Absence of things, of peoples and places…is this missing what the heart has encountered. As soon as we attach a name to what we see, hear, smell, taste and feel memories begin and the heart has been imprinted.

The memory that is and will be Belize…I have named the moments and things that sometimes frustrate, sometimes become wearisome and sometimes annoy. I have named the travels that my senses have taken into the scary, the exciting, the beauty and the melodies of the country I shared my life with for almost two and a half years.

What will my heart miss – what memories will I take away – I cannot know as I rejoin my children, family and friends already placed in special chambers of my life prior to the time spent in a place that was once new and is now known to my inner being. It is all flowing in the current of my heart.Will it be the choir of twenty plus dogs howling though my sleeping hours or will I miss the songs and dances the multitudes of birds sing as I wake in the early dawn? Will it be the windblown garbage that is carelessly strewn everywhere or the indescribable blue-green pearl essence of the sea I am privileged to everyday? Will I miss watching the living carcasses of starving animals walk the roads or the wonder of seeing a jabiru, howler monkeys, spider monkeys, toucans, crocodiles and a jaguar in the wild. For sure I will miss the wildness the rainy season brings, especially the cacophony of thousands of Kermit’s friends expressing their joy after the violence of a nightly storm passes.

Time in three villages – I have already forgotten the stench of latrine effluvia and replaced it with smells of caldo and pan tul cooking on the fire hearth while patting cua with my host family mother and sisters. How can I know if I will miss eating meals with my “lone” corn tortillas or poch and no utensils? And what of the pikni I see everyday and the music of their laughter that tickles my smile. No cars, no television, no daily weather and news updates – just what the day brings in either a flurry of activity or hammock time reading 900 page novels.

My neighbor – Miss Vincy – 33 years old, my son’s age – 7 children, ages one to eighteen years old…feeding and sleeping no less than 5 more pikni. Miss Vincy loves her children and her drink. The beauty of those 7 children with three different fathers among them is without words. Three meals a day is a luxury in the new little cement house she purchased with the correct political vote. I’m feverish on a day with something unknown. The gate opens and I am ready to shoo away the little face carrying some porridge for me that Miss Vincy has sent, somehow knowing I was ill. I am humbled by the gift from meager means. All of us agree, the few choices we have here make life a simple act in the theatre of Punta Gorda town in Belize. There are no department stores, movie screens, no coffee huts or one stop shopping and the small number of restaurants specialize in few entrees, almost all including rice and beans…will I miss the uncomplicated and simple choices as I return to the land of plenty? Rules of engagement - all “booty” entering our stage either by mail, included in carry-ons of visiting friends, or known suspects returning from trips must be shared.My cool early morning runs take me into the bush as it hums and howls into wakefulness. I hear but don’t see the evening creatures slither and slink into the dense foliage or canopy awaiting the cover of darkness and stars to light their time of day. Riding our bicycles to work or to market - the known and unknown smiles greet and hail us. The afternoons bring the symphony of children’s chatter and young voices calling Miss Karey as pikni come through my weather worn gate carrying flowers for me. Their unwashed clothes, their sugar worn smiles cannot take away the glow of their beauty and sweetness. I will take these warm memories and wrap myself in them as I move into colder climes on in this journey called life.

What will I miss

All of it

Oh ye of great concern,

Don’t be, Belize is still on the globe and the shaking has stopped. (For the most part) We want to get up to Placencia because we heard there are some giant cracks in the ground. They also apparently had their water tower damaged and the tower in Mango Creek came to the ground. Both of these villages are setting on sand and old Mangrove swamps. As we get the story from our local geologist, Brian Holland, the ground is a bit like wet cement and a layer of Jell-O; so when the earth starts shaking something is coming down.

The temperature has been up where it should be for May. We had a little thundershower Monday morning, June 1st, which happens to be the traditional start of the Rainy Season. So the beginning of the day was cool but the afternoon was a bit of a steam bath. Tuesday the 2nd, we had a Big-ass thunderstorm, about 5 hours worth, and a following down pour for a short time. Wednesday the 3rd, thunder and light rain all morning. Thursday the 4th, heavy cloud, thunder, but no rain til the afternoon and cool all day. Welcome Rainy Season! And hurricane season soon come.

We did get to go to a wedding last weekend. The daughter of our host family in

Medina Bank, Bernadina, got hitched. She was the one who was always there taking care of us. She did most of the housework, cooking, laundry and was our good buddy.

We went up on Saturday and spent the night in Medina Bank and then travelled to San Roman, about 35 miles more, on Sunday for the wedding. We got a chance to swim in the ‘Rok I ha’ again, should we say bathe in the river, not much water. But we had mosquito nets before and this time we were the main course. If we don’t have malaria now we won’t likely get it.

Looking for work occupies as much time as our jobs do these days. We have a few reports to fill out for the end of service. Other than that we are planning travel time more than anything. Let us know if you hear of any great opportunities for work. We would rather not have to include “ Do you want to SuperSize that?” as part of the required job vocabulary, not that there’s anything wrong with that, otherwise we’re open-minded.

We did get a chance to go to Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary and Jaguar Preserve. WE went with a couple from Canada who just came down to volunteer with Plenty Belize to do organic agriculture things. Sorry, we never got a picture of the buildings, but in this compound of maybe 10 buildings we stayed in the bunkhouse and were the only ones in the compound that night.

WE did 2 really nice hikes, very vertical, and swam in the falls after, just so we could cool down and sweat-up for the hike back. The most amazing part was the lack of bugs! There was hardly a mosquito when we went swimming and we even tubed down the river about an hour before sunset and were not feasted upon.

The plan as it is now………….Our desired extension remains a possibility but it grows less likely as time goes by. Peace Corps applications are up over 125% so the pool for recruits is deep. Our departure date is August 18th. Right now we are thinking of a short trip to the east coast to check-in with some new friends and old family. Trish, I don’t mean you’re old, just that you’ve been around longer than our new friends; I’ll stop there before I can’t climb out of the hole, and then moving back into the old abode the beginning of September. Roughly. All plans subject to change with little notice. Much depends on any bites we get on the job search lines.

There are some incredible stories that continue to unfold about hospitals, government ministries, NGOs, family life for some, boarder disputes, adoptions, oil exploration, conditions on the reef, etc., etc., etc. There are some other fun things we will certainly miss.................But we will only bore those of you who are interested when we return. Everyone has the right to tell us to shut-up. But we wouldn’t mind doing a few talks to groups if anyone has some attentive gathering of curiosity seekers in mind that may be interested in hearing about our adventure.

Hope all is going easy for everyone. Of all we have learned, patience and really trying to live in the moment are the 2 biggest quests for improvement in our lives. We’re sure that can only help when we return to the insane-o world as much as it does here. A good-old American chicken would be a nice help too.

Love to You All,

Peace to the World,

Karey and Michael

We know it has been ages since we have written but time slips away as easily here as it does in the states and access to the Internet is sketchy at best right now. The past 3 weeks every morning by 8:40 the Internet is down and comes back up sometime after 7:00PM. That’s just a bit before bedtime. We are typing this up in WORD and hope to do a copy/paste in a moment of connectivity. If you are reading this IT WORKED!

These past several months have been challenging and rewarding. Working for the Peace Corps is much like being in the states except of course the amenities and availability of EVERYTHING. We are involved in many ways in the community from adult and child literacy, computer training and our main work water, sanitation and hygiene.

One of the most fun things we have been able to help with is the Belize National Youth Chess Foundation’s annual Chess Olympiad. Last year was the first annual event and again this year we helped. Because of our efforts we were treated to a great overnight stay at Caves Branch Resort 5 star jungle resort. The couple that own this, Ian and Ella Anderson, are the driving force behind the foundation.

Dios to our family and friends,

When we arrived they asked if we had any issue with having kids stay in the front part of the room, a beautiful queen bed in the back and 4 bunk beds in front. The whole program is for the kids so we said “NO Problem”.

After finishing supervision of painting of last minute banners we retired to our room around 10:30PM to find the bunks empty and we alone. A short refreshing respite, very short, we were up at 5:30 to get breakfast and catch the ride into get set up for the tournament. The tournament itself seemed to go quickly. The bus ride back home was long and punishing. The return home culminated in a 17 mile ride from a village in the back of a pick-up with 5 kids, rain sprinkles and no jackets. Peace Corps……Always an adventure.

Our jobs are considered to be 24/7 but the PC allows 24 days a year for taking a break. This year we finally are taking those days since we only used three of our 48 last year. In February, Brian and Donna our best buds from high school came down and we went to Caye Caulker for almost a week of seaside relaxation, a ‘ruinas’ tour (Lamanai), reef snorkelling and daily cocktails! From there we treated our best buds to a 3 hour local bus ride and water taxi to Placencia for a couple of days.

On our schedule was MORE seaside relaxation, cards and daily cocktails. From there back to the water taxi, 3 more hours on the bus to home sweet home in South Belize. Brian and Donna stayed at the lovely B&B Coral House Inn. Our kind friend, Ms. Dita loaned us her pickup and we got to share village time and friends with B & D.

