Norman flies off for a month in Belize

A reminder that we love comments about our blog but not advertisers

October 23, 2019

Looking back to the end of the previous entry we had just arrived back to La Paz and were getting settled in. We had chosen La Paz for several reasons including that it had marinas with “good power” so we could use our air conditioners (A/C) and made life a bit more bearable, it is an interesting place and supplies are relatively easy to obtain, we are familiar with the lay of the land, AND the cruisers’ community is pretty close knit since I was scheduled to fly off for a month to the Caribbean while Clarice and Jarvis watched the boat (in the middle of hurricane season) we wanted her (well at least I wanted her) to have folks she could call on if she had problems.  

Mexican Independence Day just before I left La Paz

If you look way down to the bottom of the left hand column of this blog you will find links titled “Belize Mission Memory Book” and Belize Mission Memory Book Photos that takes you back to our musings from when we were medical missionaries in Southern (read “very, very rural”) Belize for the year of 2004.  I returned in 2009 for a week just to see what had and hadn’t changed and then we both returned in 2014 to go to the college graduation of our Goddaughter from nursing school.  The goals of this month long visit were to allow me to get some patient care time on my resume and allow me to give back something of value (my skills) to a population I was familiar with.  I had contacted the clinic where we had previously volunteered and offered that since I was familiar with the clinic, the area it served, and have a lifetime Belizean RN license I could come for a month and should be able to quickly be an asset to the clinic.  The Clinic replied that their homecare RN would be out for maternity leave the end of September and they would appreciate my help.   We agreed that I would arrive mid-September and leave mid-October.

Getting to Belize from Baja Mexico proved to be a bit of a challenge.  I could go via Mexico (with an overnight in Mexico City) or via Dallas and Miami (with an overnight in Dallas) which proved to be the less expensive option. 

During my stop over in Dallas my very long time friend from
Tacoma made sure I experienced Texas hospitality by touring
half of Texas in 3 hours and eating far to much BBQ 

On my arrival in Punta Gorda Town I was taken to Cuxlin Ha where I would stay during my visit.  Cuxlin Ha is two miles down the same dirt road beyond the clinic.  We had become familiar with the owners back in 2004 and were VERY surprised to learn that they were from the same town as us in Washington.  Gayle (man) is quite an artist with concrete and tile (I knew his work as he had made the fountain at the Western Washington Fair where I was to go if I got separated from my parents back in my childhood).  He and Dona had a dream of building a timeshare resort AND a living Mayan village together. They then went on to lease two "sand bars" on the Belizian barrier reef and turn them into islands with trees they planted and houses they built. (There latest dream is to build a "Mayan temple tourist attraction in a local village" even though they are both in their 80's!)  The resort never took hold ( even though the main building is well built) but the Mayan village continues to thrive so for all practical purposes I stayed the month in a Mayan village.

Looking back from Cuxlin Ha on the road to the village

The main resort building

My room

I was quickly reminded to check the floor and shoes while living in a jungle

My veranda and the bicycle I used for primary transportation

Main Cuxlin Ha Village road

Looking out from the upper floor of the resort building

This pool is quite lovely but only had rainwater in it while I was there

Waiting at the river to head out to the houses on the reef 2 hours away

Our chariot has arrived but needs 4 hours worth of fuel before we can head out

Approaching the 2 islands

Is that a giant beehive????

