The Jones Household (where I am staying, about a mile outside of town)

The tractors pulling a stuck dump truck out...this is entertainment, folks!

The road you take to get to my house

My bus stop

My first day with the Jones family we butchered a cow. Gives me a new respect for how much work goes into a steak!

Some pics from Independence:

My old host family, the Parhams

Combination fish locker and soda storage. Your coke smells like snapper.

Jacob and the sunset. Crazy thing is this doesnt even begin to capture the colors. :)

Oh...hello again! Fancy meeting up with you...come here often? yes, I know Im not funny. Oh well. Dropped by Orange Walk to hopefully upload some pictures. Havent had much luck with taking them though. Its been kinda tough with all this rain. Things have been going well in Carmelita. I am meeting more and more people. Its now about 80% of the time that I am called "White Bwai", with the other 20% split between being called "Peas Coah" and "Mistah Jacob" granted my name is only used when someone wants something (ie me to "set it aff" meaning buy them a bottle of rum or a cigarette or something else. Remember, white people have lots of money, or so the stereotype goes) For such a diverse country there are tons of preconceived notions about what people do. For example, a few lines in a popular song; "White man pay di bills, spanish mon build di house, chiney man run di shop, black mon lay di pipe" (yes, thats a reference to a powerful sex drive :) Its interesting to say the least.

Yesterday was a good sunday, I spent the morning peeling corn, which means going out into the cornfield and pulling ears off of the stalks for harvest. After that I got to meet with a few of the village council members. Seems like I am going to have to deal with alot of the politics surrounding the village council and all that business. I will also have to work to make sure that I am used in the fashion that the Peace Corps has sent me for, and not just as another member/village council secretary. Hmmm. I have made some significant inroads with the school here, and I will be teaching remedial reading classes to special needs kids 3 days a week. Seems like a good way to get my name out there and begin gaining the village/kids' trust. I am looking forward to it, despite the fact that I have zero experience in this field. After this I am heading to the library to see what Orange Walk has to offer. The afternoon was spent playing ping pong, volleyball and dominoes. While I am still far from good at volleyball and dominoes, it was nice playing pong...a game that I am actually decent at. I got to beat up on some of the locals, and I was looked at as an asset rather than a liability for my team. Fun stuff. Ooooh...also, I got to ride on a tractor with 7 other people to go help a stuck dump truck out of a mud hole. This is entertainment. People in the village use their tractors as a means of transportation, its not uncommon to see a few beat up cars and three tractors parked outside someones house for a gettogether!

As far as health goes, I have a wonderfully itchy, red and annoying rash that has begun to work its way over the top half of my body. I think its a result to a newly discovered allergy to cashew oils. We spent a morning shelling them, and evidently the outside shell is highly acidic and pretty gnarly for your skin. Good to know. What makes it even more fun is the 1-2 punch of 90 degree heat and hundreds of bugbites. I feel yucky. Meh. I get to go in to see the doctor in Belmopan tomorrow though. Maybe Ill ask for steriods! But yeah, Ill live. its ok.

Yep...thats about all for now...keep commenting!

