traveling champion! Thacker had never flown in an airplane. Today we flew 

• from Roanoke, VA to Charlotte, NC, 
• from Charlotte, NC to Belize City, Belize,  worked our way through customs, and finally
  
  (Left to right: Cindy, Bri, Luz, Carol, Paul)
• from Belize City to Placencia, Stann Creek District, Belize. 

Thacker rolled his own full-size carry-on all through the Charlotte airport. He dozed for about 10 minutes on the trip to Placencia and recharged. He still had enough energy to help Janet with her luggage to her room at the Sea Spray hotel. 

Once we found our room and were barely in it, Thacker was bee lining for the water. The waves and debris in the water from the incoming storm were no deterrent.

He giggled as the waves crashed around his legs and his feet sank in the sand. 

Thacker was thoroughly entertained and entertaining.

He sought Travis (Mom, his name is Coconut Man.) out to crack a coconut and drank the coconut water. Luz's feet were buried in the sand by Thacker.

He climbed trees.

Bea and Thacker played in the surf together.

Thacker did his first musical performance with a kazoo at De Tatch, the restaurant adjacent to our hotel.

He ate papaya for the first time. And we still have 7 days to go!

Day 2 - Monday, July 22

We ate breakfast at De Tatch and Thacker was so ready to run,

collect coconuts, swim, and climb trees, we had a hard time getting him to stop and eat breakfast - fruit with yogurt. 

Breakfast was followed by a walk down the world's narrowest street - a 4 foot wide wood-plank stamped concrete sidewalk - and back up the road. We stopped at a market closest to the hotel and stocked up on some water, a few snacks, and soursop, a tropical fruit that had been dehydrated and made into a sweetened drink mix to which you add water. Thacker LOVED the soursop. 

We came back, relaxed for a bit, changed into our swimsuits, and headed out to lunch. Bea joined us and we wound up at the Pickled Parrot for fried shrimp, fries, and a beer.

We met Ziggy, a three-legged friend we would stop to pet and play fetch many times in our treks around Placencia over the week.

Afterwards we had gelato at Tutti Frutti -yum! and headed for the cove to swim.

The water was calm and I felt like I was swimming in a tropical postcard surrounded by palm trees, beautiful water, colorful structures, and sailboats. We walked back to the hotel, relaxed for a bit, showered, and then walked out with Bea again to meet up with the group at The Paradise cafe. Paul and I split a cheeseburger in Paradise. Mike played with Thacker's accompaniment on this kazoo and new Mayan flute. Of course the musical playing was trumped by playing with local Belizean kids. Thacker was wiped out by day's end. 

Day 3 - Tuesday, July 23

We woke slowly this morning and wandered down to De Tatch at 7 a.m. for Paul and me to split another Fry Jack.

After relaxing and playing games on the LeapFrog this morning, we headed south to the cove to swim with Janet. Upon arrival at the cove, Thacker spotted Donna, Ellen and Luz in the water and sprinted to play with them. Thacker loves being in the water. We stayed until about 1 p.m. and headed off to find lunch. Thacker was cracking so Paul, always a step ahead, stopped to get Thacker some soursop and Belizean chocolate. Thacker inhaled the chocolate and drank a liter of the soursop (Mom is telling the truth. I drank the ENTIRE liter of soursop.) and was feeling good again. 

After a yummy lunch (cocoa rubbed pork chops over black beans) at the Purple Space Monkey, we headed back to the room for a wonderful nap. Thacker woke up singing. 

We ate dinner at De Tatch with several from the group: Gary, Bea, Richard, Doug, Mike, Sue, Brianna (a.k.a. Hula Hoop Girl), Janet, Carol, Julie, and Fran. Thacker once again entertained us, crafting toothpick railroads and toothpick and clothespin sculptures (MOM? Where are those toothpicks and clothespins?), and showing off his newly acquired hula hoops skills (MOM? Can I have a hula hoop?). 

