A couple of weeks ago I had the very cool experience of seeing a wild cat up close and personal.  Of course the events which brought this cat in to my life are very sad – it was a very young baby margay (http://www.belizezoo.org/zoo/zoo/mammals/mar/mar1.html) that had been orphaned and found by a Belizean in the jungle.  This cat is listed as an endangered animal so it was very sad to speculate that its mother had seen a worse fate.  A friend of mine decided to acquire the cat for the sole purpose of getting it to the Belize zoo located in Belize City – it is illegal to keep an animal such as this for a pet.  This little cat was so cute, but sounded just like a big jungle cat so it was a little nerve racking to be around the little guy.

The baby margay was very scared and simply stared at us.  He was maybe one or two pounds at the most.  In the cage he came in he tried his best to disappear in to a corner – we were glad to know that he would be in a much happier habitat soon.

The next day I coaxed him in to a cat carrier – appropriately a leopard print – with some tuna on a plate.  He seemed to be hungry enough since he went right in the carrier and I was able to zip him in for the trip from Corozal to Belize City.  So my friend and I plus another family all piled in to the vehicle and headed off to the zoo – we figured that we may as well make a day of it.  I had yet to see the Belize zoo so I was excited to make the trip.  We had called the zoo previously to make sure this was the best thing to do with the cat and they assured us it was and that they would take him in.

The trip to the zoo was about an hour and a half but we finally made it.  The skies were a bit cloudy and there was some light rain but we were determined to see all the animals.  It was probably ideal weather for viewing the animals since the hot sun wasn’t beating down.  First things first though, we stopped in at the front desk and told the attendant there that we had the margay to turn over to them.  They hustled around trying to find the correct person to check the cat out so they told us to go ahead and make our way around the zoo while they figured it out.

We made our way through all the exhibits and, as suspected, the weather was perfect because we saw all but one animal that day.  Most of the animals were in plain sight and walking around their enclosures.  The experience really felt as though we were simply walking through the jungle observing each of these animals.  There are over 125 animals at the zoo, all native to Belize and each exhibit provides a brief summary of the animal with a few facts.  I have visited the zoo in Portland, OR many times but this provided an entirely different experience.  I had never seen most of the animals that I had the privilege of viewing at the Belize zoo.  The kids were especially excited about each animal – there was some brief hesitation from some of them at first since they weren’t sure what they would be seeing, but that quickly went away and they were all running around to see the next animal.

The kids all decided that they liked the tapirs the best – probably because it was the one animal they were actually able to touch.  It was the first time I had seen a tapir though a few of my friends have seen them in the wild here.  After an hour or so we had seen it all and the kids were getting tired so we headed back to the front desk to see what had become of our little margay.  The carrier was empty and they were busy checking him out so now he’ll be safe in his new home at the zoo.

If you happen to make a trip to Belize in the future or you are here and haven’t been to the zoo yet; make sure that activity gets put towards the top of your list.  It’s a very worthwhile experience and a must see if you spend any time in this country.  Hopefully in the next year I’ll make another trip to the zoo to visit that little cat and see how he’s doing.

As I mentioned in my previous post we attempted to start a Christmas boat parade here in Corozal and there were high aspirations for this project.  The venture started off three months before December even arrived.  The idea emerged at the tail-end of a night out drinking with friends.  Mom and I were sitting around a table with Rod and Ken at Haley’s, a local bar, when the topic of Christmas boat parades came up.  Rod had been in a few big parades in Florida and thought that it would be fun to try and rally all the boat owners in Corozal to be a part of a boat parade here.  Unlike nearby San Pedro (on Ambergris Caye), Corozal doesn’t have this tradition.  Mom and I both thought it would be a lot of fun so we said we were onboard for sure (we don’t own a boat so our involvement wasn’t much of a commitment).

The three of us planned on having a committee meeting every Wednesday until the middle of December when the event would take place.  Our intentions were good, we even assigned each committee member a position (I was the secretary), but as the weeks moved ahead our enthusiasm waned.  All hope wasn’t lost yet; we had spoken to about 12 couples who all owned boats and told us they would be involved.  It really would have been a sight for the Corozal Bay if everyone had participated.

