No got nottin fi do!

Not much going on here, but we don't want anyone to think we've dropped into the Caribbean Sea.

• Holidays are through for awhile. Independence Day (September 21) celebrations included fireworks, performances, and multiple parades. 

Fireworks started at midnight and lasted about 45 minutes!

Miss Stann Creek

• The state funeral for the former prime minister of Belize, the Right Honorable George Cadle Price, was held on Monday, September 27. The service was held in Belmopan, the capital (lasted about 3 hours), then the body was transported to Belize City where he was buried with other members of his family.  Here's a nice picture of him as a young man.

• I think we've made our last major home furnishings purchase. We found these chairs at a store that carries new and used goods from the US. The gal likes to bargain, and we got these chairs for half of her original asking price. Our living room is now very comfortable and is set up for nice social gatherings, don't you think?

• Thought you might gain some insight into why I talk about traffic and roads so much. Below you will see the map of downtown Dangriga. The main street through town is one-way, south to north. However, the river, North Stann Creek, divides the town, and there are only two bridges. In order to save citizens from having to drive the extra distance to the other bridge when going north to south, an "expert," town council members, and other interested parties came up with the traffic pattern you see in the graphic. Red lines represent one-way, and double-black lines are two-way. The streets not marked are also two-way. Our house on Magoon Street is marked with a star :-) 

• Steve is battling a nasty skin rash, most likely due to a photosensitivity caused by his blood pressure pills. Burny-itchy-red-dy!
  
• My Zumba classes have dwindled to 3 PCVs and one Belizean. I'm hoping it's because September was such a busy month with all the holidays. Strength class is about the same, but we hold all of them.
  
• The resource booklet I mentioned in our last blog entry has given me a chance to learn a lot more about Dangriga and its organizations. I have interviewed people from the hospitals and clinics, police department, churches, schools, different social services organizations.
  
  The most interesting was the police chief. I was dreading that place, kind of intimidated by those guys. He began the interview by telling me (rather sullenly) that they didn't offer services, that people think the police can do everything. I asked him to just describe to me the different branches within the PD and what they do. By the time he got through all of them, we had identified many services they provide (Of course, I knew it all the time, but for some reason he did not start out with the same belief.) In addition to protecting and defending, they also have a community liaison division, a police cadet "club" for kids, a first-time offenders program that offers community service for the offender, scholarships, and it goes on and on. It was time for me to leave and he kept remembering "one more thing" that I ought to know about.
  
• Training of trainers starts back up this weekend. I just found out today - Thursday. So I guess I'll hustle to pull something together . . . .