Day 4 - Wednesday, July 24

Today was a completely new experience for all of us.

We went on a snorkel trip with many of the Bookbag Santa group to the South Silk Caye, part of the three Queen's Cayes - South, Middle, and North. The Queen's Cayes are on the outer edge of the barrier reef. It was amazing!

Thacker snorkeled enough in the shallow waters to get the idea of it and see a few fish. The guide, Kenley, took Paul and I out to see more of the reef while Thacker stayed back on the caye with Janet and Brianna.

We bought laminated cards to help us remember some of the many fish and coral we saw. I could have floated for hours entertained by the aquatic life below. Here's a few of the creatures we saw: yellow tail parrotfish, queen parrotfish, stoplight parrotfish, four-eyed butterfly fish, sea cucumber, queen conch, spiny lobster, long-spined sea urchin, arrow crab, common sea fan, venus sea fan, reef squid, brain coral, elkhorn coral, staghorn coral, yellowhead wrasse, trumpetfish, tiger grouper, squirrelfish, blue tang, hogfish, blue striped grun, sargeant major, yellowtail damsel fish, and grey snapper. 

Thacker did his typical thing on the way out migrating from Bea, to Brianna,

to Luz (on the upper deck of the boat).

On the way back, I hung out with him on top at the helm of the boat with Captain Malcolm. 

We had a great dinner at the Secret Garden, my personal favorite so far. Thacker once again joined in with Mike on his kazoo. 

Thacker rode Paul's sunburned shoulders back to Sea Spray and crashed hard one he was in bed. That little guy is a trooper! (That's right, Mom. I was pooped!)

Day 5 - Thursday, July 25

This morning Paul, Thacker, and I were the only ones from our group that headed out on the Monkey River Tour and Manatee Watch. It's difficult to know what to expect on the tours as we were given no good description - just the title of the tour and hearsay. The Splash shuttle picked us and a new Swiss friend Katarina up at the Sea Spray hotel. We arrived at the dive shop, met Ian our guide, and headed off for a 40-minute boat ride across the water. (Mom, don't forget to tell them that the boat was FAST!! I LOVED zipping across the water!!) I was thankful we had packed sunscreen. 

We stopped at the village of Monkey River (pop. 150) located at the mouth of Monkey River to pick up Bach, our local guide, 

and order lunch at Alice's Restaurant (Bach's mom is Alice). Loaded back into the boat, Princess Madison,

we headed up river, and I adapted to listening to Bach's Creole accent. Bach came bearing his machete to fend off jaguars and crocodiles, but none were to be found.

We saw the four types of mangrove: red (closest to the salt water, leaf has a red hue), gray (pointed leaf with gray hue), white (rounded leaf) and black (grows tall).The mangrove roots are nurseries for lobster and shrimp, and help establish more land. 

We saw frigate birds, tanager, and cormorants. Cormorants don't have oil on their feathers like ducks. The lack of oil helps them dive for fish and catch them with the hooks on their beaks. Once they dive for food, they have to come back up and dry off before they can go dive again. 

Along Monkey River we also saw pampas grass, sugar cane, and trumpet tress. There was another plant with both red and yellow flowers. There were morning glories, palm trees, and many other plants dense along the water. 

Butterflies were in abundance. 

As soon as we docked at the jungle's edge, the mosquito war was ON! Fortunately for Thacker and I the natural bug spray I brought along worked generally well, but poor Paul got zapped. He quickly put on his long pants and long-sleeved jacket, and did his best to cover up. 

We walked through the muck and rich soils or the jungle for about 20 minutes, swatting at mosquitos, Thacker peeing every 5 minutes from all the soursop he drank, and listening to Bach tell us of the jaguar needles, bread fruit tree (The fruit is supposed to make an awesome dessert, and the leaves have a sticky property like velcro. Thacker is wearing a bread fruit leaf on his shirt in the picture above.), trumpet tree (the howler monkeys like to hang out in it and the leaves make a good tea for the women with challenging births), mimosa varieties including a tiny lawn grass height one that shrunk when gently touched, termites that have a mint taste when munched, the water tree, dumb cane plant, a tree the howler monkeys like to climb and get a high from the leaves while the leaves help purge their digestive tract of a parasite, and we think a glimpse of a blue morpho butterfly. 

