I got sick this week. I got so sick that I went to the hospital. That says a lot. I started to really get worried that I might have something serious. I had parasites… Not cute! My stomach hurt like hell! I was at the hospital at 6:30 AM. I left at 11:30 AM. It was free, but it wasn’t the nicest place or the most efficient place. I really hope we don’t get free, universal health care in the US - now more than ever. Everyone was making fun of me for being sick. One day Ty kissed me then he backed up with a disgusted look on his face. I was like, “ What is it?” assuming it was just my hair in his mouth or something. He’s like, “It’s a parasite!” Not funny! Haha.
One night this week Ms. Olive invited me to go along with Nate, Ty and Lucy to St. Benedict’s for a special day. The teachers at the school had prepared a big dinner and party for them. They really appreciated all the work that they had done for the school and I can tell they will really be missed. If I did come back and work in PG I would want to be at St. Benedicts. It’s a small school with only five classrooms and the teachers are all very closely connected. They have a lot of responsibilities and they work so hard. I am glad I got to be there. Ty showed them the footage of his football games and they played music. We just sat around eating and talking for a few hours. Ms. Olive is so nice and Nate’s cooperating teacher, Ms. Martina is literally an angel. I love her!
I can’t believe my last week of teaching is over. It was unreal. The week flew by just like it always does. My students were so well behaved my last week. All my students were shocked that our time together was already over. Eight weeks sounded so long but I feel like I was just feeling like they were MY class and not another person’s class that I was teaching. This experience makes me so excited to be a full time teacher and have my own kids to teach. It’s insane how well you get to know all the kids and all their families. I think 18 students in Duluth will seem so strange compared to 30 kids here in Belize. I, of course, cried when I had to leave them. I made a big game to show all that they had learned and I gave them all prizes. I had hair ties, balloons, balls, pencils, sharpeners, and colored pencils and the kids in my class chose pencils over the majority of the other prizes. I also got a big projector and screen and put that in the room to show them a power point that I made of all the pictures I had of them. They were LOVING their pictures. They would all point and say, “That’s me. You see me?” When the kids were leaving school for lunch I was just in tears. The entire class was crowded around me. I have never gotten so many hugs. I will miss those kids. Their smiles, laughs and hugs have been a big part of making PG home to me.
As soon as we left the schools I went straight to the house. I had just decided the night before (around 11) that I was going to go with Ty to Guatemala. He was planning to go with Howard and one of Howard’s friends but he wanted to see if I would go too. Knowing I had a half day and had to renew my visa otherwise I thought I might as well go. Jess decided to go to. So, right after school I got home and packed since I only had an hour before we would be leaving.
We went to Customs and met with Memo, Howard’s friend who was bringing us to Guatemala on his boat. We paid, got our stamps and headed out of Belize. No one looked at our bags, no one asked us questions. When we got to Guatemala no one checked our bags, no one asked us questions… kind of sketchy.
The water was so wavy. I thought we were for sure going to die on that boat. Jess was buried in her life jacket. She held it over her eyes and didn’t look out. I was pretending it was normal and it was a ride. The mountains were off in the distance and it was absolutely gorgeous! We got soaked, but we lived.
Our hotel was 140 Q’s, which is Guatemala’s currency. In other words about $15 USD. Pretty classy joint. Ty, Jess and I shared a room, making it $5 USD. Each of us had our own twin-sized bed. Our shower was cement and had a hose handle. One temperature. Freezing.
Once we got checked in we headed out to get some beers and check out the city of Puerto Barrios. It was a lot like Tijuana in my opinion. It was full of shops. They had garbage all over the town. However, once you got close to the shore it was really nice. We went to a nice restaurant with a thatched roof and a pier going out from the center. I didn’t have any beers since I am still on my parasite pills but I did get a nice cheeseburger. No one there spoke any English. Not one word. Luckily, Howard brought his friend “Beef” who was fluent in Spanish. He was the only reason we could get a cab and get anywhere. I was actually happy to realize that I remember all the Spanish numbers and was to ask how much things were and easy little things like that. Thank God for Senora Bishop. J
We went back and relaxed at the hotel. Jess, Ty and I were all very tired. We were planning on just taking naps but none of us slept. We all sat on our beds talking for over 2 hours. We’ve all gotten close throughout this trip. The fact that we’re altogether and are all away from home makes us relate to each other easily.
Then we headed out to get some dinner. We went to Pollo Campero, which is basically a KFC. It was SO delicious. It’s unreal that the nicest, cleanest restaurant I have been in is similar to a Mexican KFC but I’m pretty sure that was by far cleaner than almost ALL the places I’ve eaten in the last two months. Then we headed out to a really nice bar. They had narrow piers that had little tables in private, fenced in areas. We sat out there and everyone had a beer (except me J). I was the cool, sober person. Luckily I’m fun when I’m sober. J Not to mention I was in paradise so obviously it was great!
