Richard "the Belizean Hearted"

Thought I would share a little about Hurricane Richard that came through Belize last Sunday. The Peace Corps "consolidated" us, as they call it, ion Sunday morning. We weren't evacuated out of the country, but as in the past hurricanes and tropical storms, we come to a hotel in Belmopan that is close to the Peace Corps office. We were put on alert on Friday and called in on Sunday morning because the busses stopped running Sunday afternoon.

It's always great to see our fellow Peace Corps volunteers, but the Garden City Hotel sure isn't the Hyatt, in fact it's not even a Motel 6! So, in addition to the main reason we are there (the impending hurricane) we weren't really excited about spending the next few days in "lock down." Luckly, there's a Chinese Bar around the corner that has good food and beer - and they didn't close until Sunday night! So, I got some carry out and went to my room to watch Sunday Night Football until the electricity went off.

The storm hit land in Belize City, but Belmopan ended up getting more damage because the storm gained strength as it came across the flat land toward Belmopan. We were initially on the top floor of the hotel but the ceiling started moving about 12 inches up and down as the winds came in, so we were moved to the bottom floor where it was much safer. When we emerged the next morning, we found the roof on Jolines, one of our favorite restaurants right next door to the Hotel, was completely ripped off and lots of trees were snapped off from the winds all over the city.

We had to stay in Belmopan on Monday, though it was a beautiful sunny day with blue skies and you wouldn't even think that it was so terrible just eight hours earlier. However, there were so many trees and electric poles down on the road to Belize City and we had no electricity, so the busses couldn't get through the road until Tuesday.

When I got home, I had some water in the house that had come in under the door, but a little mopping and fans to dry the feet of the furniture and everything was back to normal, though Maya was a little tramatized. She ran out as I was leaving on Sunday morning and spent the night in the storm outside! She's been staying pretty close to home all week! So now I have "international" hurricane experience to add to my Florida hurricane adventures.

There's Nothing Like Friends and Family!

Gosh, it's been almost a month since my last Blog, but time flies when you're with people you love! In between Independence Day on September 21st and being evacuated for Tropical Storm Matthew, my friends from Florida, Joye and David Swisher, stopped in Belize City for an afternoon while on a cruise. It was great to see them. I showed them my apartment, then we had some delicious local Belizean cuisine for lunch and just caught up on each other's lives!

Last week, I went to Dayton to see my family and celebrate my 40th "Un-reunion"! I say that because from the time I had made reservations to go to Dayton until I finally arrived, my class cancelled their reunion. So, I just grabbed my wheelchair and crashed my Dad's 65th! Though it took me 33 hours, 3 buses, 3 taxis and 2 airplanes, it was worth every minute to see Dad, TR, Lisa, Max and Sam (and eating at all my favorite restaurants!) The leaves were in full fall colors and the weather was perfect, like the whole weekend! I only carried a backpack home, but returned with a huge suitcase, filled to the 50 pound limit with all sorts of goodies from home: a drill, screwdriver, trowel and gardening gloves, vacuum cleaner, Ohio State mugs, Skyline Chili Mix, and banana peppers just to name a few items. The trip back was made a lot easier by taking a shuttle van from the Cancun airport bcak to Belize City.

I dropped off my suitcase, grabbed a bag I had already packed and jumped back in the shuttle to get to the bus station before the last bus left for Caves Branch where I met Sandy & Greg Henry, who had arrived that afternoon. It was so great to see them and explore Belize with friends from Florida. Caves Branch is an absolutely beautiful resort, including our jungle bungalow where we woke up to hummingbirds feeding off the red ginger flowers right outside our screened in room. The next morning we went cave tubing down a seven mile underground river where we saw stalagmites and stalactites, and underground waterfalls. The following morning we were off again, this time to Xunantunich, the Mayan ruins close to San Ignacio. In our spare time, we enjoyed local rum drinks by the pool and relaxed after a great dinner in the sauna. Now this is my kind of Belize!!

It's been a great vacation, but I'm ready to get back to work tomorrow and see my co-workers.