stone lady.

So much has occurred since my last entry. 

But a lot of it is a blur. To begin, this past Friday marked exactly one month since I landed and began my new chapter in Belize. It seems like the time went by in the blink of an eye. Training sessions and language classes each day seem to wiz by- before I know it, I’m at the dinner table in my host family’s home sometime blankly eating dinner while our kittens whine at our feet for the scraps, and other evenings chatting in spanish with my host sisters laughing at every little thing, followed by complaining about being tired. 

Then I sleep. Even sleep recently seems to be a series of closing my eyes just to seemingly open them up in the next few hours and repeat the routine again. 

Every now and again weekends spent listing to reggae-ton and spanish love songs followed by a Sunday of laundry and relaxation is interrupted by ‘culture days’ put together by the Peace Corps Belize Staff (see _____ for a recap of our last culture day). That is what this post will tell the story of.

This past Saturday we were slated to learn about Mestizo culture. Mestizo (Meh-tee-zo) people are the descendants of the original Mayans mixed with the Spaniards that colonized parts of central america years ago. They are Spanish speaking, and make up a large part of the diverse population here in Belize. My current host family during training is Mestizo. I feel very blessed to mesh so well with their personalities and attitudes and I truly feel as though I fit right in with them in the things we laugh and joke about, complain about, watch on TV, the music we enjoy. 

For ‘culture day’ we ventured to the west end of the country, about one mile away from the Guatemalan border to a village called Benque Viejo del Carmen. The village was really quaint and housed a culture center that marked where our learning would begin. We were told about traditions of the community such as the way certain holidays are celebrated and the festivals that are popular at different times of the year. I learned a lot, all the way do to the meanings of the offerings placed for the ghosts of people passed during the annual Dia de los muertos (day of the dead) celebrations. 

The highlight was Xunantunich, a mayan ruin with the name meaning “Stone Lady.” The climb to the top offered a breathtaking view and I felt a chill down my spine as I looked out into the beautiful view in front of me, feeling on top of the world. The ruin is tall enough that it provided us with a view right out into Guatemala. 

I closed my eyes, appreciating this experience. The feeling was indescribable and I can only wish that anyone reading this feels the pull to explore the beauty that lies beyond their own backyards. 

More to come. 

-S

Guatemala behind me