Next on our schedule was a trip this Easter with brother Frank, sis Jody and husband Mark. We spent six days in Antigua, Guatemala. Antigua is the second most visited site in the world next to Rome on Easter. Local businesses, families and organization create hundreds of beautiful colored sawdust and floral carpets on the cobblestone streets of the city during Holy Week. Several processions beginning

Holy Thursday pass through the streets over the carpets and new ones are created for the next day. The processions have up to 80 people carrying dioramas, for lack of a better word, depicting various scenes of Passion Week. All of them followed by small bands playing dirges. The windows on the streets have purple coverings until Good Friday and then some are switched out to black. Antigua is a very beautiful

old city – the history dating back to the 1700’s. A very romantic place to sleep, eat and visit.

During our time there we climbed Volcan Pacaya, an active volcano. As excited as we were to see hot lava it was a bit of a fright when you are so close you can’t stand the heat. It was an all day adventure and with two hours to go our van managed two flat tires. We limped home with only one tire where there should have been two. No worries – it’s Guatemala and we only had about 70 miles to go.

We also visited Lago Atitlan. A beautiful lake surrounded by 3 ‘volcans’ but the weather didn’t cooperate and we had minimal viewing of the grandeur….however, if you like to shop…and if you like table runners Guatemala has them all.

Our time grows short – only 3 months left. Last November we asked for an extension (another tour of duty) with the PC in another country. At the time our country director said it should be no problem – the Manleys “will be an easy sell”. Since then, however, the difficult times have also affected the PC and the chances are growing slimmer. So, we are “attempting” internet searching for possible work anywhere – we even clean toilets and/or latrines! We can train on economical water saving techniques like how to take a bath in less than ½ gallon of water, economical health tips – cabbage instead of lettuce daily (pound for pound a better deal), cut paper towels in half for everything – economical, less waste etc., ride bikes, buses, hitch – no cars and the list goes on….

Sunday, the 3rd, we celebrated Karey’s dad’s birthday with a trip to help our friends at Sun Creek Lodge, who buy the way, just received the National Belize Tourism Boards award for the ‘Best Small Inn’. We were also going into San Marcos to take pictures of the “in progress” project to retrofit bathrooms in the community center in the village. The Rep from the NGO where Michael helped get the grant for the project was in town and she wanted to take some pictures for the next board meeting.

All work accomplished we took the short-cut from Sun Creek to the Highway to catch a bus. Just as we came to the road a fellow in a 300D Mercedes saw us and stopped to see if we wanted a ride to town. Rejoicing in our marvellous luck, we looked both ways, crossed the road, jumped in for a free ride and thanked Karey’s dad for the birthday present. We quickly realized the gift to be a Trojan Horse.

As we got into the car we noticed the pint of 1 Barrel (local Rum) in the console. We were hopeful he had just purchased it in Dump so he hadn’t had time to complete the process of inebriation. Unfortunately, he probably had just stopped to buy “one next one”. As the driver, later to be introduced as Lindford, began to drive we quickly realized his impaired condition. Michael asked if he wanted him to drive. When Linford looked over at Michael we drifted into the left lane. After correcting that issue Michael said we will just get out at Laguna Junction, Linford looked over at Michael again and drifted for the shoulder. Again helping in the correction of our mistaken trajectory Michael asked again if Linford wanted him to drive so we, and the car, would all arrive in town in one piece, we drifted into the left lane again. After correcting the slight error again, Linford stooped the car to put on his seat belt; we jumped.

Linford tried again to persuade us he was just fine but left in frustration when we continued to refuse and ask if Michael could drive, concerned for him and everyone else on the highway. He drove off with a heavy foot on the pedal and was out of sight, over the hill. We walked only maybe 100 yards when we looked up to see him driving, in reverse, somewhat better than he was driving forward, and in the right-hand lane. Questioning if he could continue under control we ran back to a turnout and got off the road.

After going a bit too far past us, Linford put it in drive, came back to us and asked if Michael wanted to drive and could he drive? Michael replied yes and that he even had a Belizian driver’s license. Linford asked to see it, he was satisfied, although we still question if he could actually focus, and he relinquished the driver’s seat. Linford said: “You are afraid of me.” Michael replied: “No, I’m afraid of that”, pointing to the bottle of Rum.

Now knowing Peace Corps may read this we will invoke the ‘Emergency Clause’. We considered a slight rule breaking to be out weighed by being blessed with an opportunity to save somebody’s, possibly multiple bodies’, life. Linford proceeded to inform us that when he has been drinking he likes to drive fast, “like 100MPH”; Hell yes we are happy to be driving now.

All parties arrived safely in town, we thanked our guardian angels, we stopped at the office so Karey could send her dad a birthday greeting, (Dad, thanks for letting us borrow one of your guardian angels), Linford took his time but finally made it into the driver’s seat and we know he returned safely to his house.

There is a good story to remember on a birthday. Best one we have of late and a good way to say we are still safe, happy, working and being watched out for. Thanks for all your concerns, prayers, thoughts, well wishing and Love.

Warmest Wishes,

All Our Love,

Michael & Karey

Happy Holidays Everyone!!!!

Have some turkey and stuffing for us!!!

This year we chose a more civilized Thanksgiving. If you didn't see it, this is our turkey from last year.

We hear the holidays creeping up have brought cold upon most of you especially in the northwest. We are now putting on long pants at 70 degrees instead of shorts! What will we do when we come home YIKES! We are trying to miss the cold as we are currently enjoying sweatless days of sunshine and sea breezes averaging around 80 degrees with a rain shower or two in the mix.

Recently we were invited back to our original permanent home San Marcos Village for a baptism. Our host family the Chubs - a family of now 11 children and four grandchildren were having a gathering for the christening of the 4th grandchild Malanda Kairy (yes that is the new spelling of Kerry, Karey, Keri, Carrie etc.) Malanda Kairy has an aunt just four months "younger" than her. Although the baptism should have been the main attraction, it was actually the 2 white people in church that held most of the kids attention. Then we had Caldo at the house with bunches of other people, chickens, dogs, ducks and the usual village fauna.

Michael has procured a grant of $2000BZD from the International Friends of Belize to build toilet facilities at the San Marcos Community Center that is also the hurricane shelter, third grade classroom and healthpost. The community is very excited for this project to happen. This will also encourage visiting medical and dental teams to stop there now that they will have a place to pee! Some we guess are just too fussy about the Mayan sized latrines.

Thanksgiving Day we were going to have local chickens for dinner but Michael McGuire another PCV found a turkey. So, a few of us gathered for good grits at the Manley Manor and had TG Day dinner on our "veranda". It looks like a big crowd will be gathering at our house for the Xmas holiday as well.

Our good friend, Ms Deeta is back and we are going out to her house tonight for what will become a solstice event. Deeta's interesting husband Zack, who we have not met is with her now. We will send news on this one.

Today is Thomasita's birthday so we will take a batch of brownies to her and Alane. Then TOLCA office party on Tuesday. Then a possible Christmas Eve gathering. Then our house for Christmas dinner. Then going to Thomasitas' church for Boxing Day. Then a News Years Party is forming at Brian and Anne's 'Dog House'. Just can't get any better than this.

We miss our lightening bugs we had last year as Christmas lights. We still have some egrets floating down for our snow scene. Our green colors are all around and this guy stopped by for some vibrant green.

After all these seemingly non-stop celebrations since September we will be glad to get back to something resembling 'normal'. Garifuna Settlement Day was another party. We went down to the park and Thomasita badgered Michael into dancing the Punta with her. He actually got some compliments for a decent performance for a white guy.

A great friend Karey made at the hospital, Yvonne, her kids actually chop our yard, asked us to go with her and some kids up Cerro Hill. We walked a bit more than a mile from her house to the base of the hill and headed up. The climb took about 45 minutes with the frequent breaks. Luckily a young Mayan neighbor teenager came with us and brought the machete. He lead the way and chopped the encroaching flora from the path. If we would have been alone we would just be getting back. The view was

great. The kids ranged from 10 to 18 years old and they were a bunch of fun. Yvonne said we are the oldest people she has taken up the hill. There was a radio tower on the top at one time and the old cable was still laying on the path. It helped when going up the rock sections. Yes, we did feel it for a few days. Haven't gotten much hiking in for awhile.

Well that's a wrap for now. Hope everyone slows down and truly enjoys their families and friends during the Holidays. Look around you, we are truly blessed to be living in the states. If you have trouble finding the reasons for your happiness, come down for a visit.

Love You All,

Michael and Karey

Dios to all our family and friends,

We know it has been a long time since we have been in touch but our time is being consumed. Being in the small town of Punta Gorda we find ourselves very busy. Everyone knows everyone and we are all "hailed" out to be of service.

Michael is involved in Red Cross Disaster Preparedness work, HIV/AIDS work and various development projects in villages.

"Me works" with the hospital in many areas, computer training and work, nutrition training at the hospital (would think they would have that knowledge??), a pharmacy database for a free medical clinic staffed by a monthly rotating group of med-students both from the US and from the UK. We both continue our work on the UNICEF funded WASH project in water, sanitation and hygiene. Working with the hospital and clinic has led to the impression that I am a nurse or doctor and people are starting to show up at our door looking for help.

I spend time getting people the help they need and or getting them to the clinic for help and assistance...anything from illness to dental health.

