what fun we're having in belize! (title courtesy of Tom Fahey)

Whats goin on people?! Thought it was about time to update the blog. It’s a gorgeous sunny day here in Carmelita. Last night another volunteer and her visiting boyfriend came over to hang with Susannah and me. Had a pleasant afternoon and evening of storytelling, stargazing and relaxation. Elisha (the other volunteer) and I got to hang out on the couch as our significant others cooked up a nice stir fry dinner for us. The most interesting part of the evening occurred around 830 as I made my way to the store to buy a few bottles of soda. Now, riding your bike at night in the village can be slightly treacherous. Your petal strokes are far from smooth as you encounter softball sized rocks, two foot potholes and the occasional spot of loose sand. (remember folks, these roads are not paved!) So all of this stuff has become routine, I know where the dips and drops are, which roads stay muddy year round and so forth. Well, last night I encountered an obstacle for which I was not quite prepared. Villagers often leave their horses and cattle and sheep tied in different areas to graze. As I was trucking along a side path/shortcut I saw a horse off to one side of the trail. No big deal, me an him are buddies. Figures that tonight he spooks as he sees my bike coming out of nowhere, coke bottles clanking the frame and he darts across the trail. The end result is that I end up clotheslined by this horse’s tether and go ass over teakettle, a perfect rendition of a superman takeoff (minus the proper landing) and end up sprawled in the dirt to the sounds of laughter. How wonderful is it that my grace was witnessed by half a dozen locals. Chalk another one up to Supervolunteer Jake.

In other news, We spent Valentines Day on Caye Caulker. Go there. Seriously. There are very few places in this world that I have felt so instantly attached to. The island is tiny, funky, and gorgeous. We spent our days lounging at the Lazy Lizard, swimming in water that went from the brightest turquoise to a dark sapphire blue. Pictures will be posted shortly. What really made the trip for us was the locals. There’s the giant muscley dude who weaves palm frond hats and puts sardines in his mouth for gulls to swoop in and pick out, there was Rasta Jimmy, who Jah Loved and one worlded us as we would make our way down the car free street. Lets also not forget about his wife, who became the first person I have met whose given name was Delicious. Seriously. Next we shared a sunset with a gentleman whose dreadlocks brushed his back as he unceremoniously split live lobsters in half. For who are the lobsters we asked? “Ai meh split ahn fu di Jolly Rogah.” Oh ok. Well, why not eat Valentines Dinner at the Jolly Roger? Sounds nice, plus it’s the last night of lobster season! The Restaurant turned out to be a shack on the beach and Roger turned out to be quite Jolly (of course he was, he weighed 300 lbs!!!) The lobster was grilled, the garlic bread was about as tasty as it gets and we were happy. All in all Caye Caulker seems to have an amazing combination of scenic beauty, cheap rooms ($15 US with hot water in our private bathroom!!!) genuinely kind locals and great vibes. Highly recommend a trip there!

So yeah, as I pull this here entry to a close Ill brief all on whats going on for me the next few weeks; On Monday I head to Belmopan for the All Volunteer Conference. That will be five days of lectures and learnin. Then March 6-9 will be spent paddling from San Ignacio to Belize City as I compete in La Ruta Maya, a 160 mile canoe race. Chris, Joel and I will be pushin a battered old canoe down the stretch of river as we scream out our team name: LORD OF THE FLIES!!! (yes I know how the book ends people…) Just one day after that my lil bro Josh comes to visit!!! Hooray!

In sad sad news, Susannah will be heading back to the states in the next week. It has been such a wonderful visit and having her here has made me incredibly happy. Ill miss you Suzy!

So that’s the story morning glory. Ill post some pics soon.
jake

S'more pics!

This would be the border crossing at La Union. Its kinda sorta semi legal. Theres a customs trailer on the Belize side, but nothing on the Mex. side (they want belizians to come in and spend their dollars) So you dont have to pay the $40 fee, dont even have to have a passport. The canoe to cross costs US $1 round trip. The best part about it is humping two 50 lb sacks of rice up the hill to your pickup in a race to beat the customs guy back from the Mexican bar across the way and therefore not have to pay duty for your imported goods. Its an experience.



This is Susannah, Jeanine, Jeneve and another sister hanging out at the Carmelita football game. Jeanine is about to "plait" or braid Suzy's hair when we get back from town. (ill be sure to post pics :)
Meet "Da Fahmahs, the most hardcore gardeners in all of Carmelita
My whole Standard IV (think 5th gradeish) class standing in front of their newly planted beds. By now we are starting to see the radishes, cilantro and cucumber coming up!!

Sugar Factory Strike & More

Zipper and Moses like to sprawl on me when I read. Its really nice. You can only see about half the dog from this position. He's getting big enough to push me off the couch! Whatdyall think of my new Belizian haircut and beard/chinstrap??

Susannah and I went to Lamani yesterday. This is from the top of the largest temple, which overlooks the lagoon.