It became clear a couple weeks before Christmas that Ken and Rod would be the only two boats appearing in the parade.  No matter, we were still determined to make this happen and had planned on it up until the weekend the whole thing was to take place.  Then the weather turned and Rod still wasn’t even back in the country with his boat yet.  So the three committee members in country (me, mom and Ken) decided, with regret, that we would be canceling the boat parade.

Then Rod got back in the country and the project had life breathed in to it again; Rod convinced us all that it could still be done and they would decorate the two boats.  Two days later, and two days before Christmas we were on the bay in boats surrounded by Christmas lights and having an absolutely awesome time.  There were two boats with seven people total and we had our Christmas music blaring as we made a slow pass back and forth the town of Corozal.  We weren’t sure anyone would see us from shore since our parade had sort of fizzled before it sparked back to life.  There had been no announcement this would be taking place, but there were plenty of people along the water that night.  So we waved and yelled, “Merry Christmas” and spun the boats in front of each crowd we passed.

In the end we provided some entertainment for the kids along the water that night and for ourselves.  It is the start of a tradition for us as long as we’re in Corozal for Christmas and we may even add another boat next year.

This Christmas was a fun one – besides the missing my family part – we had a great day.  The holiday really started for us on Christmas Eve.  My mom cooked a dinner for the girls who work for us and we had some small gifts to give them so it was our version of the staff party.  We also invited a few friends to join us for dinner.  Mom fried a whole hogfish (caught in Belize) for our appetizer and then the main dinner was baked chicken along with a few typical holiday side dishes and it all turned out fantastic.  We closed the bar early so the girls were out the door before 8pm and since we would be closed for Christmas day and Boxing Day they had the next two days off.  One of our waitresses had brought over a sampling of the rumpopo her mom had made for the holidays.  Rumpopo is a traditional eggnog type drink in Belize that is made with eggs, cream, nutmeg, cinnamon and overproof rum and is delicious.  After we ate and opened gifts we all took a few pictures by the tree (fake).

A very typical sound in Corozal during the Christmas season – especially on Christmas Eve to bring in Christmas day – are the blasts of various fireworks and firecrackers that are let off all day long.  As the night continued on, more and more blasts are heard and we all knew that we would not be falling asleep before midnight so I grabbed a book and knew exactly when midnight hit by the obvious finale happening all around town.  In Corozal that night it sounded like New Year’s Eve sounds in the states.  After midnight I did fall asleep easily and was woken up by a 7:30am phone call so I drug myself out of bed and spent the next few hours hanging out with my parents and getting ready for the party later that day.

At 11am we were in the truck headed to Ken’s house for a ride on his boat to Progresso Lagoon.  My friend Matt and I were going to ride in the boat with Ken and then my parents were going to take a truck to the same party so that they would have a way to get back home.  It was a perfect day for a boat ride – the bay was calm and the sky was mostly sunny – we zipped over there pretty quickly with just one pit stop in the Copper Bank lagoon to catch Rod on his way over too.  Rod had his own boat and he zoomed off ahead of us, long gone by the time we even hit the Progresso Lagoon.  We got to the party around noon and the food was already out.  We were among the first to arrive and my parents got there almost exactly the same time we did.  Bruce and his wife Nicole already had the place ready for guests.  They had put a pig in the ground the night before and it had cooked all night long, there was also an abundance of Indian food purchased from one of the local men in town along with the various side dishes and desserts other people brought with them.  We all grabbed a drink and a seat to start in on conversation.  Slowly, more and more people started to arrive and by the end of it all there were about 40 people there.

