A Whole World Away

My first blog post in Belize! Everyone can breathe a sigh of relief; I made it here safe J Wednesday March 16^th felt like the longest day ever. I can’t remember why or when the last time I got up at 4:00am was but I hope I don’t have to get up that early again for a while. Luckily everything was already packed except for my carry-on bags. I sleepily packed them, fitting last minute items into side pockets of my suitcases. I gave my dad many hugs and kisses, kissed my sleeping brother and sister goodbye and stole a few snuggles with Brody.

Mommy and I left for the airport shortly after 4:30 and arrived at 5:30, just as planned. She helped me check my bags in (what a good mommy she is) and walked me to the security line. It was hard saying goodbye. I know I normally go weeks and months without seeing my parents but this goodbye was different than just saying goodbye for going back to Wilmington. She watched me until I safely got through security then I was on my own.

I met up with Kathleen and we took the flight from Charlotte to Atlanta together. In Atlanta we met up with several other girls and our two professors. All together we took the flight from Atlanta to Belize City. Luckily I had a window seat so when the pilot announced that we were flying over into Belize I could look out the window. Even from above I could tell that we weren’t in the United States anymore. Everything was covered in vegetation, so many trees! And not pine trees like we are used to seeing in American – PALM TREES! Flying in I only saw two paved roads and a tiny group of houses. The airport that we landed in was shocking as well. This airport was in the middle of the jungle, seriously. There was nothing around but trees. There was one runway. If there weren’t planes around the building, from the outside you would not even be able to tell that it was an airport. We did not pull up to a gate, they rolled a set of stairs up to our plane and that is how we de-boarded.

The heat and humidity hit me as soon as I stepped out of that plane, it was amazing! It still didn’t seem real that I was doing this. Thankfully everyone’s bags arrived and we weaseled our way through customs. Our first true Belizean adventure was taking a Tropic Airplane from the mainland airport out to the Island of San Pedro. Let me tell you, this is the smallest plane I have EVER been on. It was a tiny charter plane and we were flying only a few hundred feet above the Caribbean Sea. Although for some reason I was more nervous flying on the big planes than I was on the tiny charter plane. The view was incredible; you could look down and see right to the bottom of the sea. It didn’t look like it was more than a few feet deep of crystal clear water.

We finally landed on the island, right smack in the middle of the city of San Pedro. Our hotel was literally only a few hundred yards away. We took a taxi to our hotel only because we had so many luggages but it is a simple 5 minute walk by foot. Most everyone else had arrived about an hour earlier and was unpacking. It didn’t take long to get settled in considering the rooms are small and there wasn’t much to unpack. We attempted to go to the beach but it awfully windy and a few of us ended up by the pool instead. We were supposed to have dinner at the hotel, a pizza party catered by the owner’s pizza parlor that was in the middle of the city. Unfortunately, I did not make it to the party. I had a huge migraine and felt nauseous. I had to go to bed. I think it was a combination of it being a long day and the heat had taken a lot out of me.

In the middle of the night both my roommate and I sat straight up in bed at the same time. Outside it sounded like a fleet of airplanes was flying around. We looked at each other wondering what it was. We figured it was just wind but when I crawled out of bed to check out what it was, I could barely see out the window it was raining so hard. It was a monsoon outside! I think the only reason it was so loud is because we are on the top floor of the hotel and it has a tin roof. Still, it sounded like we were in the middle of a war and it was very difficult to go back to sleep. Finally it quieted down and I was almost back asleep when it started up again! Not the best night’s sleep I’ve ever had. Plus I only had one blanket that was paper thin and one pillow … good thing I brought a blanket and a sweatshirt to use as a makeshift pillow

Thursday was our first full day on the island with everyone. The last two girls of the cohort finally joined us. We all had breakfast at George’s; pancakes and bacon with fresh fruit J I needed a hearty meal since it would be another long day and I essentially had not eaten yet since I had been on the island. After that we toured the entire city of San Pedro. With only 22, 000 residents it wouldn’t be long before they all knew of us. We were quite a site walking around all together today. We really do stick out. There are tourists everywhere; tourism is their main source of income for the island. However, we were told that we are different form typical tourists because people will begin to notice that we are here longer and will want to get to know us. It was so hot while we were walking around, the sun beating down on us the entire time. YAY for sweating!

A little after noon we got back to the hotel and had a few hours of free time before we had to meet up for a “Welcoming Seminar” from Lara. Of course we all hit up the beach. But wouldn’t you know that as soon as we go out there, the gray clouds come out and it starts to rain. It wasn’t at all like a monsoon like it was at night but it was enough to scare half of us back to the hotel. The rest of us waited it out at the beach. We snorkeled for a while because the water was warmer than the air. There is this little dock where you can go and jump right off into the water. They have placed a lot of cement blocks in the water around the pier so fish love to congregate there and hang out in schools. I didn’t expect it but when I jumped in there were HUNDREDS of fish!! It was incredible. We saw some puffer fish, a few parrot fish, a whole bunch of yellow and tan ones (I don’t know what they are called) and even a lion fish!! My roommate pointed it out to us. Finally the sun came back out and we got a good hour of sun before our seminar. After the seminar our night was free and we dined at local “kiosks” in the city square and celebrated St. Patrick’s Day at the festival at our hotel. A live band was there and it was a relaxing atmosphere.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time here so far, even though it’s only been 2 days. It hasn’t hit me yet that I am going to be here for 5 weeks though. I still feel like I’m just here for a “vacation” and I’ll be leaving soon to go back to Wilmington to teach at Codington on Monday. I’m sure this feeling will wear off on Monday when we go to our schools but for now it’s more of “spring break”. Two things I do already miss: water pressure & ice. The water pressure in the shower here is worse than the showers in the Seahawk Crossing and anyone in the Crossing can tell you how AWFUL it is there. I feel like I drink my weight in water but none of it has been ice cold … it all comes in bottles mostly.

Everyone is very friendly here though and so eager to talk to you, especially the kids. While eating in the square two little boys came up and started talking to us. The one little boy had a pet raccoon – it was adorable! It was only two months old and this little thing was better trained than most puppies are at 2 months. He also had 4 brothers and 3 sisters! We’ve had several other children approach us throughout the day. Some trying to sell things to us (we’ve been told many of them do this as “after school jobs”), others just want to know who we are and what we are doing here. I can’t wait to be in the school with them. There are only three elementary schools on the island and only one high school. Over 50% of the population in Belize is under the age of 18. It is still a developing country and the people here have lots to learn. It’s considered a “machismo” society which means it’s dominated by males. AIDS is a huge problem here also. There is great hope and even expectation of our group to change lives here, not only in schools but in the community as well. I hope that we can meet and exceed these expectations that have been set for us. We will see J