Sunday in Orange Walk Town!

Greetings from Orange Walk Town! I am living in luxury this weekend! This weekend all the new volunteers are visiting with the volunteers that have been here for a year. My pen pal, (the contact that I had before I left home) Diane, invited me to come to her site in Orange Walk Town which is in the northern part of the country. She is in the education sector and works with a counterpart here (the principal of the elementary school). The principal (Letty), Diane and I are going for some Cerviche in a couple hours. Diane has an apartment above a small church that she has fixed up very comfortably. Yesterday, I insisted on buying her a fan for her apartment. It feels quite comfortable right now even though the thermometer is reading 98.8. In her kitchen, it reads 99.9. The breeze from the fan feels delightful while I'm typing away on her computer. She (obviously) has electricity, has running water, and a toilet downstairs! This is quite a treat! She is waiting on me hand and foot and even gave up her bed while she sleeps in a hammock in the kitchen. I am taking advantage of the electricity to get 'caught' up with my computer contacts! It's a nice break from the rats that scurry around at night and the frequent tarantula sightings in Armenia.

I will be in Armenia until Oct. 2 when we will be heading to our individual sites in the Toledo District (south Belize). At that point, they drive us to our individual villages and drop us off with a new host family. We are required to live with the family for a minimum of a month, after which you can choose to find your own 'place' or stay with your host family. Apparently, most choose to live on their own for privacy and freedom's sake. I hope there are SOME people in the village that speak English as I feel incompetent in K'ekchi at present. Then for the next two years I will be trying to facilitate positive changes to improve the quality of life and health of the 'village people'. I think they have it all over us in the U.S. when it comes to finding happiness...much for me to learn from them! The K'ekchi people as a whole are nomads that have for the most part fled from Guatemala and the slavery imposed on them there by the Spaniards a hundred years ago. They are mostly farmers and hard workers. The men within the family are definitely the head of the household. For instance, my host mom, Emetria stays at home with the children, cooks three hot meals a day, does the laundry almost daily down at the river, serves food to her husband, Raul, first, then me, then the children, and then sits down finally after everyone is nearly finished. My family seems quite happy with their existence and even though Raul and Emetria speak Maya (Mopan) in our house to each other and the children, it is crystal clear to me that they love each other deeply and have so much fun with the 'little' things in life. They are always laughing together (maybe they are laughing at ME?!?!) but I don't think so. Just talking about them now makes me miss them! I will be taking the bus (4 1/2 hours) back to Armenia tomorrow. I bought Emetria a frying pan which I know she will flip over! They love to hear stories about Ashley, Bobby, and Aubrey and my friends back home--YOU! It's a simple and happy life. Were it not for the illnesses, diseases and sanitation issues, I wouldn't want them to change one bit. Hopefully I can help them with those issues. It's interesting how they just expect to lose someone in the family from things like a snake bite (fertilance kills you in a matter of just a few hours), a very treatable (to us) disease like bronchitis, malaria, or even a dog bite. (For the record, I have had a total of 5 shots already (2 hepatis, 2 rabies, and 1 typhoid and still need to get another 5 within the next five weeks. We also take an anti-malaria pill every Friday for as long as we are here). This is on top of all the innoculations I had before I left.

Last week, Brella woke up vomiting and was running a very high fever. With my own children, that wouldn't have freaked me out (as they will be quick to tell you that I never 'babied' them) but being here with all the infection and bacteria transmission gave me cause for more concern. She improved over the next two days so it was probably a routine virus but it makes one think. I've grown so attached to her. You all would adore her! The thought of possibly losing her that night to a routine malady really scared me.

I hope I haven't bored you but I wanted to take advantage of the use of Diane's computer because I may not have this opportunity again for quite awhile.

God bless us all! Love, tracy