Back to Reality

Belize

I am back from vacation and feeling that melancholy of not wanted to be home. I will take that as a sign of a great vacation.

Belize was so wonderful, or specifically Placencia were I spent the week. The people were so friendly and happy. Everyone says hello, waves, remembers your name. By American standards they are poor, but were so warm and sincere, it reminds you that things don’t make you happy. I love the United States and feel very lucky to live here, but there are so many things I distain. When I travel abroad I am reminded of how materialistic we are. And let’s face it, we are a fat nation. I noticed it when I was in the Belize Airport yesterday. I noticed it, too, when I was in Paris in February. The Americans stick out, literally.

Placencia is on the coast, on a tiny peninsula actually, so I was surrounded by the ocean and warm breezes. Aahhh, to me that’s living, give me a sunny beach any day. And it is undeveloped except for a few fancy resorts. We didn’t go that route, though, opting for a little, locally-owned place called the Blue Crab. We stayed in a cabana with a porch and thatch roof, right on the beach.

I just loved this sign:

I was so careful about not getting sunburned because it totally ruins the vacation. Friday we went snorkeling and I got a little burn on the backs of my legs which is feeling much better. My other injury is major bruises on the inside of my upper arms. It’s a funny story, though, really.

We met these guys from South Carolina who delivered a sailboat for a charter company. They sailed 5 days from Florida, how cool is that? So we hung out with them and some other sailors from South Africa for a couple of days. Gegi (my friend I was traveling with) and I stayed on the boat Wed. night – it was late, we were buzzed, I hooked up w/Boy M …

Getting on and off the boat was tricky because the dock was much higher than the back of the boat. It was never graceful, but we managed (the boys made it look so easy) until Thurs. morning. Boy M couldn’t pull the boat close enough to the dock from me to hoist myself up. So he had a brilliant idea that he pull be up. No, not happening I said. But he insisted. Struggle, grunt, struggle. Splash. The next thing I know we are in the water, fully clothed and my glasses have drifted to the bottom. Boy M panics, are you ok, get back on the boat, are you injured, blah blah blah.

I am fine, I can swim, but my concern is my glasses. And get back on the boat? Are you kidding? That is what started all of this. I tell him to go on board to get his mask so he can find my glasses, and then I will swim to shore. The water was shallow and clear so he found my glasses and a flashlight while he was down there.

It was so funny, really. The unfortunate part of the whole thing is that I was in my clothes and shoes. I was so embarrassed to be walking around at 7:30 AM dripping wet, looking for Gegi who had left the boat w/o a note or anything. We found her, though, and she got a huge laugh. Actually everyone did as the story spread among the rest of the crew.

The bruises didn’t appear until a few hours later and I have no recollection of hitting anything on the way down. They are disgusting, I can’t even look at them! And Boy M got a black eye. That I would love to see!

I will have more about my trip in the coming days. My bag was lost for a couple of days so I bought a disposible camera to fill in until I got my digital camera back. So there could be some good pictures, there, too.


Knitting
I did actually finish one of my mother’s socks and started the second. I pulled out my knitting while waiting in the Belize International Airport yesterday to discover I had finally lost needle #5. I say finally because I am always dropping it, misplacing it, nearly losing it. It is somewhere in Belize right now, enjoying the sun and sand. I was bummed, though, I could have gotten a lot of knitting done.

I joined the Holiday Knit Sock Exchange. Just waiting to hear back from my sock buddy. I was a little confused about who was knitting for whom, but I think I have it figured out now. This will be fun!