One of the biggest areas of our health work has to do with maternal and child health. There is momentum growing on the part of the women getting to the hospital for deliveries. Due to a high instance of hypertension (high blood pressure) and urinary tract infections (due to lack of sanitation) many pregnancies are at risk. Our local hospital can only handle simple pregnancies and simple fractures and stitches everything else has to be ambulanced to another area for higher level care.

This is a very patriarchal society and men still have the majority of say for the whole household. In many of the village households women are only allowed to speak anyone outside their home with the permission of their husband. He may also not allow them to get medical care at the hospital either due to custom/tradition, prejudice towards the medical personnel or who knows what. There is a wonderful existence here between many ethnic groups but 99.9% of the doctors are Nigerian or Cuban and the Mayan men don't want their women "open" to these doctors. There recently was a woman from one of the villages near by who tried to get to the hospital for delivery but her husband found her, returned her home - they delivered the baby and there was an infant mortality 2 days later. Heartbreaking.

Recently, we tried to get a Mayan mother, Carmelita to take her seven year old son to the doctor for an infected tooth that was causing serious infection in his gums and moving onto his inner lip. We gave her passage for the first visit but after that her husband forbade her to seek further help. He believes it is the spirit of a person or animal that the mother saw during her pregnancy that needs to leave the body before healing can begin. In some instances if they know the person or animal they will cut a lock of hair and burn it around the individual to inhale to release the spirit. Challenges exist.

Currently, we are in evacuation mode. We have been stuck in Belmopan due to a tropical storm that passed thru. We are all stuck in a the Peace Corps hotel that breeds mold faster than...It has been six days and we are all begging for release...it may be today!!! This is the most rain we have seen all season...and the early rain did take out a bridge that keeps us from taking the bus to the North when we are in our southern living region. We wait for news as to the condition of the temporary bridge at this crossing.

It wasn't easy, but we made it through the month of September. Wish we collected as much money as Obama did that month but at least we didn't work very hard because every other day is a holiday. School is seldom in session. The 3 day weekends were welcome. The parades and festival gatherings broke up any monotonous ruts we have developed with regular working days.

Trips are planned to places we have not taken the time to go see. With the projects we have going on the next 10 months seem like they are going to fly by. We will have a house to go back to but we need to figure out how soon we want to get there. There are now a few places to stop and see people on the way home.

Since we are not at our usual computer we don't have pictures to enter. We will post another blog before the end of the year and add some pic's.

Love to All,

Michael & Karey

We continue the ardent watch for the Nim li Ick, The Big Wind in Ke'kchi. So far the hurricane season has treated us well, can't say as much for Texas but they have more room. After the first deluge that flooded the north the weather now is a return of the dry season, it has been hot and, for the most part, dry. One night of exception brought us some back-up in the drains at the house but the flood waters receded quickly.

Apparently the weather is good for commerce. While Michael was finishing some work on our favorite single mothers food booth,(pictured with Thomasita), he saw a pick-up truck from a village going by. The truck pulled up at the store next door. As his son waited by the truck, the driver, Marcos, went inside and soon returned with 2 Cokes and the woman who runs the store following behind. Leaning over the bed of the truck he pulled back the cahune palms and a sheet of plastic. Reaching in and gathering up a chunk of red meat, he proudly displayed his product to his customer.

Approving of the quality, she pointed to several other pieces and Marcos' son promptly got out the scale, the tin dish to place the meat in for weighing, loaded the desired chunks of flesh and weighed up the sale. Finding a plastic bag he loaded the purchase into it, handed it to their customer, wipe his hands on the properly designated 'cleaning rag' and proceeded to open his coke.

Yes, of course they put the plastic sheet and cahune fronds back. Do you think they care nothing about food handling? They may not have, a food license from Public Health, education in proper hygiene, ever heard of ecoli, ever considered refrigeration but they do know how to butcher a beef steer. And after all, it's only 15 miles to town from their place. What could grow in that time? Needless to say, we don't buy beef locally.

We also enjoyed our second trip to Belize City. Not that we ever really want to go there but that is where the doctors and dentist are the Peace Corps wants to use. Michael lost a filling and had a wonderful experience with a Cuban dentist.

The appointment being a 8:00AM, he arrived a little early and sat in the shade until 8:20; not bad, could have been longer. The doors were opened and an older gringo, even older than Michael, who had been waiting in a Chevy Tahoe out front went in first. Soon becoming the second appointment for the day, Michael settled in to a undetermined wait in a 16'x16' room with a Chinese girl who had come in without an appointment.

Only 50 minutes later it was his turn. First being asked to try to adjust the air conditioner, he was able to at least get the fan going. The furnishings were of an earlier design but looking very professional. The doctor took her first look with gloves and mask in place.

Returning with the injection and the remote for the air conditioner, he was asked one more time to see if he could get the compressor to operate on the unit. Attempt failed; a reenforcement fan was brought in by her able assistant.

Still with the gloves on she began her work. At one point the assistant came in to ask about the items she wanted to order. Able to understand only a little Spanish when spoken at that velocity, Michael was unable to figure out everything that was being ordered. And apparently the assistant was having trouble as well because she had to hand the clipboard to the doc. Holding the board in her gloved left hand she punctuated her instructions with the drill by tapping the sheet with it while she reiterated the order list. Michael, breathing deeply, offered a small prayer for protection from germs. O.K., back to work.

Almost done drilling it was time out for a phone call, remove gloves. Returning while putting gloves on, Michael could not determine if they were new gloves or the old pair, time for one more quick prayer, the work began again in earnest until another question came in from the able assistant. The note book she carried came to the doctor, and grabbing it again with the left hand, more prayer, pointed out the correct selection with the drill once more.

OK, enough, the filling finally replaced and leveled to satisfaction Michael took his leave. Through the door and into the waiting room, now jammed with possibly 20 people, he exited with haste. Not knowing how many of those people had appointments, we will never know the fate of that poor Chinese girl with the tooth ache.

Karey had to go to have her foot looked x-rayed. She sprang it some time ago at the Dog House when we were house sitting. The picture is of the Dog House from the sea that Michael took on a quick morning kayak. She stepped of the spiral staircase in the back that leads up to the roof deck. The deck looks out over the sea and in back over the pool. Thanks Peace Corps.

But I digress, Karey's foot........No visable breaks, just damn sore. We are hoping they will send us to Cuba for an MRI.

Karey continues to work with Vinel on her reading. A whole NGO program could be developed just to increase the reading level of the majority of primary students. Thomasita's Alane is just back from a trip to Guatemala to see her grandma and she too will begin Karey's ready program. (Pic - Vinel and Alane feelin' saucy)

Our computer class just keeps growing. There are 2 more computer programs getting started. One from EU funding and the other from Canada. As if we don't have enough on our plate, Michael is offering to help with those projects also. One must realize, even though we have our fingers in many pies, the baking time for these pies in Belize is quite long and requires patience waiting for things to heat up.

Other than that, a marvelous trip and learning experience in Guatemala, finding out there are even more NGOs than we thought and some project money showing up so we are busy again, we continue "livin' the dream".

Come see us, we can put you to work. Won't that be fun?!?

All Our Love and Best Wishes to Everyone,

Michael & Karey

Dios

We are settling in but yet life never seems to hold very still for us. We are either traveling to villages, house sitting for expats or back and forth between Belmopan and Punta Gorda for Peace Corps activities.

Last month Jody and Mark (Karey’s sister and brother-in-law) came to visit for too short of a time. They got to be involved somewhat in our daily activities. We traveled to Dolores a remote village in the southwest corner of Belize to be part of a health fair and brand new school/hurricane shelter dedication. It was our first time also visiting the village and we all found it very beautiful.

Jody and Mark also got to attend an annual Mayan celebration in Tumulkin where the children in high school (small boarding school in a village) still learn current curriculums but observe traditional Mayan practices. A shaman opened the day with traditional burning of herbs and incenses giving thanks to all four corners of the earth. After that people came forward for traditional healings by the shaman. There were traditional foods being served and games for both adults and children. Corn grinding and tortilla making competitions….catch the greased pig or climb the greased pole…all had a good time. Photos are on the way but we were not allowed during the shaman’s ceremony to take pics.

Mark and Jody treated us to a lovely dinner at Machaca Hill Lodge. Can check it online. It is located up a hill high in the canopy of the bush. The biggest thrill for us all was the visitation of howler monkeys in the trees including a mama and her baby. We all got photos and hope to get them to you soon.

The rainy/wet season has surprised us and began last Wednesday in full force. Today is our first day with no rain. The northern and middle parts of the country have taken a big hit. We’ve had two tropical storms hit at once Alma and Arthur. They are saying that this is the worst flooding since Hurricane Mitch in ’89 and Hattie in ’61 when 275 people were killed. So, far we only know of one fatality. Our area, while heavily rained upon remains in pretty good shape. The biggest worry is a bridge that connects us to food and supplies has been destroyed. So, far no one has panicked and the stores haven’t been picked dry - but this is the first day. We will all have to rely on each other as supplies get scarce. We’re just happy for a moments break to get our laundry done. Without a dryer you have to catch those brief moments this time of year. Nothing will ever really feel dry until just past the end of the year. We are “almost” used to that by now.

