We are Home!

We finally arrived back in Mansfield last week, and since then we have been trying to acclimatise to the cold and damp weather, deal with the jet lag (which still persists) and start some Christmas shopping!

Charlotte met us at Heathrow and we went to see Caroline and Andy at Harrogate last weekend. It was lovely to see them again (and they are both coming to Mansfield this weekend too).

It is too early to look back properly at Belize, but our initial reaction to England is how clean and rich it looks!

We have very affectionate memories of Belize and of the people we met there, and I have tried to put together a slideshow to try and illustrate our chief memories. To view these please follow the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/orysinbelize/BelizeAlbum#5415887108423371506

We are arranging a Belize party after Christmas for all our supportersand will post a new blog with the details.

A very happy Christmas to all our readers!!

What a Night!

Surreal is a term overused nowadays but I honestly think we can say we had a surreal evening tonight!

I saw in the news that they were showing some Brazilian films at the Mexican Cultural Institute tonight, so ,as we are really starved of films here, we went along at 7.

The Mexican Cultural Attache welcomed us and the next couple who turned up were English and and we chatted. Liz asked what they were doing in Belize and he said 'I'm the British High Commissioner and this is my wife'. They were very normal and pleasant.

The Brazilian and Mexican Ambassadors then came with the Costa Rican ambassador, but the funniest thing was when a second cultural attache came along with his Brazilian wife, who kissed all the diplomats and then proceeded to kiss Liz and I, presumably assuming that we were diplomats too!!

There was no-one else there.

How we have laughed since we have returned home!

They told us that all the ambassadors play ping pong on Monday nights!

The film was called ' My name is not Johnny' and was excellent .

We are going again on Thursday and will report again then.

San Ignacio Part III

Having enjoyed San Ignacio so much the previous week, we could not resist returning for a second weekend there!

Hope that you like the 2 butterfly pictures! They are everywhere but hard to capture on film.

By special request, more market pictures too.

San Ignacio Part II

Apart from the excitement of the Mayan site which was truly impressive, we passed over the Mopal River several times on our journey through some attractive countryside on the three hour journey to Caracol from San Ignacio. The roads were atrocious but we met some interesting and attractive wildlife on the journey.

We had to travel very slowly and hence we saw two tarantulas on the road and the guide in the car ahead stopped and picked one up. Apparently, brave guides do this frequently!

Whilst we were at Caracol we saw several butterflies on the flowers in the garden area.

San Ignacio Part I

San Ignacio has been the highlight of our stay in Belize. We had an excellent hotel in a town with book shops, a cinema, numeous good restaurants and best of all it felt very safe and we could walk around in the dark. On Saturday we visited the French bakery, the market and met our guide David who took us in his limousine(!) to see the wonders of Caracol the largest Mayan site in Belize. The journey was over rough terrain taking three hours to get there. Part of the way with armed guards as escorts because we were near the Guatemalan border.

We climbed to the top of Caana which is 43m in height (tricky coming down) and had a fabulous view from the top. The site covers 88 sq kilometres but only 10% has been excavated and we explored the area for several hours. It was a most memorable day helped by our guide.

Visit to Chetumal in Mexico!

Our visit to chetumal really illustrated how poor a country Belize is in comparison with Mexi

We took a 4 hour bus ride from Belize city over a single track road (in each direction) to get to the border; we then saw a flyover and a highway with 3 lanes in each direction.

We went to a shopping mall with a department store (called Liverpool!) an 8 screen cinema, a very large supermarket, and many classy shops; all these are non existent in Belize city.

We went to the cinema to see ' the taking of Pelham123' which we really enjoyed, we looked at an an excellent Mayan Museum (see picture), we did some shopping, it was a good weekend.

The weather back in Belize is getting cooler; the maximum is now 85 rather than 90 and it is surprising the difference that makes! It really does feel cooler! When we were over at Caye Caulker last weekend it rained and the light was so different as a result that I took the picture attached.

Work in Belize.