jake

Carmelita and Orange Walk

I write to you from the nicest internet cafe I have seen yet in Belize. AC, late model dells, pretty sweet huh? all this for $2 US an hour. Id pay that for just the ac! So yeah, I am up in my new district, Orange Walk. The cafe is in Orange Walk Town, otherwise known as Sugar City (sugarcane refineries are plentiful here!) I'm pretty pleased to be up here and finally know what this place will be like. I arrived in Carmelita two days ago and was promptly introduced to the family and the family's cows. I then spent all day yesterday killing and butchering one of the genial fellows (cow, not family member) Yes, the family has a farm. 500 acres in fact. The hills are rolling, the palm trees are tall and the bush is intense. I should be riding horses and rounding up cattle within the next couple of days. Rock on.
As far as the village goes, Carmelita seems spread out, full of nice people and slightly damp. Guess that might be because we are on day 3 of what seems to be a rain of biblical proportions. Hmm... i borrowed a bike the other day and rode around checking things out. While it seems a bit disorganized (guess thats why im there!) it also seems like there is a really cool vibe. Alot of young men and women gather in the evenings and play volleyball under the lights. I got to play, but i realize that my only volleyball experience has taken place on the beach, usually after a beer or two. Way to go sports inept gringo. Lets see me blend in when i cant even get 2 consecutive serves over the net! :) Good thing i got two years to practice. Im gonna tear it up on the beach next time i play.
My host family should be interesting. They are incredibly nice, incredibly devout 7th day adventists. Should be a trip. The 17yo seems to be the most religious, and i have been given a hard time for drinking coffee and not going to church with them. Now I know it would be a good way to meet alot of community members, but evidently its 4 hours every saturday. Wow. I might end up going next week, but todya I had to meet a bunch of other volunteers in Town to kinda get the lay of the land and feel our way about. Ate a damn good donut, bought "Wanted" on DVD (pirated of course, its the only kind in this country) and generally wandered about. Orange Walk is not exactly touristy, but more has a workaday kinda vibe. Most of the people here are hispanic, and it feels like it could be any town in mexico. I like it. it will give me an opportunity to speak more spanish, even if its only just in passing.
I am hoping to get the chance to post some pictures in the next few days, give yall an idea of my situation. Until then, keep well
jake

What a Weekend!!!

This past weekend was awesome. Fa chroo. Alot has happened since I wrote on friday...leeets start with friday night. Usually after I leave Belmopan i catch either the 4 or the 430 bus home. The 4 is a regular ol schoolbus, but if you are willing to wait, you can spend your next 3 hours on the express!!! We are talking 1970s greyhound here. AC, tailfins, round taillights, the works. But all this bus talk is neither here nor there. I didnt get on. Instead I spent the afternoon chillin with some peace corps buddies and enjoying theBelmopan nightlife. (riiight...:) I finally made it home at about midnite.
A pretty mundane start to such a good weekend you say?? WELL sir, saturday I spent on a private island...we know the caretakers of this gorgeous lil caye off the coast, and it being a few of our birthdays, we were invited to spend the day and night hanging out, fishing off the pier,swimming in crystal clear water, playing cards on the porch overlooking the water and generally lazing about in magnificence. We ate like kings, with mountains of lobster and shrimp salad, grilled chicken, honey baked ham and of course, rice n beans :) As you can imagine, i was happier than a pig in... Yeah. After a bonfire and teaching Belizians the heavenly tradition we call smores, I went to sleep on the porch of the cabin, the sea breeze on mi face and the sound of waves lapping the beach. yessssss.
We arrived home about 10 and had to quickly get in gear...our end of training project was sunday. We took the 7th day adventist church of independence to placencia to do a beach cleanup and then followed that with a few hours of swimming. I love it when service projects combine with amazing scenery!!!! It was great how interested everyone was, we had over 80 participants and picked up well over 300 lbs of trash! Water and trashbags were donated by the village council, and we heard countless times from tourists, villagers and shopowners how thankful they were that we were doing a cleanup. Good vibes!
Now, yesterday was pan american day. No class. What to do??? MIGHT AS WELL GO BACK TO THE BEACH!! spent yesterday lazing about placencia again! I kinda sorta love it there and will really miss it. Oh well. So yeah, that was the dream weekend. And in two days i move up to carmelita. Things are starting to pick up! Ill post again once im in site and things become clearer!
jake

