Still alive
Just a quickie here as I’m a bit pressed for time. Oh the difficulty of finding 30 minutes in a 24 hour day to write a good blog entry. Well, a little bonus, I put up the pictures from my Spring break trip to Belize. In Central America almost nobody works the easter week of each year (including, unfortunately, busses). Taking advantage of these vacation days, I went to Belize with my friend Adam.
We went through San Pedro, Honduras, up to the north coast, across to Guatemala, and in boat to Southern Belize, arriving in Punta Gorda. From there we went to the beach side town of Hopkins, where we stayed in a quirky inn call “Kismet Inn.” Hanging out with the local Garifunas (dark skinned Creole people) and exploring the close by jungle and waterfalls were the highlights. Next we went up to a town called Orange Walk, close to the Mexican border. There we hung out, enjoyed speaking Spanish again, and went to the Mayan Ruins at Lamanai, one of the earliest sites in Central America. We negotiated a deal on the boat ride to fit our budget and enjoyed a day exploring and playing Frisbee. On the way back our boat collided with another boat (the dangers of bartering the price down too low), but nobody was hurt, although the other boat contained some pretty irate French tourists. I told them to worry more about their general election and not stress the little things. C’est la vie!
The return was an adventure, as busses were not running in the north of the country. But, being resourceful gringos, we stuck out our thumbs, first getting a ride about 10 miles down the road towards Belize city (where there were rumored to be busses). Standing on the side of the highway playing Frisbee isn’t a bad way to pass the day and soon enough we were in the back seat of a jeep heading to the city. Like most Central Americans, Belizeans are generally quite friendly, and speak English to boot. Once in Belize, we caught the only bus to Punta Gorda (a six hour ride that took 7.5). This was the fullest bus I have ever been on, cramming more and more people in the aisle. We were lucky to board in the city and therefore get seats. The continual shout of “move to the back please” interspersed with curses and shouts in Spanish, English, and Creole got old after a while. Finally we arrived in P.G., enjoyed a nice plato tipico (beans, rice, chicken, spaghetti), went to bed early, got up for the sunrise (see beautiful sunrise pictures), and headed back to Honduras via Guatemala. After many more shouts of “somos gente, no vacas!” (We’re people, not cows!) we made it home.
That was a week ago now, and there’s so much more to talk about. Things go well with the women’s Coop, we’re working more on the chain of production. I’m also working on web site stuff, basic computer classes, financial projections, all the while dreaming in my own business plans…
Also, new developments with Coffee Certification, I attended a meeting with an exporter who is working with medium sized producers in my area. We talked after the meeting and I told him that I’d be happy to help with the process, which was well received and in fact he’s already contacted me again. Vamos a ver…(we’ll see…)
