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

My uncle Charlie (Mom’s brother) was the first person to visit us in Belize.  He arrived a couple weeks before Christmas and would be in town for about five days.  At this point we had made a few friends in town who had boats and other water toys to play with so we had a few things planned for his trip.  It would be a busy month because right after he was scheduled to leave my Dad would be flying in for a couple weeks.  That would be over the Christmas holiday so it would be nice to have him here to spend Christmas with us.  U. Charlie was flying in to Cancun and then taking the bus down to Corozal – he was going to be arriving pretty late and told us to be ready to pick him up at the border around 2am so we had a long night planned.  He told us he would call when he got close but what he didn’t count on was that his cell phone wouldn’t work in Mexico, so we were sort of flying blind when it came to his arrival time.  Finally we got an estimated time down for his arrival at the border and we drove over there to wait.  20 minutes went by, then 40 and 50 – we were starting to get worried.  Just as we were about to go looking for him I see this guy in the distance walking to the border with a suitcase in tow.  I couldn’t tell for sure but I was pretty certain it was him considering this was very obviously a tourist walking to the border at 3am – that doesn’t happen so often.  Sure enough, it was him so we waited until he got through customs and immigration and ran over to him when he got through the building.  We all exchanged big hugs and then heard why it had taken him an hour longer than he had told us. 

The way the border is set up between Mexico and Belize you go through the Mexican border first and then there is an entire little commerce area after that border and before the actual Belize border called the Free Zone.  If you don’t realize what is going on it can be a bit confusing.  Well, U. Charlie thought he was through with the borders since he was told that he was in Belize (technically you are in Belize once past the Mexican border and over the river but there still is an official border to go through on the Belize side).  So he camped out at one of the casinos before the actual border and was waiting for us.  Finally someone saw him sitting there with his big suitcase at 2:30am and asked what he was doing.  He told the guy that he was waiting for a ride from his sister – he was promptly informed that he had not quite reached the Belize border yet.  So he got up and lugged his bag along the road until he finally saw the border which is where we finally found him.  We were so glad to see him because we were starting to think the worst.  We got back to the house and stayed up for another hour or so just chatting and gave U. Charlie his first Belikin beer. 

For the next few days we really tried to show off Belize.  It seemed to work because he loved it here.  The major trip was a boat outing with our friend Ken and another guy we had befriended from Canada named Rod.  They both have small boats that we decided to take from one lagoon to the Progresso lagoon.  Then we were going to stop by another new friend’s house.  Just a nice day trip and it was the first time that I would be on it.  We left late morning packing our beer, rum and minimal food – we left from the Copper Bank lagoon (off Rod’s dock) and headed out.  It was a beautiful day and actually not just my first time on these lagoons, but also my first time on a boat in Belize.  The ride was fantastic – to get from the Copper Bank lagoon to the Progresso lagoon there is a serious of thin waterways that you weave in and out of and with a small boat it’s pretty incredible.  It really was a day full of laughing, drinking and general fun.  My uncle got along really well with everyone and was thoroughly enjoying himself.  I think the smiles were actually plastered to our faces for the entire day.  We stopped off at Bruce’s (American) dock to say hi and have a couple drinks.   I had never met him and his wife but my mom had once and she sure thought he was a kick.  We were warned that he can tell a mean story and will have you laughing the whole time you’re around him.  By the time we docked the boat we were all a little tipsy and I was pretty determined to not drink anymore.  Little did I know that not drinking at Bruce’s really isn’t an option.  It only took a few minutes to realize that this guy is an entertainer.  I don’t believe I’ve ever met anyone who can tell a story like Bruce.  We were thoroughly entertained the entire time and by the time I left I was drunk and my face hurt from laughing so much.  I immediately took a liking to Bruce and his wife – he’s the kind of guy who really couldn’t care less what you think about him.  He says it how it is and that is refreshing in an odd way.  They were currently working on their house – he was in charge of building it and the two of them were putting in most of the labor themselves.  They had a party room with thatched roof already standing and then living in the motor home they had brought down while they built the rest of the house. 

After a long and entertaining day in the sun we headed back to Rod’s place – the sun was setting and the water was gorgeous.   We spent most of the night out on Rod’s beach talking and laughing and having the insane type of philosophical conversations that you can only have when you’ve had way too much to drink.  Yes, I did fall backwards while looking up at the stars to convince my uncle that the prominent constellation you see in this part of the world is Orion and not the Big Dipper.  No, he didn’t believe me at the time but a couple weeks later admitted that I may have been right. 

The rest of the trip consisted of impromptu poker games and general entertainment – U. Charlie loved it and we hope to see him back very soon.  The next visitor on deck would be my dad and sadly this visit would cause some major fireworks between Will and me.  It really would be the straw that broke the camel’s back. 