It wont let me load more at the moment :( sorry!

Well hello all! What an eventful couple of weeks! Things have calmed down here after a pretty serious set of events. Carmelita Village is located about two miles from the Tower Hill Sugarcane factory. This factory processes all of the sugarcane grown in Belize. Thousands upon thousands of tons of sugar are refined here each year. Any given day a trip to Orange Walk will pass you by hundreds of trucks loaded down with fresh cane waiting for a turn to offload at the factory. Over half of the village is employed by the sugar industry; growing, cutting, burning, driving, factory work etc. For the past two weeks or so the Cane Farmers have been on strike. They are protesting a new machine that measures the quality of the cane. The price they pay per truckload is calculated according to the quality. The farmers have been objecting to what they feel is an unfair pricing program. This is compounded by the fact that Belize Sugar Industries (who also owns the factory) owns fields of cane that are not tested in the same way. While I do not have all of the information, it seems like this is an effective way to ensure that the higher prices go to the farmers that work for the company, and leave the freelancers/regular people with the lower prices. All this came to a head a few days ago when the Cane Farmers Association announced a strike, blocked off the Northern Highway and started getting hostile. Rocks were gathered as weapons, tensions skyrocketed and the Belizian Army was called in. In an attempt to run a road block and destroy the quality measuring machine shots were fired, seven were injured and one farmer was killed with a shot to the head.
Things have calmed down a bit and the two parties are talking, but tensions are still rather high. For a few days I couldn’t get into the village from Corozal, where Suzy and I had gone to spend a night by the water and watch the Superbowl with other volunteers.
Yep, so that’s been my excitement these past lil bit. In other news, the garden is growing nicely in the school. All of the groups have painted signs that tell what they are growing, their names, their “team” names and some even have pictures painted of their crops. Fun! Its just another way that we are hoping to encourage ownership of their beds. January rocketed past, and its hard to believe February is already a week in. Things have started picking up speed here. The past couple weeks I haven’t spent as much time going out to the court and playing volleyball. Its been really cold here (below 70 almost every night…brrrr!!!!) And its hard to gather the motivation to get out the door. Why do I mention this? Well, after a week of not going out I had some people come over to the house and ask if I was alright. They said they missed seeing me out there and were wondering if I was sick. Felt good to be considered a part of the community and to be missed, ya know?
OOOOH…next subject then I gotta run…We went to Shipyard last week. Now that was an adventure. Shipyard is a community of traditional Mennonites (very similar to the Amish). Walking down the dirt lane it could be Lancaster, PA with palm trees. Everything is cheaper there, from rice to gas to kerosene lanterns (hadta buy one) to pots to pans to screws to whatever. Its worth an internet search to check out the Mennonite communities in Belize. They have had quite a trek to find asylum. (too long to recount here) But for most of them, their last home was in Mexico. So we have Aryan looking people wearing overalls and cowboy hats (men) or long dresses and wide brimmed hats (women) riding in horse driven buggies, speaking lowland german accented Spanish in Belize. Right. Makes total sense. No mind screw there at all! It was pretty interesting and for all who plan on visiting me, know we will be taking a trip there!
K, I gotta run. More to come. Have a great day!
jake

lalala...waiting for my pics to upload...sitting in the internet cafe. its gonna start raining soon. meh. :) Just got a package from mom and dad! THANK YOUUUU!!! the coffee will be consumed immediately and we are already down to one package of beef jerky!

Thought it would be fun to tell you guys about my quest to find something for Moses to chew on (that isnt wood!) So a guy in the village told me about a butcher that sometimes has bones. So in I walk to Campo's meat shop slogan: "We're here to MEAT your needs" heh heh...witty. So the place looks like something out of the Saw horror movie series with a slapstick twist. There are about 6 gigantic Mestizo men covered in blood from head to waist slicing up halves of beef. I wouldnt be surprised to see one play a practical joke on another by slapping him across the face with a t-bone. K, so they all look up when I walk in and stand there with a bit of an inquisitive expression. I start in and ask about bones (take note that this is all goin down in spanish) Guy asks me what for and i tell him to chew on. His face takes on a bit of a weird look before I realize that I said something that approximates "for me to chew on" Right. Strike one for high school spanish! I quickly correct myself and let him know that its for my dog. He laughs. I laugh. We laugh. He then asks me if I have a black and tan hound. (thats the pooch) He has heard about me and my dog. I say I do! We are bonding. He wants to know all about the dog. I oblige by showing pictures. Turns out that he has a female hound and wants to breed her. We are now best of friends. We get back to the reason i walked in...bones. He reaches a bloody hand into a bin and comes out with a cow's thighbone. "Will this work??" Yup. The bone is bigger and longer than my thigh bone. "How much?" "Gratis, amigo!" For serious?? Yep. He places the bone in a plastic bag that only covers the bottom half. another on top and hands it over. Thanks! I am now buddies with the meat man. Beautiful.