Every Day is the Best Day Ever

Now that school is out for a few weeks we are taking San Pedro by storm! Yesterday we all rented bikes and began the day at Pan Dulce with only the best pastries in town! Navigating the streets was somewhat difficult because the "road signs" are not too visible. That being said there was a lot of turning around and sudden stops, but we got out of town alive and rode on the beach up north on the island to Ak'Bol. This is a yoga retreat that is a very serene place right on the sea. We went swimming in the pool, laid in the hammocks, jumped on the trampoline, and ate lunch. Every day seems to be the best day ever here! I do love Wilmington, but life could not get any better than this!

When we finally woke back up to reality we hopped on our bikes and rode back into town. We had to get ready for "Earth Hour" down here. In Belize people are on their own time and own agendas. So because of that we rode our bikes around the beach and were in search of the "parade," which consisted of thirty people and a drum line. This "Earth Hour" required ice cream and while we were standing outside a young boy who I have befriended came up to me and gave me a big hug. His name is Alex and he and his brother go around town every night of the week to sell necklaces and other jewelry. I asked him how late he would be out tonight and he said somewhere around eleven o'clock because this is a busy time for him. A lot of people are coming onto the island over the next two weeks so this is ideal for Alex and his brothers to find the tourists and sell to them. He gave me another hug and said he had to go back to "work." I always see Alex around town and as bizarre as his situation is to me, it is his life and it is all he has ever known.

I know for Alex that his family relies on him to bring in money every day and therefore he is valued in his family. Other children are valued in other ways as being precious and the hope for the future. Most all children go to school on the island except children with severe special needs. There is no school for them or special services so they do what little school they can and that is it. There are a few students at Isla Bonita with special needs who do what work they can and then usually move on to the next standard so as to get through school faster. My teacher was telling me about all of this and I asked her why there were no services and she said that the people have to beg and beg for things and they are not guaranteed so they do the best they can in the mean time. This made the idea of Belize being a third world country very evident to me.