Part One:

My recent trip to Belize was split into two distinct portions.  First was Belize as Tourist.  A nurse tourist on a medical mission, but definitely a tourist.  The second half of the trip was Belize as Homeland.  Being in Belize as a Tourist was a new experience, but I fell into being all touristy with surprising ease.  I carried my water bottle everywhere, filled only with bottled or purified water, and hydrated religiously.  Between Carolita and I, we used an entire can of bug spray in less than a week.  We even applied bug spray before going to bed, since we had no mosquito nets.  I avoided eating Local Food, unless it was properly and thoroughly cooked.  I snapped photos and bought hand-crafted trinkets for exorbitant prices.  I went nowhere without toilet paper and anti-bacterial wipes in my backpack.  Nowhere.

 

 

 

The second half of the trip, Belize as Homeland, was much more relaxed, though it was actually busier.  I drank water when I was at Aunt Mary's house, or if I got thirsty in town and bought a bottle.  I drank coffee, limeade and cacao in thatch houses without thinking about where the water came from.  I ate whatever my friends served without thinking twice except to wonder how I could replicate the recipes back home.  I didn't purchase anything silly.  I assumed people would have toilet paper in their bathrooms or outhouses.  And I breathed a little more freely, having lost the uncanny awkwardness of being a tourist somewhere I should be family.

 

I had wanted to go with The Doctors for so many years that I almost didn't want to go, thinking I would surely be disappointed because the experience couldn't possibly live up to my expectations.  I'm complicated that way.  So when we arrived, and I discovered that to avoid over-taxing my health, I had been put on the dental team, which always went to the non-hiking villages, I realized I had been right to prepare myself for the worst.  Disappointment was already setting in.  I hated dental work, you see, and had often spoken in harsh and negative terms about what my reaction would be should someone ever make me do dental work of any sort.  Yes, I've worked in urology and gastroenterology.  No, I don't know why that's less gross; it just is, okay?  But, being a good sport--someone had to do it--I put on my good-sport face and went with the flow.  And during my first day as a dental assistant, I discovered my attitudes were completely flawed and had nothing to do with reality.  I actually enjoyed dental work.  Before the trip was over, I was considering a career change.  Why don't more people go into dentistry?  Dr. Charlie was incredible.  He even let Carolita and I pull teeth.  He helped me suture up the gaping gums of a Kek'chi woman in Guatemala whose teeth had been rotted off so far up that after we removed the first two, she thought we hadn't removed any teeth at all.  I can't imagine the misery she had to be in, probably for years, before we arrived, trumpets blaring, banners waving, and hammered and pried away her pain.  Okay, so the sound announcing our arrival was more like wheezing out of shape hikers (like me) and our banners were wet socks hanging off our backpacks, but still, in a few days, that woman was going to love us.

   

                                        

 

 

...to be continued.  And coming soon to this blog--the toilet story!

I post these pictures of me and my fabulous birthday gift from Grandma specifically for those friends and relatives who know my dear Grandma and will appreciate knowing about this gift.  She didn't remember that she had given Michael the same thing in a larger quantity for a former birthday.  Don't know how she could forget such a thing...




Another one of Grandma's memorable birthday gifts!


"You can peel them, freeze them, and put them in smoothies!"


Or find other uses for them...

I can't believe I'm actually going to Belize with The Doctors.  See previous post with previous adorable picture of alien-like creatures.  The Doctors were the coolest thing ever to hit Toledo disctrict--at least that's what I thought when in my pre-teen years.  I've wanted to do this since I was 10 and hiked back to San Benito Poite with them.  I remember thinking they were so silly to hike the jungle in white shorts and tennis shoes.  I remember some of The Doctors telling me they didn't want me on their pictures after the hike because I was too clean and would ruin the stories they planned to tell back home.  I remember thinking they could have just worn rubber boots and kept out of the biggest mud-holes.  Now I get to be the one giving shots and handing out medicines and complaining about how impossible the heat is.

Pray for me, if you would, that I would have a great trip, help lots of people, and that my health would not be adversely affected by the tropical heat.  It's been a long time since I was 10 and knew how to stay out of the mud.

I'll be back!