Our biggest hassle right now are the ants. They don’t like the water so they are trying to take over our house. It’s quite annoying – especially as you try to cook or sleep. You know they would take over the world if it wasn’t for bug spray!! Our natural remedies don’t work on these tenacious little buggers.

All schools have been closed – our computer class has been doing well – we are just running out of working computers and gaining students. We are hoping by tomorrow schools will be back in session. However, all our students come in from the villages via bus. Here, once momentum is broken it is hard to get the action going again. We hope for the best.

The Peace Corps has granted us driving privileges – this will help our WASH project immensely. We anxiously await the UNICEF dollars to take up the project again. Now that the flooding has started clean water education and practices become even more important – it will just be the travel that will be challenging. The rivers do flood a lot but patience is a true practiced virtue here – you wait two hours in your car and then move forward.

We have daily visits from local children. Even in PG town some living situations can be worse than one can imagine. We are going to have to put some rules in place as some of the children stay around expecting/wanting to be fed and entertained. They are very beautiful sweet children but we are not equipped to take it all on. Everyone of them is their own special story.

Well dear family and friends – trust all is well back home – spring blooms and hints of summer breezes.

Love

M&K

Dios

We move forward at a place that is not recognizable in the states and still movement is being made. We have made it thru the first phase of our WASH (water, sanitation & hygiene) project. We will soon be training many people of the 24 villages chosen to train their communities in waste & animal management as well as safe water practices. It is very rewarding to know they have concern for the environment and are willing to make moves to better their situations. It's a lot of work and very time consuming as the travel is very difficult. We have been asking since January for driving privileges and again at a very slow pace they may come thur - lets hope before we leave.

A couple days ago I was travelling into the villages with the public nurse from Punta Gorda Hospital. Nurse Hazel. We were investigating an infant death at 1 yr and 2 mos in a family of 7 children as well as 4 infant deaths in another family of 7.

As we contact the Community Nurses' Aide, CNA, we find out she has been called to deliver a baby. We headed to Teresa Cucul's home. Teresa is 22 and this is her second child. Her first is three years old. The fact that she doesn't already have 4-5+ children and that they are spaced more than a year apart makes her a positive example within the village according to Nurse Hazel. However, Teresa has been in labor for over 12 hours and there is concern on her mother's face as well as Teresa's. Nurse Hazel says she must remain there to "catch this baby". We enter the one room dirt floor thatch. A tarp and blanket have been hung to create a birthing room. There is a twig bed inside and a large loop of some fibre hanging over the bed. Nurse Hazel takes Teresa's hand and brings her out into the daylight to see her coloring. She is very exhausted looking, yet still walking and not one word of complaint leaves her lips. In the next minute Nurse Hazel has her back in the room examining her to see how far along the birth is and we hear - the baby's head is right here. Women are carrying jugs of water slung around their heads and pouring water into a pot on the fire hearth next to the "birthing room". Not one complaint do we hear from Teresa. Teresa's husband comes in and out but for the most part stays outside with a couple of friends. One and half hours later a little boy apprx. 6lbs is born. After the little one is born Teresa lets her hair down and puts some in her mouth. This is believed to initiate contractions to expel the placenta. Nurse Hazel cuts the cord before the placenta has been expelled much to the shock of the Mayan women. They do not cut it until both baby and placenta have been "caught". Not yet bathed he is wrapped in a "clean" thin towel. After Teresa has been cleaned up Nurse Hazel asks me to take pictures of mama nursing here baby for the first time as well as pictures of the birthing room. (She will use these for education purposes)...I feel I am being somewhat obtrusive by doing this but I do believe Teresa felt my awe at letting me part of this little miracle. There was such naturalness and simplicity in this event thankfully. The Hospital is trying to encourage mothers to come into town to birth their babies but the travel is difficult - many fathers still deliver the babies and do not want their wives to come into town for many reasons - all of which we can only guess at.

After this event we investigate the infant deaths. The little girl that died on the way to the hospital at 1yr & 2mos - her mother is still feeling the pain as Nurse Hazel has to question her. She has seven living children all very close in age. Her living conditions are very meager and food is scarce. The child never gained her proper weight and would not take any solid foods. They did do a post Morton at the time (which was two months ago - there was no transportation until now to do the investigation). During the post-mortem they found brown liquids. The mother at the time said the baby had had nothing to eat. Now the mother says the baby was given coffee and cacao.(chocolate bean)

We move on to another home where the mother has had 7 pregnancies and only two children are living. The second child about 6 and the seventh a newborn. The first child, - babies 3,4 & five did not live past 6 months and it was determined just before they passed that they were blind. The 6th child was stillborn. Nurse Hazel asks many questions. She encourages the mother strongly to come into PG to have the opthamologist now there look at her baby. They are trying to determine whether the children were born blind or become blind It is difficult at this time of the year as the father's are working on their milpas (corn or bean plantations) either harvesting or preparing the soil for the rainy season and the father's have to give permission for the mother to go. It is suspected that these children may have a sibling pair for parents.

It's hard to reconcile this life with the one we all know and are grateful for, especially our beautiful families.

We hope your Easter was wonderful. We spent ours with the wonderful Miss Dita (62 yrs) who took us to San Ignacio for a couple days. There were about 10 of us Peace Corps and otherwise who toured the ATM cave (Actun Tunichil Muknal) It was a 45 minute hike into the bush, stop for lunch then a jump into the river to swim in the mouth of the cave. We traveled (walking & swimming) 1500 meters in. We reached a boulder about 10-12 feet high we had to climb. After that we removed our shoes to enter the dry portion of the cave and experienced the energy of the ancient Maya. I was imagining what our moms would say about walking in our socks. There were many artifacts as well as skeletal remains. Quite awesome.

The archaeologists can not figure exactly what the caves were used for. Caves are entrances to the earth mother and the spirits of rain, clouds, water all reside in caves. It is known that in burial ceremonies the shaman would gaze into the smoke and once the image of the departed was recognized they captured that spirit in pottery and turned it up-side-down. The prayers were said, ceremony performed, communion with the spirit, and once finished the pot was broken so the spirit could be free again. Many of these pots were still in the cave, just as they were last used and had been calcified onto the floor of the cave or altar rock. Skeletal remains were everywhere from 6 mos. to 47 years, possibly a rather old person for the times. Some skulls have signs of a blow to the head, therefore creating the impression of sacrifice. Still.........nobody knows for sure. We just made up our own stories.

Dita also took us to see what is arguably the premier ecotourism lodge in the country. Chaa Creek Lodge was the creation of a couple of 70's hippie societal dropout runaways. They came here the year we got married. Had to be a very different world. We were also treated to a visit to Spanish Lookout. This is an area populated mostly by Mennonites. After a trip down a gravel/rock road, taking a hand-crank ferry across the river, about a 1/4 mile ride up the hill from the river we came out somewhere in the US Midwest! Farmland as far as you could see. Implement and service companies on the corners of section roads. Just about anything you would want to find for farming and a drive through soft ice cream shop. If you got out of the car you could get lunch and a complete array of dairy products. All together a most memorable Easter.

We better get out for now. Hard work today trying to get laundry done. The rain gods from the caves are playing tricks.

We don't have all our photos off to Nathan yet but soon.

Love to all

us

Dios

It has been a long time - we apologize but life has been very busy.

We have moved into Punta Gorda (PG) into a cute little bungalow but in a much busier/noisier area than we had anticipated. If one was to visit you would say "What are you talking about"?? but after living in the bush for 7 months the transition is going to take adjustment.

Two weeks after moving in our family came down. Seven in total and took over the Coral House Inn. Will send photos to all when we get a chance. It felt like time and space didn't exist while having someone from home to touch and talk to. Tarzan and Jane in the form of our parents along with trekkers Frank, Claire, Stephanie, David and Charlie did some awesome kayaking, trip to the cayes, hike to the waterfalls for some cliff jumping and sightseeing at ruinas. They got to experience some great bird sightings along with iguanas along the river banks. Dad experienced in his words "a two beer moment" when one of the approximately 3 foot beasts jumped in the water right next to his kayak. The scenery was beautiful.... The trekkers did a day trip to Blue Creek River Cave which included cave swimming and spelunking.

Stephanie contributed to the Mayan economy by buying close to a dozen baskets from several of the local Mayan women.

Unfortunately, Michael suffered a nasty flu before and during the family visit. He was able to come about in time for trip to Snake Cayes....called that because it is a boa constrictor habitat. A small island where we were the only inhabitants for the day. We did some snorkeling and had great BBQ provided by our boat captain and tour guide. Saw one boa resting up in a coconut tree. Walked the whole island in search of more but they were hiding.

So far, we have seen a black tailed snake - about 5 feet long, good for killing the tommy gofff - one of the most deadly snakes here. We had one living under our thatch near the village. Karey saw a tiger rat snake -about 5 feet long, good for catching rats - they live in the rafters of the thatch and you leave them there for that purpose. One of Karey's trips to the villages - driving home in the dark the driver spotted a tommy goff on the road. We stopped, backed up to the spot and the car died - no lights, no battery, no nothing...didn't see the snake, the driver tentatively stepped onto the running board afraid to step down. He finally decided to step down to check under the hood. He made it to the front of the car - just released the latch (didn't lift the hood) and the car lit up again. OBEAH! A word used for superstition or spooky happenings. Driver safely back in the car we moved on.

