Yesterday our manager Vanessa got married to another good friend of ours here in Corozal and the reception was held at our bar. They got married by the bayside at another friend’s house and it was a very small wedding – my mom was Vanessa’s witness and I took a ton of pictures. When we first met Vanessa a little over a year ago she had vowed to us that she would never be married but, as with most things, attitudes can change dramatically and quickly, so this was the case here.

The day was perfect; beautiful blue skies, a slight breeze and not too hot. Vanessa was a nervous wreck – the tears had already been flowing a few times before I had even seen her to help get her dressed and ready. To calm the nerves she took a shot of Crown with my mom and me before the wedding. The pastor performed the ceremony in Spanish so I really only caught about half of it – having been present at multiple weddings I was able to follow everything as it was said – I really need to work harder on my Spanish though. During the ceremony the couple was as happy as can be – ribbing each other every once in awhile and looking into each other’s eyes with deep love; it was just like them. By 4pm the whole thing was over and I was headed back to Scotty’s to get everything opened up and ready. Everyone else would follow after a few more pictures. We had planned on closing down the bar for the event so when I got to the bar I unlocked everything and turned the music on. Everyone else started to show up about a half hour later and, wow, did they show up! It was supposed to be a small affair (maybe 20 people at the most had been invited) but people just kept coming in so by the time everyone had shown up we had close to 70 people in the bar. We had not planned on this many people so we were worried about the amount of food that we had. Luckily a friend of ours had brought two huge containers full of tamales as a gift. That completely saved us and there was enough food to go around. Since there were so many people I was incredibly busy handing drinks out and just making sure everything was running as smoothly as possible. Another friend of Vanessa’s had made a wedding cake and brought that which was beautiful and provided more than enough cake for everyone. I had to take a quick break after most drinks had been handed out so I rode around with a few friends – we stopped to take a look at the huge tigers penned up next to the circus tent in town.

We were in full swing from about 4:30 to 9pm so by the time people started to leave we were exhausted. It was also slightly draining emotionally for the simple fact that this was the first wedding I had attended since my divorce so that brought up all kinds of strange emotions. I’m not sure I could even explain that one and I tried my best to shove all that down somewhere where it wouldn’t surface. During the reception Vanessa had a ton of emotions going through her – she was excited and happy for her and Ducky’s celebration yet she was upset at some of the people who had arrived uninvited. Overall they had a blast and took their leave around 8:30pm to the honeymoon hotel we had set up for them in town at the Almond Tree Resort.

Amongst getting prepared for their wedding we had some horrible news early this week. My mom’s best friend passed away after a diagnosis of cancer just late August of this year. She lived in Oregon and this was extremely difficult news for my mom. Overall it has been a draining range of emotions throughout this week.

Sailing is an experience I had yet to have in Belize.  Most of our friends around here have motor boats which has been outstanding, so it was after about 11 months of being in this country that Capt. J (yes the same guy I’ve been spending so much time fishing with) had fixed the rudder on his Hobie Cat and offered to take me out and try to learn how to sail.  Since my mission here in Belize is to avoid declining any interesting experience I said, “Of course!”

The outing was off to a great start.  It was early afternoon when we went out, the sun wasn’t too hot and the wind was blowing with just the right amount of force to provide us with an easy trip.  Capt. J brought down the sails from under the house so that we could start rigging it.  He asked his friend Lewis to help him out with that and I also helped as much as I could.  About 10 minutes in to the rigging process I became a little nervous – Capt. J hadn’t sailed for at least a year and was having a hard time remembering how to put the sails up.  He would give it an attempt and decide that was wrong, move to the next attempt and that wasn’t right either.  Finally he exclaimed that he would have to consult the manual and ran off to the house.  At this point I expected him to come back with a book explaining the whole process, so imagine my surprise when he emerges from the house with only his cell phone in hand.  I didn’t say anything and just observed what would come next.  He tells me that his son was the person who had actually bought this Hobie Cat and consequently should remember how it all should be put together.  I found it quite hilarious that he expected his son to remember this procedure three years after actually operating or rigging it – and over the phone no less.  As I had silently expected, the problem would not be solved as a result of this phone call, so it was back to trial and error. 

After a bit more effort the job was done and we were ready to get it in the water.  We all pushed the cat in from the grass, over the sea wall and in to the water.  The sails went up and the three of us were off.  During the struggle with the sails earlier the wind had picked up so the ride would be slightly more entertaining.  We headed across the bay first and it was marvelous – wind was whipping through our hair and the water we were gliding over was spraying all around us from the mesh bottom we all sat on.  Once we got to the opposite side of the bay Capt. J stopped the boat and gave me this funny look which I soon learned meant that he didn’t know exactly how to complete the next task, which happened to be turning around.  I laughed while he attempted to get the cat to turn around without flipping us on our side.  I was laughing, but I was also holding on firmly to the “oh shit!” straps – okay, I doubt they’re really called that but that’s what I dubbed them.  He was trying the gentle method of turning but after a few minutes it was clear that technique was not going to work.  So he told us both to hang on tight and stay clear of the sail changing directions.  As soon as he let out the last word of his sentence the sail rapidly shifted directions and nearly knocked Capt. J in to the water.  He recovered quickly and we were back on track to get home. 

The wind had really kicked up for the trip back so we were all holding on and enjoying the coolness of the water hitting us – it’s not a bumpy ride because of the mesh you sit on, but it is a little wet.  On the way back we lost a Croc clog (the unofficial shoe of Belize) in the water but we were moving fast so no one wanted to jump out and go after it.  It would be the price we would pay for the ride the wind gave us that day – if only that was the only price. 

As we got closer to shore Capt. J was going to attempt a second turn around so that we could have two rides across the bay.  This time he kept looking up at the top of the mast with concern.  I was still bracing for another sudden turn when Capt. J starting shouting, “Something’s not right!  What’s going on?  This isn’t right!”  I had no idea what he was talking about – I looked up at the mast a few times but nothing looked amiss so I turned my head back towards the front.  Suddenly I hear this shriek, a creaking sound and then, with a thundering crash, the mast came plummeting down.  Suddenly we went from a sailing vessel to a floating raft with a bunch of laundry on board.  I was so stunned I couldn’t stop laughing – this was my first Belizean sailing experience and it was so ironically perfect. 

Luckily we were still close to shore, but we were about a couple miles from Capt. J’s dock.  All we could do was drift.  I held the mast up to prevent it from hitting the rudders as Capt. J tried to maneuver us back to his dock.  The water was still a little too deep for anyone to jump out and guide the boat back.  I had made the very bad decision to wait until we were done sailing to eat so – as if my brain knew that it would be a slow ride back home – I immediately got very hungry.  I learned a very important lesson that day – eat before going anywhere that could potentially result in being stranded.  It would have been nice to have a bottle of water with us as well.  I knew this wasn’t a dangerous situation – we were close to shore and would make it eventually – so I could not stop laughing the entire time back.  We were all laughing – we’d laugh, become silent for a bit and then burst out laughing again.  It was really all we could do drifting up shore with our mast down and encountering a random audience every once in awhile who were on shore undoubtedly laughing along with us (they can’t be laughing at us if we’re laughing too). 

We did eventually make it back to the dock and had to get the boat up on to the grass.  We got it safely stored under Capt. J’s raised house and I got a ride back to my house.  Nothing ever seems to be boring around here and this was no different – we’ll just have to see how long it takes for me to get back on that boat.