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

My PC Belize intro letter

Hey all! I know I have to do a full on update soon, but i thought I would leave you with a letter I wrote for now. PC Belize asked me to write a letter that would be included in people's welcome packets. Kinda give them an idea of what to expect and so forth. Hope you like it!

Welcome!!!

Where are you right now? Are you reading this letter from your couch? Are you sitting at the coffee shop with your information packet spread out around you? I write to you from my porch. I can hear birds chirping, roosters crowing, dogs barking, and reggae pounding from a neighbor’s speakers. In front of me is my neighbor Don Miguel’s yard, his hundreds of carefully tended flowers set off the trees in the distance in a way that reminds me I live in the tropics. I remember the many months of suspense before my big blue packet finally arrived. Belize! I immediately went on an information gathering rampage, googling, Barnes & Nobleing, I think I even talked to a friend who works as a travel agent. (She was nice, but didn’t exactly give me the best idea of what my service would be like!) What made you decide to join the Peace Corps? For me it was the idea of living and working at the local level. I have always been a traveler, but I felt like my rush to see as much as I could was keeping me from seeing the world how I wanted. I also feel like I have been given many opportunities in my life, it was time for me to give back. Maybe you have some of the same reasons, maybe not. Each person’s experience is unique. I had no idea what to expect. You are probably overwhelmed by how much “general” information you are receiving, very little telling you what its actually going to be like. My experience will not be the same as yours, but maybe you can get an idea…
So you ask, “what IS it like?” Well, let me tell you a little bit about my life in the Peace Corps. I live and work in a village in Northern Belize. Most of my village is involved in the Sugarcane industry in some way, either farming or processing. When I started my service I imagined that I would have a rather clear and outlined job. Call it a 9-5 or whatever. My primary assigned project has been to develop a Youth Group. The idea is to give teens and children positive outlets for energy as well as encouraging character development. In addition to working with youth, I have taken on a number of other projects. I have a garden in the school in which 33 students in 4th Form (about 12 yrs old) are learning organic gardening techniques. We are building a library in the village, attempting to get a paved road constructed and working on writing a children’s reader that would describe the history of the village. (I must be honest, I think the last one is really cool!) Living in a slow paced rural community I have learned to appreciate and get excited about your successes, large and small. For Christmas I worked with the village council to organize a party (or Bram as they say in Kriol). We were able to raise the money to feed over 500 people, provide a toy for every child, a DJ, a volleyball tournament and….fireworks! These were serious light up the sky type explosions, the first that many of the people in my village had ever experienced. 5 months later I still hear people talking about it.
So what about life outside of work? Well, lets start with where I live; I have a tiny two bedroom wood house on the outskirts of the village. When I found the house it was kinda a disaster, but after quite a few hours of work I think it looks great. My yard is filled with fruit trees; mango, plantain, lime, cashew, papaya. I have a dog and a cat (actually both are lying on top of me as I sit on my couch and write this). I have indoor plumbing, a fridge to keep stuff cold and a stove to boil water for the essentials: coffee and mac & cheese. I can’t cook to save myself. This has had a more positive outcome than I could have expected, people invite me over for lunch or dinner all the time. My village is primarily Kriol, and the people are warm, friendly, generous, and have no problem saying exactly what they think. I have lost a few pounds down here, and they like to tell me that I am far too skinny. It usually sounds something like this: “Bwai Jaycob!! You meh get magah magah bwai!!!” Mek you eat somethin!”
Belize is a playground for nature lovers. We all know about the beaches and the mountains. But living up North I have fallen in love with the bush. Hypnotizing by horseback, exhausting by foot, on my daily walks to the river I may see picaries, deer, hundreds of species of birds, turtles and even the occasional croc. There is something deeply satisfying about bushwhacking through the undergrowth, trying to make it to that marshy area you heard about for some great fishing. More often than not I am with a group of guys who in between cracking jokes (sometimes at my expense) are excited to teach me a new trick of the woods.
It’s the people that keep me happy in my village. The late nights playing Dominoes, the overnight treks in the bush, the pickup that pulls up beside you as you’re walking home and invites you fishing, to go butcher a cow, (that was a first) to help pick corn, to pull a 10 wheel truck out of the mud using two tractors. I came to Belize without having ever picked up a machete, now I can chop your coconut open and pour you a fresh glass in ten seconds flat. If that isn’t a transferable skill I don’t know what is.
I can’t promise you paradise, but I can promise that Belize will surprise you, encourage you, frustrate you and make you laugh out loud. You will feel the highest highs and some pretty low lows. Belize sneaks up on you. One day you won’t be able to understand Kriol, next thing you know your village has stopped seeing you as an outsider and you are speaking the language and sharing in their lives. I have made friends that will last a lifetime, bridged cultural and language gaps and worked myself into a close knit community.

Congratulations and good luck!

Jacob Hafkin

2nd part of the last post (March2)

I’m always unsure of how exactly to start off a blog entry. I feel like an inordinate number begin with a “so…” or “hey there everybody”... I wish that I could just pick up in the middle, total stream of consciousness style. I spent the past week in Belmopan at the All Volunteer Conference. Despite the countless times that I debated ripping out my hair in boredom (nothing about the conference, its just that Jacob was not meant to sit in a classroom for 8 hours a day) I feel like I learned quite a bit and made some excellent contacts. Being with all the other volunteers, hearing their stories and sharing my own has reminded me of two things; I remembered that I am incredibly lucky to be in a village that I enjoy alongside people I like, and I have the opportunity to do some amazing things here.

