Greetings

Howdy (well they really don't say howdy much here....how about hola/gud aftanoon, or tardes),

I am starting to think that I start each blog with the same thing....yes we are still alive, no, we are not stranded somewhere and cant get to the internet. Nonetheless, we are here and we are loving it. I hope you will get a kick out of the last few weeks as we have. Let me start with Nate's visits to the villages.

Each day, he went to one or two villages for a sort of graduation process for the Cacao farmers. He would wake up most mornings at 5am and travel up to two hours on a road that could give you a whiplash or make you get car sickness, to visit villages, eat caldo. Caldo is a Mayan traditional dish that consist of chicken, pork, or gibnut. It is in a red caldo flavoring and is a hot soup. You eat the soup with hot tortillas. Its delicious. It is customary to eat the dish at each house you visit. Needless to say, Nate ate it three times before noon one day. What a trooper. He did this for 5 days. Most days he didn't get home time dinner time (5 or 6pm). While he had the opportunity to do that, I visited Baranco, a small Garifuna village in Toledo District. One of my friends lives there and it is beautiful. It is known for the culture, the beauty, and being one out of two villages that speak garifuna. It is also one of the fishing villages down here. I also started the school year....oh boy.

School started Wednesday. I went in after lunch and tend to leave around 4 or 5. I also helped to paint a world map (geography lessons are limited here). I am the school's librarian, so I have started to reorganize the library so it is easier for the kids to pick books. This week, Nate and I headed to Belmopan (Peace Corps headquarters location) and attended a meeting. I get to participate on the VAC committee. It stands for Volunteer Advocacy Committee. Basically, i get to make sure the volunteer's concerns in PG are addressed. That was on Wednesday. On Thursday Nate and I took a trip up north to visit some of our friends for the holiday.

Wait...the holiday. Okay, so on September 10, all Belizeans celebrate (national holiday) St. Georges Day. It is a celebration of the Belizean Army who conquered a Spanish troop who tried to take over Belize. This fight occurred on St. Georges Cayes. Therefore... a celebration. Celebrations include a lot of alcohol consumption, cook outs, parades, and carnivals.

Okay, so Nate went to Yo Creek village, a village located outside of Orange Walk, and located 3 1/2 hours from Belmopan to hang out with Kevin (another PCV )until Saturday. I went to the top of Belize (near Mexico) to hang out with a couple of really good friends. I stayed with Kaitlyn at Copper Bank, and visited Chunux to see our friend Roma. Both are small Latino villages. We had to take ferrys to get a round...fun. The whole trip was a blast. We ended the trip by staying in Orange Walk with another Peace Corps Volunteer. Now, we have returned to Belmopan for a few days.


This upcoming week includes a meeting with the ambassador, HIV/AIDs training, and Nate has a meeting as the new Warden. He is going to be responsible of contacting people if there were an emergency. A huge responsibility. We are proud of him!

That is it. I cant tell you how much we miss everyone. We have hit the mark almost 6 months and boy, we miss you all. We are planning on coming come for the holidays, so we hope to see/squeeze everyone in during our two week visit home.

Keep us updated on whats going on with you. Emails are always the best. We respond quicker to them.

We love you,
Michelle (and Nate)