Bertie

Back in September, we lost a valued member of our Peace Corps family. Bertie Murphy, probably the most beloved member of our training crew, died in her sleep in her beach-side house in Hopkins village. In the year plus I knew her, I never heard a single person speak a word against her. A former bee-keeper from Virginia, she decided in her early 70’s to join the Peace Corps. She was a gentle soul, brimming with a long lifetime’s worth of wisdom that she shared willingly but without pretence or judgment. She laughed easily, and smiled often, typically with a glint of mischief in her eyes. I didn’t see her much once we got our assignments – not because she didn’t care to hang out with the rest of us, but because she was dedicated to becoming a member of the Hopkins community. And she was well loved there, as she was everywhere. They called her dunuru, Garifuna for “bird.”


In late October I traveled down to Hopkins to watch as the school where she worked dedicated their library to “Miss Bertie.” A fitting tribute to an extraordinary woman, who brought out the best in everyone she turned her beautiful smile to.

Tropical Depression?

It's been a soggy week in Belize. Unrelenting rains from Tropical Depression #16 have blanketed the country, causing widespread flooding. Even in the face of last year's Hurricanes Dean and Felix, where I live in the west we saw very little damage. This time, however, parts of San Ignacio town have been sitting under more than a foot of water since Friday. The fruit and vegetable market, recently constructed on the banks of the Macal River, is under water, and one of the two bridges that grant access to the Western Highway (and thus the rest of the country) is nowhere to be seen.


Many villages have been cut off due to road and bridge flooding, and people are being evacuated by the National Emergency Management Organization. School in the Cayo District has been canceled since Friday, and probably won't commence until at least this Friday, and businesses are losing out due to closures and a lack of travel and commerce. As the rivers out my way flow eastward to empty into the sea, the Belize District will continue to see rising water levels. On a personal note, my house has escaped the flood waters, though the water from my taps is now coming out brown. I'm thinking maybe it's time to spring for that 5-gallon jug of the bottled stuff.

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Fun (?) With Cats

An excerpt from a letter recently written to my former down the street neighbor and fellow PCV Ashley:

So, I just buried one of my neighbor’s million and a half cats. I came home from work thinking, “Ah, its Friday. I have a three-day weekend laid out before me. Why not stretch out in the hammock with a stout and some Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and enjoy the moment?” So, I cracked open a Belikin (OK, not cracked, it was a glass bottle) and walked out to find... a dead cat in the storm drain directly outside my patio. No sign of a violent death, but attracting enough flies to have me worried about how long it had been there. I stood over it for a few minutes, cursing and wondering what the fuck to do, before decided that I at least owed it to the venerable cat lady to let her know that one of her brood had passed on. But the woman’s 92, after all. I’m not even sure she understood what I was trying to tell her. So I trekked over to DePaz’s son’s vet clinic, only to find that he was down in Stann Creek and wouldn’t be back for a few hours. What the hell does one do in this sort of situation? Next stop – Linda and Gustavo’s jewelry stand. They’ll know whether there’s a Friday night emergency dead cat pickup service, right? Mmm…. consensus is I’m going to have to take care of this myself. But Gustavo, bless his heart, decided to lend me a hand. I led him back to my place and handed him the fork my mom purchased for our nonexistent garden (which has been completely yanked up, by the way). I proceeded to wrap my hands in plastic bags and extract the deceased feline from my gutter. Not 15 minutes later and the job was done. I thanked Gustavo with one of the two stouts I’d bought anticipating a nice, quiet Friday night, and proceeded to get into a conversation with him about homosexuality. What a random start to this Pan American/Columbus Day weekend. And now there’s a dead cat under my backyard.



Sidenote: this is Linda and Gustavo's daughter Fabiola, who is in no way related to this story, but is adorable, and thus needs to have her picture posted.

September Celebrations

OK, I realize I’m a little behind, but I thought I’d wish Belize a happy birthday! September is a month of celebrations countrywide. It’s kicked off with Carnival, a slightly scaled down version of the festivities found in many Caribbean countries, and is followed up with parades, fireworks and various other festivities celebrating St. George’s Caye Day (September 10th) and Independence Day (September 21st). 2008 marks Belize’s 27th anniversary as an independent nation, so independence fever runs strong.

