Update on living in Belize

Well, since my last blog, I continued to have fun living here.  I was in a hotel for three days then moved to a Peace Corps house not currently used for trainers and volunteers in transition.  I was so glad that I got into a cleaner hotel than the Garden City but, alas, whether it was at the hotel or the house, I contracted scabies - never have I experienced such itching and red bites on my legs.  Nurse Jackie gave me a treatment regiment of cream, instructed me to wash all clothing, beddings and anything that I had contact.  In the meantime, I moved back into the house even though the branches were still there - I imagined that getting a crane and a bucket truck here seemed difficult.

With the tree branches, I lost one of the two clothes line - now, that's another little bit to contend with - lately, black ants crawled the line and onto my clothes - I realized that was the reason I sometimes itch while I'm in bed - I never checked the sheets.  I just washed and hung out the sheets on the line after I sprayed with insect repellent, windex, and vinegar (I have no idea where I got the idea of vinegar) and dried the rest in the house with a fan - as not surprising, the ants were crawling all over the sheets - conclusion:  I'm drying in the house.

Just spent the last ten days on vacation with four friends from the States.  They stayed at my place the first two days to see how I lived and to help out with the library.  Miss Mary was totally surprised to see the guys fix the bathroom - the toilet and the overhead light was out of commission for over a year.  They then bought a ceiling fan to replace one that hadn't worked for years.  While they worked at the library, we ladies hopped on the bus and visited the Belize Zoo.  Hurricane Richard created a lot of damage to the place but most of the animals were saved.

Next day, we rode the bus to Orange Walk via Belize City - two buses to get up north.  We stayed at the St. Chrisopher Hotel which was an ideal place - rooms located next to the river.  We travelled the river to Lamanai to see the ruins.  I loved taking the tour again.  While the guys stayed at the hotel the next day, we took a bird watching trip to Crooked Tree Village - we rode the boat on the lagoon in early morning and saw wonderful wildlife.  On the third day, we booked a tour of the Baboon Sanctuary - we got a close up of the baboons monkeys, had a Belizean lunch of stewed chicken, rice and beans, and potato salad, then headed to Belize City where he dropped us off at the water taxi for Caye Caulker.

I've decided that Caye Caulker gave tourists a closer view of Belizean/Caribbean than San Pedro.  I heard so much about how upscale San Pedro was the place to go as a tourist.  We took a day trip there, and I was totally disappointed - crowded and expensive and the ambiance was commercial.  I came back to Caye Caulker with better appreciation of this island.

Kimberly and her friend are scheduled to come on the 16th - only ten days away.  My San Antonio family are excited to meet her, and she'll see not only the tourist part of the country but also the beautiful countryside and what it's like to live in Belize.  I am amazed at how I now see myself as part of the Belizean life - the country is beautiful and the people are becoming very dear to me.