It's 9:04pm. Sounds of the forest are all around us. The florescent energy-efficient lights above me are an ill-suited contrast to the otherwise tranquil setting. We are staying in a sweet little thatched roof cabana in what feels like the middle of nowhere at the moment. In fact, though, we are just outside of San Ignacio, a popular expat city in western Belize just adjacent to Guatemala.
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| San Ignacio downtown |
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| This is the only pic we took of cabana |
Richard and I were getting a bit restless with the mere one-and-a-half mile path we had worn smooth by our daily treks. We had been looking for a car to purchase in Placencia but, just as you can never find a pen when you need it and always when you don't, we had found nothing. So, we rented a car hoping for better luck here, in San Ignacio, where there are more people and a better likelihood of finding an "American" car. It's been interesting...a mix of discovery and distracted wandering. We didn't have a plan, or a map, when we came and everything is unknown so we have kind of felt our way in the dark (sometimes literally). Some fortuitous turns today landed us at this cute (and inexpensive) little resort (if you can call it that) and possibly a new car. We also went to an amazing Mayan ruin today...pretty aw-inspiring and perplexing at the same time. We hope to go to another tomorrow and then make our way back to home base. Who knows what will happen though.
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| View from cabana |
I definitely feel a little disoriented at the moment as if I just woke up in someone else's life. It's pleasant and fun, but I'm grasping a bit for things that I have no idea where to find. Some of these things are simple like where to get soil and others are rather annoyingly ambiguous like what is my purpose here.
I honestly just want someone to tell me...go here, get this kind of car, here is the best restaurant, this is how you should do homeschool each day, volunteering over there will make the most impact, this is where you will meet your friends, that is the cheapest place to get produce, and exactly where to hike to the best waterfall, but guess what? It's not that easy. Yes, it is much easier than it used to be because of the all-knowing trip advisor and google, but google can't make unmarked roads easy to find or introduce you to that couple over there that look like potential friends. And it lacks the ability to descifer the idiosyncrasies that make something barely likable to one person and charming to another. It recognizes that we are looking for cars in Belize and therefore drowns me in ads that promote Belize and vehicles for the next week...but that is not what I want. I want to have a conversation with the lady at the corner store who has a daughter that is selling a car she brought in from the States. I want to find out that her grandchildren are in a sailing club that meets every Saturday at Yoli's. Then I want to buy her homemade panades because they were fresh this morning and have her tell me to come back on Tuesday mornings for the "world's best macarons" that her cousin makes. These are the experiences that I want to live...you can't google these. Just like the Mayan ruins, you can't pull up photos online and capture even one tenth of the awe and mystery that cloaks you when you see them in person. You must stand on the top of the temple looking down to the people below that are dwarfed by the size of something that was so meticulously built over 2000 years ago. Only there can you truly grasp the grandeur of a world so unknown and it is there that you realize you have a million more questions than you have answers.
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| 130 feet tall |
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| Xunantunich Mayan Ruins |
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| Cahal Pech Ruins |
So, here I am still slightly disoriented at the moment, but ready for whatever real life experience has for us here. I'm ready to be at the end of myself and the beginning of what is to come. I am here.
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| The ferry across the river |
We had our first true Belizean experience a couple weekends ago. We were invited by Ruffina (who lives downstairs) to come to her Mayan village for a day and meet her family. Unfortunately Richard could not come with us because of some prior engagements (sadly that is why I hardly have any decent pictures to document the trip), but the kids and I set out for this adventure. We start the journey with a 15 minute ride on the "Hokey Pokey" (fitting name) little water taxi. This taxi runs in the lagoon behind our house and across the water to the larger village of Independence. This is where a lot of the people who work in Placencia live as it is much less expensive. Then we take a 5 min. taxi to the bus station and a 20 min. bus ride to the village of Red Bank. 
As we ride along (standing room only) we can see the mountains rise in the distance and slowly grow as we near the village. They seem to just petrude out of no-where almost like large bolders stacked up on flat ground and covered in a lush layer of greenery. Skinny pine trees rise awkwardly along the road flanked in low growing weeds and a few palm trees. We come to a dirt road that would surely be missed if I were driving myself. It is unmarked and doesn't have enough ware for me to think that this is really the only road to Red Bank. The bus turns in and continues another 10 min. down the dirt road. I begin to see several thatch roof houses and a cute hand painted sign "Welcome to Red Bank" signifying our arrival. I see Ruffina ahead of us running out towards the moving bus. The bus driver sees her as well. I grab my stuff and riffle through my purse to find change...only $2bz ($1US). We have Wilburt's (Ruffina's baby) walker in hand (as she had asked us to bring) and run to greet her. She leads us back to her parents' house. It is more of a small compound than just a house. The kitchen is outside on a dirt floor covered by a thatched roof. There are several hammocks and a few plastic chairs...this is where much of their time is spent together (understandably). A small concrete house sits just adjacent. It has two bedrooms with sheets hanging as doors and one large rather empty room. One hammock hangs from the rafters here, a small shelf, a tv with a blanket hung over it, a table filled with bowls and dishes, a bench, refrigerator, and an unused oven is in the corner. Water is piped in to their compound by one single pipe that is outside somewhere between the kitchen and house area. This is where they do dishes and laundry (if they aren't taking it to the river to wash). They also have a outdoor shower set up here in a little wood structure. The outhouse is a ways from all of what I just described and is a wooden structure with a dirt floor and two cement holes that go into the ground.
