Day: June 29, 2018

Oh hi! I’m home now, I was shocked at all the free water restaurants gave us in the US. I forgot it’s all purified, small reverse culture shock. We went to Belize, we moved fast, so it was all hard to keep my mind in tact. Also hard to keep my pictures in tact, I will recap through broken panoramas. Let’s jump right in to Belizarama alongside our buddy Alan:

We all got to learn how to make tortillas, it was really fun. My whole time abroad I spent eating all the corn, as much corn as I could. My project was on corn. People there eat a lot of corn and it can be good or bad, good because it will keep a person full for cheap. Bad because it shouldn’t be the only thing a person survives on, but it is what is most affordable and accessible for many. It’s a weird balance of appreciation and many things, but I love corn. Look @ our lovely TA, Catherine, grinding up some corn. Requires many many muscles! I was very bad at making tortillas. The same women who showed us how to grind… corn, then showed us how to make pottery, I was also very bad.

We drove all around the country of Belize. Up down left right. Crossed all the way to the north near Yucatan in Mexico to a town called Orange Walk. It was filled with people who worked in the sugar industry and had many Belize-Chinese restaurants. There’s many unique pockets of immigrants and blends of language that I fell in love with. Anyway, there’s a new long slithery river, appropriately called the New River that we maneuvered our way through with the help of a lovely guide. He knew a lot about the local wildlife. He also drove and drifted really fast, I had a blast, some others… I don’t know.

Ever since we left Antigua for the lowlands, things have been quite warm. By warm, I mean extremely humid and hot and very very sweaty. Saw our last bits of Maya ruins at Lamanai after twirling through the New River for 2 hours. It was quite hard to process a lot of what we were standing over, even after the amount of readings and interactions we had with the land, grasping even just a bit felt rough. On the bright side, I learned how to crack tree nuts to extract palm oil while there. Don’t use limestone, use harder rocks. There is only limestone on the top, I learned that the hard way and had to make a trip all the way down and back up to crack a few.

We left there and then spent a couple days in the island of Caye Caulker. I zoned out for the majority of it and stuck my feet deep down in the sand, had bad iced coffee and focused on finishing my project. It was quite a nice way to wrap up the trip, relaxing. I didn’t take many pics, I took it slow. But here’s a snip snap from inside the room we presented in.

Felt like a proud dad listening to all these people I got to get close to present something they all felt a lot of love for. Leaving was tough, it felt like a weird end, but wow was it all a fun fun ride. I have nothing else to say, here’s a pic of my hand and a morphed Kendall. A see you later to all. bye bye Belizarama

 

Antigua is the first city I have traveled to where I feel so incredibly torn to leave. I have traveled to various places around South East Asia, Australia, and the United States, but I have never felt so quickly, and deeply, attached to a city as Antigua. I will always remember the street I walk home to, 2a. Avenida Sur, whether from a class at Casa Herrera, an afternoon at the main park, or a dinner with friends.

I would know exactly when I am less than a block away from my homestay, because I  the vibrant colors of the houses on the street are so recognizable. I would pass by a massage parlor where Gustavo, the owner, would greet me and “quiz” me in Spanish jokingly. He would ask me what day it is, or what time it is, and I would scramble in my head for Spanish words to try to answer, then we would both have a good laugh at it. One time, he said if I got the answer correct, he would give me a big chocolate bar. Jose, our home-stay dad, later tells me that he and Gustavo has been friends since they were eight years old. Everybody in this city is like family.

I would then pass by Maglia’s Cafe, the coffee shop I have adopted as my own. The baristas there, Jorge, Milton, and Leo, quickly became people I call my friends. Even when I was in a rush to get home to make in on time for lunch or dinner, I would pop my head in to say, “hola, como estas?!”. When I had a morning or afternoon off, I would sit inside for an hour or so to chat with them, whether about my day, their passions in life, or our common interests in art, photography, music and food.

At the end of the day, it was not the amazing landscapes, beautiful architectural ruins, or delicious food that resonated with me the most, but instead they were the small, sweet moments with people I built relationships with. I was a foreigner, a stranger in the city, yet they welcomed me with a contagious compassionate energy. From my four weeks in Central America, I learned exponentially from listening to these people’s stories– things that I couldn’t get from readings, photos, or visiting sites. If there is one thing I took away from this trip, it is to never underestimate the empowering effect of human connection. Hasta la vista, Antigua. I’ll be back!