The boat ride was already a far cry from the typical holiday activities when I was living in Oregon but it was about to get even better.  After dinner the water toys started to come out.  Water skis, tubes, a wakeboard, boats and kayaks; I knew that I wanted to water ski so I put on my swimsuit and headed out to the boat.  Matt hadn’t been waterskiing since he was a kid so he wanted a go at it too.  So Matt and I got on Rod’s boat with Rod as captain.  It was a ton of fun on two skis but I did take a nice fall to end my first trip around the lagoon.  It sort of stunned me so I passed the skis off to Matt and he got right up and made a nice spin around the lagoon before he fell.  I got back up on the skis and we made our way back to the dock were I made a much more graceful landing.  While all this was going on there was a big group of Belizean kids who were very excited to go on a boat so they piled on Ken’s small boat and from the dock it looked like an accident waiting to happen.  Luckily all the kids were wearing life jackets and the lagoon is very shallow, but sure enough, as Ken’s boat was coming back in to dock the kids were getting nervous because the front of the boat started to take on a little water due to the amount of weight on board.  Suddenly some of the kids panicked and went to the bow of the boat; well this was the very last thing that should have happened because as all their weight shifted to the front the boat took on more and more water.  Rod saw what was happening and ran his boat over to the scene to help as Bruce did a quasi dive in to the lagoon as the kids (most of whom have never been on a boat before) were insanely screaming in terror.  In the end everyone was okay but a few of the kids were very upset – I knew one of the little girls from other trips and I grabbed her hand as she was crying hysterically by herself on her way to the house.  We found her mom and eventually she calmed down, but it was quite an experience for them.

After everything had calmed down I went back out on the boat to try my luck at getting up on one ski.  I had done it before a few years ago during an Oregon skiing trip but it had been awhile, so I fell on the first attempt and the next 10 or so attempts.  At one point I did get up but did not stay up for any amount of time, but on my last try my hip popped and my leg went numb so I figured that was enough for the day.

Most of the guests left soon after that and there were just a few of us (who were spending the night) visiting before everyone made their way to bed.  As you may have already guessed I was extremely sore from my slalom experience but the worst part was that I actually injured the right side of my neck so for the last four days I’ve been nursing that.  We also attempted Corozal’s first annual Christmas Boat parade which I will write a separate entry on.   Happy New Year everyone!

I am very conflicted about how to approach this section of my story in Belize. Between the Super Bowl party and Valentine’s Day earlier this year I chose to end my marriage with Will. I don’t want to go in to any detail about the events that week and I’m not sure that I want to write about any part of it at all. Even though the decision was made by me, the months that have followed have been a period of my life full of pain and learning. I have realized a lot about myself in the last nine months. The pain comes from grasping the reality that my life as I knew it for the last 10 years dramatically shifted in a new country where I hardly knew anyone to draw emotional support from. Suddenly my family – especially my mom who was the only one here with me at the time – became immensely important, more important than ever before in my adult life. It was also extremely hard to feel sad about the transition without feeling guilty that I was the one who broke off the relationship and therefore shouldn’t have the right to feel sad. I had to come to grips with the fact that I needed to be able to feel distressed about the situation or I wouldn’t be able to move past it. Immediately I felt numb from being responsible for hurting someone so much, it wasn’t something I was used to doing and in fact was part of the whole problem. I was so worried about causing pain that I let a relationship continue on that I wasn’t happy with and instead of confronting the situation I hid behind a fabricated sense that I was doing the right thing by not making waves. So instead, I became bitter about the issues within our relationship by letting them simmer below the surface. My first lesson after all this was that I had to force myself to confront any issues that I have head on despite being uncomfortable doing so. My own happiness was dependent upon that – just because something is comfortable does not mean it’s the best situation for your life.

Being in Belize made me see clearly how different I had become from the person I was ten years ago. The biggest realization was that I had lost my individual self over the past years, or maybe I had just stopped looking. Somehow placing myself in completely new surroundings, far away from any comfort zone I knew back in Oregon, forced me to realize how unhappy I actually was. It became so abundantly clear that I was not able to fool myself any longer. So I made a dramatic decision and after the initial shock I promised myself that I would push my limits as much as opportunity would allow. If I was going to make such a dramatic choice then it seemed to be horribly irresponsible to continue to live in a comfort zone. I was excited to be in Belize for this new chapter of my life because I was going to be completely stripped of any familiarity which seemed to make it a bit easier.

It was slightly ironic to me that Valentine’s Day was coming up in a week and of course, since we owned a restaurant, we would be throwing a Valentine’s Day party. I was not in the mood to say the least. Valentine’s Day had never been a particularly important day to me so this year I really wasn’t in the mood but we set up a table for just our friends and then other romantic-type tables for the couples who would come in. We put a special pasta dinner on the menu and played love songs in the background all night. A few bottles of wine later the party at Scotty’s was over and my mom and I, along with a couple friends went to a local night club to check out the scene there. Overall we did really well at the restaurant that night but I was very happy when the day was over.

