Finally Got the Ball Rolling

Hello Err'body,

After two 3 hour flights (NY to Dallas; Dallas to Belize City), a runaway bus chase, and a couple of krispe kreme doughnuts I've finally made it to BELIZE. Its 83 degrees with 89% humidity. Needless to say I am, in fact, schvitzing and I don't think that's going to change for a long time.

When we landed in Belize City there was a crew of about 40 older volunteers ready to greet us, cheering (there are 38 new volunteers in my training class) as we walked off the plane- what a nice way enter a new country. Some of the veteran volunteers joined us on the bus to Belmopan so we got to grill them about their experiences thus far. Hearing some of their stories and advice really got me pumped up and thinking towards the future aka me living in a rural village in some sort of hutlike structure (more on this later). I also found out that iguana eggs are very delicious...hoping to confirm this soon.

Today is the first day of our pre-service training, and I just finished my first Belizean (pronounce: Beh-lee-Jee-ann) breakfast: eggs, refried beans, papaya, and something called "fry jacks" (a piece of flat fried dough). Refried beans for breakfast is definitely a first, but I think I can get used to it.

Last night we stayed at the Garden City Hotel in Belmopan, the vibrant capital of Belize. This is where we'll be until thursday we me move to our community training sites. Apparently the capital used to be located in Belize City, but after a hurricane destroyed most of the infrastructure there a few years back, government officials decided to move the capital to a more inland location to avoid more weather-related damages.

For now I've gotta get down to business...official business I might add (see picture), but I'll try my best to post whenever I can. Before I go here's a little poem, courtesy of our in-country nurse...

Staying Healthy Overseas
by Jay Keystone

Don't get Bit
Don't get Hit
Don't get Lit
Don't do it
Don't eat shit


- DL