Winter is Over!

Some interesting and unusual things have happened in the last week or so. Last Monday a former Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter was in country with his wife Nancy and two close friends. Our country staff people put on a luncheon and program about what we are doing in Belize.

Cathy and I were invited to meet with him for a half hour before the luncheon and tell about the  training manual for the community health workers that we are writing. Country Director Nina Hernandez followed up by explaining how it will fit into the direction of Peace Corps in Belize. As we have mentioned in earlier blog entries, the emphasis for next year’s volunteers will be on health education, partnering with the community health workers in the rural villages.

After a wonderful lunch (I got excited about the fresh salad), some of our fellow volunteers gave presentations about their work in all the programs (health, education, and business development).

He posed for a picture with us. Cathy is right behind his wife in the middle, and I am behind Cathy. 

I have had fun working with my good friend Charlie Holliday (a transplant from northern California) on a project for Pen and Ingrid Cayetano. They have a door with great sentimental significance and wanted it used on a display cabinet in their house. It turns out that Charlie is a master wood finisher - mostly for marine applications, and he shares my reverence for beautiful wood. We have sanded the door and cleaned it up, but Charlie is still struggling to find a can of finish that will do justice to this wood.

Pen introduced us to a cabinet builder, Maurice Martinez, who has a woodworking shop with production level tools. I designed a corner cabinet for the door and delivered the precise dimensions to Maurice for the front door frame with mortise and tenon joinery. I think the wood for the frame is from a mango tree. We picked up the frame on Friday, and I was very pleased with his level of perfection. He is truly a craftsman.

Next week I will mount the door on the hinges and get some photographs. I have also selected wood for the back panels, and it has all harvested from Pen and Ingrid’s farm and is well seasoned.  We delivered the boards to get them planed and edged. I can hardly wait to see the grain. 

Taken from the upstairs at Pen's house.

You can see me through the palm frond working on the door. That's Charlie in the background in the blue shirt.

The highlight of the week is the visit by my sisters Nancy and Carol. They brought us lots of toys and goodies. They stayed one night here and left the next day for Tobacco Caye. Carol has been keeping us entertained with her photos and emails.

Yesterday I was able to spend the day with them and had a blast. In spite of many reapplications of sunscreen, I still got a little reddened. It was certainly worth the minor discomfort. 

We spent almost the entire day in Cap'n Doggy's boat, and I learned how to catch baracuda. We went snorkeling on the reef for a while and marveled at the beauty of the sea life. I also met many new friends yesterday and enjoyed good food with them. It was a wonderful time. 

Carol, me and Nancy - with Doggy in the boat

Leap Year Day - Save our Barrier Reef!

Belize, the "Jewel of Central America," is rich in resources. At the top of the list is its natural beauty, including the coral reef situated off the coast, the second longest reef in the world. Every year thousands of tourists come from all over the world to explore the reef and enjoy the hospitality of Belize. Tourism is one of the country's largest industries. As the country's infrastructure improves and grows, tourism will continue to grow in importance.

Pumping station at Spanish Lookout

Another resource, although not so plentiful, is petroleum. One company, Belize Natural Energy, began exploring in the Spanish Lookout area in 2002, and now produces about 5,000 barrels a day. Before that, many companies had unsuccessfully explored for 50 years. The crude is processed here, but all of the oil is exported. None of the owners of the company are Belizean and they hire very few Belizeans. The sole benefit of BNE (other than some small grants to various local groups, such as POWA) to the country are the corporate revenue taxes.

According to an article on Belize.com, "Most of Belize’s 8,867 square miles of territory and much of the waters offshore have been allocated out in petroleum concessions to 18 different companies with a range of foreign shareholders from as close as the USA and as far off as Taiwan and even a local gambling den," and "Princess Petroleum Limited, belonging to the owners of the Princess Casino, has a contract to explore 1 million plus acres of Belize for oil. The license is mostly offshore, but also some inland exploration. The company is allegedly well connected with local politicians of the ruling United Democratic Party." (Read the entire article.)




