Go Slow

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Two blog posts in as many weeks! What a treat... Well, I’ve been back from Cuba for nearly a month and so I thought while I’m in the writing mood I’d update on what’s been happening since then.

Still; unrecovered from the Hotel International bug, I dragged my poorly self to my next destination, Caye Caulker – a tiny island off the coast of Belize where I’d be volunteering for a little school.

The island’s slogan is ‘Go Slow’ and that pretty much sums up everything here. The other day I was accosted by a local for going so fast on my bike; “lady, what’s the hurry? Go Slow!’ He had a point, I was in no hurry to get to where I was going.
The reason I decided to volunteer here (despite the Caribbean water, sunshine and laid-back vibes, of course), was that I’d come across a school with a very inspiring story. To cut a long story short, a couple of ex-pats living on the island thought the lack of high school education here was unfair and damaging to the island’s families and community. With no help from the government – but huge amounts of public enthusiasm and generosity, a community school was up and running within 9 months of the first public meeting. The government offers bare financial assistance and the school only exists thanks to the hard work of the founders, volunteers and donations.

As a volunteer here I’ve spent my time painting, sorting books, killing bugs, creating databases, chasing fees, banking money, making sandwiches and many more tasks in-between. I have a little apartment here and a bicycle and it’s been a welcome break from the constant packing/re-packing and lack of privacy that comes with budget travelling.

However, I’ve not fallen in love with the island as I expected and despite planning to stay here for two months I’ll be leaving after one. I’ve met some fantastic people and I’ve benefited from the warm, fuzzy feeling of being a volunteer at a worthy cause. But, the tourist population here is very transient (people are never here more than a couple of days) and the ex-pat community (although substantial) has an average age of a few generations above mine, so I’m ready to move on now meet some new people and return to a Spanish speaking country to develop my linguistic skills.
As I’ve had a quiet and reflective month, I thought I’d use this time to sum a few things I’ve learned, as well as observations from my travels so far:
- I wish I’d brought some tea bags. I really miss PROPER tea, none of that lesbian rubbish either.

- White people dance with the top half of their body (with an emphasis on arms). The rest of the world dance with their bottom half. Of course, dancing with the bottom half produces good salsa moves etc. but doesn’t have the same effect in a night club with terrible dance music (some consolation in there somewhere).

- Travelling alone throws up problems for applying suntan lotion on my back. Although solo travelling is not as scary or lonely as most people assume, it is, incredibly liberating and there are only a handful of times I’ve been stuck for company (sometimes I wish people wouldn’t talk to me – solo travellers always attract fellow (often nutter) solo travellers)

- Nothing ever runs on time or ever takes as long as you are told it will. (10 minutes = 1 hour, 5 days = two weeks). Maybe it’s to do with being closer to the equator.

- The best way to avoid the advances of sleazy Latino men is to drop in the conversation about a fictional boyfriend. I have several characters (looks, background, education, profession, favourite food etc.) already memorised – depending on the occasion. Of course this doesn’t always work :‘what the eyes don’t see the heart don’t feel’

- My best experiences so far have been more about the people I’ve met rather than the places I’ve seen. Beautiful beaches/valleys/cities/churches etc. start to blur into each other after a while, but I’ll never forget the kindness of my host family in Antigua, dancing and drinking in Mexico with Manuela’s family, having dinner at the house of our new Cuban friend, or the cupcakes made by students at the school for my birthday.

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