oh butterfly!

Let me tell you about butterflies. My grandma loved butterflies, and perhaps still does. She always had the most beautiful butterfly accessories for herself and her house: Decoupage magnets, silver pendants, delicately fashioned ornaments.

When I was young and traveled with grandma Dorothy, she would always detour to the butterfly enclosure. I remember being bothered by these detours. In fact, it may have been only one detour. But in my little mind, it seemed like 10 detours. I'm sure I pouted the whole way there, but I do remember being inside a beautiful greenhouse filled with colorful flowers and a variety of fluttering creatures. For once, grandma had taken me someplace that was pretty cool.

As the years passed, we continued to gift items decorated with butterflies. I don't know if she ever tired of them, as people often do with collections. I gave her a Lumi print with her name and a butterfly x-mas before last. She seems to like it.

The butterflies engage me now more than I could have predicted as a child. We saw the beautiful omnimax monarch movie last year. This year as we drove South, we were fortunate enough to cross paths with a gazillion monarchs as they trespassed Texas. Honestly. They were everywhere. We couldn't avoid running into them, lest we quit driving.

When we got to Belize, we considered travelling to other destinations in the country. I had heard of the butterfly places in San Ignacio. That's how we ended up at the Trek Stop. It was pretty cool. We had fun and learned alot. And that, I thought was the end of the butterflies in Belize tour.

Then, a few months later...

We started noticing a few more butterflies around the property. I remembered the gentlemen at Trek Stop mentioning that they would start coming through soon. We paid attention, and have seen at least 7 different kinds of butterflies on the property.

Earlier this week, there was a barrage of yellow wings fluttering through the orchard. Boy, was it a sight to see! We think they were yellow sulphurs and one other variety. They were headed South, quite directly. There were a few white ones too, who also seemed to be travelling with purpose.

I was reminded of the white swallow tail that I saw on the property during February 2013. At the time, I didn't know it was a butterfly, and mistook it for a bush fairy.

What a particularly interesting and beautiful creature, the butterfly is. They will always remind me of my grandmother, and what a nice association that is to have! I hope that you too take any opportunity you get to visit a butterfly sanctuary, farm, atrium, or other location. One’s own heart can’t help but flutter when surrounded by such grace and determination.

Here is a photo of a yellow sulpher, along with some other things that are similar in color.

  

  

It's Raining, It's Pouring

On days like these, I would follow our black lab, Lightning into the laundry room and curl up until the lightning and thunder passed. I was much younger then.

It's still terrifying to hear the rumble and see the flashes... especially at night, and in a new house. The house leaked quite a bit on the SE side, especially when the wind blew sideways. And every time the thunder rumbled, the house shook.

I started out in the RV, which sways quite a bit in a rough storm like this. The giant bamboo booster tower is tied to the RV and it pulls the vehicle in all directions. It's quite like being on boat in bad weather! I lasted about a half hour, but my bones started to tremble, so I moved to the house.

Tetra was still asleep, and had been sleeping since we got home from town around 7:30. I honestly wanted to just curl up with her, but knew I would sleep better if I finished some aspect of work. So, I set up my old laptop by the bed so I could do both. Matt joined us in bed, and we fell asleep quite easily.

Speaking of wind and laptops - if you hadn't heard, I had to send in the new computer for repair. It was Friday. The day was calm, calm, calm. I sat at the table at the palapa working on the laptop. The wifi, I had placed in the hammock. A giant gust of wind came, and I heard the wifi drop. Matt and I locked eyes, and he gave me the look I give him when the baby drops; the "you know you could have prevented that" look. I raced for the wifi, lest it drop in the lagoon. Next gust of wind. Computer down. It tumbled and rolled. It was a terrifying sight. There was silence. They waited for me to curse, but I did not.

I let it rest. We ate breakfast. I tried it again and it worked except for a glitch on the right of the screen. Over the next few days, the display deteriorated. I copied the essential files to a flash drive on Matt's recommendation. Less than an hour later, the machine was done.

I sent it to Ava on Monday, and Apple is sending Ava a box for repair. It's a convoluted system because Belize is not a big Apple market, and there are no resources for repair, including mailing service. So, hopefully it can be fixed, and hopefully, my little 2006 MacBook will keep me going until then.

So - the rain is here - the baby is good - the work is good, but the tools are broke - the house is good, but the plumbing is shabby - the dogs are wet, and I met a baby iguana yesterday.

END.

Seasons Change

The water is calm, and has been calm since the rainy season began on June 1^st. We’ve been observing lots of changes after the shift in the season. One of my favorites was the hatching of the fairies. I also love watching the black cat birds (although they were active before the season too). The flamboyant tree went into bloom right before the rains, and watching the storms pass is always a joy.

When the first big rain came, on the first day of rainy season, I had just started my walk with Tetra to the front bathroom. The rain had calmed quite a bit, and I took her into the bathroom with me. While inside, I noticed a few small flying creatures which I had never seen before.

When we exited, I noticed they were all around us! …tiny creatures with long narrow wings, fluttering around as if dancing, socializing, and enjoying a sense of freedom. I told Tetra they were fairies, but I don’t think she was nearly as moved as I was.

Soon after, Matt approached and said, “There are these awful bugs flying everywhere around the RV!” He looked them up, and consulted Luciano. Sources suggest that they are termite queens or ‘wood lice’ queens. Regardless, I think they’re beautiful to watch and insist they must be related to fairies.

The black cat birds are described in our 101 Birds of Belize book as “secretive,” yet, we see them daily in the clearing by the cabana. There have been as many as 4 females and one male. The dance the male performs is quite a sight. He poofs out his feathers and puffs them a few times. Eventually, he may jump into the air and hover over the female for a good length of time. Then he returns to the ground and makes one circle, pivoting from the female at about a 3’ radius. We never see any copulation after that, but it’s quite a fun dance!

