The Last Chapter of Belize!

Our time at the STAND center is over. We are covered in bug bites and sweat but missing the friends we made already. .

While at the STAND center, Jason faced his two greatest challenges: painting and holding a baby. By the end of the three weeks, Kaela was killing spiders left and right. It is strange how quickly it becomes normal to swat away a spider that in the US would have made me scream bloody murder. A couple of night before we left there was a flash flood in the middle of the night that swept away tons of foliage and even a pair of jason's underwear. We woke up to the driveway turned into a creekbed. The time at the STAND center was amazing. We both feel incredibly empowered by our time there. We are excited for the next adventure. Hopefully it will be as good as this last one.

Here is Jason fording the river on our way out of the STAND center. We made the ten mile trek out of the jungle with our heavy packs on our backs. We forded a flowing river and are now in San Ignacio again. This is how Jason feels about the quash.
Jason holding baby Forest.
Kaela at the Cahal Pech Mayan ruins. It was awesome.
This picture was taken after Jason found out that the quash ate four out of the five baby chicks on the farm. He looks like 'Simple Jack.'

We leave tomorrow for Guatemala! We are going to another volunteer place called "Long Way Home". http://www.longwayhomeinc.org/index.htm

Hopefully we will be staying there for about a month, maybe more. We hear they have electricity- bonus!

The Rains have come to the Rainforest

We have now been at the farm for about two weeks. It has been raining really hard the last couple of days. The river is flooded sometimes and you can't leave the farm. The sound of the rain on our zinc roof is nearly deafening sometimes. This is how rain is supposed to be. Jason has killed three scorpions, one in our cabin, seen a huge tarantula and a snake. Luckily, I did not see the tarantula or the snake. But- we are both getting a lot better at the jungle life. I washed my clothes by hand the other day. It felt really good. There is this hand-churned washer thing that you plug with a candle- genius! I have been preparing and planting a garden while Jason has been renovating our cabin.

For the next two days we are staying in San Ignacio, a little town in the west, with some friends from the farm. We are trying to figure out what to do after we leave the farm.

Thank you so much for all the comments, they mean a lot. We can't believe we've only been gone 17 days. It feels like 2 months. Love you all so much.

PS: The quash is not cute. It bites your ankles and has eaten two of the baby chickens on the farm. It gets into everything and is like a rebellious teenager. Jason, of course, loves it.

Welcome to the Jungle

We have arrived at the STAND center! We are at a farm with no electricity, running water, or any other comfortable amenities! The first couple of days were really hard. We are now getting used to the farm life. Our schedule is kind of like this: 6 AM- wake up, make a fire for breakfast (we cook everything on fire) do some chores, make breakfast, eat, etc. By about 8 or 9 AM we are ready to really start working. Jason has been doing carpentry stuff around the farm. There are some termite issues in some of the wooden structures. We work for four hours until lunch. We cook lunch, clean up and then go to the river to cool off. Then we rest and/or do laundry and other chores until dinner. After dinner we're so exhausted we fall asleep around 9PM.

There are two dogs, a cat, some free-range chickens and the quash. The quash is somewhat like a raccoon with a long tail. He playfully attacks you when you're wearing sandals and gnaws at your feet. Jason of course loves it. We're thinking we'll stay here for two or three weeks more, and then- who knows! If you want to check out the farm, go to stand-center.com

Before we came to the farm, we got to see a Belizean Independance Day Parade/Carnival. That was pretty cool. Here are our new friends, Dan, Laura and Scott with Jason in a little store on Caye Caulker.

Here is the Belizean parade.
This is on the way to the farm.

The quash!

Haven't you heard? Belize is Paradise!

On Wednesday Jason and I went to the Mayan Cultural Museum in Chetumal, supposedly one of the best Mayan museums in the world. It was amazing. Then we made our way to the beach and were dog tired by the time we got home. We were feeling okay, and preparing ourselves for a big day buying all of the essentials the next day. Our bags were maybe going to come at 1, they didn't. So then maybe 3- no word from the airport. So then they were probably going to come at 8- nothing. I started worrying, Jason was totally relaxed- he loved the adventure of having only the bare essentials.

Two other Americans were staying at the hostel and when I went down to meet them- WHOA! I knew one of them! I had a class with the guy Scott at SOU! Scott and Laura are great, and they were headed to Belize the next day, so we all decided to travel together. They shared some pizza they had bought and we had a great night.

Lillia (from the hostel) was on the phone for probably an hour talking to different airlines trying to find our bags. She felt terrible. We were pretty much resigned to the fact that we'd have to go on a mini shopping spree the next day. All of a sudden- she came out onto the porch with a HUGE smile on her face! Our bags were at the Chetumal Airport! We could go get them in the morning! I freaked out! I kissed her feet and was jumping up and down! The dog saw how excited I was and started humping my leg like crazy. It was great.

So Thursday we woke up early, went to the airport to get our bags and caught the bus with Scott and Laura to Belize City. This is when we met a cool guy on the bus who said the quote from the headline.. We also met a really great Australian guy named Dan who was going to be staying in BC. He is on a around-the-world trip that is going to last 12 months and he's in month 1. Scott and Laura and Dan had all previously planned to stay in Belize City for that night and move on but we convinced them to come with us and stay in Caye Caulker. We took a water taxi out to our little paradise island and were instantly in love. It's surreal. Jason said to me while cracking a coconut on a rock- "I could live here." [I couldn't- so don't worry.]

We found a cheap room for the five of us for $30US- so 6 each! Better than any other hostel. There are only two beds but we've all become friends and everyone is so great. We noticed that we didn't have to travel with a group- the group found us! We stayed here last night and will stay for two more nights. Then we're going to meet the farm guy in Belmopan. We found out at the border that we'll have to get a work visa but part of me wonders if we really will... We'll see.

Today we're going snorkeling (Laura's first time) in three different reef spots, one of them called Shark and Sting Ray Alley. Wow.

I can't think of much of anything else. We're doing awesome. Loving every minute and taking it one day at a time. I haven't been taking hardly any pictures, but I will try to today. It's so awesome here. I love you all so much!

We´re here!

We arrived in Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico at 8 pm after 24 hours of travel. Our bags did not. We are staying in an awesome little place, Chetumal Hostel. Our host is named Lillia. She has been a godsend. When we had to talk to the airport people about our bags being lost, she helped translate for us. And so the adventure begins...

I got to practice some spanish on the way here with a man on the plane. With what pathetic Spanish I know I even ended up translating for a man on another plane who had a customs question. We have a history of the craziest parts of our trips being at the beginning, so it makes sense that our bags did not make it here. The only bad parts are that We are both wearing really hot clothing and we cannot brush our teeth.

It is really hot here. Really humid, too. But there is a nice fan in our room and we can take cold showers. Tomorrow morning (if our bags arrive) we will catch a morning bus to Belize City and make our way to Caye Caulker.

We miss everyone so much already!