It's been a LONG time...!

Things here in Belize have been quite great lately! The end of February was our COS (Close of Service) Conference for all the remaining PCV in country. It was a blast seeing everyone in Cayo at Cahal Pech Resort. Most of the sessions were getting us ready to “rejoin” the real world of the States, as well as closing out our projects with our schools, communities and work partners. It was a great success and of course we had some good times, late nights, and good food and wine with great people!

 Cahal Pech Resort, Cayo

Belize COS 2013

Right after the conference I was literally only home for two days to just pack and prep last minute things for our four-day Ruta Maya Canoe Race across Belize (170 miles!). Taylor a fellow PCV from Camalote, and Joe, a RPCV from Guatemala were on the mixed team, called San Isidro Warriors! Day 1 was 49 miles, Day 2 was 60 miles, Day 3 was 36 miles and Day 4 was 24 miles! It was tough, long and tiresome, but overall a complete blast! We camped along the river with many other teams in the race and enjoyed every minute of the race. The race ended on March 11, the day before my birthday!

 Representin'!

 First Camp site in Banana Bank

 Team San Isidro Warriors!

 Getting ready to start the last day...

Many of teams getting ready...

So, the next day I woke up sore and exhausted and took my sore arms to Santa Martha Village to deliver a mini-fridge to the preschool and have lunch with my host mom out there, Ms. Miriam. She is the BEST! We all had homemade corn tortillas with relleno and cake! Then after a very filling lunch we ended up going out to their Milpa and drinking fresh coconut water from their trees and taking that home along with some bananas, cassava, plantains, and cymito (fruit). Then I had to rush back to town to start an adult computer class at the town library. I know, I know it was my birthday, but I had to be there!  After, my friends made a nice homemade mac & cheese dinner and peanut butter pie and watch a movie! It was a great bday! J But, since some friends couldn’t come up during that week, we all decided to go out that following weekend for a St. Patty’s/Bday! And of course we danced the night away as usual!!

 Bday/St. Patty's party...

 the crew...

 dancin' with brian

The following weekend I went to visit the principal out at Gallon Jug, one of the farthest villages in the OW district. I got to check out the school, the land, all the products Gallon Jug produces because the entire property is owned by Bowen & Bowen, who own Belikin and many other products. We got to go swimming at the resorts pool and eat awesome food and also swim at the cascada, this beautiful watering hole! And without a doubt “IF” I was to live in Belize I would live in Gallon Jug! 

 Deer everywhere...

 and turkeys!

 the school, loft and stables and mahogany tree

 gorgeous views and sunsets

 trail to the cascada

 cascada pools...

 the cascada!

Easter Break started the following this weekend, so the office has been extremely slow the past couple weeks, which has been nice to catch up on work, projects, organizing my life, and prepping for my SE Asia trip in July! On Easter weekend my friends, Ellen and Mallory B. ended up buying out tickets to Vietnam to start our 6 week adventure across Asia! Of course after we purchased our tickets it was time to celebrate the Easter weekend right down in Placencia by the sea; relaxing, swimming, dancing, and eating good food too!

With my service quickly coming to an end – 2 months!! I have a lot of paperwork to get done, interviews, site visits and medical testing to get through the next month or so. And I also plan on getting through a few more things on my Belize Bucket List! J Miss you all and be catching you all on the flipside…!! Xoxo

The END is NEAR! Yeeaaahhhh!! 

All fun must come to an end...

It’s been a while since I’ve had a new entry on here, but how time flies’ when things are going well and things are fun!

I went home again if some of you didn’t know for another friend’s wedding! The beautiful Allie Johnson (now a Flake!) J It was a great trip again to see family and friends. I took a little more time this trip and was able to head up to San Francisco for a few days and see some lovely faces I haven’t seen in years!!

When I got back to Belize it was HOLIDAY SEASON!! I had another great time at the Sambuyla household on Garifuna Settlement day. Then, it was Thanksgiving in OW! This year the Northies wanted to do a progressive dinner at three houses: appetizers, dinner, and dessert. I offered to host the dinner portion of the meal and it was good times. I made my first turkey in the oven and it was absolutely delicious (no one got sick…so it was a good start for future turkey dinners!)

And then this biggest news to hit Orange Walk was that my parents and brother, Guy, came to visit!! The trip was AWESOME! I’m not going to lie and say I was a little nervous for their visit because I wasn’t sure how they would fair with the weather, food, culture, language, etc. But, it was great; they did fantastic on their first real trip outside of the States. We had 3 great days in OW, visiting my host family, seeing the preschool in Santa Martha and hosting a lunch for the school, going to Lamanai and meeting with my work partner’s family and we can’t forget the copious amounts of rice and beans we all had! 

Then it was off to Cayo for 2 days to visit with my host family in Succotz and do some cave tubing at Caves Branch. Then, we went to beautiful Caye Caulker for 3 days! We did some awesome snorkeling on the love boat and went to the little Goff Caye and had some freshly caught fish from our wonderful friend and fisherman, Cannon.

Then, right before Christmas I went to Playa del Carmen with some friends and spent a few nights there and survived the end of the world on December 21, 2012!! 

I spent Christmas in Orange Walk again this year and it was very nice and relaxing. Just hung out with friends and host families and had a really mellow break. It was very enjoyable and I was able to catch up on some much needed sleep, reading and laundry!

After the New Year I soon realized that my time here in Belize is soon coming to an end. I can’t believe how quickly time has gone while I’m here. I guess the saying is true…”when you’re having fun, time flies!” And the time I have had here in Belize has been undoubtedly fun, memorable, exciting, tough, stressful, but overall some of the most enjoyable times I’ve ever had in my short life!

Miss you all, love you all! And I will be seeing you all sooner than later!! xoxo!