The first holiday we really celebrated in Belize since our arrival came on October 31^st for Halloween.  Now, normally this wouldn’t be that big of a deal because Halloween is typically a fun, yet unimportant night for kids to go out and get a sugar high.  This is not the case for me, I love Halloween – it is one of my very favorite holidays.  I always dress up and find something to do and for the last three years my Mom and I have thrown some killer Halloween parties.  I grew up in a house out in the woods in Oregon, it was about a 40 mile drive to Portland and essentially it was in the middle of nowhere.  They still own this house and we utilized it’s spookiness to host Halloween parties.  We went all out too, for a week before the big night we would spend every spare moment to decorate each room (three levels) according to a frightening theme.  It was a big deal for us.  Well, it would be my first Halloween away from my comfort zone and regular party goers.  I didn’t even pack a costume – we had only been in town for a few weeks so I did not expect to be invited to a party for this dark occasion.  To my complete surprise people did have Halloween parties in Corozal and we were promptly invited to one.  As I mentioned in an earlier entry there are a fair amount of expats living in Corozal and they have some networking procedures set up for events such as this.  Often times someone in town will throw a party for this group of people and typically everyone gets and invite.  This would be our first experience with this trend and I have to say my hopes were high because of the occasion.  So my mom and I went out on a mission to find anything in town that could be considered a costume.  It was a last minute effort but it was absolutely necessary because what is Halloween if you don’t dress up?  After scouring the town for a couple days – there aren’t many options here – we found a couple witches hats and temporary tattoos.  We were desperate so it would have to work.  Will was just going to wear some Duke University attire and go as a Duke basketball player. 

All dressed up for Halloween

We really were having a great day besides the fact that it was Halloween, Solo had arrived that day with our new grill and it was a perfect fit.  Nothing fancy but it would do the job.  We had also purchased a fryer from the same little shop in Chet so that was here as well.  Our kitchen was starting to actually resemble a real life kitchen.  Also, after waiting for way too long, the technician from Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL) arrived to hook up our internet – finally we were connected to home!  It was a great day; things were really starting to come together.  So we were ready to make a splash at the party and possibly meet some new friends. 

The new grill

The new fryer

Now when I think of a party I typically think music, there should always be music at a party.  It doesn’t have to be loud or crazy but something must be playing in the background to provide a bit of party type atmosphere.  I even brought along my own Halloween play list as a backup in case the hosts had forgotten this very important component of any good party.  So we packed up the CD, some drinks (BYOB) and ourselves in to the car (we had hitched a ride from a couple also headed to the party) and headed out.  I was excited but also a little nervous; I’m not the best in social situations where I don’t know anyone.  I get shy and nervous in those circumstances so I was hopeful that I could successfully overcome that and meet people.  Most people were dressed in a costume so that was a good start but there was no music at all.  My mom handed the hostess my CD – hopefully this isn’t rude but it’s way too late now.  She actually put it on but this must not have been appreciated as much as I would expect because the volume was placed so low that I had to strain to hear any audio at all.  Oh well, so it wasn’t a party with music – I could live with that.  The next observation I quickly made was that everyone is in about the mid-40 and older age range.  I knew that I wouldn’t come across too many expats in my age range but I thought there may be at least one.  There weren’t any at this party.  No problem – in general I can get along with people of any age.  I’m trying to keep a fun and positive attitude about this party. 

The house we were at was beautiful and right on 4 mile lagoon so the moon and stars were shining bright since there was hardly any surrounding light.  The three of us put out our best effort to mingle.  It was sort of easy because no one knew us and everyone wanted to know who we were and what we were doing here.  Each one of us probably told our story about 10 separate times throughout the night, but I’ll always take an easy ice breaker so no problem there.  The strangest thing to me was the number of people we had been meeting from Oregon.  It seemed as if there was a much higher concentration of Oregonians in Belize than any other state or country.  There were about 40 people there in total, everyone was very friendly.  After awhile people tended to go in their little groups of 4 -5 people and chat about whatever was currently relevant in their lives.  Towards the end of the night – still early because this party would not go much past 9pm – the three of us had gravitated to two particular people.  Both from England, these guys seemed to be a ton of fun.  They sat at the table and smoked cigars with my mom; we drank and talked about a range of topics from boxing to good places to get a drink.  Ken and Dave would become fast friends.  Dave was a little gruffer than Ken and talked tough but they both seemed like fun guys.  Dave was headed out to the casino – there are three casinos in the “free zone” right outside of Corozal – to play poker so we decided to head home at that point since the party was winding down by that time anyway. 

Overall it was an interesting night, we learned a few things; 1. A party doesn’t always have music 2. Parties with this group of people would never run too late 3. There were a ton of Oregonians here – seems like someone must have done a lot of Belize marketing my home state 4. I would need to be absolutely okay about hanging with a much older crowd 5. There are teeny tiny bugs that live in the sand and bite you at night – these bites itch very badly.  Compared to my last few Halloweens this was a bit disappointing but it only meant that for Halloween ’09 there would be a killer party thrown at Scotty’s Bar & Grill.  Now, I would have to go to bed nursing my very itchy feet.  I had about 20 bites per foot that itched and burnt like crazy.