Slowly Slowly

"Slowly, slowly"- it's something my grandmother (or yiayia because we're Greek), used to say all the time. That's how things get done. Slowly, slowly, and little by little. I've seen a lot of changes and progress being made at Barzakh Falah over two alternative spring breaks and my co-op. Although it has been slow, we have made incredible progress at Barzakh Falah. What was once an overgrown field next to a patch of jungle, is now in the last stages of construction to become a home for at-risk children and young women.

This past week was chaotic with two different construction projects ongoing at Barzakh. The Hval family was still with us to work on both the kitchen roof and the root cellar floor- and they crushed it. Both of these projects have been a long time coming. The root cellar floor was particularly satisfying to see completed since I personally worked on the earthbag structure during Alternative Spring break in 2016 and more recently in January 2017 with one of our volunteer groups. 

The new concrete floor of the root cellar and nearly complete plastering

The hardwood beams and purlins in place to support the tin roof

So shiny and new!!

We celebrated with the Hval's by getting lunch at a local barbecue place. Santa Elena, the sister town to San Ignacio, is famous for it's numerous open-air, tin-roofed, barbecue restaurants. Rodriguez's Chicken is our go-to spot. The portions are massive. You get a whole chicken breast, still on the bone, on a piece of tin foil with a healthy spoonful of secret barbecue sauce and a massive tortilla. No utensils provided so the best approach is to rip the chicken off the bone with your hands and turn the whole thing into a wrap. The result? Burnt finger tips, a ruined shirt, and a pretty epic food coma. 10/10 would recommend.

It's been an exciting week to say the least- but somehow, the most exciting part of the week was my very first quash sighting. Also called a coatimundi in Mexico & Guatemala, these creatures are the equivalent of a raccoon in Belize. They're mostly regarded as pests, although they don't get into garbage as much. I spotted the quash eating some fruits off the ground in the forest at the back of the Barzakh Falah property. I don't have any photos since we startled each other, but I did draw some to celebrate the occasion: 

Expect the Unexpected

If there is one thing I have learned from this co-op, it is to always be prepared to have your plans thrown to the wind. While I thought I would be spending this week working on conference applications for the non-profit I'm working for, instead I've been working with a group of volunteers on the actual construction projects at Barzakh Falah. Helloooo roof demolition. 

If you haven't checked up on the blog in a while, then you might not remember that I work for a tiny non-profit called Barzakh Falah. Their goal is to build a transitional home for girls out of sustainable earthbag buildings and an organic farm which will feed the girls as they pursue secondary/ vocational education. 

We recently discovered that the roof of the kitchen building was in desperate need of replacing. There are a lot of unique problems that come with using earthbag building techniques in the tropics that can't always be anticipated. The kitchen at Barzakh Falah was sporting an earthen roof- meaning that a layer of compact clay and sand on top of wooden planks would serve as the roof. Although the clay/ sand layer sported a coat of concrete had held together quite well, water had seeped in over the unusually long rainy season. Once the wood got damp, the termites arrived and a repair became necessary. 

However, we just didn't expect the extent of the damage. We thought that some of the planks would be sturdy enough to leave in place, but the water damage basically dissolved everything. Luckily the support beams were still in good condition because they were cut from a hardwood tree. The picture below shows what we have left. (the dark stain at the top is a kerosene treatment to repel any remaining precocious termites)

It's been a frustrating week to say the least- but one of the best parts of this co-op is getting to meet people from all over the world who come to volunteer with us. The Hval family has joined us for two weeks and they are truly inspiring. Hailing from a tiny town in rural Canada, the Hval family really believes in exposing their kids to a wide variety of cultures and service projects. So far they have been to Belize, Mexico, Panama, Peru & more. Their youngest even wrote a blog about all of their experiences: http://ezrasgreatadventure.blogspot.com/. 

These guys are troopers and have been battling triple digit weather to help us with construction (and deconstruction). They've been so awesome that we've started to tackle a second project- establishing a foundation/ floor for our newest building which will be an 8- bed dormitory. This involves packing in sand, laying steel rebar, and LOTS AND LOTS of concrete pouring. It's super refreshing to meet parents (and kids!) that are this passionate about service learning education. Can't wait to see how much we can accomplish next week!

Weekends are for the Iguanas

[**Before the Beyond Boston blogging term began, I went on several weekend trips around Belize. I probably won't repeat these trips, so this week's blog post is a throwback (It's a Thursday, so why not?) to my visit to the Green Iguana Conservation Project] 

"Do you want to hold an iguana," certainly isn't the first thing you're expecting to hear in the morning. But this past Saturday, that's just about how my day started. While we were too tired from our first week of work to make it to any of the major tours, Hannah and I stayed in San Ignacio to get a taste of the local activities. The first stop? - The Green Iguana Conservation Project at the San Ignacio Resort Hotel.

Balanced just at the top of the major hill in town, the hotel sits on the edge of the rainforest that grows up the banks from the Macal River. The tropical green leaves provide the perfect tree cover for a shaded iguana enclosure. The iguana project started over 20 years ago when the population of green iguanas in the area started to decline because of hunting. The meat of an iguana, known as "bamboo chicken", as well as the eggs, were considered a delicacy in this area. Now it is illegal to hunt iguanas out of season, but there still remains a need for supporting the redevelopment of the population.

Our guide, Zhawn, introduces us to the alpha of the iguana community community, Gnome. At first we were confused because although Gnome is a green iguana, he is not green at all. As it turns out, male iguanas turn orange during the mating season. As the dominant male, Gnome is extra orange. The large flap under his chin, called the dewlap, helps him get all the ladies while he waves it back and forth in a territorial mating display. The dewlap is also helpful for absorbing extra heat and regulating body temperature.