We have oncentrated on telling you about our activities at the weekend, and we now feel we should tell you about the work we are doing in the week.

As you know, I am working in the Women's Department and I have been trying to suggest improvements to the following laws: trying to make it compulsory for employers to display posters to counter sexual harassment and to have a written policy opposing it.

The sexual offences legislation is 50 years out of date, so I have prepared a report suggesting a brand new Act,comparing the current law with alternatives. I am now sounding out various interested parties to gain their views.

Similarly, I am discussing with them alterations to the divorce laws, as these are equally antiquated.

Belize wishes to bring its laws up to date by making them "gender neutral". This means making no difference between male and female. I have now compiled a list of Acts where these amendments are needed.

This is Liz here. I have been updating the Policy and Procedure at Haven House. I have designed a Resident's handbook which is user friendly for the women who arrive scared. Also I have done so much reading and research on Women's Refuges, I have written up a booklet on 'How to start a Refuge'. I have been enjoying working with the people there and I am being taught Belizean cooking at the same time. This week it was Creole bread; so you will be having some when we get home. I am attaching a photo of the boys who have been at the home with their mother.

Hope you like the picture of the supreme court building in Belize City.

Our other major responsibility it that we are on cat duty while Michael and Sally are away avoiding hurricane season! They like Bernard as you will see!

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Caye Caulker!

We had an excellent day on Caye Caulker yesterday.

We took the water taxi from Belize city and rented a golf cart in the afternoon, because there are no cars on the island.

We had a swim before lunch and then found a restaurant, where we had grilled snapper and shrimp curry. I thought you would like to see the bar there; if you fall off the swings, they toss you round the back to sleep it off!

Look at this sensational pool!

This is the first week that the pool has been open for use, and in this climate, it is incredible!

Today at the office there was a power failure, so we had no aircon from lunchtime; it was therefore great to hurry home and get straight in the warm silky waters of the pool.

We took some of these pictures on saturday, when another volunteer,Louisa, was here. Spot the dragonfly!

PS we discovered that the noni fruit we mentioned in our last blog, was also called vomit fruit; we lost interest in trying it after we knew that!

Food in Belize!

We have been enjoying the different food here and thought it was time we shared it with you

Rice and beans is staple food here and after a couple of trial runs, Liz has got it sorted out.

You pre-soak the beans, so they do not take too long to cook. You then add the rice to the beans, add coconut milk powder, and cook until the liquid is absorbed.

Baked or grilled chicken with green or potato salad is common too.

We have been enjoying the fruit: I bought a noni from the lady who sells me vegetables, this is green and nobbly - see photo. You mash it up with water to make a drink.We also like sour sap which you mash up and add condensed milk! and put it in the fridge until it is really cold.

There is a breadfruit tree in our garden - see photo. You slice it thinly and fry it and it tastes like potato chips. We've had plantain and the oranges are green here but still taste sweet.

We could if we wanted have crab - one has moved into our laundry room - we do not know whether to eat him or keep him as a pet.. see photo

We'll tell you about the pool next time

Snorkelling at the Reef at Ambergris Caye!

We took the water taxi yesterday morning to San Pedro, the main (only) town on Ambergris Caye and stayed overnight. In the afternoon we went out with a guide and another couple to Hol Chan marine reserve and Shark Ray Alley and snorkelled round the reef. Our guide was excellent and knew the names of all the millions of fish we could see and would dive down to indicate them to us. The water was shallow (no more than 30 foot deep) and the visibility was good. Our friends who had snorkelled everywhere said it was the best ever

We saw loads of fish - groupers and snappers and also a moray eel .

We then moved to another part of the reef where there were young sharks in the water with us, and our guide got hold of one for us to touch! Rather like sandpaper! Liz saw a ray( when I was taking her photo from the boat) and a turtle.

We had been apprehensive (very scared!) about this beforehand, not having done it before, but we really enjoyed it (afterwards!) and Bernard found the snorkel easy to use. Liz said the snorkel was better than the one she used in Mansfield

Hope you like the pictures. We were proud of ourselves!

