Caye Caulker is My Favorite Color

[**Before the Beyond Boston blogging term began, I went on several weekend trips around Belize. There is an amazing amount of diversity in the country, and it is unlikely that I will return to many of these places before the end of my co-op. To make up for this, this week's blog post is a throwback (hey it's thursday!) to my trip to Caye Caulker Island] 

This is the blue out of your crayola crayon box. That unbelievable "no-filter-needed" cerulean blue that doesn't look real- even in real life. This is Caye Caulker.

In celebration of Hannah's last few days in Belize, we departed on an un-Belize-able weekend getaway. (HA. Un-Belize-able. You can't even blame me for using that pun because I swear to you, it is on every single tourist t-shirt in the country) Puns aside, this island is something magic. Maybe it's because I never went to Disney World or other fancy Caribbean destinations as a kid, but the seaweed littered, rocky beaches of the southern coast of Cape Cod simply cannot compare. A quick 45 minute water taxi can transport you to this little piece of paradise directly from the port in Belize City. Be warned though- this isn't a cruise ship. It's a full throttle speed boat with people packed in like sardines. The whole way there. Prepare for wind. See video for our reactions to this part of the adventure:

" Go Slow" is Caye Caulker's motto- and trust me, it's not just a suggestion. You can feel it as soon as you step off the water taxi- you're on island time now. It's actually nearly impossible to move quickly. The only form of transportation on the island are golf cart taxis that roll along sandy pathways barely wide enough for a car. Although the island is so tiny there is really no reason to use them. Wandering on foot, or by borrowed bicycle, is by far the best option for getting around. You might find yourself moving even slower than usual if you're suffering from a lobster food coma, or if you've been sipping rum punch in a hammock all day.

Despite our inevitable participation in the lobster-eating and rum-punch-drinking, Hannah and I's main purpose on Caye Caulker was snorkeling. There are dive and snorkel shops every few feet on the main pathway of Caye Caulker and it can be a bit of a daunting task to choose the right one. Luckily, as soon as we arrived at our hostel (Bella's Backpacker's), a fellow traveler immediately gave us a raving review of Stressless Tours- a new eco-friendly shop on the island. It's hard to argue with that, so we set off to book with them for the next day. (*Side note:* All snorkeling tours are a standard price of $65 USD on the island- but it's well worth the money)

One life-changing lobster dinner and a picture perfect sunset later, we were off to bed to prepare for the long day ahead.

The next day was a reality check.

I've never had a snorkel in my mouth, I can't remember the last time I swam for that long continuously, and I forgot what true seasickness feels like. Despite the fact that I pulled 2 consecutive all-nighters last semester, I've never experienced physical exhaustion quite like this snorkeling experience. Yet every time we jumped off that boat, it all just melted away. It was really just breathtaking.

From here, I really don't have any photos or video that can possibly explain how insane this trip was. For a while I had some serious regrets about not renting a GoPro for the occasion, but now I'm glad that I didn't have the distraction. I think by really looking around, instead of fiddling with a camera, I got the most out of the experience. Just know that it was absolutely mind-blowing.

For the most representative footage of a Belize Barrier Reef snorkeling experience please see Finding Nemo. Our tour guide was essentially Mr. Ray.

In Which I Become a YouTuber

One of the best parts of my job is that I am constantly learning new things. Most of the new skills are from my daily challenge to create fresh and engaging content for our social media accounts. I am forever indebted to Professor John Kane and the Graphic Design 1 curriculum for whipping me into shape and forcing me to learn Adobe Illustrator. So far, I have brushed up on even more Illustrator skills, learned a thing or two in Photoshop, dipped my toes into web design, and now this week, learned how to edit videos in Adobe Premiere Pro and upload to YouTube. 

Before I get into things and elaborate on this adventure in technology, I have been informed that I left out some very critical family members from my blog post last week. I am ashamed to admit that I forgot to include all five (YES 5) dogs. 

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Sweetie Pie (3)- Female. Tiny fluffy toy poodle. Extremely easy to trip over. Jasmine loves this dog more than anything. She carries it around, calls it "Sweet Pie balooshkies" in that awful baby-talk voice, and will scold you for days if you accidentally step on it. Sweetie Pie is currently battling a bad case of the fleas, so she couldn't take a break from itching for a photo-op.

Coco (3)- Female. Giant black lab/ boxer mix. Although she was an insane puppy just a few years ago (when I met her on my first trip to Belize with NU ASB), she's become the wise old soul of the pack. To add to her grandma-like persona, she gets a cough every time it rains. I think if I were reincarnated as a dog, I'd end up a lot like Coco.

Husky (2)- Male. Husky is a husky. I guess kids aren't very creative with the naming thing. Doomed to forever look like a teenager, Husky had a growth-stunting virus last summer that seems to have ruined his prospects with the ladies. He now spends most of his time sulking and ripping up potted plants. I feel partially responsible for the adoption of Husky. The first time I came to Belize, my Alternative Spring Break team voted to give the kids our stuffed animal Husky mascot. Apparently they begged and begged for a real one... and they got it. The real husky eventually ate the stuffed animal.

Shira and Asim (Age??). The rambunctious female and male Afghan hound duo. They are the only Afghan hounds in Belize. We think. I can't say much about these two as they currently live on the roof deck because they are incapable of getting along with the other dogs. 

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Anyways... back to the scheduled programming for this blog post:

This week I taught myself Adobe Premiere Pro CC- the video editing software that comes in the same line of products as Photoshop. When you first open this program, it just looks intimidating. With four different work spaces and lots of little symbolic buttons, I was immediately lost. Luckily YouTube has a lot of videos about how to make videos for YouTube. It's strangely meta, but also very helpful.

