Stan Marsh, reporting from South Park!

Boy, just when I think the time is going so slowly here, I see that my last Bog posting was in October. So much has happened since then, from several health issues like pneumonia and the shingles, to the holidays and the wonderful visit I had with family in Dayton and friends in Florida.
Though I had the flu thoughout most of my visit to Florida, it was great to be in America - even sick! - and wonderful to visit with as many people as I was able to see. At least there were great football games on TV, as I layed under a warm comforter on the sofa at Kadi's house.
In the meantime, work goes on at WIN Belize with several programs geared to helping young girls in a mentorship program gain self esteem and other life skills, and advocacy programs focusing on women's rights issues and another campaign to help people living with HIV/AIDS.
In the meantime, I was evicted from my apartment, and given 30 days notice the week before I came home for the holidays. I think when the landlord saw how I had fixed it up, she rented it to someone who would pay more. It has been very stressful since I got back on January 3rd and immediately started looking for another place. Finally, last Saturday I found the perfect apartment! It is on a safe, quiet street, right across from a nice park which is on the Caribbean Sea, so I have a view of the turquoise water and a lovely sea breeze all day. I'm painting and cleaning today and moving tomorrow and Thursday. It's amazing how much I've accumulated in the last 10 months! I think it will take 3 trips to get all my belongings to my new home, but I am very excited and think I will like it better than where I am currently living. (I know I'll like the landlord more!)
I'll put pictures on the blog after I find my camera that is packed away, but I wanted to be sure to tell you if you send any mail, to please send it to my new address listed on the right side of my Blog. My new address is on South Park! Ironic?!

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.

It All Started With Jouvert!

Tucked in between St. George's Caye, or National, Day, and Independence Day is a little celebration called Carnival! Carnival actually kicked off several weeks ago with the crowning of the Carnival King and Queen that I talked about in my last blog. But, the official party started at 4am on Saturday morning, when a few thousand people assembled in the street where Central American Blvd and the Northern Highway meet. A truckload of people drove through the group throwing buckets of mud into the crowd. And when we were all covered from head to toe, a flatbed truck with a huge PA system strapped to the back started down the street with all of us following behind dancing to the sounds of soca music. It's called Carnival Jouvert, and the dancing is called "jump up" because that's what we did all the way to the sea, where everyone jumped in and washed off the mud.

Then it was home to shower and get to bed so I could be ready for the Carnival Parade. Fellow Peace Corps volunteers, KC, Gayla and her friend Patti, from San Diego, came to join in the festivities and we all headed out to find a good place to watch the parade. It was festive, fun and fantastic with bands, floats, ornate costumes, music and dancing that kept coming and coming over the bridge for over two hours. I've put a lot of pictures from the parade on the slide show at the top of my Blog. It's been a really fun month, but I think I'm ready to get back to work - until the next holiday!

I Am Belize!

Let me just get this over with right off the bat. This blog has nothing to do with making a difference by some significant work I'm doing here. This is September in Belize City!! For months ,whenever I tried to plan a meeting or an activity, my co-workers would say, "We can't do it then, it's September." Now I understand what they meant - it's 10th Day, it's National Day, it's Independence Day and it's Carnival time in Belize! This year's theme for the September Celebrations is "United and proud. Moving forward. I am Belize!"

I have been trying to acquire a piece of art by a Belizean artist every month, and this piece of folk art was painted on a cardboard box by a young man from Hopkins. The figures are actually painted and cut out of cardboard and adheared to the background. It depicts a "Bruk dong" band, including the tumbas, three turtle shells of different sizes that hang around the musician's neck and are hit with drum sticks, and a "boom and chim" drum. To me, this piece is the perfect addition to my collection this month, with its cut-out statement at the top of the painting, "We Are Belize".
On September 10, 1798 after seven days of fighting, a small force of woodcutters, called Baymen, assisted by slaves, fought together - for their land and their livelihood - to defeat the Spanish on St. George's Caye. Two hundred twelve years later, as a new observer to the events and activities connected with the September Celebrations, I have felt a level of patriotism in Belizeans from every village, town and city, of every diverse culture and every socio-economic level that is inspiring. (And, we haven't even gotten to Independence Day celebrations on September 21, when in 1981, Belize was granted independence as a colony of Britain.) Here, in a country where many people suffer and have numerous reasons to feel as though their government is failing them, they put their grievences aside and celebrate a bigger vision - freedom, independence and pride. It's real dam refreshing coming from a land that has more than any other nation in the world, and yet we think things are so bad in America because we deserve more!!! OK, off the soapbox - let me tell you about the fabulous things I've been enjoying.