Haven House

I thought you ought to see my office at Haven House. My desk is the one on the right and I share the space with Dorla my boss.

You can see Dorla on the left who does all the managing and counselling and really makes sure Haven House keeps going. As you know Haven House takes in women and their children who have suffered domestic abuse. In the middle is Pamela who keeps an eye on the family overnight and Nellie is on the right who also helps in an all round capacity but is also an excellent cook.

Stacey comes in a few times a week and she is a teacher and often does work with the children. I think she also visits families outside the house.

The last is of Pamela with a resident who is 14 and undernourished as you can see. He also has head lice and I had to use that lotion again......

Belize Zoo!!

On Saturday we took a taxi out to the Zoo; it is about 45 kilometres out of the city.

It has an excellent variety of animals and birds from central america,well displayed. Many animals we had never heard of - we saw a puma and jaguar, but I had never heard of an agouti (see picture above, with its baby) or a jaguarundi or a tapir.(well I know what they all are - he should read his Gerald Durrell)

We had the place to ourselves, which made a big difference.

What a fabulous way to spend an Anniversary!!

Thanks to Martha and Dionne, we were invited to join an outing to Goff's island today. As you can see from the pictures, it is paradise!

We swam in the warm sea,which was pretty shallow round the island itself: our friends had taken chicken, potato salad, rice and beans and chocolate cake+ beer etc - the ingredients of a perfect Belizean picnic!

This evening we will watch 'district 9' on the laptop; the perfect end to a perfect day!

Office life in Belize

Liz shares a room in Haven House with her boss Dorla Rosado who is basically in charge of everything! Nellie comes in every day to keep an eye on the present residents, the children really and she is a great cook. She has been busy making bread and cooking crabs. Millions of crabs are migrating at the moment and they are coming into our enclosed compound much to the delight of the boys staying here who instead of watching television most of the time are out crab hunting.

I'm getting ready for the Board meeting on Tuesday night when I meet all the directors and let them know how I am progressing registering them as a charity.

I started work on Monday and had a meeting with my boss,Icilda where she asked me to deal with 3 problems; The Sexual Harassment act, looking at a new sexual offences Act for Belize and also putting forward proposals to revise the laws on divorce. So I have spent the last few days preparing a memo for Icilda on the sexual harassment Act, which I aim to give her tomorrow.

Everyone in the Womens Dept is friendly. I am using an old pc with a Pentium 3 processor, but it still works, slowly! I am sharing a room with Christina who is in her early 20s, a volunteer from Seattle. The coffee machine has now been moved into our room! We have aircon.

I attach a photo of our office party, to which Liz was invited. Today is a day of celebration in Belize - details in tne next blog.

Still 90 Degrees. We are enjoying the fruit; Liz's taxidriver gave her a bag of mangoes from his garden, which were very sweet,and I bought 8 bananas for a dollar - 33 pence.

See if you like the attached view of Haulover Creek.

Safely arrived in Belize city!!

We arrived here on thursday evening and it has taken us 2 days to sort out a broadband connection.

Our first impressions of the city are that it is mainly composed of wooden fronted buildings only 2 or 3 stories high, most needing a lick of paint. The last picture is of Albert street on sunday morning. This is the main street in the commercial centre.

I have also enclosed a picture of the Womens Department building, where I am going to work tomorrow.

People seem very friendlyand we have had no trouble.

We are staying in a cottage at the back of an expensive property about 10 minutes walk from town centre. The landlady lives in the rest of the property and is very friendly. We had lunch with her and her family today. I attach pictures or our cottage, theproperty as a whole and our view of the sea.

It is 90 degrees, but fortunately we have aircon in the cottage.

It is therefore tiring to do very much in the heat of the day, and Liz has been attacked by mosquitoes. I've been taking piritin and enjoying a gin and mango juice in the evening, hence the next pararaph from Bernard

We have been sleeping very well and are looking forward to work tomorrow.