 |
It sounds like this blog is coming up when people search the web internationally… I am not sure how to respond to the international comments being posted….
The information contained in these blogs is from my personal experience in belize and from my own medical knowledge that I gained in medical school.
this is it. i’m in the airport, leaving in a couple of hours. last night I laid in bed, nauseous at the prospect of leaving belize. it’s funny because around day three or four, I was nauseous at the prospect of staying in belize. how quickly I acclimatized, how resistant I am to change. belize taught me many things. Most importantly, I found out that I can be alone. away from home, away from friends, relying only on myself. But in reality, I was never REALLY alone: everywhere I went, I met people, got to know them, let them into my life, they let me into theirs. I am very grateful for the people who made belize a home to me, especially (but in no way all-inclusively): Wilhelm, Steve, Greg, Erin, Stephanie, and Grant. And Puppy. sweet little Puppy, the body guard. tomorrow, belize will be reduced to memories. unforgettable memories.
I can’t believe it, last day. can you? have the day to myself. it will be spent in san ignacio at the san ignacio hotel pool. i shall enjoy my last breaths of belizean air thoroughly. going to take my last meal at south indian restaurant, sipping beliken, reading the last of the mohicans, nibbling dosas, sambar, chutney, and samosas… it’s all sun and blue here today. in the words of the great philosopher Julien Lafay, I’m gonna, “LIVE IT!!!!!!!!!”
back to the hospital this morning for me… got back last night to meet my new roommate Stephanie, a medical student from germany… she’s very nice and easy going. there is also a large group of Adventists, mainly early high schoolers, all of the boys are staying in the house with us… very noisy, very different from how quiet it was with just erin and I. rolling with the changes…. It was really great to see some of my favorite la loma luz people (letty the pharmacist, steve the xray tech, wilhelm and greg the maintenance men) when I got back to the hospital this am… only have a couple more days in the clinic… 5 weeks has gone fast. incredibly fast. soon to be a memory…. the times are crazy and they are a-changin.
oh yeah, life goes on… i just love that Jack and diane number. last day on the caye. incredible time here. had a great time with my hotel neighbor Simone and her friend rose from belgium over wish willy dinner on sunday night… big big big storm that night… was a little scared (tidal wave phobia I have yet to reconcile)… yesterday, all my plans went out the window when I happened to meet the middle agers Charly and Ron Boyd from Boston and Pennsylvania respectively. charly helps set up alternative schools all over the country (like Montesorri but even more out there) and Ron’s a musician. they were a hilarious duo, friends for 35 years, polar opposites, great story tellers. I ended up chatting with them all day and they joined Simone and I for dinner. Wish Willy, the restaurant I’ve eaten 3 out of my 7 meals on the caye at, is indescribable. Maurice the owner, was very accomodating to my vegan ways (the restaurant is ominivore, and from what I hear, the animal carcass is amazing also). He grilled up the best veggie platter I have ever had, hands down. I got his email so that he can let me in on his spice secrets. usually I can pick out spices fairly well (at least the ones I cook with most often: cumin, red pepper, tumeric, curry, dill, garlic, ginger, poppy, fennel), but this guy had me stumped (though I;m sure you would’ve deciphered it sister)… the only one I got was ginger, because the little sticks of it were staring me in the face. I’m really gonna miss this place and plan to bring ALL loved ones here, hopefully soon.
In the past month, many times, many different people (some who I know, some who I don’t) have commented on my lack of skin pigment. I made peace with my alabaster complexion in my earliest college year, thank goodness, and find others opinions comical, helpful, and at times, redundant. The tannest man I have ever seen just told me I better “get some sunscreen”. I reassured him that I got it covered, literally (puns, ahhh, so easy to slip in). women on the street in santa elena warned, “you gonna get burned lady!”. I didn’t. after three blistering colorado burns in third grade, fourth grade, and fifth grade, I have finally learned how to appropriately apply sunscreen: copiously and often. Other comments have ranged from, “you need a tan,” to ” I see here your friend is very tan (erin), have you not been out in the sun?” I reply to both with a smile and a catch-all statement like, “I don’t tan”. however, I am happy to report that though I am still as white as the sand here, I have tan lines!!!! albeit subtle ones, but tan lines still. My hue has turned from pale to a freckled light peach. my favorite comment so far: erin and I walked by in and out carwash in san ignacio and heard someone say “snowflake” in our direction……… new topic. I’ve been attempting to sleep in here, since I don’t have to be at breakfast by 8. yesterday I slept in til what felt like noon but was really 8:38am. today, snoozed til 7a. I, as a northern flavored american, have found myself in an interesting situation here on caye caulker… I don’t have a watch, the only way to find out the time is to ask or check my computer… I’m ambivalent. I love that I can estimate (usually within an hour) by looking at the sun…. I hate that I am conditioned by life in the “states” to need to know at all times what the time is. I have no deadlines, no appointments, no responsibilities, no engagements, nothing to get to here. what a change. a welcomed one. there’s so much to do at home. there’s so little that needs to be done here. did a little yoga on the beach this morning (and was joined by two very inflexible and very enthusiastic local men), ate a clif bar, wandered down to a chair on the beach, finished “you catch the spirit and you fall down” (for the second time, had to read it year one, voluntarily read it the last 5 days….. recommend it by the by), laid in the sand, walked in the water, found a few shells, got a closer look, saw that all the tiny shells were inhabited and moving with creatures, put the shells back in the water since they were vacant and might need a host, meandered down a side street to a restaurant named Wish Willy (to inquire about dinner… the owner, maurice asked what I like and don’t like, and knew that what I said = vegan), got my computer, lazily walked down to “the sport bar” which has wifi/2dollar lighthouses/veggie burrito, and here I am. planning to lay in a hammock after lunch, and eventually go to Wish Willy for dinner with the german woman occupying the hotel room next to mine… why can’t everywhere have this go slow attitude? or maybe it’s just me that needs the go slow attitude, no matter where I am. that’s basically my life goal. skin color turned revelation…
caye caulker is amazing. no cars allowed. only bikes, golf carts, feet. middle of the ocean. a destination all should consider who are on a budget. unless you are looking for huge waves, or waves at all:). this place is very tranquil, saw the sun rise from the balcony of the hotel. caye caulker’s motto says it all: Go Slow.