I quickly realized that this was going to be one of those things that takes about fives times as long as you anticipate it taking. For example, I had completely forgotten that music copyrights were an issue and spent 30 minutes looking through the free YouTube audio library. Then, after I thought I was all done, the rendering and uploading took another two hours. Then when I was sure that I was done, YouTube asked me for a custom thumbnail and account verification...

Several hours later and I finally had a video complete with "inspirational electronic dance" music (the category under which I found the free music) and footage filmed by our last volunteer group, The Global Convoy. You can check it out here: 

Now that I have a good grasp of the basics, I'm excited to make more videos! I've already started on some projects with some footage that I've taken on my weekend adventures. More on these adventures in the future! Stay tuned for next week's episode: 

Thursdays are for Arts & Crafts

I am lucky to have the best, and possibly most unique, work-life-balance on my co-op in Belize. Because I self-designed my co-op I definitely don't have a traditional office environment. In fact, I actually live with my two bosses and their family, and we all work from home. Nancy and Jaime, the husband-and-wife team who founded Barzakh Falah and supervise me on my co-op, have a beautiful home and a loving family. 

Every morning we all have breakfast together at 7:30, Jaime takes the kids to school, and afterwards we all pull out our laptops and start our work day at the kitchen table. Around noon, someone will leave to take food to the kids for lunch (parents are invited to picnic with the kids at the schools here). On the way back, they'll bring Leo home, since he attends a half-day school. All is quiet for a few more hours until the girls get picked up from school at 3:30 and come home. Once they're home, all productivity is lost for a few hours while we referee after-school activities and prepare dinner. Sometimes I stay on my computer typing away, but work for me typically resumes after dinner.

On Thursdays, Jasmine's best friend in the whole wide world, Victoria, comes over for arts and crafts. Her mom Ms. Deb, comes along too. The adults drink coffee (for Nancy and I, it's probably our 3rd cup of the day) and snack on ginger cookies, while the kids tackle the project of the week. Victoria's family is actually from California, but relocated to Belize a few years ago to give the kids a cultural exchange experience while being homeschooled. Last week the kids made stenciled t-shirts with fabric pens and showed off their button bowls from the week before. (From left to right: Yahzzarrah, Jasmine, & Victoria)

Having lived this lifestyle for 2 months, I now completely understand why Barzakh Falah had almost no online presence before I arrived. With all of the meals, pick-ups, drop-offs, and play dates, Jaime and Nancy can really only manage the most essential functions of day-to-day operations for the non-profit and other small projects they run. 

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To give you a better grasp of what the family is like, here's a little more information on all the characters:

The Adults:

Nancy (or Mom) wears many hats. She is a "retired" activist, a humanitarian, an entrepreneur, a chef, a fantastic mother who parents with spunk, and most recently, a cook-book author (click here to check out her first book!). Nancy's ability to keep the whole family glued together while managing several small businesses is truly inspiring.

Jaime (or Dad) is the architect behind Barzakh Falah. He has degrees in architecture and eco-sustainable building. He manages and supervises the hard labor when we have volunteers. Also makes excellent lime juice slushies and iced "hot chocolate".

There is another co-worker, Louis, who also lives at the house. Louis helps out with everything from shuttling kids around to booking volunteers for Barzakh, while running his own construction contracting business. He is a master coffee-maker and makes sure to keep everyone heavily dependent on a caffeine drip. 

(From left to right: Louis, Jaime, & Nancy)

Grandma and Grandpa (Nancy's parents) don't actually live with us, but they might as well. They are right next door and frequently call one of us over for various things. Common requests are: "can we borrow your toaster" and "Leo can you feed our dog." But having a good relationship with Grandma and Grandpa has advantages- they have the best snacks. They currently split their time between living here in San Ignacio, and a house in Chetumal, Mexico. 

The Kids:

Xena is the oldest- the 17-year-old Instagram star, who is sure to become internationally famous at any second. She's just starting the college search, so we talk quite a bit about what my life at university is like, and what she might want to major in. Her biggest dreams at the moment are to turn 18 and to move out of Belize.

Then there's Leo, a 14-year-old genius already attending an accelerated high school. Until recently, he was pretty sure he wanted to be an astrophysicist, but since it's not statistically realistic for him to become an astronaut... he's decided to lower his expectations and pursue Biomedical Engineering so he can build prosthetic limbs. Not to mention, he's quickly becoming an excellent photographer.

Jasmine (Jazz) is 11, and "aaallmost 12" as she would tell you. At the moment, Jazz is tackling the biggest challenges of 5th grade- spelling and memorizing Bible verses (the two youngest kids attend a Mennonite school- more on this later). She always wants to know how your day was, and if you're ever looking to split an orange, she will always be willing to take on the other half. 

Finally, there is Yahzzarrah (or Yaz). 6 years old. Adorable. She has absolutely everyone wrapped around her finger. Currently going through a phase where she pretty much refuses to eat anything except for Nutella, fried plantains, and grapefruit. But hey- at least she likes grapefruit right? 

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Are you exhausted just reading this? Now try a work-from-home lifestyle while being surrounded by this crew 24/7. Don't get me wrong though, I really do enjoy living here. I'm so glad that I'm getting to experience what it's like to grow up in a big family that is so different from my own.

I can't leave a blog post without doing a little bit of "work" for my co-op so please give us some love on social media! LIKE/ SHARE/ FOLLOW Barzakh Falah because the best thing you can do for a tiny non-profit, with almost no effort, is to make it visible to others: 

~~ Facebook ~~

~~ Wordpress Blog~~

~~ Instagram ~~

**NEW THIS WEEK**: ~~Youtube~~