On the boat trip back we looked and looked for crocodiles and manatees but they remained elusive. Manatees are also called sea cows. They graze on seagrasses, are 10 to 14 feet in length, and have one of the largest populations here in Belize. The crocodiles are often spotted along the shore line where there are exposed dirt banks soaking up the sun's rays.

We ate dinner at De Tatch where Mike Franke was performing again. Thacker accompanied him on a few songs with his kazoo and Coca-Cola bottle shaker. In the final act, Thacker held true to form and managed to crack Mike up mid-song again. Here were the antics that sent Mike spiraling into laughter: dancing while waiting for his kazoo part, dropping his kazoo mid-song to play with local kids, yawning mid-song, falling backward into Mike's open guitar case mid-performance, and tonight dropping his shorts with velcro fastener sound effects mid-performance. He brought down the house with applause and laughter. We had a talk afterwards that dropping your pants in public (despite still wearing your underwear) is not appropriate. (I did it because I thought it would be fun. It definitely made people laugh, but I think Mom was a little embarrassed. Sorry, Mom.)

Day 6 - Friday, July 26

(Are you still with us? I told you Mom wrote a lot!) 

This morning we loaded up the vans at 8:30 a.m. and set out for Dangriga. West of town is the Gulisi Community Primary School - one of the three schools to which we donated school supplies. Upon arrival we went into one of the classroom areas where a group of about 20 students sang and played drums for us. The songs were all traditional Garifuna songs. 

The girls held hands and snag a call-and-response song of solidarity - an abaimajani.

The last song was my favorite - a wanaragua dance. Two of the boys dressed in costumes - pants with layers of shells tied at the knees to make percussive sound in response to the drums, white shirts with epaulets through which pink ribbons were run and draped across their bodies, and a dark green ribbon around their waist, and finally mesh masks that looked out at the drummers as the boys ducked their heads focusing on the drums. It is a dance typically done at Christmas time. 

It was a wonderful presentation and a beautiful representation of what they are teaching the children to preserve the Garifuna ancestry. 

On the way to lunch we stopped at property owned by Raquel Battle. Starting in December, dependent on successful fundraising, construction will start on Phase 1 of the only hospice in southern Belize.

We picked mangoes, limes, and another yellow fruit. The new facility, BlissfulSage Foundation, was inspired by her father's passing in 2008 of pancreatic cancer. 

From the farm property, we stopped by the current BlissfulSage Foundation office. Supplies, files, and needed service areas were wall-to-wall in 4 small rooms. 

Lunch at Mrs. Phyllis Cayetano's home was next. We were served a seated meal of fish, rice, banana mash in gravy, salad, and fresh fruit.

Mrs. Cayetano's hospitality was wonderful. She has received recognition for her service to Belize as 2010 and 2012 Belize Woman of the Year and a document of recognition from Queen Elizabeth. 

Of course Thacker made a new friend, Nawanee. She and her mom, an adopted daughter of Mrs. Cayetano, live in Belmopan, the capital city and an hour drive away (an hour and half by bus). Nawanee was very shy and does not usually speak to people outside of her home. I overhead Thacker saying, "Nawanee, you need to play with me and talk to me now, because once I leave, I may never be back again." 

 Typical Dangriga Structure

On the way home we drove through most of Dangriga - by the open market, over Stann Creek, and back out onto Hummingbird Highway. We took the Hummingbird Highway west until we reached the Southern Highway. We followed the Southern Highway until we reached the roundabout and headed back onto the Placencia peninsula. 

It was a full day. Several us took to sawing logs on the way back. Then we were off to St. John's Memorial School on Placencia.