1. wednesday erin and I went to cahal pech village, a resort named after mayan ruins in the area. they have a great pool (the hotel, not the ruins) and we went to lounge by it and have some drinks. I had a couple fruity ones, the second of which had orange juice… the guy smelled the bottle it was in before he poured it, that probably should’ve worried me. it didn’t. it tasted weird… that probably should’ve worried me. it didn’t. didn’t feel like eating dinner that night. approximately 8 hours after ingestion of said oj, I violently puked the contents of my stomach from 2pm on. then I had diarrhea. all has resolved after staring cipro (thanks Dr. Bamberger), and I’m feeling good today. guess I won’t be giving my cipro to molli and jason when they come. 2. yesterday, greg, one of the workers at la loma luz, took us out to his farm to try to see some monkeys. we saw an alligator, a couple of iguanas, and 2 turtles (all from quite a distance)… we hiked about a mile into the “mountain”/”bush”/rainforest looking for the elusive howler monkeys. we heard them (waaaayyyy) before we saw them. they make the scariest noise I have ever heard in the wild. erin thought it sounded like a car trying to start and not turning over. I thought it sounded like murder. we hiked another 1/6mile or so to get right below them, with the screaming in our ears all the way. they were way up in the trees, greg assured me (no they don’t) after I asked him more than once if they ever confront humans face to face, or if they ever come down to the ground… we saw probably 8-12 of them up there in the tops of the trees. they were howling because they heard us coming. they were probably trying to scare us away. I was scared for sure. anything making that crazy noise could surely mangle me. as soon as we started walking away, the howling stopped. I caught their cries on video, a viewing will follow my return. 3. on a sad note, erin is leaving today:( we’ve spent the last 27 days together. I can’t imagine what this trip would’ve been like without her. I love her, I will miss her, and I hope she matches greenville (she’s doing peds and couples matching with her ortho-hopeful boyfriend). adios amiga!!!! 4. on a very happy note, I am off to caye caulker today, a key off the coast of belize. taking a water taxi from belize city that will be about an hours ride. the island is a mile wide at it’s widest and 5 miles long. I’m staying til tuesday. BEACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! unfortunately I won’t have erin to slather my back up with SPF 36… supposedly there’s a vegetarian restaurant on the island. One of the hotels, (not Rainbow hotel, where I’m shacking up) exchanges books. I’ve read a couple since I’ve been here and am looking forward to (hopefully) finding some good nonfiction reads. the hotel owner told me there are several ’sport bars’ that have wifi.
sometime between one year and six months ago, a dog that looks beagle-esque adopted the hospital as her home. Her name is puppy. she is a very cute dog and well mannered. she never comes inside the hospital or the cafeteria, even when the doors are wide open. I have grown to love puppy over the past four weeks. she had puppies a few months ago and still has very long hanging nipples that erin refers to as “her utter”, even though the puppies were given away long ago. In the past couple of weeks, puppy has become our guard dog. she escorts us up to our house when we leave the hospital and she camps out until we come out so she can escort us back. puppy has the longest toenails I have ever seen. I like puppy so much that last friday night I pet her (puppy is kinda mangey). Last night we heard puppy getting in a fight with something near our house. afterward, from our beds, we heard her whining and growling on the front porch… I tried to look out our window to see what was up, but couldn’t tell… we were worried that puppy was hurt… a snake? another dog? a scorpion? this morning when we walked down to breakfast, we didn’t see puppy. I started to think the worst… and was distracted during morning clinic with thoughts like: did she get mortally wounded by a poisonous snake? had she staggered off somewhere to die alone? a few minutes ago I went out back to try to find her. there she was, lounging outside the back door of the hospital. she got up and did a few of her signature jumps and looked well. VIVA PUPPY!!!!
sandflies, aka no see-ums, had a party on me at the marina where we parked the sailboat. those little bugs bite hard… it hurts initially and then turns to an itch. After we got back from sailing, I put on long pants, longsleeves… thinking I was gonna evade those little monsters. well, they got me goooooood, on my feet!!!!! I have 2-3 bites on each big toe, they ITCH SOOOOOO BAD!!!!! and the bad thing about the toe is, there’s not enough surface area to really get a satisfying, hard scratch in… woke up several times in the night to scratch myself silly… luckily, I purchased Belize’s own natural remedy for itchiness: HEMP OIL. It works! and it’s organic… who knew?