Saturdays- my favorite day in Belize. There is something about a Saturday. I don’t know if it the promise of being able to sleep in or just knowing that, even though I adore my students, it will be a day where I don’t have to answer hundreds of students’ questions.
Every Saturday Erica and I sleep in. “Sleeping in” has a new meaning for me now. Here in Belize sleeping in means sleeping until around 6:30am, maybe 7am if the butcher gets a late start on the pig slaughter. By 7am the sun has already been up for an hour and a half and is streaming in our windows. We load up in the pickup and head to the market. Saturdays at the market are amazing. Every vendor is freshly stocked, proudly showing off their fruits and veggies. Usually we take one walk around, looking at everyone’s produce and evaluating what looks the best. Then we take another walk stopping at the invidual vendors and purchasing. We bargain occasionally but in most cases the produce is already so cheap that we don’t bother. We stock up on watermelons, pineapples, bananas, mangoes, tomatoes, corn, oranges, peppers, cilantro, potatoes and occasionally some freshly caught shrimp or fish. Every weekend the vendors seem to warm up a bit more. I always buy my watermelon from the same man- he is missing a few teeth, and his skin sags with old age. He has amazing watermelons though. When I ask him how much per pound his watermelons are this week he always pulls me to his side and whispers, “Well everyone else is selling them for $.60 but I will give it to you for .$50.” The guy who sells oranges bring his pickup truck each Saturday piled high with oranges and grapefruits. The first week we bought he gave us 6 for a dollar. This Saturday he gave us 8 for a dollar. J
After the Market Erica and I come home put away our produce and then head back out to buy our weekly staples. Now at home I could drive to a store like Publix or even better Walmart and in maybe half an hour have the basics for the week- all from one store. Well, here it take a good hour or two and trips to at least 3 or 4 different stores. We get in the truck and head to Dee’s first. They have the type of bread that we love as well as fresh eggs and tortillas. Then we head to Blue Sky which has a good selection and spices and dried beans. Then off we go to the next store for pasta and milk. And thus the morning continues- one store after the next until we have managed to get the basics. Getting everything in one stop is something that is totally taken for granted in the States.
This Saturday after the normal market and grocery run Erica started cooking for Sunday lunch. I laid around watching her- as usual. J The normal Saturday street vendors came down the street selling tamales, fresh bread and corn icrecream. This Saturday though a vendor selling Mexican Hammocks came down the street. And thus began our adventure for the day. I was taking out the garbage when he first came by. He asked me, in broken English, if I needed a hamoock. Erica and I have been talking since we moved in about getting hammocks for above our beds, so this was perfect. I invited him in and we spent the next half hour looking at the different hammocks that he had- single weave, double weave, one person, two person and family hammocks. Erica already had hooks in her room so we tried out the hammocks and finally decided on two that we liked. All of our communication with this hammock salesman was in broken English/ Spanish and demonstrations, as we would act out various things that we were trying to say.
So now we had hammock. Erica had hooks so we went ahead and put hers up. I, being the impatient person that I am, also wanted my hammock up in my room. So Erica and I set out on a quest for hooks. We went to Cinty’s which is a jumbeled mess of everything imaginable. There are small pathways throughout the “store” as you weave in and our of furniture, appliances, tools, toys and everything else imaginable. We finally found hooks that I thought would do and then we headed to the hardware store. Erica and I had visited this hardware store once before for cement nails so we had already thoughouly embassarraed ourselves and we were fully prepared to do so again. I took my hooks in to show the workers and they described what they thought I would need. A couple of them came to help me, as well as a young man who was shopping in the hardware store. About 20 minutes later they had me buying a different kind of hook from them as well as screws and sinkers. They asked me in I had a drill, which of course I did not. I think I must have had this extremely confused look on my face as they talked about bit size and how to best drill into the concrete. Well, the young man who had been helping me this whole time then proceeded to ask me if I understood what all I had to do. Of course I did not so I shook my head “no.” The next thing I knew he was offering to come over and install the hooks for me. He had been in the hardware store buying some cable he needed for a remodeling job he was doing at his Aunt’s and he had a drill. He said he was more than happy to help.
Within the next hour my hammock was neatly hung in my room above my bed. Adolfe, the guy from the hardware store, and I worked measuring and marking, drilling and screwing. My whole room was covered with a fine layer of cement dust, but my hammock was hung. I was so excited and could hardly contain myself. Before Adolfe could even leave I climbed up on my bed and hoisted myself in. It was absolutely amazing!
Shortly after Adolfe left one of my first form students, Arelia, who lives down the street came over to ask for help with her Bible homework. A few minutes later we had put together a huge time line on the kitchen table and were marking it with Biblical events. She stayed for several hours after her homework was complete, following Erica and I around as we worked.
Later that night, after Arelia had left, I crawled up into my newly hung hammock and laying there thought about how amazing each and everyday is- especially Saturday!He
Our Shower. We have rigged it with duct tape so that the cords will stop falling down and shocking us. It is really quite scary looking. The Belizeans call these type showers "widow makers." Wonder why...
These ants won't leave our kitchen. We have tried everything from sprays to bleach to boiling water.... We have just decided that they can stay.
This is Cinty's. Basically the Belizean's Wamart. It is packed with anything and everything you might need. The problem is just finding it.
The outside of Cinty's. We seem to go there at least once a week for something.
Our kitchen. We had just finished rearranging. I was trying to put in hooks on our shelves. It wasn't too successful.