I started the month’s celebrations at Carnival, in Belize City, trying not to get run over by floats or poked in the eye with feathers from the variety of outlandish costumes. Here's the Peace Corps Carnival crew hanging out on the median in the middle of the street, waiting for the parade to arrive. Unlike in the States, where people start showing up HOURS in advance to get prime seats, we were practically the only people around when we arrived an hour or so before the parade was supposed to start. Who knows when it actually started, but several hours later, when it did actually arrive, there was a packed crowd to welcome it. They call it Belizean time... But it was well worth the wait.



The next day I sat on the sidelines to cheer on my more masochistic fellow PCV’s, some of whom decided to brave the punishing tropical sun and filthy Belize City shoreline to participate in the Lionman triathlon.

A week and a half to rest up, and then I headed north to Corozal to ring in Independence Day with Matt, Rebecca, Jackie, Marcel and Rebecca’s sister Katie at a dance party by the sea wall. A good month was had by all.

just because

just because i feel like it... one of the newer traditions at Peace Corps Belize is the mass migration of volunteers to the Gibnuts futbol games. we put together a team to go out and play local teams around the country. it's a way to interact with Belizeans in the form of the most revered sport in the world, while simultaneously allowing us to get out of our sites and see some countryside. it's also a perfect excuse for volunteers to hang out with folks they don't get to see often, and typically involves late night extravaganzas and crashing on each other's floors. the latest game was hosted by Matt and Rebecca in the far northland of Corozal. PCV's ventured all the way from the villages of the deep south, tempted by the promise of a day in Chetumal, Mexico, where can be found highways with overpasses (gasp), a mall, movie theater, and yes, McDonald's. sad to say, but that was honestly our first stop. even those who had sworn off McD's for years couldn't resist the call of the fries. i swear they must lace them with crack.

3 of the 4 horsemen of the Toledan apocalypse roam the streets of Corozal, leaving famine, pestilence and war in their wake. too bad they didn't have such success on the futbol field. but it's never a fair match-up - Belizeans, like most people around the world, seem to be born with soccer cleats on their feet. we poor Americans never did stand a chance...




our gracious host Matt and i getting the best out of a fleeting moment in Mexico...

... and Caracol

a couple weeks after our trip just up the road to Xunantunich, Cameron, Jessica and i rented a car and braved the Cristo Rey road and beyond to Caracol, Belize's most isolated site. the road winds through the villages of Cristo Rey and San Antonio (one of the few villages in Belize where the majority of residents speak Yucatec Maya, as opposed to the more common K'ekchi and Mopan you find in the south), before venturing in to the surprising pine forests of Mountain Pine Ridge. don't know why, but i certainly never expected to find pines in subtropical Belize. shows what i know...


with an estimated 36,000 structures, Caracol is said to be one of the largest sites in the Mayan world. but this being Belize, where funds are scarce, the site is largely unexcavated. it's truly a bizarre experience to look up on a walk through the jungle to realize that the hill you're staring at is in all likelihood a building that a thousand or so years ago housed the ancient Maya or played host to their religious ceremonies. the people living at Caracol have all long since fallen prey to disease, famine, war and European conquest (though no one seems to be sure which), and the jungle has taken over. their descendants live on, but in far reduced numbers, and in small villages scattered around Central America. Caracol alone housed a population nearly half the size of the entire present-day country of Belize. its largest pyramid is still one of the tallest structures in the country.

Xunantunich...

it's been a month of Mayan adventures for me. after having lived here for over a year, it's embarrassing to say that i'd only visited two of the many incredible Mayan sites in Belize. that is, until a couple weeks ago. and it's all thanks to the folks next door. Jonathan, Bria, Cameron and Jessica moved in to the house in front of me a couple months ago while Jonathan was completing research for his PhD in archaeology. they spent their days buried in analysis of Mayan pottery sherds (no, not shards. sherds.) evenings saw us hanging out on the patio, indulging in booze and burritos made with Erva's ginormous tortillas.


they generously shared their wine, and invited me to tag along on visits to Xunantunich and Caracol, two of Belize's most famous Mayan sites. Xunantunich is just up the road from San Ignacio, and can be reached only by a hand-cranked bridge across the Macal River. this is the site's largest pyramid.


Jessica, Cameron & Jonathan take in the view from the top. it's an incredible 360 degree panorama of the site's main plaza, the surrounding jungle canopy, and the villages of Succotz and Benque Viejo. on a clear day you can see Guatemala (which in truth isn't that far away).



the main plaza...













... and Xunantunich's famous frieze.