The place we are renting is really quite cute. We have painted a greater part of the inside from bright lime green and bright blue in one room to little subtler colors for quieting the mind. We have a great friend here who gave us all her left over paint - otherwise it would have been a bit spendy for a PC budget. Wish the family could have seen cleaned up. We have had a terrible ant problem and the painting seems to have alleviated the situation A LOT! YEAH!.

Michael has pounded together a couch/daybed of sorts for the "great room". We also had some Guatemalan fabric donated to us so, we bought a piece of foam, covered it and we have soemthing of our own to sit on. It's our first - we are so happy. We have a little veranda that a hammock is set up on - but we are a bit hammocked out after the past 7 months. Still it is nice to rock in occassionally.

Belize may have animal laws, litter laws, residentail codes??, and noise laws but nothing is followed thru on. We clean our front yard weekly from trash blown in - we have a "moat" in front of our yard and it collects trash. We are not willing to step into it to clean it. When it rains hard it raises quite significantly and flows. The water will then clear up and we can see fish. Once even had a small heron in it. Hoping the people will seeset an example by cleaning up - our friend says now the folks just know where to throw out the trash!

There are many many stray animals as few Belizeans consider spay & neuter. At night there must be no less than 50 barking dogs "harmonizing" with the high decibel levels of the competing bars in the neighborhood. We are learning to sleep under any conditions. Good news - we don't have to have a mosquito net in town and we have a REAL bed. We just found out the Public Health Inspector do periodic poisoning of the stray aniamls. They put out poisoned food in the evenings and after that we are not sure..........???

We continue to work hard on the WASH (Water Sanitation & Hygiene) project. It is a UNICEF funded project. Karey travels and travels and travels to the villages and Michael keeps things moving forward from town. It is very hard to meet schedules and agendas here. So, our American "get it done" style is atrophying. Probably not such a bad thing. "Right Now" in Belizean means anything from 1 hour to maybe...it is our favorite joke.

We are attempting by request to start an adult computer class we hope with the help of the local Ministry of Education. Karey has been asked to help with the local girls gymnasatic/tumbling team one of the other PC Volunteers started. The girls bailed once before - they have come back but they need a female present. Also, have been requested to teach a Yoga class. Have to see what I can fit in.

Well that's all the new for now!!! Will try to get here more often. Will attempt to get some pictures out soon. Okay sooner than soon - promise.

much love to all

trust this finds you all well and happy

us

Felize Navidad!!

Happy holidays to all. We hear our hometown is having a white Christmas...we are having sunny weather, quiet days and no rain.

Belize goes on holiday for about three weeks during this time. There are a few ambitious cabaneros out there on this eve for the last minute shoppers. But we are not missing the insanity of the 'Malls'. The project we are working on is a bit behind and some people will be working later this week but no one works the 25th or 26th. We will be spending 2 quiet days lounging at the thatch. We know we will be missing the green and the quiet of the bush.

We are coming closer to having permanent living quarters. At first it seemed like it wouldn't happen - now we have three choices. The one we like the best is centrally located in the town - a little busier area but a cute Caribbean green bungalow, with a FLUSHER! It's not on the water but close enough to take the bikes down each morning to swim in the sea.

Our best present was talking by phone with our children yesterday, Uriah had to conference from Bend due to being snowbound. Karey got a present. A rare siting of a jaguar on her way to a distant village. Even the Belizians she was with were amazed and other locals are jealous.

That's all for now folks.

Much Merriness, Happiness and Love,

Us

Dios

Hoping this blog will make some sense as we try to catch up our happenings over the past couple of months.

Back in early November, Karey went to Hopkins - a small Garifuna village on the ocean to help with some medical assessments at a primary school in Georgetown Village about 20 miles from Hopkins. Working with Nurse Judy - a Belizean, then Californian now Belizean again we set out to get a medical baseline for all the primary students over a weeks time. This included height, weight, toothbrushes w/dental hygien lesson, deworming and an eye exam. Busy time and always when a village finds out there is medical personnel on site many show up to get medical help. We set appointments at the end of each day to take care of all.

One day during lunch a man quietly comes over and passes along the message that there is a lady across the street giving birth. We rush over to this little shack where a very pregnant woman sits quietly on a hammock in labor with pains about a minute apart. She looked like she was just enjoying the day on her hammock. Nurse Judy takes her inside and does an exam and is able to feel the wee one's head. She decides that this woman should be rushed to the next village where they have a midwife. One of our party rushes her there only to find no one is available in the village to help. She then rushes her about another 15 minutes away to a little bigger town to a private clinic. All the while, this quiet Belizean woman never expresses her delivery except with quiet silence. Apparently, she was barely able to get out of the car and that is all we know as she had to just be left there.

Our permanent living conditions are to be changed. We have moved to the outskirts of our village to a healthier living situation. We house sat for a lovely British couple, Jonathan and Lola. We cared for their 2 rotweiller 5 month old pups. They have a lovely thatch in the middle of the bush they are renting while they build their permanent retirement home deeper in the bush on the Moho River. That was around the middle of October thru the end of the month. They have been kind enough to let us stay on the property in a smaller thatch they use for their storage shed. Their is a thatch attachment that has a pipe for washing and a bucket shower with of all things a FLUSH toilet. We are ever grateful. Don't know if we mentioned this in our last blog but can't get enough flushin'.

We have continued to work with the village. We helped them put together a proposal to upgrade the school in the village. We had weekly meetings with the village leaders - got them to elect a new PTA ( the last one fizzled apart) and came up with the needs for their school. It was submitted last week to SIF (Social Investment Fund) a local agency that seeks out funding either locally or internationally to help Belize. Most schools here are Catholic but the church doesn't have enough funds to help upkeep the schools. A lot of the proposals get rejected but heard yesterday that ours was on the SIF list. Hope that is true - it would be a great boost to the village.

We waited for the Peace Corps to decide what is the best situation given the temperment of a small faction of the villagers. They have finally decided to have a move to Punta Gorda. We are at this point still continuing to look for a place to rent. We will miss the bush. It really is quite lovely, quiet and obviously very very green. It can be so still and so wild. The leaves on the various trees are so large that when the wind blows and they begin their dance together it sounds like the rain is coming....AND when it does come it come with a vengance. The birds are migrating and we have had up to 10 species fly through in a day. Parrots, various Flycatchers and others. As flowers are always blooming we are treated to music of many hummingbirds...who at times fly into our house seeking out our cut flowers in our plastic bottle vase. At nite the critters are buzzin' to their own tunes almost to a fever pitch. Our bird call alarm never fails to get us up on time.

Our assignments in PG will be - Karey working at the hospital with Miss Cherry Mae the local health coordinator. Michael will be working with TOLCA (Toledo Children and Adolescents). These two jobs will bring us together working in many villages on a UNICEF project called W.A.S.H. - Water, Sanitation and Hygiene education. It is a 24 village project - upgrading the school toilet facilities to either flush toilets - if they have a water system or VIP (Ventilated Improved Pit Latrines). From this project they will springboard the education into micro behavioral changes to hopefully get families to improve their hygiene for both adults and children. At least to eliminate the worm infestation, tooth decay and overall health.

Our Thanksgiving will be one to remember. About 15 PCV's got together and created a very special day. It began with several of us gringos fetching the "live" turkey and then "preparing" it for stuffin' and cookin'. Altogether about a 4 hour process. One of the hardest parts was trying to start a fire to singe off the last of the pin feathers. Nothing burns here in this climate and finding even dry paper for fire starter is a challenge. Everything here is DAMP/WET. All in all - we ended up with the full works...we all gave our own personal thanks and had a great meal including some local host families and our Ke'eckchi teacher Bartolo.

We had a special adventure with Jonathan and Lola. They took us down the Moho river on their boat to their property in the DEEP bush. It was a beautiful day and there many large Iguanas out sunning themselves on the palms. We even got a picture of a couple of them fighting on the banks of the river. Photos not available yet. We took a hike around their 40 acres. We were covered head to toe with hats, long sleeved shirts and long pants. Sprayed ourselves with repellent and went off. (thanks to all of you for your donation of Cutter's Advanced - it works). An amazing journey - just like the movies - hacking away at the local floral and fauna with a machete to get through.

If anyone has heard of Andy Palacio - we had lunch with him in Barranco. He was chosen as the UNESCO Artist for Peace. Have pics...more later.

We are going to attempt to attach a lot of photos to this blog. One can always click on "Photos" at the top of the web page to see all photos. If the descriptions aren't next to them - holding the cursor on the pic should give a description of the photo.

Hopefully sooner than later we will be keeping you posted

much love

us

Our address has changed again...

Michael and Karey Manley

Peace Corps

San Marcos

Toledo District

Belize

Central America

Mostly needed - Emergen-C and M&M's :-) ....it's that simple!

Also, if you have it in your holiday spirit to send an inexpensive chess set to us it would be greatly appreciated. There is an initiative to start chess clubs in the village schools to provide activity, focus and challenging strategizing for the Toledo youth. This project in the north of Belize has had great success.

