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.

Our new gym

Yes, it was in fact a gym.  Leroy was the trainer there and ran the place himself.  He is a very nice and very encouraging man. The gym may not be much to look at but he tries to make it encouraging by pasting motivational posters and quotes all over the place.  We talked with him for a little while and he explained the different membership packages he offered.  We could either be a member of the gym and just use the equipment on our own, or we could hire him as a trainer and come in three times a week to do workouts with his instruction.  I was a little hesitant to hire him as a trainer because I have quite a bit of experience with weight lifting and wasn’t sure if he would help or hinder my workouts.  My mom, on the other hand, doesn’t have much experience with weight lifting so in the end we decided to hire him as a trainer and we would meet three times a week at 8am.  We agreed that the focus would be weight lifting with some cardio pumped in there too.  I also opted against the simple membership plan because I wasn’t sure that I would be able to easily operate any of the machines that were in there.  They were all very close together and looked like they were new about 50 years ago.  I am aware that you don’t have to have snazzy workout equipment to get a great workout in, but it would be helpful to at least know how the machines function.

As our workouts started the first obstacle to get through was convincing Leroy that I can actually lift weight.  He had a hard time understanding that a 5lb dumbbell wouldn’t be adequate for my workout.  There aren’t many women here who go beyond the 5 – 10 lb range in weights.  Eventually he saw that I needed more weight to lift and we got to the appropriate level.  It was so comical working out there because he utilized those three machines that he had to the max.  He would take a piece out of one section and put it in another to create a whole new machine – it was a talent.  He could take one machine and turn it into six different lifts.  At this point I was happy we went for the trainer option because it was clear I would have been aimlessly roaming this small building for a workout since I didn’t have the key to unlocking the puzzle of these machines.  The second obstacle that I would never get over was the heat of working out in a Caribbean atmosphere.  I happen to be an individual who sweats profusely – that may be an understatement.  This gets really bad when you combine it with heat and humidity and no air conditioner.  So throughout the hour long workout I probably lost about a gallon of water in the form of sweat – okay that may be an overstatement, but not by much.  Of course I am still able to work out in these conditions but I have a hard time trying not to slip off all the machines because of the constant stream of sweat running off me.  My mom does not have this problem so I can place full, 100% blame on my dad.  In fact my mom doesn’t sweat at all so instead of looking like a constant reflective device, she actually looks like a normal person when she works out here.

Mom, Leroy and Kristi at the gym

So despite it all I finally had a new workout routine going.  The sad thing is that I had taken quite a few steps backwards with all the sweet bread we had been eating (almost all the bread made here is sweet), but I guess that’s life.  It is so amazing to me how much of a stress reliever working out can really be.  I may hate to do it sometimes but it never fails that I am so happy I did once the workout is over.  Living in a small town in a small country has also reminded me that there is no excuse for getting a good workout in.  If you don’t have the equipment you can always do a few push-ups and run around the neighborhood.  My mind likes to make all sorts of excuses to not put my running shoes on, none of them are good.