So a new chapter of my life started up February of this year and I had no idea what the future would hold or what emotions would come up as a result.

Garifuna Settlement Day fell on Thursday, November 19^th and my mom and I chose to close Scotty’s for the holiday. We did the same last year simply because we didn’t know what to expect on this holiday – we have to pay our staff double their wages if we are open on a national holiday and since it is still the slow season here it isn’t worthwhile for us to be open. In Corozal not a lot happens for this holiday – more of the celebration happens in the Southern parts of Belize especially in Dangriga. Since most of the town is shut down we decided to go out for a boat ride on a friend’s new boat. We left around 1pm and the plan was to go across the Corozal Bay in to Copper Bank lagoon and then on to Progresso lagoon to visit friends. The bay was fairly calm that day – a little choppy but as soon as we moved in to the lagoon the water became very still and the ride on the boat became a lot more fun. Our first stop was in Copper Bank lagoon and this started the barrage of mishaps that day. The boat’s reverse was not working and since I was in the front of the boat I would get the privilege to jump out of the boat and stop us from hitting a wall of rocks as we pulled in. This wouldn’t have been a bid deal if the engine had been cut much earlier but instead I got ready to jump out and as we got closer to the rocks and because of the deceptively slow speed we were moving at I put my legs out and my feet crashed right in to the rocks – they were no match for the rock wall so the boat hit as well. We had stopped but there was no finesse involved at all. We picked up the 4^th person to be on the boat and we were off again with a few more Belikin in the cooler.

Next we would maneuver through a series of channels that separate Copper Bank lagoon from Progresso Lagoon. This is where our second accident occurred; since the boat is new, our friend’s experience operating it was also a little raw. This particular boat is a jet drive and it has a very tight turning radius so it was being tested on the frequent curves through our path to the next lagoon. At one point it seemed we were headed straight in to a bunch of mangrove on the shore but I didn’t really think much of it since the turns had been so tight, but then as we got closer and closer it was evident that the boat wasn’t going to make the turn. We all ducked at the last minute as we smashed in to the mangrove and managed a slow turn out of it. Since it would have been such a close turn apparently backing off on the throttle in the middle doesn’t work on this type of boat. Again, there were no injuries but we didn’t let anyone forget it had happened with the teasing that followed. Little did we know that we would still have a much harder crash later that evening. We finally made it through the curvy waterway and in to Progresso Lagoon. I was never so happy to see a lagoon in my life – I was starting to get a little concerned that we may not make it back in one piece.

After a short visit with our friends in Progresso we hoped on to the boat again as the sun was starting to set and took off back to Corozal Bay. None of us really wanted to be in the boat at dark so we weren’t going to be able to take our time. This time our friends switched the operator of the boat thinking that someone with a little more experience would get us safely back home. The ride back was amazing – the water was just like a mirror – the sunset was being reflected perfectly on the water. We were all in awe of the scene we were lucky enough to witness as we continued on to the bay. Unfortunately we did not make it to Corozal before dark so we slowed down and took our time through the bay. Then our third and final catastrophe took place. In a testosterone driven act the boat was sped up close to the shore of Corozal despite the dangerous amount of rocks that are hidden under the shallow water. We powered along closer and closer to a jetty of rocks that was directly in front of us – the three passengers started to yell to turn the boat away from the rocks but to no avail – the operator was not listening. We crashed directly in to the rocks and as the boat’s momentum was suddenly halted our bodies were all slammed to the left of the boat. No one was seriously injured and the boat made it off the rocks and back on to its appropriate dock not far from there. We finally got back on to dry land and I decided on the spot I would not be taking a ride on that boat for quite awhile – to top the day off I fell in to the bay as I got out of the boat. Cold, wet and a bit shaken I was very happy to get home.

The next day I realized just how hard we had hit those rocks; I could hardly move the left side of my body. I was so sore where I had hit the boat. Happily the whole day is something I can look back and laugh at since there were no serious injuries and the boat seems to be in tact (although it has not been in the water yet since then). Sometimes being in the water I forget that accidents can easily occur but I got my reminder that day.

The sunset we were lucky enough to experience

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.

