July Updates

As I approach close to the end of my stay here, I find myself less and less inclined to write.  There is so much to write about my experiences with Peace Corps, NAVCO, and Belizeans but I decided that this is not the forum to ruminate personal feelings, opinions, and comments.  Instead, I'll give you fluff and a little what's happening here.

The first part of July, I spent playing tourist again, this time, with my son, Ryan, and his wife, Amy, and daughter, Ayla.  The baby, Maxime, didn't come since she's a bit young to remember anything.  We started out at my place in Belmopan.  The heat and humidity gave them a first hand sweltering feel of what it was like to live in the Tropics.  In the morning, I took them to the market for breakfast of panades and sabutes.  They met Ms. Mary from the Belmopan Library and had lunch with my NAVCO people.  Belize Zoo was in the afternoon.

The next day, we walked to the terminal to ride the bus to San Ignacio.  We checked in at the San Ignacio Resort Hotel (if anyone plans a visit to San Ignacio, the hotel has all the comforts and beauty of the Cayo experience).  We walked to the market, the biggest one in the country. and met with Ramon and Lucina - they started selling at a stall there a few months back.  The kids had their first taste of pupusas which Amy loved.

We spent the day in San Antonio with the family.  Amy and Ryan had a chance to drive the pick up through the rough terrain in the Pine Ridge Mountains, Amy tried making tortillas, I took a family photo of the Cantos.

Back at the hotel, next day was cave tubing - an all day tour at Cave Branch.  Next day, Ryan and Amy went to the ATM (Actun Tunichil Muknal) while Ayla and I shopped in town and had lunch with another volunteer.  As I loved the ruin at Lamanai, the tour picked us up at the hotel, did the river and ruin tour, then dropped us off at the Belize City water taxi to head out to San Pedro. 


Ryan made the arrangements for the resort on Ambergris Caye - Coco Beach Resort was fabulous!  It was hard to fathom how we moved from my humble, cement house in Belmopan to the ultimate in luxury.  Fortunately, he got a great deal because this was off season in tourism and the hotels were running huge savings.  They went snorkeling one day, Amy went scuba another, then all of us went on a catamaran for a full day of fishing, snorkeling and sailing up and down the reef - the guide fished conch, cleaned and made ceviche for us to eat.  For lunch, they caught red snapper and we had a delicious meal of fish and tortillas.


This was the last of my visitors to make it to Belize - I was totally pleased to have both the kids to come. I'm finished playing tourist and ready to work as much as I can for NAVCO and my Belizean friends.


NAVCO - things are heating up with the board and the president.  Last week, the board decided to have an emergency/special meeting to finally resolve the issue with the president.  All six district boards (72 board leaders) will meet August 6 in Belmopan.  I hope that meeting will result in a positive move to get NAVCO functional again and that I can still continue my training before I leave.


GOOD NEWS - Ms. Mary was notified that BNE Trust approved the grant for the renovation and expansion.  Work will begin immediately with a completion date by end of the year.  Of course, that's wishful thinking but however the time it will take, we got the funds!!!  it's exciting to know that this project is moving forward.


CLOSE OF SERVICE - Our Peace Corps group just completed our retreat on close of service.  We had the retreat at Cahal Pech, a resort in Cayo.  I volunteered to be on the committee to organize the retreat, mainly to represent the older volunteers.  The retreat turned out great!  I was a little hesitant to go because of last year's group problems, but I am so glad I did.  We solemnly reflected on our experience; gave appreciation to the staff who in turn gave kudos to us; and had fun with a white elephant exchange, haiku reading, video of our times, and photo shoot of the group.  The close of service information from the staff gave a good handle on all the things we had to do.  I came away feeling much closer to the group and was impressed on how all of us changed and grew from our experience here.


I had lunch with Misael, my San Antonio family, in San Ignacio before heading home.  We sat and talked about my last days here.  It's exciting to know that my last days here will be with my San Antonio family - more details will come in a later blog.