The resources for the Toledo youth have been very scant compared to the north of Belize. TOLCA (Toledo Children and Adolescents) is a consortium to get equal benefits for the children in the south. With the changing of modern times - the Toledo youth need to learn focus and direction. Without a long explanation of the life of youth down here....chess has proved a great learning and strategy tool for youth here.

OK...you've heard enough blah blah blogging from us the past couple of days.

Happy Halloween (they do celebrate it here)

luff

us

Dios

We know it has been a long time since we blah blah blogged! How to explain all that is happening is somewhat cumbersome by a virtual medium.

We moved to our village after all hurricane evacuations at the beginnng of September. After two weeks there, as we think we mentioned the living conditions were quite sub-standard. We house sat for a almost a month near an eco-tourist lodge. The house was owned by the parents of the owner of the lodge. Follow that?? The father (from Germany) passed away in February and around here places can't remain empty for too long or the bush and critters take over.

During our first village council meeting back in September the village said they would help build us a place on village community property but they weren't sure where that would be just yet. The identified a sight in the village but the PC didn't approve it as it was not near other people, too wide open, not safe, no drainage...etc.etc. With our Associate PC Director (APCD) we negotiated to build the house on our host family's property. Everything in a village has to be approved by the village leaders. This was approved by the two main leaders, the village chairmand and the 1st Alcalde and we moved forward building the thatch. The deal was we would basically pay rent up front to build the house and there would be no subsequent payments after the house was built. The PC would then use it after our stay of two years for the following four years. Our Healthy Community project is a six year project.

So, construction began...we got the cement floor poured (most houses have packed mud floors) and the main posts constructed, also cement. By this time other villagers who weren't in on the decision were heating up. As the last of the cement was being poured the village 2nd Alcalde said the villagers were "vexed" about the location of the PC volunteer home and a town meeting was called for the next day at 6:00pm. We were hearing all kinds of stories...we would be chased out of town...PC had raised monies for the village and were using it to build a house instead of using the money to better the village....who knows

Now, how do we explain all we have learned and been told about village politics and the village mindset???? From the beginning we have been "educated" about following procedure in the village. Also, not everyone participates or doesn't care about what's going on until they may see someone's life being bettered more than theirs. We have been "educated" that many petty jealousies exist in villages...people don't always work together...there is no volunteerism...any requests for assistance must be paid requests. We have also been "educated" on the fact the NGO's come in and contribute to some betterment to a community i.e. building latrines, fixing up schools etc. After that they leave - if any part of the project falls apart that is the way it remains and the villagers expect someone to come and "fixit". Their is no sustainability. Our village, we are learning has a reputation that fits all these categories. There is always so much more to explain but that will have to do.

So, we halt the building process two Sundays ago and Oct 15th at 6:00pm at the local basketball court in the dark, we attend a wild village meeting. Most of it was in K'ekchi but it wasn't hard to understand the body language and the shouting. We had already decided to just remain balanced and let what happens happen. There were wonderful people there who interpreted for us. We found out that it was only a small faction of people who were "vexed"...but that is the same as having a "bad apple" in the bunch. After all was said and done (including them wanting to cancel the PC contract) there were actually more good apples than bad and some came up to us and were grateful we were there in their village.

There was another meeting scheduled with our APCD for the following Thursday. We actually were uplifted after the first meeting even though it was intense. We have begun working on projects for the village and admist the chaos we found like minded souls. We called our APCD and he thought he could handle the situation and all would be well. We were again positive it would. Thursday nite however, did not go so well. We still got together with some of the positive folk and scheduled another meeting regarding upgrading the school for the following Sunday. Only the "nay-sayers" attended the Thursday nite meeting. After all that being said our living situation is still in flux. Our APCD isn't sure this village can get it together. He is very concerned because the some of the main village leaders do not get along or like eachother. Again, our village's reputation holds. The PC is in a decision making mode right now and we are in limbo. We remain positive!!! except we are tired of moving...one of the options is to move us to another village. In this modern world of computers e-mail etc. and beaurocracies needing to be contacted, most of our work takes us into PG to make connections with the powers that be. Therefore, it takes us out of the village and the some people don't understand the process and don't want to. They only see things one way. So, that is another issue. Other villagers have tried to communicate these issues but jealousy blinds.

Again, we move forward with the Sunday nite meeting. Not great attendance but most of the people who care about the village and most of the main leaders showed up. The housing issue was not brought up, only the school upgrade issue and the projects we have been working on. Today we have a scheduled meeting with all the village leaders. The village council, the Alacaldes, the PTA and the Water Board. This is a first in a long time. We will only be dealing with the project issues and we are very excited that maybe out of chaos comes good. While waiting for the bus yesterday, a friend from the village, Domingo says he realizes that if a community does not unite there will never be positive development for the villagers. A wise young man....probably early 20's, married and three children.

We are currently house sitting next door to where we were before. There is a lovely retired British couple that needed their two 5 month old rotweiller pups cared for while they returned to England to get some affairs taken care of. There are two thatches on the property - one is their storage shed but it is a nice one room thatch with screened window all around. There is even a flush toilet outside in another thatch covered room. Showers are still cold...and we sleep in hammocks again. Not the best on these bones but soon we hope our lives will settle soon and we will get a bed.

Believe it or not...it is cooling off down here. We look like weebles when we go to bed wearing many layers of clothes to stay warm. We just look at eachother and laugh. We have an addition to our family. A 7 week old kitten named Pema. She is so cute she looks like a toy. We are raising her to be an efficient critter getter. She is feisty and fun. Pets around here are rarely cared for. It is the saddest thing. There is no consciousness of spaying and neutering...there is no consideration of feeding household animals...they are all stunted, emaciated and sometimes hairless. Everyone has 2 - 4 dogs and cats...as well as any number of fowl and pigs...who are cared for the same way. The chickens have no meat on them...they are almost featherless. Just now there are movements to change this situation but it will be a long time coming.

We will keep you posted. We are excited about our projects with the village...let's hope they will be too. We currently work in the school library three days a week and read with the children. It did have a computer with Encarta (very dated) but it has since broken down. Michael has been trying to fix it, hoping it is just a switch issue but we are not sure. We are helping the village put together a proposal to add four classrooms...one will be a computer lab. If that comes together we will be searching for computers and hope to get them internet. The school population has grown from 186 last year to 231 this year. The need for good education is high. As with most places the hope lies within the youth. They are starving for information. We are also working with an ex PC volunteer that has a foundation that builds latrines in villages around the world. We are hoping to get on that list as our village has 89 households..only 20 - 25 with latrines. We are also working on trying to get health education off the ground. There is much to do! We just don't know where we will be doing it!!!

Send good thoughts

hugs to all

Dios

Have been trying to get a blog on for awhile now but have not had opportunity.

We have been challenged by living conditions as we talked about in the last blog. Our wonderful Associate Peace Corps Director saw the real challenge of our living conditions and we have made a change.

We have been moved to a one bedroom cabana complete with flush toilet. We don't even know what to think as it is quite surreal after living in villages for three months. We will be moving forward with building our own thatch in the village. Even with flush toilet we are very excited to have our own place and start working in the village. Yes, we will give up the flushing excitement but we will also be able to have a place of our own.

Our village changed administrations last May after Peace Corps volunteers were requested. Now the current village leaders really don't know what to do with us. We have been told this is very common. Even though we are there for the benefit of their health and hygiene their main concern is a village telephone and school expansion.

We have tried to make in roads into working at the school. Again, even the principal and teachers seem very very passive about assistance. We went to the school to help cover government provided textbooks. An interesting program....up til now students in school...primary or secondary...have had to pay for their texts. There is much uproar about these truly paperback texts that must be in perfect condition at the end of the school year or they must be paid for. In this humid climate anything paper is subject to deterioration.

But cover the books we did. Since we are quite an anomaly in this community we attract way more than our share of attention...and it is attention these children crave. At times children were five deep hovering over us to the point we couldn't move and creating quite some chaos. Their curiosity is boundless and to sit and stare at us for an unprecedented amount of time. They don't care if you have to "knock" them out of the way (which we didn't). It is not only the children the adults will stop and stare also. It is something that we have become used to but the leaving no breathing room went over the top. We have learned to make boundaries. Just our walking by classes in session can disrupt the learning process. Peace Corps teacher trainers say the lack of classroom control/discipline is a very common occurrence. These children are basically allowed to do whatever they want.

Our living situation in the village was interesting. We were living on the second story over a store/pool hall owned by our host family. There was a cement deck with no railing. Children of all ages from 1 - 17 came up to be in our presence. The little ones sometimes not only carrying machetes and or knives and coming precariously close to the drop off point. There is no concern among the adults or very young caretakers....one child had already fallen off down to the washing stones two weeks before we moved in. Children play with these sharp tools, crawl in animal excrement and it isn't given a second thought except by us.

We lived in a 10x10 cement room with barred windows with wood shutters. A double bed filled most of the room. As we were moving in the whole family would try and cram into the room to watch our every movement. In the evenings we shut the windows to keep the flying critters out and in the morning upon opening there would be faces waiting for us. It is considered impolite to close windows and doors during the day as the Mayans will be suspicious of what is going on. If it started raining and we had to retreat from the "deck" to our room the children would get umbrellas and watch us from outside as we did finally give them outside boundaries to our space.