Back to the Scotty’s story…Our first big party after Grand Opening would be our Super Bowl party. In Belize American Football is not very popular but there was enough of a following between some locals and Americans we had met here that we decided a party was in order. Also it helped that my mom and I are major football fans so we wanted a great place to watch the game too and what better place than our own bar! The first problem was that we did not have a big TV in the bar – certainly not large enough to facilitate a party focused around watching it. So we decided to borrow Dave’s projector to hook up to the TV and project the game on the side of one of our walls. The battle was between the Cardinals and the Steelers and we made some marketing efforts to get people in for the big game. Flyers were printed and distributed, we sent out an advertisement to the expats via email and we hyped it up to anyone who came in the bar. We weren’t sure what to expect really but we were excited about it. We also tried to promote it by selling score squares for $5 a square which would pay out after every quarter.

The weekend before the party we had Dave bring in the projector to do a test run. The game was scheduled to start around 6pm our time which meant it should be dark enough at game time to avoid having to black out the screens and windows. We got everything set up and were totally relieved that it all worked – it also seemed to be just dark enough for everything to show up so we were all pumped for the next weekend. I really hadn’t followed either team but since Arizona is closer to the West coast I had to cheer for them and made a couple side bets just to make it a bit more interesting. So a bottle of wine was at stake for me.

Super Bowl Sunday finally arrived and we were in a scramble all day to get everything set up and ready to go for that night. We got the screen up and projector set up. As the evening grew closer we were slightly worried because it didn’t seem to be getting as dark as it had the weekend previous – it probably had something to do with the fact that it was a beautiful, bright day instead of slightly cloudy. So we started to get a little panicky when it was 5:30 and pre-game wasn’t visible. We went out and bought a ton of big black garbage bags and started frantically stapling them to the walls to black everything out. We got done – with a major group effort – just as most people started to arrive. It turned out perfect – we definitely had the biggest screen in town for the game. We had a special game day menu of nachos, pizza by the slice and hotdogs – we wanted it to be simple and quick. We had a packed house and everyone was happy – the game couldn’t have been better and of course came down to the wire. The squares were a hit and made it that much more fun for people who didn’t know anything about the teams playing or even much about the game itself. The vibe was fun and exciting and everyone was in to the game – cheering as if we were all right there in the stands. It was a total success, well, I did lose my bet for the Cardinals so I was short a bottle of wine but I was happy to give it up.

Most people left after the game but a few stuck around and it would mark the first time the bar actually ran out of beer. Overall it was a major hit and absolutely no one complained about anything – or we just didn’t know about any complaints.

The next big event would be Valentine’s Day but things in my life were set to explode in the few days following Super Bowl…

Halloween; one of my very favorite holidays to throw a party. I love finding a costume, dressing up, seeing what everyone else comes up with and having a party – specifically I love throwing a Halloween party. In the States my mom and I started our own Halloween party tradition and went all out for this ghostly night, but last year Halloween was a bust for us. We had just moved to Corozal and didn’t have a proper costume or a proper party to go to; this meant that we would simply have to throw a killer party this year. We began the planning early October because Halloween decorations are not very easy to come by here – not even in Chetumal. Luckily there is a resale shop in Orange Walk which imports items in from the US and typically they stock holiday items. Sure enough when we stopped in to check out what they had they were stocked full of miscellaneous Halloween décor. We filled our baskets and were very happy that we had also hit a 50% off day which meant we got a ton of stuff for almost nothing ($25 US).

We put things up here and there right away but saved most of the hardcore decorating for the week of Halloween. We had both ordered our costumes off a Halloween website and our friend brought them down from the states for us so we were really all set and I was even more excited that Halloween day would also bring a huge college football game for the Oregon Ducks vs. USC which we would get to watch on ABC. We had personally invited our friends around town and everyone was planning on coming all dressed up. Jell-O shots, Lime Cello and dancing were on the menu. Friday soon came around and we did all of our last minute decorating – the place looked fantastic. We had little kids coming in to order burgers and walking at a snail’s pace looking all over in awe, or possibly fright.

