unBELIZEable!

It has been an adventureous past two days in Belize. Lots of worries and loss of sleep due to the lack of time and that I tried to fit in as much as possible. I couldn’t complete the blog post last night because I was so exhausted that I couldn’t stay up and type. Anyway, I would definitely describe Belize as my most spontaneous port. I believe I would describe myself as a planner, although sometimes I welcome spontaneity. Belize was a time where I made a few of those atypical (for me) split-second decisions.

So I got off the ship on the first tender and we were off to the service visit at the Leo Bradley Library. The plan for the visit was to interact with children and encourage them to read. We arrived over an hour eariler than the children, so in meantime we received a tour of the library. Afterwards, the real work started. The librarians asked if some of us could help organize books, while others interacted and read with the children. I spent the entire time with a boy named Kirk. He is 9 years old and likes to do everything (read, do math, play soccer, etc.). I think we read 6 books, the best being Tarzan where I did horrible, but also obnoxious Tarzan-like sound as I read aloud. I’m pretty sure the whole library heard me twice. We spent the rest of the time drawing and coloring. We took pictures and Kirk found it amusing as I showed him that I can clap with one hand. On a more interesting note, Kirk also shared that he wants to fight in war as a part of the Belize Defense Force when he’s older. That was what concluded the visit and we returned to the port.

I didn’t return to the ship with a tender after the service visit. Instead I explored with Grace, Carly and Deborah the area around the port: Belize City. The locals came off as quite pushy. Wherever we went, locals were offering us “deals” or “taxi rides.” Although some of them waved, it was upsetting to me when (in one instance) a little boy on a bike rode by us asking for a dollar. It made me feel like that this touristy area just expects tourists to come and deliver money. Belize City was not spectacular. There was more litter on the streets than I am accustomed to seeing. There weren’t any bizarre smells like in Honduras and Guatemala. The downtown area was not well-adapted to tourists, given that there were only local restaurants and shops. For that they have Tourist Village (that is the actual name of it), where the tender dropped us off. We went to lunch at a local place. We came across a few other SASers that were sitting with two locals. These two locals were very loud extroverts. They kept asking about our money; fortunately, in this instance, they were looking out for us. The rest of the crowd was locals, so we stuck out. It was extremely difficult to understand the waitress, even though she was technically speaking English. It was particularly difficult to explain to her how I wanted the bottlecap with my beer because I have been collecting them on this trip. One of the locals sitting with us explained in Creole, in order to get my point across. The Creole that they speak in Belize City is extremely hard to understand; I forget the origins of their language, but it was easier to understand Trini.

After a few hours in the sweltering heat, I went back to port to pick up a few souveniors. On the way, I ran into the group that I had met in Panamá City. They were planning on going to San Pedro. I was invited, and after a few questions and contemplation, I said sure. I had never heard of San Pedro beforehand, nor did I know anything about it, such as its location. The reality quickly started to sink in about to what I had just agreed. We were taking a water taxi to an island about an hour away from Belize City and spend a night in a hostel. The prices were all reasonable, especially considering the exchange rate ($2 Belize = $1 US). I had enough time in between the time of ticket purchase and time of departure to purchase my much-desired souveniors. I had packed in case I wasn’t spending the night on the ship, so I was good to go. We boarded the water taxi at 5:30pm and we were off!
In the water taxi, I was with a group of nine SASers and we were accompanied by the local who “got us the deal.” After my experience in Panamá, I was rather skeptical of this character. Did I mention when I asked his name, I was told “Righteous”? I experienced a lot of anxiety on the way to San Pedro because I wasn’t exactly sure what I was getting myself into. I was concerned about my excursion in the morning and how I would get back. The taxi ride was actually 1.5 hours, not the 45 minutes like I was told. And when we arrived to San Pedro, I did not know what to expect about the hostel. Pedro’s Inn was located on the outskirts of town, but otherwise a very nice hostel. It wasn’t the Hilton, but I had a bed and there was running water. Everyone except for us were British. Many were about of the Bomb Squad, they were being trained in the jungles of Belize. They were celebrating having survived and I doubt they remember me anymore (since they had consumed so much alcohol in celebration). I was starving, but we didn’t eat until a few hours after we arrived. Everyone was settling in and preparing for a night out on the town. Righteous had intentions of spending the night in our room, but he did not pay. Fortunately the hostel owner had strict rules for non-registered guests; Righteous was then forced off the property. Righteous hang around us for the evening, but we avoided him as we returned to the hostel.