These are just "isms" and despite the challenges we will be happy to build our own thatch next to our host family. We did notice a little of our novelty was wearing off but we have been told that all PCV's have to be assertive and set parameters. Since the Mayans don't even have sealed homes we have been told to make sure our space is not peep proof.

We are learning about the local inhabitants of our area. We do have a black tailed snake currently living under our house. We are told that is a good thing as they eat the venomous tommy goff (sp?) snake in these surroundings. Two coral snakes have been found near our current abode. We have asked the animal spirits to spare us the visit! We have seen beautiful blue butterflies the size of our hands or bigger. There are many beautiful flying species around here and we love to wake up to their music. Bats fly in an out of the house...only to hunt and leave. Still remember we currently have a flush toilet...not only flushing but clean!!!

That's all for now

til later

keep looking for photos as our wonderful Nathan will get them attached to the website. Hopefully with the captions

all our love

m&k

Dios Dear Friends,

It is hard to know where to begin this blog as so much has happened and not happened.

Our last days in Medina Bank were fun filled. We (the volunteers) held a health fair for the villagers. Almost the whole village put on their Sunday best and showed up for fun and games - mostly for the children. We had self-esteem building activities, a nutrition store and the Manleys had the race from the pigpen to the cotelebal (latrine) with a handwashing event between each stage. It was a crowd pleaser. We were all so pleased at the turnout of the villagers. Much laughter was shared by all.

We left our village almost 3 weeks ago. We will miss our host families very much as they are now part of us. The past couple of weeks were there,the other volunteers as well as many of their family members joined us for nights of spades and hearts. Our little plywood home would be full of us sac i quinks (basically white folk) and many more Mayans. We played in the candlelight til late nite...at least 9:00pm or later. Woohoo!

Our village thru us a good-bye part in the form of a Mayan Marimba evening in traditional garb. The instruments were all hand hewn. A "guitar", "harp" and "fiddle". The music started and a young couple in Mayan colors began the dance. After that it was time for the village to watch the white folks dance and sweat. Many of the elder woman would join in but it took about an hour and a half for the shyness to wear away and then we were all dancing. By that time we were literally dripping and wringing water out of sweat rags. The gathering lasted about two and a half hours and we all gave in before they did.

The sac i cuinks threw a dinner for the host families. We made fajitas for 65 people. All of us gathered in one thatch - made cua(tortillas) - cooked chickens, peppers and onions over the fires. We also made guacamole and beans. They did seem to enjoy it but one never knows as there is very little emotion ever shown. Still it was fun. Again they wanted the white folk to dance to music but none of them participated. We had learned our lesson and that particular fiesta didn't last as long. We left this village with a little tear in our eye.

Since then basically our backpacks have rarely been off our backs. We spent three days in our new village before the first evacuation. Off to Belmopan to ride out "Dean". After that we were sworn in as official volunteers. We headed back to Punta Gorda on Friday (couldn't begin to know what date) and spent the night. We had much business to attend to such as opening a bank account and gathering some essentials for our permanent stay.

After our first three days at our new home we had to discuss the food situation as we were not going to maintain well at the level of lard we had been receiving. One egg would be scrambled and cooked in three inches of oil. Won't bore you with other eating dishes as it is all basically the same. After what we thought was a positive gathering which culminated in lets cook together (18 people and no less at a meal) and share what we eat and teach nutrition. This resulted in confusion and then no food! So, that didn't work. Meanwhile, we hooked up with TOLCA (Toledo Children and Adolescents) and have begun to go to other villages as well as our own and teach nutrition and hygiene. Much inspired we returned to our home and have attempted to cook meals with our family in very small quarters with multiple species of animals biting and eliminating in the same arena...from pigs, ducks to children. We will just say "challenge". ....Michael has came up with a way to rat proof our sleeping area and we think we have it conquered. "challenge"...want to say all in a day's work .... since our village has the highest rate of worms the head of our PC project is going to help us facilitate a change. xoxoxoxxoxox

This past Monday as you know we were evacuated again...just as we had fixed a breadfruit salad for dinner that night. (sort of a potato salad with lots of veggies) We will never know if they liked it. Did get a few duck bites cooking over the fire and piglets nibbling on the toes!!!!!!????

Off to Belmopan we go again. As Felix "Petered" out it did flood a few areas in the Toledo district where some of us live so, those of us living in that area didn't get to leave Belmopan until yesterday.

We have stopped along the way and are spending two days in Hopkins with Bertie one of the volunteers. We are in a little cabana watching the manatees float by in the blue green Carribean Sea. This morning a "flotilla" of dolphins silently passed by. A welcome relief. We will be heading home tomorrow and waiting out the change that must be made. Will fill you in later.

Meanwhile, we have made many friends and are anxious to be working and productive. It was very fun going out to the villages deep in the jungle to teach the nutrition classes. Heard the howler monkeys from Aguacate. Very cool. Overall, our job is to teach nutrition, hygiene and help with latrine building. Seventy-five percent of the homes in our village do not have latrines. They use the bush. It will take time to effect change...as they don't see that as an issue but request help with adding on to the school. Time............

Much love to all

us

Dios

We have just met our Peace Corps counterparts from the village we will be living in. We met the village chairman and the alcalde.

Village politics:

There is a village council

Village Chairman

Vice Chairman

Village Secretary

Vice Secretary

Village Treasurer

Vice Treasurer

These people handle all the non-judicial issues of the village.

Alcalde

Deputy Alcalde

3-4 policeman

These folks handle all the judicial issues...fights..."thieving"...etc. If it is very serious the erroring parties are sent to P.G. to jail/court.

There is a village waterboard that takes care of the village water supply if there is one.

These entities are not always functional but good news!!!

We will have running water and electricity in our new village. We don't know if it will be all working all the time...but it will be a first for us since we have come to Belize. We are very hopeful!!

In our current village the rains last weekend raised the river almost 15 feet. Even the spring was flooded out and muddy. Since the waterboard at this village is dysfunctional the whole village was without any clean water for several days. Fortunately, the spring became clear within a couple days and we were at least able to get a river bath and some laundry done. The PC is great about supplying us with drinking water. It does however, suck to be without water.

We will be leaving this village next Thursday and despite the hassles we will greatly miss our family. There have been nightly card games with them and the other volunteers. All quite fun. Had a visitor last nite....SNAKE (c'anchi) coming up the wall in our abode. Long and skinny...never saw the end of him before he went back to his hiding place. He was searching for pelpels (frogs). All is well...never saw him again. We have been lucky on that front...everyone else has had rats(cho'), scorpions (xooc) and turantulas (??? can't remember).

Signing off...we are getting a gourmet vegetarian meal tonite compliments of the PC. Can't miss it.

Anyone wanting to send some CUTTER's ADVANCED down to us we would be most grateful. If we had 20 - 25 bottles of it - it wouldn't be too much.

Flush a toilet for us!

howan chic

Dios

We are in Belmopan just finding out where we will be stationed for the next two years!!! We are very excited about our placement...it is very close to the ocean!!! We will be working with the local health workers, the school and TOLCA (Toledo Children and Adolescents) A very amitious organization trying to upgrade the schools with such things as flush toilets and play grounds. Around here that is a very ambitious goal. They also want to create "healthy beginnings" for children from 0 - 8 and promote prenatal and post natal care. We have made some great connections to individuals who requested personally that we be involved in this process. Michael will be going into town 1 -2 times a week while I work with the local health worker and school principal. There will be more to tell when we get on the job. We leave for our sites on August 16 for 3 days and then back to Belmopan for a few days to be sworn in as official Peace Corps volunteers at the American Embassy on August 22. We then head to our jobs for two years.

Yesterday - we got a playday and went to Hopkins with our tech trainer! We spent an beautiful day in the sun and ocean. A sleepy little Garifuna community where some of our trainee sisters are working. We spent the day at a lovely resort called Parrot Cove! We hope to get back to make a weekend visit there. It was lovely, small, CLEAN and initmate. It even had a small pool but the ocean was our choice. The beautiful Carribean blue was too hard to resist.

One of the trainees within our group of 6 got giardia and ecoli. He was getting rice meals three times a day sometimes with ketchup. YUMMMM! His health went very downhill...he is doing fine now and has moved in with us. As I got a little sun sickness our host parents have worried that they served us something that might have caused it. At the time even I wasn't sure as the food in our household is meager. A chicken neck and chicken feet just don't cut it for us. The whole village went on alert unbeknownst to us when I got ill. It's like an instant telegraph when there is anything changing the status quo. Our food situation still didn't change until Rob moved in with us. Now we get papaya, avocado and vegetable soup for breakfast and lunch. Dinner is very meager however but after breakfast and lunch we don't care. Fruit and Vegetables are provided by the PC weekly for now. Broccoli has now been introduced to the Mayans!!! They are not in love with it. We however, are very greatful for the color green in our diet. Michael has lost 10 pounds.

We are both well and healthy. The bugs are about the only thing that gets tough. We look a little like we have chicken pox. No matter how much we try they seem to help themselves to a meal on our body. We weren't going to use the DEET but it is now our friend. We have however just been introduced to Cutters Advanced...sent especially to one of our volunteers by her family who says it is better than DEET...it is a soldier against chiggers without using the dreaded DEET! It will be our next offense in the battle. If it works we will be asking for buckets of it from back the U.S.