That week at the bar had been slow so we were also looking forward to having some people actually occupying the bar. Saturday morning I woke up slowly and turned on ESPN – I had totally forgotten about College Game Day setting up in Eugene, OR that day so I got to watch the Duck fans going crazy with excitement for the game and it really set my mood on high for the day. Then it hit…

The rain came in suddenly. I had seen the grey clouds in the distance but hadn’t thought much of it since we hadn’t heard of any major storms coming through. All of a sudden the clouds burst with huge drops of rain – the sound was deafening and everything immediately started to get wet. Water came in the business, my room, the living room and I was running around shutting up the house while my mom and the girls were dealing with the water coming in the business. I looked out at the sky and it was dark as far as I could see – this didn’t seem to be just passing through – my mood dipped slightly but I was still holding out hope. Of all the days for this to hit it had to be this day. I started to feel a twinge of homesickness knowing if I was in Oregon I would be at the game and at a party with no flooding.

Then the lightning started striking and the thunder was rolling. At first it started at somewhat of a distance as usual but then it started moving much closer until it was directly on top of us. It was the most intense lightning storm I had been in and a little unnerving. The power started hitting and I turned off all the electronics; I unplugged the laptop and stereo but failed to unplug the TV. At one point Vanessa was nailing stuff up to the wall in the business and a bolt of lightning struck close throwing everything off that wall and shocking her. This was serious. The cats were hiding in the cupboards, the dogs were whimpering around my mom. I was sitting in the living room putting a playlist together for that night wondering if we would even be having a party later when a big spark came snapping through the electrical outlet that the house TV was plugged in to – at that moment I knew we no longer had a working TV although I did not confirm that until later once the storm finally passed. We never lost power for too long and the cable didn’t go out but once it was all said and done both the house and business TV had blown as well as our modem. The skies were still a heavy grey and I wondered if we would get more rain that day – by 3pm I was frantic about being able to watch the Duck game but luckily we were able to borrow a friend’s TV to put in the bar to watch the game. The rain never really started up again so the party was also on, but that day we got as much rain in a few hours as we had all year.

We ate dinner at 2:30, went over to another friend’s house to get our makeup applied and back to the house to put costumes on and get to the bar just in time to catch kick-off. Everything was set and we were just waiting for people to arrive and slowly they did. In the end the Ducks pulled off a major win and we danced and drank all night – it turned out to be an outstanding day and Halloween – the only downside was that I didn’t get to enjoy my annual Halloween viewing of Rocky Horror Picture Show. In the aftermath of this storm we had to purchase a new TV for the bar and for the time being will have to live without a TV in the house, and we’re currently awaiting a new modem from BTL. So it is internet cafes for me right now, luckily they are all over the place here.

Me and Mom Ready for Halloween

My mom and I have just celebrated our one year anniversary of moving to Belize.  In a lot of ways it feels as though we’ve been here for much longer than one year – that could just be the fact that so much has happened within that year.  Recently I’ve been really contemplating what I will do in the upcoming year.  Will it be another year in Belize?  Back to the states to resume a “normal” life?  Somewhere else altogether?  I really don’t know and once I quit worrying about it I realize that it’s sort of fun to not know what will come next.  That’s what bored me with my life in Oregon; I always knew what was coming next.  As I’m writing this I’m ‘borrowing’ a friend’s house to get away from the bustling town of Corozal and just look out on the bay surrounded only by the sounds of the wind’s affect on nature.  It makes me wonder what the pros and cons are of living in a town here versus being isolated on the water.  My mom and I are lucky enough to have friends here who have the isolated properties and don’t mind sharing every now and then so we really get to experience both while we’re here because our house is very much in town and about a 5 minute walk from the bay.  After a year I’ve experienced a lot of the pros and cons of these options. 

I’ll start with my friends in Progresso, they have essentially built a small compound which is called Progresso Shores.  Progresso is a small village across the Corozal bay and located on a lagoon named Progresso Lagoon.  It’s either accessible by boat or by vehicle crossing over a hand-cranked ferry.  Progresso Shores is outside of the village and located right on the shores of the lagoon.  It is completely isolated and absolutely beautiful.  As you may imagine the lagoon holds much calmer water than the bay so you only hear the water when there is a breeze blowing which is fairly often there.  The water seems to change colors frequently; one day, or even hour, it’s a deep blue color while the next it gives off a green hue.  I’ve been out on the lagoon in a boat, kayak, water-skis and simply swimming and it really feels as though the entire body of water is your own playground – it is rare to see any other boat or person out there playing.  In the early morning the parrots fly over the compound, chatting away amongst themselves, and then you’ll hear them again fly by around 5pm going back wherever they came from.  The nights and the mornings are my very favorite time of day here and that is simply due to the silence.  When I wake up there in the morning I hear birds and wind blowing through the palms and when evening hits it’s the very same thing – if I could use a place to define peace this would be it.  It truly is a perfect place to be but with this complete paradise comes a few drawbacks. 