In truth, we met at the basketball court in Placencia (the town meeting spot for town meetings, social gathering, whatever the need). The teachers or principal had already divided the supplies out into notebooks, crayons, pencils, etc. for each kid. The kids simply came up and took them. As Mike our musician, so adeptly stated it, "We had cooked all day in the kitchen, and in 10 minutes it was all gone."

The kids were happy, playing, and enjoying trying out Bri's hula hoop. 

We had a wonderful dinner with Gary, Bea, Mike, John, Janet, Sue and Bri at Rumfish. The couple that own Rumfish came to Belize several years ago on their honeymoon. He's from California and she's from Philadelphia and New York. They fell in love with Belize and bought the Rumfish property on their honeymoon. The food and presentation was excellent: pork chops with an orange mango glaze, creamy polenta, roasted vegetables, and garlic fries for our entree, shrimp ceviche for an appetizer, pineapple mojitos and beer to drink, spaghetti with fresh marinara sauce and fruit juice for Thacker, and chocolate habenero cannoli for dessert. Delish!

Day 7 - Saturday, July 27

Gary and Bea have contributed to the population of our hotel room. We have three resident hermit crabs: Uno, Dos, and Tres. Tres had a habit of disappearing in Gary and Bea's room. He continued his disappearing act in our room too. He's the biggest of the hermit crabs and manages to climb on top of the others and haul himself over the edge of his makeshift home (the cut out bottom of a gallon water bottle). After some searching, I spotted him scurrying out from behind our tiny refrigerator. We reunited him with Uno and Dos and made them a new TALLER home. Hopefully we won't wake with a hermit crab clamped onto our nose. 

Thacker has befriended almost everyone on the trip. He definitely has favorites: Luz (age 14), Bri (about 22), and Bea. Janet has given him numerous lollipops. Mike has generously shared each music set with Thacker: De Tatch (twice), Paradise, Secret Garden, and back to Paradise for the final night. 

Today we meandered around town for most of the day. We were trying to pay our Splash Dive bill and get more cash for our trip home. We were down to $1. Fortunately the ATM at the Belize Bank spit out $200 BZ and we were set. 

From there we wandered down to The Shak for

a super yummy Banana Coconut Pineapple smoothie and a Thai curry dish. Checking back at Splash our bill still wasn't ready, so we headed for the shade and local comraderie of the Pickled Parrot. Thacker with his curiosity wandered to the back edge of the bar trying to get a peek at the back workings of a bar. Karim the bartender invited him back and then told him if he was going to hang out back there he had to work. Thacker opened up a few beverages and earned his first money  $3 BZ  in tips.

He was watching t.v., talking about what he was watching with the locals, complete with "ohs" and "ahs" and head shakes as motorcycles, boats, and cars crashed. 

Paul and I just sat there, shaking our heads, smiling, and entertained by the little dude. 

Finally settled up with Splash, we picked up a tiny treat for our families and vegged in the cool of our room for a bit. That evening we ate pizza at the Purple Space Monkey and joined several from our group to hear Mike play at Paradise one last time. Thacker played a teeny bit of kazoo but was more interested in playing with his local friends: Sean (almost 5), Sean's 7-year old sister, and her friend (7 too). 

It was relaxing for the last full day in Belize.

Day 8 - Sunday, July 28

With a van pick up time of 9:15 a.m., we had plenty of time to eat breakfast; pack; distribute leftover food, sunblock, aloe, and bug spray to others in our group who were staying an additional week; relinquish hermit crab responsibility back to Gary and Bea; and bid many in our group goodbye. We traveled with Donna, Ellen, and Luz to the airport, leaving Ellen in Charlotte to head back to D.C. and saying goodbye to Donna and Luz in Roanoke. 

We were thrilled to see Sprout when we got home. Belize was amazing and kind, but it was good to be back in these beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains that resonate deep within our souls. 

(Yep. What Mom said.)