Welcome to the Jungle

I have been in San Ignacio for about a week now - it's a lovely little town! For the most part my time here has been spent working very hard with Cornerstone Volunteers in an HIV/AIDS outreach program. Perhaps it would be best then to tell you a little bit about the Cornerstone Foundation and what they do here in Belize...

Cornerstone is a grassroots humanitarian organization based out of San Ignacio here in Belize. They are very well developed, are doing quite well, and are known and respected throughout the community for all the good work they are doing. They've got their hands in a lot of great projects so I can't describe them all...but basically they are involved in HIV/AIDS support, education and awareness, Women's and Children's rights and empowerment, women's and children's support systems and financial assistance. It's a fantastic organization and I'm proud to be a part of it.

My specific project involves HIV/AIDS general awareness. We have a very tight schedule and loads to do, from free condom distribution to information booths to educational talks (for kids and adults). Yes, the talks will include condom demonstrations...lol it should be interesting as we are giving several talks this week and I am speaking to teenagers!! Honestly, I have struggled a bit with my project. There is a lot to do with very little instruction and very little preparation time so it's a little stressful. The schedule is very tight, but things always start late here, so it's very difficult to fit in everything we are supposed to do each day. At the same time, it's interesting to see how things work here in Belize and I see it as a tough and educational personal challenge to see if I can adjust. I suppose we'll just have to see how things go though, won't we!

The cultural experience I've been having here is really great though. Belize is so laidback and chill...I've met some very cool local rastas and have really been enjoying the lack of punctuality! Maybe I've finally found a place that runs on Lorelei time? There are a ton of restaurants in San Ignacio from Indian food to Italian food (both of which I love!), and of course everywhere serves the standard Belizean rice and beans with stewed (insert meat choice here), which is very tasty. Although I haven't found a restaurant yet which serves food as good as what Mrs. Nellie and Mrs. Martha serve for lunch at Cornerstone!

After working hard all day, the volunteers generally chill out in the common room, do a little reading and/or watch a movie. There's a cute little theater nearby which shows relatively new movies for very cheap (and it has AC!) so we go there a lot. This isn't really a place you can go out at night by yourself so most nights have been pretty low key, which is awesome because we have been so busy and need the break.

Last Friday, Mrs. Rita (Coordinator of Cornerstone) threw a surprise party for Mrs. Sheree (the rotary club member who coordinates with Cornerstone). We all went to Mrs. Rita's house, and had homemade guacamole, salsa and cheese dip with fresh tortilla chips. We also sampled some local wines, blackberry wine was definetly my favorite. Of course, there was karaoke and then things got exciting with a punta rock dance party. It was an awesome night! Turns out I'm not very good at punta dancing, but I gave it a shot and I had a blast. Saturday morning we had an HIV information booth at the local market. We had a great response and managed to get a lot more information out there which was great. I also sampled some fresh juices at the market and some local food (excellent!).

On Sunday we had a canoe trip up the Macal River with Quash, a local guide. Once we were on the river, it took maybe 10 minutes to get out of the city area and suddenly, we were right in the middle of the jungle. It's quiet in the sense that there's no man-made noises, but there were so many jungle noises. the river is sandwiched between dense rainforest on both sides, and you could hear so much going on. It seems so mysterious and intruiging, and terribly beautiful, but mostly the forest just seemed Alive. We spotted a lot of wildlife, especially iguanas and lizards. It took us a while to paddle upstream to our destination, as the river is high and the current strong, but we got there eventually. After lunch we explored a little museum and butterfly farm, and then walked on a Rainforest Remedies trail. It was a self-guided tour with a book explaining all the natural cures of the trees we passed. It was very cool. I learned that coffee beans can be used as birth control (don't try this at home), and that many trees which harm you either can fix you themselves or are always nearby another tree which can fix you. One very cool tree was the Black Poisonwood, which the ancient Mayans used to tie colonial soldiers to as a form of torture - they would cut the tree so the black sap would run down over the soldiers. The sap gives you a horrible painful rash that remains for several weeks and can only be treated by some other obscure jungle bush.

Anyway, I picked out some remedies to try out at home (I'll let you know how that goes) and then we set off down the river again. Going home, the light was perfect off the water and in the trees, and it was so much more relaxing as we weren't fighting the current. With the tranquility of the river and the jungle noises all around us, I can honestly say it's one of the most beautiful experiences I've ever had. Times like these are the reason I travel.

Today after preparing presentations for the week, I met a good old fashioned Bush man - a Belizean Natural Healer. He claims to have cures for HIV/AIDS, cancer and many other ailments. As a scientist, I find these things difficult to believe, but then again, if people use these same herbs and have been using them for centuries, they must do something, no? Also, don't most medicines originally come from plants anyway? At the same time though, medicines in the developed world have been scientifically proven, which makes much more sense to me. Maybe there should be more research into these rainforest remedies....Either way, it was a very interesting day. I would be interested to learn more about natural healing, whether or not I fully believe in it.

So that's what I've been up to so far. Exciting and occasionally stressful, and also awe-inspiring, times here in Belize! Talk to you again soon :)

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