Of course each ‘drawback’ is based completely on each person’s personality so I mention these as potential drawbacks only.  You simply cannot easily obtain food supplies (unless they are growing in your garden) and this forces you to be organized and efficient anytime a trip in to town is planned.  Going in to town should really happen on a minimal basis because it’s always an ordeal – the roads are not well maintained by the government so going in to town means at least a 40 minute ride on a very bumpy and dusty road and quite often over a ferry which is hand-cranked, adding another chunk of time on to the entire trip.  So if you are the person who loves to just hop in the car and stop off at the corner store, it won’t happen here.   The next potential drawbacks are the critters you may encounter.  Since there aren’t as many people around there are more creatures.  This can include crocodiles, iguanas, snakes, scorpions, lizards, geckos, spiders among others.  You will see them but the good news is that they typically won’t bother you if you don’t bother them.  Having a big dog that eats all these things can also come in handy – although I’m not sure there’s a lot you can do about the croc besides leave him alone.  Lastly, a possible drawback here is the effect it may have on your social life.  It’s a long drive back home which means you may not be going out much at night to have a few with your friends, this means it becomes a big deal to go out and most often what will occur is your social life will come to you.  Friends you find in the village or who live around you are a different story but there just aren’t a lot of people around you.  I will say that the parties I’ve been to at Progresso Shores are some of the best times I’ve had in this country – when you’re isolated parties are that much more fun. 

The next living option here would be a house in town such as ours.  We live within walking or biking distance to almost anything within the town.  All the utility companies are close, the stores are easy to get to and we may find ourselves going there twice in a day because we forgot something, any town events are easy to get to and experience because we live 5 minutes away, internet is fast and we have reliable neighbors who watch out for us.  The bay is within a 5 minute walk from the house and you can jump in anywhere you want along the water front.  The drawbacks are many in this situation though, there are dogs barking at night (this is a sound you get used to), cars going by the house, people walking and talking at all times of the day and night and occasionally a house party that gets pretty loud – basically you have the sounds of any typical town.  For us it’s easy because our bar is right next door so we have zero commute to work and we get reliable and frequent deliveries to our business.  Any sunset or sunrise that we experience is shielded in part by a power line or neighboring house and we don’t get to see the water at night from our windows.  It’s trading convenience for tranquility. 

The last living option which I have experienced is in town but on the outskirts and on the water.  You get the bay right in your backyard with this option and it’s phenomenal.  As I’ve sat here not one boat has raced by so even though you can see the town offshore you still get almost free reign of the bay when you want to go play.  There are a few cars and trucks you hear throughout the day on the quiet dirt road off the house which makes you aware of the outside world as opposed to Progresso Shores where you can actually forget about the rest of the world.  Here you are still close enough to town that most things are convenient and accessible.  With a breeze blowing it is absolutely relaxing.  The drawbacks here are really based on what will happen in the future.  Everything seems perfect now but there are still lots on either side that will be filled, the town will expand in to these outskirts and the isolation that is so appealing now will slowly fade away.  Yes, this may happen in a place like Progresso but it will be way down the line rather than in town where it could potentially happen within the next two years. 

After thinking about these options I would conclude that for me, if I were to stay in Belize, I would choose isolation.  It is absolutely amazing how close to nature you feel and how powerful that really is.  I can always drive my car in to town to get my dose of the real world but then when I went back home I would remain in a truly inspiring place that is worth a few sacrifices. 

