NOT ordinary days in Peace Corps!!

We are allowed two nights 'out of site' at a time without it counting as annual leave. Unless, of course, there is a national holiday and then you can be gone 3 nights...

September is the month for national holidays here in Belize. I have heard people in my village say, 'I can't do this or that until October because of the holidays'. It seems like the whole month of September is one great big holiday with parades, patriotism, and parties. (Well, no parties in my village but yes, there was a parade!!) September 21st was their Independence Day and marked the 29th birthday of this small but proud country. It has been inspiring for me to see this level of patriotism and gratitude for a country that by anyone's standards back home has so very little. Here, however, they feel they have so much...

So with the extra day that I could take for the holiday, I decided to celebrate their Independence Day in a very non-Belizean way by playing in a free poker tournament in Belize City!!! Maybe this seems a bit irreverent but most of the entries in the tournament were Belizeans so I made a bunch of new friends. There were 73 entered...I ended up 15th. Certainly not in the money but had a great time. Thank you Pete and Betty and Bobby for your support here! I stayed at Jane's (fellow PCV) house and she was a most gracious hostess.

My third night of my personal September celebration, I traveled to Benque to visit Roger for one night. But it turned into three as we had a hurricane threat followed by a consolidation so I was told to stay in Benque until we got the 'all clear' message. What a bummer!! He is just so damn difficult to be around but I did my best to make the most of a challenging situation.

The point to all this rambling is...for the last 6 days and 5 nights I feel like I have been living in luxury. Both Jane and Roger have microwaves and washers. Roger has hot water in his shower while Jane has a walk-in closet with gobs of clothes--dress clothes at that! Both have couches, chairs, screens on the windows and music--through their computers with speakers! They have restaurants and grocery stores in their towns and cabs that can take you there if you don't want to walk. Jane even has cable TV and internet! And the biggest luxury of all, both have toilets that flush.

But traveling back to San Miguel, I find myself missing the bats that have made a nest in my home that I can't (try as I may) seem to scare away, the sightings of stinging scorpions and hairy tarantulas in all four corners of my abode, my humble furnishings of desk, table, and bed, and my latrine that I walk to in the middle of the night during torrential downpours. But mostly, all the sweet children that have become my friends that have texted me over and over wondering when I am coming home...

God bless us all...especially those little friends...tracy