Counterpart Workshop and the Treehouse

Happy friday people. Writing to you from the lovely little capital of Belmopan. This past week i went up to Orange Walk town to meet my counterpart (the dude im going to be working with for the next two years. Mr. Randy Jones is a young, charismatic and very motivated village chairperson for Carmelita. Orange Walk has a population of about 16000. All of us placed in the northern part of the country left on tuesday and met up in Belmopan. Since thebus system (think old US Schoolbus) is far from comprehensive we had to meet up the day before our workshop. Digression: I must eat more and beef up my backside. My ass gets numb after 2 hours on those seats) But anyway, we left on tuesday and all of us met up in Belmopan and spent a night in a hotel. The night consisted of presidential debates and a stinky mothball room and rum and coconut water. A fun little break from business. The next morning came far too soon and we left for Orange Walk. We met up with our counterparts and our new host families. Evidently I will be living on a farm about 3/4 of a mile out of town. Needless to say im psyched. The only drag to this fact is that i left my chaps and cowboy boots back in the states. At least I have a sweet REI hat that almost looks cowboy!
So Mr. Jones is awesome, ill be getting alot of support for whatever project i decide to do (digression #2: the village really doesnt have an established plan for exactly what they want me to do so i have a fair amount of leeway, esp for the first few months) So remember how last post i talked about the camping and rec center: I was talking to Mr. Jones about it and he mentioned how the Belize Boy Scouts have a camping/rec area in another village but it consists of barracks and bathrooms. Then he says to me "i want it to be really cool, you know, on the river, treehouses" This huge doody eating grin comes over my face and i think to myself "suuuuure, lets build some F**king treehouses!" Im psyched.
Yep, thats about it. Im gonna go eat some beans and rice...with chicken (since thats all they eat in this country!)
sotay lata
jacob

The fast hikers on top of Ben's Bluff, in Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary
The government pays for me to swim under waterfalls in crystal clear water...life is beautiful!

Hi!  

   Good mood today!  I found out on friday where I will be posted for the next two years!  I will be living in Carmelita,  a village of about 12oo people about 20 minutes outside of a 16,000 person town called Orange Walk.  It is in Orange Walk district,  which mainly is farmland focusing on sugarcane production.  The placement sounds pretty cool,  evidently my primary project will be to work with the village council in an effort to create a recreation center for camping and outdoor exploration.   I will also be teaching in the primary school,  running a football (soccer) club,  teaching computer classes,  teaching English as a second language to villagers and many other projects.  Sounds overwhelming,  and I am feeling slightly so,  but I am also really really excited.  I will be coordinating my programs with 4H Belize (entirely separate from the US 4H)  which will give me alot of support and guidance,  so in that sense I am pleased.  

   As you know,  I have been learning Kriol,  and while it has been fun and really useful here in Belize,  I was a little upset that I was not learning more spanish (something that i could bring home and use :)  Well, since I will be living about 15 mins from the Mexican border,  almost all of Orange Walk district speaks Spanish.  Evidently my village is the only Kriol village in the district.  All of the other volunteers placed in the district have been learning spanish.  Funny.  Also,  the combination of this placement,  the language, and the fact that the village chairperson wants his village to be known as "the camping village"  makes me feel really excited and have a spot more faith in the Peace Corps...maybe there actually is a rhyme behind the reason!  I have all kinds of ideas for projects and cant wait to get there and meet my village!

    Moving on,  a couple of days ago I got to go to Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary.  The basin is a 200 sq mile jaguar preserve.  It is estimated that over 50 jags live in the area.  We did a pretty sweet, pretty tough  hike up to Bens Bluff (1st pic)  and played around on the overlook for a while.  the reward was swimming in the clear pool underneath the waterfall afterwards.  I felt like I was in a travel brochure,  swimming in the cave behind the waterfall,  skipping rocks across this gorgeous little enclave.  Wow.  This is the belize that the tourists have been enjoying,  and I have only got to see glimpses of!  There is a 4 day hike up to victoria peak in the Basin that a few of us are planning to do before we leave.  I tell you though,  it felt great to be hiking in the mountains,  made me miss Asheville!  

   On wed.  I head up to Orange Walk for my counterpart workshop (meet the guy I will be working directly with).  As far as the rest of the day goes, I will be heading out to the beach...I have the day off since everyone else in Independence is at their workshop,  so i might as well go to Placencia!!!  

Hope all are well!

jake