Das all for now folks!

love to hear from ya

howan chic

Dios

Here we are again in Punta Gorda. We are still in training and we are getting anxious to be done and move to our permanent sites. We find out where we will be going at the end of this week.

We are working hard on our Ke'ekchi but it is very tough however, a little does seem to be coming thru to the neurons.

It has been very hot all over Belize and the rainy season seems to be lighter than normal according to the locals based on the flooding. Most of the rains hold off until the middle of the nite and the incredible crashing boomers just wake us out of our sleep enough to make us want to head for cover but we go right back to sleep.

The river flooded so bad last week that our fresh water spring was even covered up. It doesn't take long for it to go down enough for the fresh water to flow again thank goodness. We are seldom without children on our heals - anywhere from 3 - 7 little ones needing attention and the curiosity doesn't end. Some can sit and stare at us forever. They follow us to the rok i ha (spring) strip down, slide down the mud into the water laughing and screaming into the water. We try to use the river for our exercise space but some of the older kids will not leave us alone tugging and pulling at us the whole time. SPACE!!!!

Our diets are still challenged but the PC continues to bring us a supply of greens and fruits weekly. The other day we were served cua (tortillas) with a bowl of broth containing a chicken neck and chicken feet. We couldn't do it - it was like looking at the Wicked Witch of the West's hand coming out of the soup. The good news is the rest of the chicken was BBQ'd the next day and it is some of the best we have ever had.

The bugs are loving us and we look like we have chicken pox. We are working on different solutions and it is really the only thing that is frustrating. OK the toilet situation will always be an issue but it doesn't leave marks!

The jungle blooms all the time - right now we enjoy birds of paradise. It is forever green and very beautiful. We want to learn the names of all the plants but the locals don't seem to know. We have eaten hearts of palm (koon cabbage in these parts) and a dubious protein but sometimes it is better to leave it unidentified.

Gotta run

Trust all is well with ya'll

luff

us

Dios

Just a quick note to let you know we are doing well and sweating away a few pounds but we manage to find a sweet treat now and then.

We have taken two trips to Punta Gorda for training purposes. The health department met with us and today we will be meeting with NGO groups and TOLCA - Toledo Children and Adolescent group. Their aims are high and ambitious and they are asking for PC assistance for sustainable living assistance for the families and children with needs.

Many here live without flush toilets, drinking water etc. The infant mortality rate is higher in this area, prenatal care & post natal care is very scarce. We see many children running around with pink eye, coughs, and little to wear. The are quite a delight in their being - and very curious. We can barely swim/bathe in the nima (river) without a couple at our elbows. The play and frolic with such delight.

Our diets are lacking quite a bit in the basic food departments. Sometimes a meal is a tortilla and a chicken wing or a tortilla and a bit of salsa....or a tortilla and broth with a chicken wing. We are finding that being grateful we are eating is the best way to look at it. The PC just sent down some fruits and veggies and we are all ravenous for them. They are taking steps to make it a bit better. They do take great care of us.

The scenery from our village is so beautiful. We look out over the Maya Mtns. thur the jungle from our school. We have a spring behind the school that is rather large that runs such pure water we even drink it without event! The river when it is high runs swiftly with the runoff from upstream. We are so grateful to have one spot with such wonderful ha' (water).

Have to sign off

WE LOVE the letters we have received in the mail. How we have all missed the written word.

Thanks so much

hugs to all

ho'wan

Dios

The casual greeting for the Ke'ekchi. You have to love it.

We are settling in our new home nicely. It is very humble indeed...but many are living with even less. Considering our host family took time to build it for us (something they will be able to use when we leave) makes it even more special. We are liking our new village very much. It is cleaner, smaller and closer to the are we want to be.

Our day consists of school in the am- 3 hour bank when we hit the river-then back to school til 4pm. Then it is back to the river for bathing and washing clothes on the stones. We do a little wash each day to keep up. We are learning to live with very few clothes. This way maybe what we brought will last for the whole 2 years we are here.

The rains are starting to come mostly at night. No rain occurs without the perverbial thunderstorms which are so amazing. You can't imagine the deep-throated roar it creates and when it is dark the brilliant lightning is endless. Lightning bug light the ground around us. The rain is so intense it is impossible to sleep when it pours. It can fill a 5 gallon bucket in no time at all. Along with the rain comes the frogs. One has never heard such a screaming chorus!!! It is very difficult to sleep thru it all. Our roof happens to be tin-we are grateful as critters live in the thatch-which will come. You have to experience the decibel level. Don't which is louder the rain or frogs. If frogs, as some believe are becoming extinct, we think they just moved to Toledo in Belize. Some of the PC trainees here are expeiencing rats - every so grateful that hasn't been our experience yet. Our family has a cat and dogs. MJ you wouldn't be able to handle the treatment they get. It's hard for all us sac i cuinks. White people! However, the lack of rats, turantulas and scorpions is a wonderful benefit.

Every family in Belize has many chickens - along which come many roosters. They are the earliest alarm clock, but we are managing to sleep thru their song. Tough when it's outside your window.

Our family here had 13 children....they have 46 grandchildren, one on the way and hoping to make 50!

We are rubber boot wearin', river washin' , bush (they never say jungle) lovin' folk. We had our first 'halau' yesterday which is a critter hunted in the bush called gibnut. Have been told it looks a bit like a dog. Glad we didn't see it. Our family hunted for about 8 hours to get it and made a not too bad soup with it. Soon we will be getting armadillo we are told. Guess what it all basically tastes like???

It is tough here and now that the river is rising it is muddy. There is a spring close by that remains clear as the muddy waters pass but it is muddy getting to it. We still haven't figured out now how to wash our clothes as all washing stones are covered up but we can bathe ever so carefully.

So, if you weren't grateful before be grateful now!!!

We hope to be getting to Palencia (sp?) about half way down the coast of Belize on a Peninsula during our training. It is supposed to be a beautiful new area being built with lovely sandy beaches. Check it out if you are thinking of visiting in the next two years. San Pedro in the northern Cayes is the most popular but hearing that Palencia is much better.

Have to say goodbye for now. We love hearing from y'all.

howan xic (til later - )no formal word for good-bye

hugs

Sahil Ch'olejel - formal Ke'ekchi greeting meaning "goodness in your soul"

We are currently in Dangriga on the coast in a combo "internet cafe" and landromat. While our laundry is being done for us we work in a cell block (cooled by fan) with 4 other people connecting to the "other world."

Tomorrow we head deeper into the jungle. The village is called Medina Bank you should be able to find it on any map. It is on the main highway thru Belize heading south. We are told it is Mayan village of apprx. 150 people. They have never hosted Peace Corps folk before and it is all quite new to them. Our biggest concern is getting clean water as boiling water for 3 minutes is something that has never been a concern for them. These 6 gringos however, may be a little more sensitive to the "beings" sharing our water. We are attempting to strengthen our systems with what little we have left of our supplies from the states.

We will miss our Mayan family in Armenia - Cruz, Santa, Alexander, Irma, Brian and Geovannae (what a charmer that one is). Hopefully we will be successful getting pics out but I do hear Michael swearing over there despite the noise of the fans. It is a slow process from here.

Some of the Maya in our new village have backed out of the hosting process as they are fearful they will not take good enough care of us but apparently others stepped up. We will have one solid week of language training in the village school house (school is out for now in Belize). After that it will be 24 hours a week.

The Maya wake at 3:00am to begin their day (????) so, our classes will beging around 5:00am in the morning. Our training day will end around 3:00-4:00pm and then shuteye around 7:00pm. In these latitudes the sun begins to smile around 5:00-5:30am and closes its eyes around 6:30-7:00pm.

The weather is somewhat cooler as we are in rainy season. We get the ocean squalls that dump about an inch of rain and then clearing. No special frequency - we actually had two days of no rain and we were grateful to not be picking up 2 lbs of mud (each shoe and legs) as we trekked to the bus stop from our home. It's everywhere. We have purchased knee high boots 'cause in the jungle down south the rain frequency exponentiates (si that a word?) to the 'nth' degree. Always having to check in the a.m. for the perverberial turantula or scorpion. Always be grateful for what you have or don't have!

Our training will be intense but in the midst we will get to travel to Punta Gorda (on the sea) a couple of times as it is not too far. Also, we will be taking a boat, from where we are not sure, to Placencia, also on the sea (a tourist area on the peninsula if you are looking at a map). We will check out future vacation places.

The reason we are in Dangriga as this is typed - is - we had one day of freedom - we chose to go to the coast. A noisy hour and a half bus ride in the dark with some rain and maybe an alcoholic or two. All good. We stayed at a resort last nite right on the water. Our last hoorah for many months to come. It was such a nice getaway we were not sure if we should have done it...but we are not complaining as we realize how fortunate we are. It was in Belizean terms way more than we should afford on our salaries but again we give thanks....and needed the space.

Our experiences will increase now and we will try and get word out as we can. Punta Gorda has an internet cafe we are told - but our time is limited for now.

Much love and many hugs

m&k

excuse all grammar and spelling or made up words!

Hey there - here we are trying to start up our blog.