Christmas in Belize

Let me first begin by acknowledging that this posting is long overdue. It's hard to believe that I have now lived in Belize for 6 months. Rather than trying to pick up from my last update, I'll start with Christmas and work backwards.

Belize is clearly a year round tropical climate. I have been led to believe that I would experience "cool" weather beginning in December. That is not totally inaccurate, but the "cool" weather has been limited and more often than not accompanied by rain. I believe there has been more rain in December than in any of the prior months, despite the fact that the rainy season was to have ended in November. So, I have learned that cool means temperatures in the 60s which sometimes entails sleeping with a light blanket at night. Daytime generally the temperatures are in the mid to high 80s (as opposed to high 80s and 90s), with the exception of maybe 3 or 4 days, when I have needed to wear a light sweater or jacket during part or perhaps the entire day. I will report back on how "cool" is "cool" in Belize in January and February.

Christmas here in Belize does involve Christmas trees and Christmas decorations (most of the trees and garland are artificial) and gift giving. The traditional Christmas dinner consists of baked turkey, ham, stuffing (stuffing in some Belizean households is a bit like seasoned breadcrumbs with gravy but others serve a Stove Top style of dressing, more in line with US tradition), rice and beans (of course), and potato salad (a mixture of cubed boiled potatoes, canned peas and carrots, and mayonnaise or a light yellowish durkees salad type dressing). Dessert consists of white cake (a plain white cake with no frosting) and black cake (a bit like a fruit cake, but instead of candied fruits, dried fruits are used and the cake may be flavored with a bit of rum). Many businesses shut down throughout much of the holiday, except for grocery stores and hardware stores (which are mostly run by the Chinese). All of the schools closed on December 14 for the holiday and will reopen the first week in January. As in the US, it is a time that families get together. There is not the mass marketing and gift buying frenzy that takes place in the states.

I am continuing to live with a Belizean host family through the end of January. The holiday celebrations began on December 15. At NAVCO, the organization which I work with, all of the board members came into Belmopan for an election, to elect a new president of the board to replace Ms. Sandlin who died September 13. Following the election on Saturday morning, there was a board workshop followed by a Christmas party. A traditional Christmas dinner was served at the party followed by dancing where I received continuing lessons/practice in "punta-ing" - the local dance. It's great exercise. From there, the Peace Corps volunteers (myself and 2 others) went to a second party hosted by the Training Director in Belize who is relocating to a post in Mexico. We actually had wine and vodka, which is definitely a treat considering that Belikin beer and rum are typically the principal alcoholic drink options, at least the only affordable options for local Belizeans and Peace Corps volunteers.

NAVCO was open the week of December 16, but the office was relatively slow and I did not go into the office at all the following week. How decadent is that! Christmas eve I spent in San Ignacio at the home of Maria, who works at NAVCO as a monitoring and evaluation officer. It was a lovely gathering which included her boyfriend Oscar from Costa Rica and two of her friends who also live in Belize. Maria moved here from Spain about 10 years ago, coming first as a volunteer. Her friends, Jan and Stephen, both came to Belize from England through the British international volunteer program (VSO) and have also stayed on after their volunteer stint ended. Oscar worked in Belize for awhile and has returned to his native country, Costa Rica. The dinner was great! Lots of vegetables which are not widely eaten by many Belizeans. I contributed a homemade apple pie and Grandma Roses' Fudge nut cookies (a decadent cookie that I often made at Christmas and periodically for the office). Jan, who is a vegetarian and had heard that I wanted to try to grow herbs in Belize, presented me with cuttings of basil, mint and parsley from her porch garden. Hopefully, these cuttings will help me develop a green thumb and a thriving herb garden. Hope springs eternal. I am determined to demonstrate that I have a green thumb that simply was simply slow to emerge.

Christmas day was spent with my host family (Carolyn and Marlon) and lots of their extended family. Carolyn's sister and her two grandchildren are visiting from Houston and following Christmas dinner there was a steady stream of visitors. The following day was also a holiday, Boxing Day (a holiday which originated in England and is still celebrated there) and more family and friends visited Carolyn and Marlon throughout the day on Wednesday. The family has been so warm and generous. They actually gave me two Christmas presents (a set of cups and sauces and baking pans), things that will be useful in my little Peace Corps rented house, which I hope to move into by February 1.

