The whole group went over to Guatemala today. We spent the morning laying out on Playa Blanco enjoying the sun and the sand. Roberto BBQ'd some chicken and grilled some hotdogs for us. We played a little beach volleyball too. It was awesome. I could have stayed there all day. Afterwards we headed to the Seven Altars which is a series of waterfalls. Unfortunately rain has been scarce so the waterfalls we more like trickles, but we had fun anyway. I went up to jump off the falls into the pool below and ended up being pulled down by Adam (jump raped). After the falls we rode over to Livingston to do some shopping and just see a little of Guatemala. Got back tonight after 8 hours out with Roberto and we're all completely beat. I'm almost ready for bed right now and it's only twenty to seven.
I'm starting to get some color which is nice. Not enough to avoid the "Hey white girls" comments though. Monday starts week 3 in Belize. We have a holiday on Thursday and I personally plan on doing absolutely nothing all day. Aside from the Adam, Becky and I get to go hang out with old people on Wednesday and help them exercise and take their blood pressures; should be interesting... Next weekend is the big trip to Sapodilla Cayes. Can't wait! If this weekend is any indication the caliber of the next trip we're going to have a blast.
Anyhoo, Adam is whipping up some delicious smelling chicken parmesan again. Time to eat!
So despite all the previous talk we stayed in town this weekend. Yesterday Hailey, Mirek, Liz, I, and 2 of the nurses went out with Roberto on his boat the "Wild Thing" to go snorkeling at Snake Cayes, search for dolphins and manatees in the mangroves, and go tubing. It was so much fun. I saw hundreds of fish and am really excited to dive now. Parrot fish, barracuda, etc. I even held 2 starfish and saw dozens more. It was incredible. Unfortunately I neglected to reapply sunscreen so I am paying for the whole adventure dearly, but I still had a blast. After snorkeling we went to an island to eat lunch (bologna sandwiches, apple, plantain chips, and a fig newton-like bar made with pineapple). The snake cayes are known for the red-tailed boa so Roberto found us some to see and HOLD. Liz has pictures of all of us so I have to make sure I get those from here to share. We searched for manatees and dolphins for a long time but came up with nothing so we headed back towards town to go tubing. When I say tubing I mean just like at home only this was on the ocean, with twin outboard motors, and a tube the size of a love-seat. I wiped out pretty good after staying on through 5-6 ridiculous turns.
Last night we had comfort food again for dinner (vegetable soup and grilled cheese) then packed 10 of us in the van once again to head into PG. THe whole country is celebrating Garifuna settlement this coming week (actually holiday on thursday) so there was a battle of the drums last night. So cool. I have some pictures and a video that I'll post when I get home.
Today it's off to Guatemala for cliff jumping, waterfalls, and shopping. Then back to clinic on Monday.
Bet you can't guess the first thing I saw when I set up the pharmacy at the mobile clinic this morning... a scorpion. He even had a friend with him on the floor. Thankfully after a few photo-ops, Adam and Mirek took it upon themselves to kill them and Maria was kind enough to throw them out. Clinic went well after that - extremely busy though. We saw 63 patients in about 4 hours with 1 pharmacist (me). It was insane. I'm going to miss the autonomy I have here. I can change scripts if we don't have a drug or the amount seems incorrect; every prescriber listens intently to my recommendations. Coming back to the U.S. is going to be rough.
After clinic we went to dinner at Gomier's. This guy moved to Belize from St. Lucia in 1996 and opened his restaurant in 1997. He's big into health food: vegetarian, makes his own tofu and soy milk. Amazing story teller too. He told us tons about his life and his adventures, he likes and dislikes, his theories and thoughts about life and about health. He's an amazing man and an even more amazing cook. I had the vegetarian lasagna which was spectacular, the curried fish was delicious as well. Also tried his chocolate ice cream. And the whole meal cost me a whopping US$10. And afterward he picked fresh lemon grass for us to take home and make tea. He also showed us his dreadlocks that he has been growing since 1980. The end of his hair is older than I am. It's taller than he is and we could pass it around the table. The ends are dark brown while the top is stark white. We're heading back there next Tuesday for cooking lessons.
The plans for this weekend now include snorkeling, drumming and Guatemala. Next weekend we'll attempt the dives the following weekend at Sapodilla Cayes.
