Pictures of my Belmopan home

Life is not so bad...here are a few pics of my place. Peace Corps gave volunteers a housing allowance to set up living quarters. The younger volunteers could handle the ruggedness of rural living with outside latrines and water shortage, but as an older person I needed my creature comforts. I figured that if I spent a little more money to make a comfortable home, I could focus better on my purpose here. At the end of my stint, I can sell off all my things and get back some of the money.

I have learned to cope with two critical issues living here: bugs and heat. The key words: fan, sweat cloth, bug spray for the body and the rooms. My daily routine: I come home from work, turn on the fan to circulate air and keep bugs away, spray the entrances, my bedroom, and the areas around the windows and furniture. I spray myself on the legs because bugs bite there frequently. Fortunately, winter temperatures cooled the air and the bug population.

In my kitchen next to the stove is my washer - it's an interesting appliance used commonly in Belize. The washer houses two tubs: one for washing the clothes and the other tub to spin the clothes. Since I don't have hot water, I boil the water on the stove and mix it with the cold water piped into the tub - the hot water makes a difference in whitening and dissolving the detergent. After the clothes are washed, I wring the clothes and put them in the sink. I fill the tub with cold water again for rinsing, then the clothes, hand wrung to get rid of most of the water, are placed in the second tub for spinning. Actually, the spinner takes a lot of the water out and makes it easy to line dry the clothes outside. A long plastic tube attached to the washer and directed outside drains the water into the back yard. I'm actually enjoying the routine.

Peace Corps gives us a living allowance based on the average inco

me for the area. The unfortunate aspect of living here is that the income is below the cost of goods. Most everything is imported and costly. The local produce is expensive too - many farmers don't eat much of their produce since its income producing for them. The diet consists of rice, beans, tortillas and chicken. I bought a single, small onion the other day that cost fifty cents - I compared it to a bag of 3 lbs of onion for less than two dollars in the States.