About the pics:

1. This friendly fellow now lives in my sink. And I now brush my teeth in the kitchen. I think he would eat Zipper so im keeping the bathroom door nice an shut!

2. This is a view of the river behind my house.

3. Me @ La Ruta Maya on the morning of the last day

4. Josh trying to balance a Maya lady's headthingie on Caye Caulker

5. A beekeeper with his smoker before we went out. This pic is sideways but awesome all the same.



Wow, its been a really long time since I have written here. Pretty much all of March, huh? Plenty has happened here since the last entry. I have paddled 180 miles in La Ruta Maya, Josh has come for a visit, Moses got super sick and almost died, Janine got pregnant, cable got hooked up. Well, when I put it down on paper it doesn’t sound like too much, but I feel like a lot has happened.
The first few weeks after my last post were a bit of a whirlwind. When Susannah left I traveled to Belmopan to attend the All Volunteer Conference. (I believe I wrote about this) So that was the 23rd through the 28th. Less than a week later I left for San Ignacio for our paddling adventure. Now I am not out of shape, but it had been a while since I had paddled a canoe. The boat we were “competing” with was an old burnt orange fiberglass creation nicknamed “Di Doctah”. Given to me for the trip by my friends at Lamanai Eco Tours (if you ever travel to Lamanai use them, they’re great!) this boat was a beast. It took all three of us to drag it down the hill to the starting area. Now there are people who take Ruta Maya super seriously, (not us) but on this rainy Friday morning there we were, hanging out, sippin coffee and waiting to put in when we first met some of the serious groups. Double timing down the hill come the British Army teams. Each canoe is super narrow and incredibly light, a ripped Brit at the bow and stern, they come roaring down the hill with their canoes perched on their shoulders. They line up their ten canoes next to ours. Each one had the Union Jack painted on the front, so lined up in a fancy lil stagger it looked like a 10 foot flag. Oh yeah, we were ready. Right. The best part of each day was the start, when 90 odd boats would cram into the same stretch of river waiting for the starting horn. When it blew every team would start churning the water, knocking into other boats. There were canoes tipping, fingers getting smashed between boats, people in the water getting run over…it was madness. Pretty quickly we would find our place and rhythm, and usually for the rest of the day we were either alone or leapfrogging with a couple other teams. The evenings were the best part. You would pull into that night’s checkpoint, so happy to be done. Get the boat flipped, set up the tent, wander around the party (and it was always a party.) Those who weren’t paddling were either support crew or Belizians who came out for a good time. We could cash in our vouchers for an entirely too small dinner, cook more for ourselves, sip on a beer or two (great way to get calories back after taking 21000 paddle strokes for the day!) and crash out, hopefully before 8. Our last day was the best, with only 25 miles to paddle. There were people along the route cheering us on, and a ton of fellow Peace Corps Volunteers at the finish line to give hugs etc. The entire experience was incredible. I guess its kinda like running a marathon…painful and awful while you are doing it, but an awesome accomplishment and something I will be proud of forever. Plus I got a sweet wooden medal….er…woodal. 
The day after the race Josh came to visit. I was so excited to have him come and hang out, even if it only was for 4 days. We kept it pretty low key, hanging out in the village, going to Union (the mex border crossing), had a lil bash for him in the village etc. The last day we went to Caye Caulker, which of course, was wonderful. It was a good time and I thought it was great that he got the chance to see where I live and what I do. Kinda makes it more real for him I think. The village definitely took to him, especially the ladies. He proved that at least one of the Hafkin boys can dance! I cant wait for him to come back and visit again!
In final news, guess what!? Mommy and Daddy are coming to visit Jacob! This should be an awesome visit. They will be spending 10 days here, and I think I am going to take some vacation time so we can travel. Its looking like we are going to go to Chaa Creek Resort near San Ignacio and then carry on to Guatemala. Neither Mom or Dad have been to Belize, and none of the three of us have been to Guatemala. I am looking forward to having a face to face conversation with my parents. Being able to just hang out instead of getting an entire week squashed into a 45 minute phone conversation. Sweet.
Yep, I better put this on my flash drive and run catch my bus into the village!
jake