It's a concrete house covered with conch shells

Another example of Gayle's concrete art

We got back just in time for sunset

I have often wondered what it would be like staying in a Mayan village for an extended time. Frankly Cuxlin Ha hardly counts as the residents are used to folks staying at the lodge from when it was more of a going concern and most of them have jobs in town and the kids commute to school on a school bus.  On the other hand it was interesting to observe the pace of the village.  The women walked to the corn mill in the end house when they needed corn masa for tortillas (they tell me that with refrigeration available they can keep it for a couple of days, in the outer villages 3 meals a day require 3 trips to the mill).  Chickens, turkeys, ducks and dogs seem to run wild but obviously know where they need to go to be safe from wildlife at night.  The older boys have a soccer game almost every evening with only half of them playing with shoes on the rock strewn field.  Every morning I awoke to the smell of wood smoke that had settle in as the night cooled since Mayans are sure that tortillas and beans only taste right if they are cooked over a wood hearth. Next to the building I was in was a community owned store where I could buy basic supplies and food and a cold soda.  The woman who often ran the store got to know me and agreed to make flour tortillas when I ordered them and one of her children would arrive before I left at 7 in the morning with them to start my day.  The RN who I was covering for and her family also lived in the village and provided a resource when I needed something like a wrench for my bicycle.   In other words the village folk quickly got used to me being around and were pleasant and interactive when I talked to them (doing things like helping to unload a trailer load of cement blocks and cement also helped me ingratiate myself).    On the other hand I talked a lot with Kristine RN who had initially come to Belize as a Mennonite missionary before she had her RN and lived in a Mayan Village for several years and even learned to speak some Ketchi.  She talked about it being a society where you take off one layer of onion at a time and in the Mayan world those layers are very thin and lots of them.  She indicated that even as long as she was involved in the village she still had only scratched the surface of the cultural milieu.

Every village is built next to a river

The village corn mill

Turning corn cooked in lime (calcium carbonate) water into masa

The daily after school football (soccer) match

The clinic has grown tremendously since Clarice and I were there in 2004.  Only two of the current employees were there when we were.  The good news is that one of the goals of the clinic was to eventually have local healthcare providers as medical staff.  Currently one RN is Maya, the PTA (Physical Therapy Aide) is Maya as is the pharmacist the public health director is also a local man who previously worked with the Ministry of Health.  I was a bit caught off guard as when I was there before I worked incredibly hard (as did Clarice) trying to fill several roles at once whereas when I arrived this time I wasn’t sure I was really needed and initially was a bit chagrined that I had taken a month away from my wife and home when I perceived they could have gotten along without me.  The work that I did do was to visit the home patients who would normally be seen by the RN on maternity leave.  Often the visits included a group of Physician Assistant, MD, and pharmacy students and since I love to teach I enjoyed working with them.  I was also able to see that many of the projects we had organized that were just “getting by” on our arrival in 2004 have now been built on and are functioning well (e.g. Clarice took the pharmacy from a pile of boxes being attacked by termites to an organized place with a regular inventory / ordering system, I took the medical record system from having family charts to individual charts and then to an electronic tracking system.) I’m afraid that I may have left a bit of a bad impression with the staff when I let it be known that I didn’t feel they were making good use of my time but felt it important to say something so that we could (and did) make changes. [Today I received an email from Nurse Kristine thanking me again for my work and noting that she had found her workload to be very heavy after I left since she is now also covering home visits. Her note is very appreciated.]

Town square for Belize's 38th birthday 

Punta Gorda market

BBQ and "Stew" chicken are Belizian staples

Independence Day parade bringing focus to Mayan heritage

There are at least 3 places turning local cacao into chocolate
(when we were there in 2004 the cacao was all shipped to England)

The house we stayed in in 2004

Barranco Garifuna Village where I used to visit every 6 weeks - this time I made home visits there

I expected this house to have blown down by now (it is barely standing)
The man next to it was a child in the house.

Mental Health Day.  The kids got out of school to display their posters and we had a health table

The group of students at the clinic who had arrived the last week I was there

It was very rewarding to see the changes in the Mayan levels of education.  When I was in the villages in 2004 I made sure to ask every young child, and especially the young girls, where they were going to go to high school.  My purpose was to put the idea in their minds that they had alternatives other than having children while they were 13 – 15 years old.  When we worked with Margery, our Goddaughter, the idea was to let Mayan girls see one of their own succeed in college.  Another factor was we were not allowed to discuss birth control even with a woman experiencing her 15^th pregnancy.  Now the clinic provides birth control education and options (and Kristine tells me that she is observing the younger women choosing to only have 2-4 children)!  There are now 2 high schools with over 1000 students each in the Mayan village areas.  In 2004 we only knew of one Mayan RN (a man) now I know of at least 2 in Punta Gorda alone and I was followed by a young Mayan woman who wants to be an MD on some of my visits. For Independence Day (Belize turned 38 this year) the theme was celebration of the Mayan heritage.  In general the Mayans are proving that they can be upwardly mobile from their traditional place at the bottom of the social ladder. Since much of my work in 2004 was in the outer Mayan villages I am very interested in them as a people.