All in all, Gnome seems pretty satisfied with his life in a protected enclosure with his 15 lady iguanas.

We were also lucky enough to meet some of the baby iguanas. Their names are Pride and Joy and at 8 months old, they are still only a few inches long. Near the end of every breeding season, the conservationists at the project venture down the river banks looking for the holes where female iguanas lay their eggs. From there, they carefully dig up the eggs and bring them to the enclosure to be incubated. This protects the eggs from poachers and gives the baby iguanas the best chance of survival away from predators. The Belizean jungle is full of iguana predators- and iguanas are a highly sought out prey item at every stage of their development. The hatching process can take up to 5 months and iguanas don't reach full maturity until age 5.

Thanks to our guide Zhawn for all of the fun facts!

Watermelon Pilgrimage

It's officially the dry season in Belize. They call it the dry season because it doesn't rain, but it's far from dry. At 100+ degrees Farenheit and 100% humidity, it basically feels like being in a sauna 24/7. It's been like this for 2 weeks now and I think I'm actually melting. Today it's ONLY 92 degrees so I'm taking the day to get some errands done around town.

Just kidding. I'm still spending every spare second vegging out in front of the fan or sticking my head in the freezer. But I did do one errand. The most important errand:

The Watermelon Pilgrimage.

Every Saturday (and sometimes Tuesdays, and sometimes Thursdays), I walk down to the market and buy a watermelon for the family. This seemed like a reasonable task before the dry season. After all, we only live ten minutes walking from the market. No problem right? It's been going well enough that some of the local folks who work downtown call out "Hey Watermelon Girl!" when I walk by. It's a pretty unusual sight since everyone else who buys watermelons drives their car to the market and therefore doesn't have to carry a watermelon on their shoulders through the center of town.

Let me be the first to tell you that a 20 pound watermelon weighs a lot more when its 100 degrees out and you can barely hold it on your shoulders because you're sweating so much the watermelon gets slippery. Not to mention I'm clumsy as heck. 

The result? Sudden Watermelon Death. 

Yeah. This weekend's watermelon run took two attempts because the first one ended in disaster. There it is a special kind of embarrassment to be the only foreigner in town and then to drop a 21 pound watermelon in the middle of the crowded Saturday market and watch it smash to smithereens. 

To hide my shame, I purchased another watermelon to bring home. My second attempt watermelon was only 17 pounds and made it home safely. I still haven't told my host parents but they'll probably see this at some point and get a good chuckle out of it (Hi mom & dad). 

Pause for Adventure

If I'm being honest, this week felt like one long (but pleasant) April Fool's joke. On Wednesday, I found out that I would be leaving the next day and taking a two day trip to the Southern part of the country. Details: Vague. Basically the information I had was that I was going to meet up with my host mom's friend who owns a tour business to help him out with his website.

So Thursday morning I got on a bus at 6am and headed south. 4 hours later and I arrived at the unmarked intersection, locally known as "the Placencia junction",  where our family friend, Cesar, picked me up. "What's the plan?" I asked.

It turns out that Cesar single handedly built and owns the longest zip line in Belize and runs a river tubing tour on the river below the zip lines. During the months of January through March, there are scarlet macaws that fly at the same level as the zip lines. After rumbling down 4 miles of dirt road through the jungle, I found myself at the Mayan Sky Canopy Tour center. Despite being deep in the jungle, the entrance to their driveway is less than subtle. Just a casual 2 story statue of the Mayan rain god, Chaac.

The "plan" so to speak, was for me to experience all the tours alongside other tourists and photograph the whole experience as best as possible. Up first?- 7 zip lines strung 400 feet high across the valley in the Maya Mountain foothills. Despite being a rock climbing instructor back in Boston, I have to admit my legs got a little wobbly jumping off that first platform. There are no photos of me from this trip since I was not about to lend my SLR camera to a stranger while hanging by a harness 400 feet in the air. Instead you can enjoy these photos of other tourists enjoying the ride:

After a quick change of attire, I was handed a giant green inflatable tube, and the group was sent floating down the river below the zip lines. The camera had to stay behind for this one. With all of the small rapids in the river, the risk of my camera going for a swim was a bit too high for my comfort. The rapids themselves weren't that intense. I would liken it to the speed boost bumps in Mario Kart, but this was not exactly white water rafting.

The best part of the river tubing? The silence. In the district where I live (Cayo), there are very few patches of untouched jungle where you can't hear people nearby or cars on a passing highway. Except for some of the quiet chatter amongst the group, all you could hear were the birds and monkeys that were inevitably hiding in the trees along the river banks. While the birds themselves were elusive, the butterflies were not as shy. Several small yellow butterflies kept us company as we floated along and frequently landed right on my nose. 

Cesar and I sat around for the rest of the afternoon discussing his website (https://www.mayanskybelize.com/)- what he liked, what he didn't like, what he needed help with. At this time, no changes have been made to his original work. Although I'm not a web designer by any means, I can navigate a drag and drop system like wix.com, where Cesar had built his website. We agreed that I would redesign his logo, add tour descriptions and prices, a booking plug-in that links to their email, add detailed driving instructions, and finally, create an "About the Staff" section where customers can learn about Cesar's extensive experience in building adventure courses. 

The biggest surprise of the day? The accommodations. I had been told to be prepared for camping so I had my hiking boots, headlamp, and other gear ready to go. But after we had finished for the day, Cesar dropped me off here:

I was totally blindsided by being gifted a night in a 5 star resort, but definitely not complaining. I spent the rest of the evening and the next morning working on content for Cesar's new website. I can't thank Cesar and the crew at Mayan Sky Canopy Tours enough for their hospitality, so I'm really throwing my energy at helping them out with their web-presence. 

Cheers to another week in Belize!