From there we headed out to La Casa Madrid. It’s a nightclub out in Puerto Barrios. The parking lot was full of scooters and motorcycles. There were maybe 20 cars and probably over 55 bikes. It’s so different there. Even riding in the cab there is one line in the middle of the road. I still don’t understand if there are one or two lanes but people often pretend there are two. People go whatever speed they want. People pass when they want. It’s chaos.
Our Taxi driver came in with us. He was basically our little servant for the night. We paid him under $10 USD for the entire night. He drove us to the club, stayed there with us for 3 hours, and he drove us back. On top of that he got all our drinks for us and brought them out to us wherever we were dancing. I brought $50 USD, which is 400 Q’s.
This was the loudest place I have ever been. My purse was vibrating against my side. I kept checking my phone even though I was sober and my phone has been off for the past two months. Not normal. There were laser lights, Go-Go dancers, huge screens showing Spanish music videos, strobe lights, and a bunch of Guatemalan people. The dancing there was very different from the states. It was a blast dancing out there. I was the first one out on that dance floor. It was all couples out there. Not all men and women but instead of dancing in a big mess of people like in Duluth, people only dance one-on-one with another person. The six of us (Beef, Jess, Howard, Ty, the Taxi drive, and I) were dancing literally the entire night whether we were on the dance floor or just standing around. There was no way to talk so I figured we might as well dance. I felt like I was in a Jennifer Lopez music video. (“Waiting for Tonight”.) We were all sweating and laughing the entire night. It was a blast.
Walking out it was crazy to see everyone getting on their bikes and biking away. There were security guards with HUGE machine guns watching everyone walk out. He was really nice but it’s still scary to see someone just standing around with a giant gun in their hands. I hear weapons there are very cheap though. You can buy a grenade for $5 USD so I’m sure guns are pretty reasonable…
We saw a lot of people walking around with huge guns on their sides. They had the holsters but it was still odd to see that. I have always wanted to own a gun but I’m glad people don’t just walk around the US with guns like that. It’s scary. It makes you assume that you’re not safe without one.
The next day we all got up early and walked around the “mall”. It was all outdoors. There were people making food, selling fruits, meats, spices, toys, clothes, shoes, and – randomly – neon, dyed chickens. They literally had crates of neon colored chickens and they were selling them to people for God knows what reason. People just picked out their neon chicken and the guy would snatch up the chicken, throw it in the plastic bag, and give it to them for 1 Q, which is 1/8 of a USD. I should’ve gotten one and set it free because how sweet would it be to walk around town and just randomly see a hot pink chick.
For lunch, we went to McDonald’s. Yup, I was excited. Haha. It was even cleaner than our Mexican KFC experience. I honestly never cared for McDonald’s much. I like their hashbrowns and their chicken nuggets but it’s not a place that I’ve missed. Now, I respect McDonald’s. They are putting clean restaurants up all over the world that serve food that is the same wherever you get it. It was delicious.
Then we headed to Livingston, Guatemala. It was another boat ride that we took from Puerto Barrios to Livingston. It took about 20 minutes. It was a calm day and we road along the shore so it was awesome to see everything that is around the border.
Livingston was really cool. They had lots of stuff for sale all along the road. You just got off the boat and walked up this hill where they were selling all kinds of stuff. Ty was obsessing over buying this Rastafarian man hat. I was traumatized at first but he really wanted it so I just let it go. Once he bought this sick hat, he wouldn’t take it off. Jess was embarrassed but it was funny. We went and sat at this little restaurant and some guys came up and played and sang for us. They were Garifuna and they did some traditional songs that Howard and Beef asked them to play. I love how important music is in the culture down here. I love walking down the street and just hearing music everywhere!
We didn’t stay in Livingston long. We got on the boat and went back to PG. It felt like we had been gone for much longer than 24 hours because we had seen so much! I’m glad we did that instead of just paying to renew our visas.
This morning we had to say goodbye to Ty, Nate and Mackenzie who all headed out to Costa Rica today. I think I’ll miss my phone for the first time, but I know time will go quickly. They will have so much fun. Now we have today and tomorrow to relax and Tuesday Jess, Howard, Dari (my running body guard) and I will head out to Belize City, Belmopan, San Pedro and Caye Caulker. We will cover a lot of ground and see a lot but I think it’ll be a pretty relaxed trip. We’ll spend most days just walking around, shopping, and laying out on the beach. I’m really excited to see the zoo! That’ll be awesome!!! I want to pet a tapir.
Looking at all the pictures that I’ve taken I’m shocked that I have seen so much and done so much. I am so grateful to my grandparents and my dad. I wish I was becoming something sweet so I could make enough money to take them here to meet everyone and see what I’ve seen. They will never know how much I appreciate the opportunity to be here. No one will ever understand what I experienced, how I’ve changed, and what I’ve seen. It’s something that will always be special to me in a special, private way.
I don’t know how none of those three cried this morning. I was crying when they flew away. I’m sure I’ll be a mess when I have to leave Elena. She doesn’t understand that she has become my family. I don’t forget family. I hope I will always keep in contact with her for my entire life and I hope I can come back here someday and I can stay with her again.
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