did someone order a heat wave?

i’ve been intending to update for over a week now, but i’ve been so delirious with self diagnosed heat lethargy that i can’t even seem to recall the proper spelling of my name. the last week of may taunted us with daily dousings of cool and refreshing sky juice (rain), but this past week we’ve seen temperatures nearing 100 degrees in the shade with a humidity level we can’t even calculate. each day we grow more thankful for a village water system that goes un-metered, so that five showers a day somehow seem less excessive than they really are. i still marvel at belizean women’s ability to cook over fire in this weather, and can’t comprehend how any work at all is accomplished in the unforgiving heat.

in an attempt to reminisce of cooler days, here is a brief outline of the past month’s activities:

in mid may, the chess club was invited for a weekend outing at caves branch. eight students from guinea grass, as well as teacher arnaldo, coy, and myself joined up with 7 chess players from cayo district and 3 from stann creek district. our adventure was based at sibun camp, in the lush jungle of the hummingbird highway. ella, the director of belize national youth chess foundation, and her staff engaged us in team building activities, sports, chess lessons, and the adventure trip of a lifetime.

ella instructing the kids on their blindfolded task

saturday morning after breakfast, we were all fitted for proper footwear and boarded the caves branch adventure bus, towing a trailer full of supplies behind us. we meandered up the highway a few miles, and turned off into an orange orchard.

view from the bus

the guinea grass crew ready for adventure!

inner-tubes and life vests were distributed, and we began trekking toward the river.

as we lowered ourselves into the cool water, the kids shrieked with excitement and surprise. we made a human chain in our tubes and began paddling toward the mouth of the cave. once we entered, we were all given headlamps, and left our tubes on the bank.

darell stepped up as our fearless leader, and educated us on the history of footprint cave. we were awed by the majestic formations, the animals and insects found within, and the remains of ancient mayan civilization. it was AWESOME.

the mouth of footprint cave

the dining hall at caves branch

kids enjoying some pool time after the cave adventure

after much planning and rescheduling, we finally made it south of belmopan to visit our friends clint and kathy in dangriga. the entire weekend felt somewhat surreal and it was hard to believe we were still in the same country. unlike our village up north, dangriga’s population is comprised of mostly garifuna and creole people. there was no spanish to be heard, but we were treated to a weekend of rich culture and good company. we shared a traditional garifuna meal with members of the garifuna national council, visited the home and art studio of the father of punta rock, and listened to the soothing sounds of the sea from clint and kathy’s spectacular home. thanks for a wonderful weekend, friends!

the caetano family of artists work together to create a beautiful gallery

kathy and clint on their front veranda

we ventured just a lee bit farther south to the seaside village of hopkins, where our friend diane works as a youth development volunteer. hopkins is a laid back, traditionally garifuna village which has recently seen a tremendous growth in tourism. after visiting the library where diane works, she took us on a tour of the “gringo” community. the houses and resorts at the far end of the village appeared very much out of place next to the wooden houses and occasional thatch roof of the local community. but after spending a few days there, it became apparent why so many foreigners choose hopkins as their summer or retirement home: it’s just so darn beautiful. voted the friendliest village in belize, hopkins definitely stole my heart with its constant sea breeze and warmth of a close knit community. thank you for sharing this gem with us, diane. we will be back!

the view from hopkins library

in need of a day’s rest after diane’s turbo-tour, we found ourselves back in the lovely garden city, belmopan. it was time to celebrate the graduation of a new class of volunteers, and get together with old friends. due to a transition of volunteer intake dates, we currently have three classes of volunteers serving simultaneously here in belize. our numbers are sky high, but somehow our phenomenal staff managed to find a place for each of us for the swearing-in ceremony. afterward, we were all invited to the u.s. ambassador’s residence for a reception topped with delicious indian dishes and an open bar. we took advantage of this opportunity to welcome our new country director to the team, and say goodbye to everyone’s favorite staff family (they are transferring to honduras this summer). it was nice to get together and celebrate as a group, as well as get to know some new faces.

i know it’s hard to believe, but we are fast approaching our two year mark in belize, and it’s almost time to start packing our bags. we will be having our close of service conference in mid july, where we start getting busy with our wrap up paperwork and even say goodbye to some friends who will be leaving early to attend grad school. our official close of service date is october 22, 2010, but as of yet, we are unsure when we’ll be saying our final adios to belize. coy and i are applying for a transfer to another country, following this tour of peace corps. we’ve submitted our paperwork and now we just wait to see where we will be accepted. we have our sights set on costa rica, honduras, or peru and intend to do a full two years of service wherever we are accepted. because of this extension, we may possibly stay in belize a bit longer than october. but don’t worry, we will spend at least a month in the states in between our service in belize and wherever the stars take us next.

in fact, we may be appearing in a town near you sooner than you thought! we’ll be taking a trip to pennsylvania at the end of july for some long overdue hugs and quality time with family and friends.

also on the horizon is another trip to the fabulous yucatan peninsula. i know, we’ve been there so many times already, but it’s just that great! and also this time we are meeting up with good friends from college, so we get to share the wonders of merida and mayan culture with folks who will appreciate it as much as we do. hurray! i can’t wait!

this month we plan to spend some quality time at home, while attempting to stay cool. school is winding down and that means chess club is too. i am still working with the girls club, which has now officially deemed itself a women’s group (we have a mix of ages from 15 to 40!) and we’ll be trying to initiate some more structure and planning into the group now that we’ve got a solid membership. but mostly, we will just enjoy it all one day at a time and be thankful for the time we have left here. in spite of the suffocating heat, i still manage to enjoy this life and am grateful for the things i sometimes take for granted. top five reasons i love life today: the sound of wind through the palm trees, parrots flying overhead, picking fresh limes from the tree out back, people coming door to door selling produce, and delicious ice cream we just discovered at the chinese store.