TheBanyanTree: Belize, in parts and pieces

[Julie Anna Teague]

I. Julie the shark

We picked Belize mainly for the snorkeling. Snorkeling is one of the
biggest joys for me and for my partner; something we share a love for,
while many of our other interests are distinctly individual and enjoyed
separately.  The island of Ambergris Caye is outlined by one of
the largest barrier reefs.  On other islands we've been to, there is a
lot of reef right off the shore, and we could snorkel several times
every day.  Here, we had to pay for a boat trip to get out to the reef,
but we got to see some amazing reef.

One site was called "Shark Ray Alley".  As we pulled up to anchor the
boat, five sharks swam from under the boat, each one five to six feet
long.  I asked what I thought most everyone else on the boat was
thinking, "Are you sure these sharks don't eat humans?"  They were
beautiful, light brown, nurse sharks and the boat driver assured me
they would probably not eat me.  So we jumped in and frolicked with
many sting rays and several sharks and got close enough to touch a six
foot nurse shark.  It had a hard, pebbly feel, nothing like the slick
rubbery stuff I would imagine.

A second site we snorkeled was an underwater national park where we swam
with fish of a hundred varieties, several kinds of rays, sea turtles,
and exquisite corals.  I was wearing a slick, black and white, lycra
rash guard shirt over my suit, and I guess I must've looked fish-like,
because after a minute or so in the water, a six inch remora attached
itself to my stomach.  It swam a hair's breadth beneath me for the next
15 or 20 minutes.  The guide thought this was very unusual.  When I got
home, I looked to see what Wikipedia had to say about remoras:

"Some remoras associate primarily with specific host species. Remoras
are commonly found attached to sharks, manta rays, whales and turtles.."

Apparently my little friend was confused about his host species.  I
just hope he thought I was a shark and not a whale.


II. John Charles

Some of the best parts of all my vacations have to do with meeting
beautiful children.  The resort of little cabins we stayed in was
perfectly located both on the beach and in the town of San Pedro.  Some
would not like the proximity, and it less quiet, but I like community
when I travel, I like meeting people and getting a glimpse of their
lives.  Every morning we would walk downtown, buy coffee and banana
bread and "johnnie cakes" and sit on the sidewalk watching people on
their way to work or play, and kids on their way to school.

This is how we met John Charles and his best friend Gian.  John was a
very large second grader, and Gian was a very small second grader.
Gian looked like a little mouse, and he had a special perch on the
crossbar of John's bike.  John would pet Gian's head from time to time.
They both had Davy Crockett smiles and were full of stories to share
with us.  After they'd made us laugh at their stories for a good half
an hour, John Charles said, "Can I ask you a question?  Would you send
me something?"  We said yes, thinking he would ask for a pair of Nike
shoes or something, but enough in love with these kids to send them
just about anything.  "Can you send me some coloring books?" he asked.
Coloring books.  My heart skipped a
beat.  This little kid had just about nothing and wanted something that
most kids in the US would take for granted.  We told him yes, we'd send
some coloring books.  He had some special ones he said he'd really
like, but he'd take any coloring books at all.  When we finally urged
John and Gian to get on to school, I told him that it would take
probably two weeks to get the coloring books to him.  They looped
around one more time and John Charles yelled out, "Two weeks!  Two
weeks till I get my coloring books!" and off they went to the San Pedro
Roman Catholic School.  We were able to find all of his favorite
characters and shipped off a big box of stuff to him, Gian, and the
SPRC school after we got home.

We met many other kids in Belize, a lot of them with very little of
anything except a constant view of the ocean.  An eight year old girl
and her two year old brother who were basically abandoned on the beach
all day--we got them in the shade (the little one didn't have a shirt
and neither of them had water), played with them for awhile, and fed
them a meal.  Two young brothers who had just moved from Guatemala and
whose mother didn't have a job yet so they couldn't afford to go to
school yet--we fed them a meal, too.  Lee sneaked them into the resort
pool for a swim (and to get them a little cleaned up)--they'd never
swam in non-salty water, and very few houses had bathrooms with tubs.
And Adrian, a tiny little nine year old who was ostensibly trying to
sell us some beaded bracelets, but who instead sat down under the palm
trees and talked to us for a long time, shared a snack, looked through
Lee's binoculars (he'd never seen any), and took an extra t-shirt off
my hands for me.  None of these kids asked for anything, but every one
of them stole my heart.

A couple we'd met in the resort asked us, one afternoon, how many kids
we'd adopted and fed that day.  I told her, "None today, yet, but
there's still time!"


III. More stars than I've seen in a long time

Lee and I laid ourselves out on beach chairs under a night dome sky of
stars.  This is our idea of perfect evening entertainment on 
vacation--dinner then stars.  I am always stunned when I find myself in 
a clear spot, far far far from the glaring lights of planet earth, and 
look up to see how many stars there still are up there.  One forgets 
just how many, it is such a rare thing anymore.  The last time I saw so 
many was in the mountains of Colorado, a year and a half ago, camping 
with my son, and that was far too long ago.  I could lie there and look 
up forever.

We saw a shooting star one night, the most amazing, long-tailed 
shooting star either of us had ever seen.  It left trailers in my 
vision it lasted so long.  Our jaws simultaneously dropped it lasted so 
long.  Something happens inside me when that kind of thing happens.  I 
make an internal shift from "awed and stunned" to "complete and 
comprehending".


Julie