My Rough Life in the City

Hard to believe it's been a month since I moved. I've been working hard at WIN Belize and doing some volunteer work with with ICA - the Institute of Cultural Arts. In between, I took a weekend trip to Placencia, a beautiful resort town (about 5 hours by bus) south of Belize City, and have been working hard on my apartment. It was flooded last fall during Hurricane Richard and there was a big problem with mold and mildew. But, with a fresh coat of paint, 3 gallons of bleach and lots of scrubbing, new curtains and some new furniture to replace the furniture that rotted in the water, it looks beautiful. This is the old British colonial style house where I live in the downstairs front apartment.
I weeded around the front door, planted some palm trees and flowers, and like I did at Dad's condo, I've been scavengering rocks for the garden. It looks a little sparce right now, but with a little water, I'm confident it will be lush by summer, and the palm trees will provide some shade and privacy in front of the window. I have a living room, kitchen with eating area, 2 bedrooms and a bath. The living room is very sunny, and though she looks stressed here, Maya seems to be adjusting to her new home. The apartment gets a nice breeze all day and night from the sea, and with my new furniture covered in a palm tree design, I almost feel like I'm home - right down to a kite hanging from the ceiling of the kitchen, like I have on my porch in Florida. I flew it in the Kite Festival on Monday and won one of the divisions.

...and the view ain't that bad either! One last thing, I haven't shown you my latest art aquisitions. Every month when I buy a piece of art, it becomes my favorite and here are definitely two. "Wuri Suruso," or Nude Woman in the Garifuna language, is by Pen Cayatano, who is a very famous artist here. The "God and Goddess of the Jungle" is by a brand new artist, Alessandra Berry, and the god and goddess are actually her children. She showed her art for the first time in the Women in Arts exhibit that I helped organize. I'll tell you about the opening in my next Blog.