I'm not yet sure how New Years will be celebrated here in Belmopan, but will soon find out.

I've had a chance to do a little traveling around Belize since my last update. At the end of October I visted Placencia with a couple of my Peace Corps friends. It is located on the coast in the Stann Creek district. We are on the Peace Corps budget and thus are always looking for "bargain" accommodations which we succeeded in finding in this tourist area. Fortunately many of the guest houses have rooms that sleep 3 or more people and we found a very comfortable clean room to share near the beach with three beds that fit our budget. It was nice simply to get away, see something new, walk along the beach, have a yummy dinner (fish and shrimp with fresh steamed vegetables) and breakfast (french toast and coffee) in outdoor restaurants near the water and relax. It was also a way to check out tourist activities such as fishing and sailing excursions, boat trips to some of the cayes to swim and snorkel and an overland excursion to Coxcomb, which reportedly offers a water fall, good hiking and great bird watching. Francis Ford Coppolla owns a resort on the peninsula by Placencia which is reportedly quite plush and beautiful. We didn't get to scope it out. It was not an area readily accessible by local transportation and so I can't offer any first hand experience.

I also went to Dangriga in November to witness the celebration of Garifuna Independence Day. The Garifuna are former slaves who came from the West Indies and settled in Bermuda. They have their own language and use drums and dance in their traditional ceremonies. The celebration included drumming and dancing at a couple of outdoor locations in Dangriga throughout the evening and far into the night followed by an early morning reenactment of the landing of their boats on the Belizean shores in the Dangriga area. A traditional church service was then held in the local Catholic Church near the water front a bit later in the morning with traditional prayers, hymns, more drumming and dancing. Finally, there was a parade in the afternoon (which I missed because I had to catch the bus back to Belmopan). The native Garifuna dress is quite colorful and the drumming was neat.

In the last 6 weeks, I have also visited two more Mayan ruins, Xunantunich and Cahal Pech. Both are near the San Ignacio area. I managed to make the trip by tagging along on a school field trip. Carolyn's (my host family) niece is a primary school teacher and asked if I wanted to help watch over her class. The school children, all around 11 and 12 years old, were well behaved and fun. Fortunately, I was assigned to oversee 4 venturesome boys who were ready willing and able to climb all of the temples and check for caves. I still like Lamenei the best thus far, but my goal is to check out all of the sites while I'm here.

The NAVCO experience is going well. The sudden death of Ms. Sandlin (the Board President) slowed things down a bit. As mentioned at the beginning, a new president was elected on December 15. Prior to that the board had a planning session and created several board committees including a legal advisory committee. As you may have guessed, that is the committee which I will be regularly working with. The board is quite excited that I practiced law in the states. I have made very clear to them that I am not a practicing lawyer at this point and have no training in Belizean law. With that caveat, I am reading lots of statutes and regulations, learning about how the government of Belize functions, undertaking research into activities of local water boards and lots committees. I will be assisting the board in developing a list of Belizean legal counsel and other persons who may be helpful in lobbying for new legislation or changes to existing legislation and regulation. This development has been a pleasant surprise as I had not expected to find that some of my legal education and experiences may be useful here.

Finally, on the cultural front, I am working on sharing food culture with Belize. I have been cooking a bit for my host family. The guys are a bit resistant to vegetables even though cooked fresh and flavored with herbs, but I don't give up easily. The easiest sell is cookies and pies. My honey wheat bread and homemade bagels were well received. I also cooking a bit for my fellow volunteers. I hosted a dinner for several of them borrowing one of my Peace Corps colleague's little kitchen. Peace Corps volunteers are always anxious for a little more variety in their diet. At an All-Volunteer conference held in early December (apparently an annual event), I conducted a cooking class for 22 volunteers - the themes being cooking with herbs and bread baking. We made honey wheat bread and lentil soup and I passed out recipes and herb guides.

That about brings you up to date with my life thus far. You may be asking - where are the photos to document my excursions. Sorry to report, no pictures for now, but I will post more as soon as I get a USB connector for my camera or have enough photos to get a disc made.

May everyone have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2008. Ciao for now.