Back to the Scotty’s story…

With the new year also came some bad news about the gym I was working out at with Leroy (trainer). Leroy didn’t renew the lease on his building which meant the gym was closing. This was horrible news because it had taken a lot of time just to find him and get in a regular routine. Mom and I had been doing great at our three workouts a week with him and now we would have to figure something else out entirely. Leroy did offer to come train us at the house, but I was really paying a membership for the equipment so we decided against that. There are two other gyms in town so we went out on a mission to find another one. One of these gyms was actually pretty nice with some fairly new equipment and a lot of space, the fee was reasonable too so we thought we were set with a new workout facility. After taking an initial look we decided to go in for our first workout the next morning. They had posted hours until 9am in the morning and then closed until 5pm so we decided on 7am – early but doable. We got all our gear on and made our way to the gym. Still a little groggy since we are now on “bar” hours, we pulled up to the gym and it was closed – we were pretty irritated after getting up earlier than usual but there wasn’t a lot we could do about it. Later we learned that those posted hours weren’t the real hours (of course) and they actually only opened from 5am to 7am so this gym was out too – I was not going to wake up at 5am to workout. So we were going to have to figure out an at-home workout – this would prove to be a difficult habit to get in to. My first step was to purchase a punching bag in Chet – I already had my boxing gloves here and since I was missing my training from back in Oregon it seemed like a natural workout transition. The key was actually holding myself accountable to stick to a schedule.

Back at the bar January brought in our first profitable week which was very exciting. It wasn’t an enormous profit but still a profit and poker night was proving to be one of more beneficial days. Each week we seemed to get a few more people in as well as keeping customers who had been in before. Things were looking positive.

We were starting to become pretty good friends with Dave as a result of all the time we were spending with him through poker nights and he also was coming in to the bar on a regular basis outside of poker so he invited us to ride along with him to Spanish Lookout (a Mennonite community in Belize), he was taking a couple clients there to look at window and roofing materials. Will didn’t want to go but mom and I decided to take him up on the offer since we really hadn’t seen any other parts of Belize besides Corozal. It is about a 2 1/2 hour drive each way so we had to leave early in order to get back in time for poker night.  So we woke up around 5am to get ready to leave at 6am.  Dave was early of course and I wasn’t quite ready so he had to wait but we still left 5 minutes before we were supposed to. I thought for sure I would sleep on the way there but I did not so I was happy about that since I wanted to see the scenery on the way there.

We stopped about half way there for coffee and by that time I was ready for some breakfast…we weren’t eating until we got to Spanish Lookout though so I had to hold on for a little while longer.  Spanish Lookout is a town that is very spread out and agricultural.  Mennonites are very predominant there so you see a lot of horse and buggies out.  The Mennonites are pretty much self sufficient there, and they keep things very tidy.  There isn’t any garbage on the streets like there is in Corozal and everything is so green.  It actually reminded me a lot of Oregon except for the palm trees, there are even hills!

Because things are so spread out we had to get directions for each stop that we needed to make (which was only two).  First we stopped off at the restaurant to find that they weren’t open yet but would be in a half hour so we decided to make our first stop the window place and then go back to eat.  We finally made it back to the restaurant and I was really looking forward to breakfast but when we got inside we found that it was set up as a lunch buffet.  I guess this makes sense when the community wakes up at the crack of dawn. I was a little disappointed but I got over it quickly because the food was outstanding.

Our last stop was at the local dairy (Western Dairies) which has a little ice cream shop as well.  We wanted to try the ice cream and it was exceptional.  I had coconut, very delicious.  In Corozal the Western Dairy ice cream isn’t as good because it melts on the delivery truck up there and then when it re-freezes the consistency isn’t the greatest. So it was a great way to end the trip – as you may imagine ice cream is a hot commodity in Belize.

We had planned to stop off in Orange Walk on the way back which was great for Mom and me because we needed to buy a few things at a grocery store there which is much larger than anything in Corozal.  They have a little better selection of items in Orange Walk and our car is not trustworthy enough to get us there safely so we don’t get there very often.  We all stopped at a little bar first and had a drink each.  Everyone was a little tired at this point.  Orange Walk is an interesting town; it is very cluttered and hard to get around.  You don’t get the beautiful bay there so it gets a lot hotter and you don’t get to see the water like you do in Corozal.  The New River does run through Orange Walk but I would prefer the bay any day. Despite this there is a lot more available in Orange Walk.  After the beer and grocery store we really were on our way home to host another night of poker.