So now to get to the focus of this blog entry - offshore drilling. The government is promoting offshore exploration and drilling "for the benefit of the people of Belize." Enter Oceana, an international organization dedicated to protecting the oceans and natural oceanic resources of the earth. They have been present in Belize for a long time, focussing on overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution and climate change. Barrier reef protection is at the top of the list. More than 20% of the Belizean population derive revenues because of the barrier reef. Regarding offshore drilling, Oceana, in partnership with the Belize Coalition to Save Our Natural Heritage, has been advertising vigorously since before Steve and I arrived in Belize last March via posters, radio and TV commercials, newspaper articles and canvassing to spread the word about the issue, and the dangers to the barrier reef. (Read Oceana's overview.)

In 2008, the Belize legislature passed a law allowing people to bring issues to a referendum. The petitioners for a referendum must collect signatures from at least 10% of the registered voters (about 18,000 people) for the issue to be allowed on the government ballot. This is the first time the new law has been tested. Oceana turned in close to 21,000 signatures. When the signatures were reviewed by the ministry in charge of elections, more than 8,000 signatures were rejected.

This was, of course, a big setback. They were expecting some problems with duplicates or some whose voter registration was in doubt, perhaps up to 1,000, but not with almost 40% of the names. The group is following up by requesting documentation on why each signature was rejected. In the meantime, Oceana's next step was to announce that a People's Referendum would be held on Wednesday, February 29. The vote would be funded completely by Oceana and the Belize Coalition to Save Our Natural Heritage.

One of the polling locations in Dangriga. More than 3700 people
voted from Stann Creek District.

The turnout was impressive (more than 29,000 voters), and the vote, not surprisingly, was against the offshore drilling by about 96%. Of course, it was an unofficial vote, and so holds no weight with the government. However, Prime Minister Dean Barrow went on record yesterday to say that he can't ignore the fact that so many people made the extra effort to voice their opinion. He said that if re-elected, he "personally would be prepared to support the Government sponsoring the referendum to be held at an appropriate time after we would have allowed for a full-throttle debate during which people will not just hear from one side."
I have met NO one here who is in favor of offshore drilling. Of course, I live here on the coast of Belize, so that's not surprising. I have read some articles quoting some who support the drilling initiative.
General elections will be held this Wednesday, March 7. As Peace Corps Volunteers, we do not get involved in politics. For our safety, we will be in a status of Alert and Stand Fast for March 6-8. Focus this week will be on the politicians, not the barrier reef. But I'll keep you updated on this important issue.

Great Vacation Week with the Family

At the Pelican

The week leading up to our family's visit and the visit itself was emotionally exhausting for me (in a good way), so I'm way behind in writing the blog! Here's a quick rundown of our vacation week. Those of you who regularly read our blog will recognize a lot of similarities to the activities we had when Steve's sisters visited.

Arrival! A boring picture for most people, but I really like it!

My son, Jeff, and his wife, Stephanie, and her mother, Susan, arrived late morning of Saturday the 4th. Steve and I took the bus from home to Belize and then to the airport to meet them.

We had a rental car for the whole week. That's like an extra vacation treat for Steve and me, because of the freedom it affords us. We learned that we ARE allowed to drive in Belize if we are on vacation, so we took advantage of that. It was fun to drive the roads we've been travelling on the bus, watching out for the myriad speed bumps (they call it the Highway Patrol) along the way.

Our first full day of vacation we lazed around Dangriga, taking the pretty walk north of town to the Pelican Resort. They have hammocks out on a pier where you can read, sip a drink, nap or just look at the sea. Beautiful.

Monday morning we hit the road bound for Succotz, the village closest to Xunantunich and El Castillo, a large Mayan ruin. Along the way we stopped at Marie Sharp's "pepper" plant. Her company produces hot sauces, jams and jellies, and a few other products. The people of Dangriga are very proud of her success. Heading north along the beautiful Hummingbird Highway, we enjoyed the orange groves and rain forest-covered mountains. On to Spanish Lookout, a Mennonite village that is different from anywhere else in Belize. It has large fenced pastures, huge barns and storage buildings, and American-style homes and shops. We stopped for a pizza slice and some ice cream.

Susan and Marie Sharp

The Sleeping Giant, seen along the Hummingbird Highway.
You can see his face in profile, and his body lying to the left.