I returned back to the village on Friday and it felt like coming home. I was excited to see my house, hail my friends and cook hot dogs on my own stove. (For the record, a sandwich made up of banana bread, cream cheese and hot dogs is up there as one of the tastiest things I have ever made, Im emailing Anthony Bourdain after this.) Saturday was spent down by the river. I am attempting to extend an existing trail that runs alongside the river. At the moment its about ¾ mile. If I make it through the jungle, the brush, the pimenta forest and the swamplands the total length should be about 2 miles. Starting this project has reminded me of bushwhacking in Patagonia, except this time I have a machete. I am getting quite handy with it. I had no idea how useful of a tool it can be when you live in the bush. I have used mine for cutting chain link fence, opening coconuts, hacking my way through the undergrowth, chopping down trees, killing spiders that are as big as your hand, fixing the plumbing and picking my teeth. (well, maybe not the last one!)

So that was yesterday. Today I had a village council meeting in which I got to discuss some of the projects that I would like to see going on in the village. I’ll just drop a short synopsis/description of what I want to see happen in the village. Its looking like I will be spearheading three projects in the next few months. The first is what I consider to be the most serious and pressing of issues. The front part of my village is on the main N/S highway. If you are going from Belize City to Orange Walk (or further) you pass my village. The northern Highway is the main artery from Mexico and gets a lot of traffic. This two lane stretch is also used by the villagers as they move from one part to another. More than ten people, mostly children, have been hit by vehicles as they barrel past. No speedbumps, no sidewalk. If you ask me this is absolutely unacceptable. I feel like it is only a matter of time before someone else dies. The village has asked for funding from the Ministry of Works to construct a sidewalk about 10 yards away from the highway. Despite repeated requests, nothing has happened. I want to put together a photo album with a picture and a bio of everyone who has lost their life on this 2 mile stretch of road. We will see how it works and if anything can come from persistence.

On a lighter note, I will be starting work on setting up a library in the village. This is something I am super excited about. As of right now I am not quite sure of where books will come from, but I am feeling like if we start getting organized then the books will come. Guess you could call it a “Field of Dreams” mentality! I have been told that we can use a room in the community center, and with a bit of lovin I shall turn that cement square into a center for literary…ness. Yeah. Im psyched :)

The last item on the agenda is a fun project that I think could be interesting for Carmelita. As I hang out with the people of the village I am learning about the history of the place. Evidently the village is named after some dude’s horse or cow or something or other. Now this village is known for being multicultural. While Belize is incredibly diverse, typically communities tend to center around one ethnic group or another. Camelita is unique in the sense that living in close proximity you have Kriol, Mestizo, Mayan and even Mennonite. I think it would be fun and interesting to design a children’s book explaining the history of the village and celebrating the diversity. I am sure that there are some talented artists in the community who would be willing to illustrate. To continue to emphasize the diverse nature of my new home, I think it would be fun to have the wording in multiple languages. For example the line “Carmelita was founded in 1983” would be translated into Spanish, Maya Mopan and Kriol. The idea is in its infant stages but I think there is potential!

As far as things to write about I think that about covers it. The next few weeks are going to be super hectic. On Thursday I leave for San Ignacio and Friday is the 1^st day of La Ruta Maya. Four days later I will pull into Belize City and will probably never wish to step into a canoe again…wish me luck! (if you haven’t googled it yet, do it…its cool) And then on the 10^th Josh (lil bro!) comes to visit. I’m about as excited as I could be. I haven’t really gotten to spend any time traveling solo with him, and I think that it will be an awesome bonding type extravaganza. Plus I will be tossing him to the girls in the village, who will eat him alive. (Cant wait to see ya bro!)

Cool. Well, if everything has gone according to plan there should be some pics up here to enjoy as well!

Peace and love

jacob

Upcoming projects etc

Jumpin doggie


Chewing on a bone is hard work.


Moses and I are debating whois the boss. I think he is in this picture.


Chug a lug go di choo choo chrain gyal!


Suzy and I learned how to dance Belize style


This was taken at Susannah's surprise going away party. This is and the pic above are perfect representations of what life in my village are like :)


Bein Silly.


A lil bit of valentines day lovin. The beach is in front of us and our toes are in the sand. Please note the rockin friendship bracelet Suzy made for me :)


This dude hung around the bar to provide a touch of local flavah. He would weave hats from palm fronds and let gulls grab fish from his mouth and the tourists would buy him beer. If you caught him at just the right moment you would see him balancing on a second story railing belting out bob marley or shakin his booty to punta rock. Gotta love it.


Dad, this dive shop picture is for you. How perfect does it look?!?!

This is the view of "The Split". Originally Caulker was one island, but a hurricane carved a deepwater channel forming two islands. The bar and surrounding dock has a post apocalyptic look to it. Its probably the perfect place for a dramatic swimsuit photo shoot. Yes I made Suz pose, but I think she would kick my butt if I posted any of those pics.
Bridget calls this one my postcard pic. Its rare that I like a picture of myself but this ones pretty legit!