The month actually started with my Peace Corps friends, Tracy, Roger and Dickie P, coming here for the monthly Wine Club. We toasted the upcoming celebrations by tasting a few champagnes from France and the US. The next night was the opening of a great art exhibit, 29: Artists, Works, Years. After visiting the Smithsonian, the Met, the Guggenheim and the Chicago Museum of Art, one forgets that at some point a newly independent country must "begin" it's own collection of art. Belize is without a National Gallery of Art, so in 1989 an effort to formally collect, preserve, document and disseminate the visual arts of Belizeans was undertaken. In this, the 29th year of independence, 29 Belizean artists were featured from the National collection of painting, sculpture, photography and mixed media. I was so excited to see a beautiful pencil drawing by my friend Gilvano Swazey, whose wood block, "Out to Sea," I purchased last month for my own little "National collection."

The next night I attended a concert by the country's most renowned pianist/composer/director, Francis Reneau. In every event I've attended, I have noticed how Belize's future - the youth of the country - have been included, starting with this concert where some of Belize's talented upcoming artists played the piano and violin. Reneau played some of his favorite classical pieces, some patriotic songs and returned for an encore playing an amazing piece for left hand only that had the crowd on it's feet.

Throughout the month, carnival events have been blended into the mix of patriotic events, and Saturday night kicked off Carnival with the crowning of the King and Queen of the Carnival. This is NOT a "sit on a throne and wave" king and queen, but the best Carnival costume King and Queen! The costumes are actually constructed of rebar covered with fabric, trim, feathers and beads, and the heavy costumes are supported on wheels. Each entrant takes their turn dancing and rolling around the stage, and the more their costume bounces to the beat of the soca music, the more the crowd roars. The fish is the junior king winner and the bee is the junior queen winner.

Sunday was the Lionman Triathalon, (which of course I did not participate in) but several Peace Corps volunteers joined teams with US Embassy staff, and one of the teams came in fourth. After the triathalon, two Peace Corps volunteers here in Belize City, Pat and Keri Robinson, hosted all the participants, and us observers, for a fabulous brunch at their home - complete with mimosas, salmon mouse, caviar and eggs benedict! (Are you sure we're still in Belize?) It was great to see so many volunteers in town and celebrate their hard work and accomplishment.

On Monday the celebrations kicked up a notch with a Patriotic Concert at a historic church, featuring two choirs, soloists, and the National Band and a steel band booming from the balcony of the Wesley Church. The Governor General, the highest ranking official in the country, played the piano and lead everyone in a sing-along to culminate the concert. On Tuesday, I attended a wonderful play called, "Belize: A Play From Settlement to Nation", which depicted in acting, music, dance and video, the events from the battle of St. George's Caye to winning independence from the British. Florence Goldson, my co-worker at WIN Belize, took me to the play; and I think I felt almost as much pride as she must have felt when her father was depicted in the play as a leader in Belize's fight for independence. A newspaper editor, politician and activist, Phillip Stanley Wilberforce Goldson, was a founder of the four political parties in Belize and was even imprisoned for a year for his activism. Relentless in his efforts to improve Belize, he taught prisoners how to read and write while he was in prison. The Belize International Airport is named after him and in 2008, he was post-humously honored with the country's highest honor, the Order of National Hero.

The children were again the focal point on Wednesday in the Literacy Parade. Almost every school in Belize City decorated a float, and students who have made the greatest improvement in reading, dressed like characters from their books and paraded down the streets with their school's band following.

On Thursday, Florence again took me out - this time to the Soca Bashment. Soca music emerged about 30 years ago in Trinidad and Tobago as a soulful calipso. Today, soca has a heavy percussion presence and lots of dancing and jumping up and down, or "jump-up" as it's called.

Unforunately, we couldn't stay and party all night because we had to be up bright and early for the National Day festivities starting with the Opening Ceremonies, attended by the US Ambassador, the Governor General, Prime Minister of Belize, and the many Ministers and dignitaries of the country. The Queen of the Bay, who oversees all the "10th Day" festivities, was crowned. The Queen of the Bay works all year to advocate for equality for women, encouraging them to further their education and take leadership roles in the country, and has been chaired for over 20 years by Florence's mother, Emma Boiton.

Then it was off to another parade down the streets of Belize City with citizens joining in the parade, dancing and reveling to "I am Belize", the song that won the music competition in the campaign to encourage citizens to adopt social values that will restore Belize to a safe, peaceful and productive home for Belizeans and visitors.

I know you must be tired of reading, but indulge me one more story. I think the multi-cultural fair that followed the parade, really took the word "multi-cultural" to a new level this year, when yours truly won the punta dancing contest. If you know me well, you know I avoid attention in public and I NEVER dance! So, when the master of ceremonies pointed in my direction, I looked around me to see who he was signaling to come to the stage. When I realized he was pointing to me, I said, "What the heck. I don't know anyone in this country," and up on the stage I went. It wasn't until he asked me if I knew what punta was that I began to worry. Anyone who has lived in this country for more than a day knows what punta dancing is, and if they also know me, they know I don't have the hips, the wiggle, or the rhythm to do the punta. But dance I did, ace bandage on my sprained ankle and all! The crowd cheered and laughed, and to paraphrase Andy Worhol, I enjoyed my 15 "seconds" of fame!