We finally got around to eating. I started to loosen up as my hunger was quenched. We ran into three other SASers on the way into town and they brought us to a local restaurant. We ate outside and because it was already 9:30pm, they were only making one item: Pupusas (For description: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pupusa). I ordered six of them and I think they should offer these in the US! We moved onto a bar and later went to a club. It was an eventful night with lots of dancing and excitement for being in such a magnificient environment. San Pedro was a gorgeous area with the beach. It was not swarmed by SASers, so we had more interaction with the locals. By the time we wanted to leave (sometime between 2 and 3am), we got together, but one person went missing. After looking and waiting outside the club for about 30 minutes, we went back to the hostel. We found him there, but he had walked alone and had been robbed. It was a sad incident to end a great evening. I got less than 3 hours of sleep and caught the 7am water taxi back to Belize City.

Fortunatley everything went smoothly! I was able to make it back to port in time for my excursion. The reasoning for my anxiety from previous evening was because I was most excited for my Cave Tubing and Ziplining excursion…I would have been severely upset with myself if I had missed it. After prayer and having faith that it would all work out, it did. When I got on the bus, I hoped that I hadn’t anticipated too much. This excursion greatly exceeded my expectations. The tour guide was so chatty that a few people asked him to stop. He was very energetic, but many were sleep-deprived and just wanted to nap rather than listen to him. We started with the cave tubing part of the trip. We took a 30-minute hike to reach the caves and floated/paddled downstream for nearly 2 hours. The caves were by far the highlight of my time in Belize. We received helmets with lights, life jackets, and bright orange tubes (just like the ones at any American waterpark.) Since we were in the water, I couldn’t bring my camera, but I wish I had. The caves were absolutely remarkable. We came to an opening in the cave roof in the middle with a spring, which was just magical. We saw the bats hanging from the top of the cave. The last part of the path was outside the cave, but it was cool to see the rain forest, in which you can find this cave. Overall, if I had to sum up the caves in one word it would be: AMAZING! (Lower case letters don’t even come close to doing the cave justice.)

We had an opportunity to change clothes during lunch. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that pasta and pineapple actually go well with each other. Moreover, ziplining was the part of the trip that I was looking forward to the most. The time literally flew by and ziplining was much more of a workout than I expected. It was awesome to be swinging through the trip tops. It was scarier for those afraid of heights, but I had a blast. Too bad I couldn’t go a second time! Ziplining and cave tubing are two activities that are very difficult to photograph while doing them. So after ziplining, we drove back to the ship. I hadn’t been on the ship since the first tender left the previous day, so I am proud to say that I spend literally all of my time in Belize. I was thoroughly exhausted by the time I was back on the ship. I even napped a little on the bus ride back.

We had a BBQ for dinner, which provided everyone with some motivation to get back to the ship ontime. In addition to being the first Maymester voyage in SAS history, we were also the first voyage, where no one received dock time. Dock time is basically the “time-out period” or punishment that an individual receives if they do not return to the ship on time for departure. The BBQ was a lot of fun. It was so packed that the line was length of half the ship and it was hard to find a spot to eat because everyone was outside. The sunset was gorgeous as it set in the horizon. It is really cool to say that I have been able to watch the sun set off into the horizon virtually everyday on this voyage. My evening concluded with the conversation circle. I was in an English one but when the Spanish professor arrived late, I switched to that one because I, for some odd reason, had a greater desire to talk about my experiences in Spanish. I get the fact that I’m not your average American 20-year-old. But during the conversation circle, it was exciting to hear that the professor also works at the Middlebury Language Academies.

In conclusion, Belize was a country that left me with some mixed feelings, but I had a wonderful time in this “treasure of the world” like they so humbly call themselves. First impressions can sometimes be misleading. My initial of interpretation of Belize differs greatly from my leaving impression. They came off as very pushy and more interested in my money than me as a person. They were quite loud and abrupt in their mannerisms, which put me on edge. The country, geographically speaking, is pretty homogenous. As we drove through the country (by land and sea) the landscape did not vary much, but the caves and rain forests made up for Belize in that sense. I got the sense that the Belize people were very relaxed and live a very easy-going lifestyle. Many enjoy fishing and swimming. I couldn’t blame them since Belize is one the best places to snorkel (with the 2nd largest coral reef in the world) and the water and beaches are simply pristine. The country of Belize is able to offer a mix of what it’s surrounding countries offer (Mayan Ruins, rain forests, caves, water activities, etc.) Belize is a beautiful country and great to visit if you don’t really speak Spanish. I think if I return to Belize, I will be sure to schedule a snorkelling trip.

Finals are starting today. Elijah is done with his already. Mine is tomorrow morning. I have write an essay and make a presentation during the final exam period. Less than 48 hours left. I’ll try to update either later today or tomorrow. I’ll be typing away most of the day. We also have our last seminar today.

Bis später,
Matt