Our Goddaughter, Margery, and her new baby (her clothing indicates she is Mennonite)

Margery and Elmer are both Mayan, both have been to college, both are Mennonite, BUT
they can't speak to each other except in English.  He speaks Ketchi Mayan and she speaks Mopan Mayan.

Margery and her husband Elmer's inside kitchen. (Hammocks are everywhere
in Belizian homes, they are tied up during the day.)

Margery and Elmer's outdoor traditional kitchen

Margery pointed out that this is a "modern" hearth because it is made of
blocks and concrete rather than rocks and soil.

Elmer's wood-shop - he seems to be a very successful businessman! 

Margery and her extended family preparing tortillas for a family BBQ

I arrived back in La Paz on October 13^th and was greeted by heavy rain showers (the plane was waved off from landing twice before settling down).  Estimates were that the day I arrived saw 3 inches in 24 hours. In any case I was very happy to be home again.

Leaving the rain forest behind as I begin the long journey back to La Paz Mexico

On a final note I had been planning for some time to attend a Spanish for Medical Professionals class being offered here in La Paz.  The class took 4 days but took in the topics normally covered in 3 semesters of Spanish.  The good news is I had opted to get the textbook about 2 months ago and had gone through it from cover to cover several times so I wasn’t left in the dust in the class sessions.  In any case for the first time I feel like I at least understand how the language is structured and am no longer just memorizing phrases.  After class on the last day the instructor suggested folks head out to Balandra Bay as a group and I added that we could take them for a cruise on the way.  We had a great time with enough pot-luck food for an army, perfect swimming water, and we timed the return trip perfectly for a spectacular sunset.  An interesting cultural note was when the instructor’s mother (her parents live in La Paz) mentioned to Clarice that she liked this American custom of everyone bringing something so the hostess could enjoy the party as well rather than the Mexican custom where the hostess is responsible for feeding and caring for everyone.

My Spanish class, our instructor and her mother

Our Spanish Class potluck.  (To the right is the instructor's father)

While Norman was in Belize, I (Clarice) enjoyed some uninterrupted time sewing and boat cleaning. One of the weeks Norman was gone a friend came down  to visit. We hadn’t seen each other for a few years, but it’s the kind of friendship that you just start up where you left off. We talked, walked, biked…enjoyed the beaches and relaxed. It was still pretty hot while she was here so we took our mid day rests as per requirement in Mexico. Ate lots of great food, discovered a fantastic bakery and visited the local pottery shop. Oh my, it’s a good thing we live on a boat as the pottery is beautiful and the temptation to buy lots is so great. I limited myself to a couple of small items, but want to take Norman there and may have to get a few other treasures. By the fourth week, I was ready to have my partner back. People sometimes get this concerned look when they hear we live on a boat and ask “how is it to be so close together all the time?”. While it is nice to be apart for short stints and do our own thing, we luckily have the type of relationship that has thrived on our togetherness…. If we are apart we think of what the other one would enjoy about what we are doing. We enjoy doing so many of the same things, including working on the boat, that we are very symbiotic and our chores go much faster with the two of us working together ( either to help or commiserate as needed).  And of course Jarvis was missing Norman tremendously. He got some doses of petting and his walks with just me, but I obviously don’t hold a candle to the level of devotion Norman bestows upon him. He literally was jumping for joy to see Norman. I, for one, am ready to get back to cruising and enjoying the water. I get pretty tired of being at a marina. I love being anchored out, enjoying all that nature has to offer without all the stuff associated with being tied to civilization.

A new plaza was dedicated shortly after I returned and this was the music they offered:

Our outing this morning to discover more of the area around La Paz