Remember how I said I don't know anyone in this country? Well, the next day at Carnival, three strangers stopped me on the streets and told me I did a good job dancing the punta. I guess...I AM BELIZE!

Dots on my Map!

In my mission to visit every volunteer in their village or town, last weekend I hit the road again, traveling to the northern most town in Belize - Corozol. I went to the bus station here in Belize City and met KC, who came in from Independence, which is about 3 hours south of here. We jumped on the next bus to Orange Walk Town, where Colleen met our bus and joined KC and me for the last leg of the trip to Corozol. Corozol is a beautiful town on the water, and Gayla, who lives about an hour west of Corozol, met us so we could celebrate her birthday. We had written a song to the melody of Hello Dolly and she was delighted with it, even though the three of us sang it together in three different keys! Matt Andrews, another volunteer invited us to his house and Molly, also a volunteer from Orange Walk, was there. They were fabulous hosts! Molly had made deviled eggs, and Matt cut up vegetables and dip for us to snack on. He even made fresh brewed Starbucks coffee! Another volunteer in Corozol was in the states visiting her family and she had offered her house to Gayla for us to stay in, so we went back there and had a great evening just catching up.

The next morning we caught an early bus to Chetumal, the first town over the Mexican border. It was amazing - like stepping into Miami Florida (ie. like America, only everyone spoke Spanish!) We went to a real mall with department stores that had Estee Lauder make up, a Target and Walmart, ate soft serve ice cream, saw the new Angelina Jolie movie, Salt, and I devoured the best Big Mac I've ever eaten in my life! Then, after smuggling through customs more than our one bottle allotment of wine, we were off to Cristo Rey on Saturday, to see Gayla's village of 300 people - what a culture shock after our day in the mall. We took a bus to the junction and, loaded down with all our great finds in Mexico, we had to walk the two miles to get to her village. We were exhausted when we got there., but felt a bit better after lightening our load by drinking some of the wine. Gayla is helping the ladies in her village start up a tortilla factory, and they had waited until we arrived to show us around their one room business. She also recruited some of the kids in the village and painted a world map on the side of the school, which you can see from the road as you walk through town.
After a short visit there, we decided to go back to Orange Walk so it would be easier for KC and I to catch the bus on Sunday morning. We also wanted to see Colleen's house and visit with other Peace Corps volunteers in Orange Walk, so back out to the highway we trudged. As we were waiting for the bus, I started flagging down trucks that were waiting at a police checkpoint, asking if we could get a ride to Orange Walk. A man with his wife and 2 children finally said yes, so the four of us piled into the back of their truck and off we went down the highway, reaching Orange Walk before the bus even arrived at the location where we were waiting at the highway. It was the first time KC had ever hitchhiked and we all had a good laugh as she crawled into the back of the pick up truck in her dress and white sandles!
When we got to Orange Walk, we went straight to Colleen's house, where we were going to stay on Saturday night, to get cleaned up from our truck ride. The house has just been remodeled, and is as modern as stepping into a beautiful home in America. In fact, we all agreed that her bathroom is nicer than any of us have at home!

After settling in and having a glass of wine, we went to see Zach's house. He moved into a former pre-school, and we were greeted by Zach and Ernie when we arrived. This is the first place many of the volunteers have ever had and it's fun to see how excited they are about fixing up their own places. Zach had to build a shower in his house and paint all the walls, and he's even added some inspirational phrases to the walls.

Then it was on to a party hosted by Jake, a volunteer who is leaving next month after his two years in Orange Walk. He will be going to New Hampshire to graduate school, and is getting very excited to get on with the next phase of his life. We also saw Jim and Janine, a married couple from our group, who we hadn't seen since swearing in in May. They are living in a village just a few miles away and just moved into their house last week.

The next morning, KC and I were back on the bus for the trip home. It was a great weekend and so wonderful to see all the volunteers who live in the Corozol District. And the culmination of the weekend was adding four more dots to my map of Belize of volunteers I have visited!

Anybody Got a Spare Ark?

Last week, out of the clear blue sky, or maybe it was actually a dark gray sky, we had a terrific thunderstorm to match the thunder, lightning and rains of Tampa Bay Florida (which happens to be the lightning capital of the world.)
In 2 short hours it rained enough to completely flood Belize City. Florence, my counterpart at WIN Belize, was at a meeting away from the office. She borrowed an SUV and drove to the closest street to our office that wasn't completely flooded. Minerva and I walked to the car and Florence drove us home, except that when we got close to my road, the water was too deep to drive through. So I had to walk the last two blocks in water sometimes up to my knees. The water was so deep in the back yard that I thought the boat might float, but no water got into my house - except through the window that I had left open! Luckly, the rain stopped that evening and by morning the water had receeded, leaving only a few puddles.