Xunantunich was just as magnificent this time as when we went with Steve's sisters. Two differences this time - I did NOT go up to the top; the other four did. And we had extra time to go over to the see the howling monkeys, the ones living in the wild. That roar is truly frightening. Should be used for a monster sound in a horror movie!

Four crazy people at the top. I just couldn't bring myself to go back
up there again. Too many bad dreams after the last time I did it.

Another shot of El Castillo

Tuesday we headed to Placencia for a nice overnight stay. The Sea Spray Hotel was right on the beach, had good amenities for not much money. Most of us took a jog or power walk while we were there. Placencia is a great place to visit if you come to Belize - but it's not very Belizean there. Touristy. Tuesday night was time for Karaoke, with everyone getting in on the act except the official photographer, Steve.

We checked out Wednesday morning and headed to the Coxcomb Basin Wildlife Refuge, what a lot of people call the Jaguar Preserve. Everybody was gung-ho for a good hike. Boy, did we get what we asked for. Straight up and down to get to a double waterfall, and then retrace to get back. It was beautiful, and worth the work. At some point, I admitted that I needed some assistance and Steve made me a good walking stick. I have no trouble going up, but going down steep grades scares me. That stick gave me the extra balance I needed. The best part was swimming at the foot of the waterfall!

Cold as it was, everybody eventually got used to the water and felt
invigorated. Susan and Jeff kept talking about the water's magical
qualities. I thought they felt better because of all the negative ions
generated by the waterfall. Maybe it was magic.

Thursday everybody went snorkeling (and napping and reading) at Tobacco Caye. Sorry to say we don't have a single picture, because nobody wanted to risk taking their camera. Brought back SEVEN lobsters for Friday's dinner.

Friday was another easy day in Dangriga, just lazing around, shopping, reading, doing some fix-em-up projects at the house. And Friday night was lobster dinner with Miss Patsy and her sister, Bernice. Patsy always makes me feel so good when she comes to eat. She compliments my meal, says, "You can cook for me every Friday, Cathy." It's extra flattering since she is a professional cook!

Saturday was my birthday (62!!) and we had a great time at the Belize Zoo and dinner at the Pelican.

Well, I've left out a few things for sure (especially the absolutely miserable Wednesday night watching the Duke-Carolina basketball game), but I hit the high spots.

Although I do a fairly good job when I'm angry or indignant, I've never been good at expressing my sentimental feelings. It was tough for me to say goodbye on Sunday. I had already had several tearful moments in anticipation of their leaving, but I still had a lot of boo-hoos left. Great memories, though.

Glover's Reef

The last several entries have been out of order chronologically, but we hope to get back on track as the dust settles from so many recent events. 

Steve with Dante, Charles, and Capt. Doggie

On the last day of Nancy and Carol’s visit, Carol hired our favorite captain to take us to Glover’s Reef Atoll. It is more than twice as far out as Tobacco Caye, so you really have to want to go there. 

The atoll is ringed by less than half a dozen small islands. The exact number changes with each big hurricane. The outer side of the reef is best known for spectacular scuba diving at the wall of the cliff that drops quickly to more than a hundred feet. There is a dive shop on one of the islands called “Off the Wall” (they have a web site), and of course the gift shop has tee shirts there. 

We stayed inside the atoll and snorkeled where the water was warm and quiet. We saw lots of fish and beautiful coral formations. We gave Carol’s underwater camera a chance to show its worth. At several of the islands we went ashore with permission of the owners. There are tourist lodgings there, but we did not get a close look at them. The thatch cabana over the water seemed really neat. For someone who wants to get away, this place is FAR away. The bed swing on the beach was Carol’s favorite fixture. People there are not only laid back, they are laid waaaay back. 

Carol relaxes on bed swing

Captain Doggie brought Charles and Dante for his crew. He and Charles talked about the good old days when they fished there and nobody lived on the islands. They could come and go as they pleased. Now it is a marine preserve, and the local fishermen are banned from fishing there. Without admitting they have actually done anything wrong, they told how someone could theoretically pick the right time and circumstances to fish there if they were so inclined. 

Carol and Nancy with Charles and a friend

At the end of the day we were a tired bunch. On the way home we were entertained by a school of porpoise who swam with us for a while, until they got bored with our slow pace and inability to mimic their tricks. I was amazed that they swam close enough to touch.