Our Flamboyant tree has minimal leaves, which are thin and fernlike. It produces giant pods of seeds, and a gazillion persimmon colored flowers. It is one of the most flowery trees I have ever seen, and is quite a sight to see.

And, in regards to the weather… well, I’ve always enjoyed watching the weather. It gives me a sense of motion, of motivation. I may have mentioned that I feel I can see the Earth move at Honey Camp. The clouds and lightning roll past above, as the water flows below and the trees blow all around.

With all that, I’ve not even mentioned the butterflies, which are varied and frequent, or the house, which is coming along.

Yes – we are sleeping there now, and it feels sooooo nice.

Catastrophe

I woke suddenly, and not knowing why. Then I heard his faint cry. Or – more like a “RAWRE----RAWRE----REAAAWR!”

“no, no, no, no” was all I could muster, as I jumped up. I saw Matt was just waking too. He was nearly out the door, jumping over me. He was able to say what I was thinking, “flashlight!” We continued to hear Jack struggle.

I jumped back over the bed (surely rustling up Tetra). I grabbed the spotlight and brought it to the door. Nothing! The light wasn’t working.

“Get the next one! On the stove!” he shouted. I reached there. Jack’s noises stopped. The battery was dead.  - - - -

I finally found another one that worked.

We called and searched for long time. I had to pull TJ out of bed because she was upset we had left. She searched with us.

Finally, we went back inside. In silence. The girl went back to sleep. Matt said he heard a big animal, maybe dog size, trot right past him in the darkness—right after Jack stopped making noise.

We couldn’t sleep. Matt was clearly upset---going over the many things that made it right for the predator: unfinished fence; our dogs were away by the front cabana with the guests; didn’t latch the screen door; didn’t grab a flashlight fast enough; didn’t make enough loud noise to scare off the predator; etc., etc..

I sat at the back door for a while. I went back to bed. There were no answers. I could see his big eyes. I tried to imagine what happened.

Eventually, the tears came. How could I have let this happen? Why is the world so risky? Is he gone? How will I go on? (you get the picture)

Matt and I held each other. Both so confused and defeated.

I went to blow my nose for a second time, and thought I saw the shadow of an animal. Was I hallucinating? I looked closer. It was a cat? It was Jack?!?!?!?

I couldn’t believe it. This was like the craziest shared dream ever. Cat cries. Cat dies. Cat lives. All in pitch black darkness.

Of course, we showered him with affection, and Matt cursed a bit at him.

Note: I can’t get over how completely blind humans are at night. It’s something I never thought about as much when electricity was so abundant. Living with minimal power is a real eye-opener.

May is coming and going

We recently decided that the end of May is the absolute deadline for the house to be finished. This news seemed to surprise Luciano at first, but after an hour of pleading our case, I think we convinced him that we were serious.

The next day we arranged for Tito and Tony to come and put flooring on the ceiling. They've been at it for a few days, working on contract, and they're doing a great job. The old crew is currently working on the veranda, and that flooring is almost done too. Luciano was on task to find someone to do the bathroom. From what I've heard there's really no one available right now, so it might be the next thing we put Tito and Tony on.

We are really determined to get in by the end of the month. Matt has even been spending time on the house--getting the numbering off the wood, and helping the workers. Our current lifestyle is tolerable, but it's just not what we had in mind at this point in our lives.

We have been fortunate to see a lot of fun nature happenings, including bird mating dances, egrets  mating, sugar swimming like a fool, and all sorts of crazy looking bugs. I even found one dragonfly who's wings never properly opened. We spent the day together and I got to look at it's big round eyeballs for a long time. That was actually super fun for me: staring into his eyes and wondering what it was thinking, if it was scared, if I can help it… turns out I couldn't really help it, unless it enjoyed sitting on my hair as I walked around... so it could at least get the feeling of flying before it died. I don't know what happened to it. It was on my hair for quite some time, but one time I checked and it was gone.

Tetra is doing great. She continues to be a silly little girl, and she continues to test our patience when she runs away with something in her mouth, or throws her fork on the floor. Our parental goals include getting her to sleep without her mother, and better nutrition through solids. As soon as we move into the house, we're gonna rock that potty.

Tetra has a small vocabulary including the words doggie, baba, mama, dada, papa, bamboo, bike, boat. She's working on coconut, mango and bullet (as in bullet tree).

I'm afraid I can't post any photos at the moment because I have lost my iPhone usb jack, but I encourage you to continue to reference Matt's photo uploads.

Speaking of Matt - he is so determined to get the house done that every day, he spends a minimum of 2 hours working on the house. Without guests, he spends more time. It's quite moving for me to see. I know he despises manual labor, but his efforts mean a lot to the crew and to his family. :)

The 6 Month Mark

Don’t think I haven’t been thinking about you. I’ve drafted at least 3 posts that I have not published, due to the general tone, which may be considered “a downer.” But now, I’ve got some solid, uplifting news to share: I took a break.

We’ve been in Belize for about 6 months now, and we’ve all felt the stress of the new life. Sure. We’ve also felt the joys, like the beautiful sunsets and moon risings, and the daily swims. But we’re at that 6-month mark. It happens with any relationship. Matt and I were ready to break it off with Belize, but we choose to take a short vacation instead. I planned for it to start on Wednesday.

I booked 2 nights for us at the Trek Stop located in the Cayo district, near the Guatemalan border. The Trek Stop is a friendly little arrangement of tiny Mennonite-style houses coupled with a kitchen, dining deck, medicinal herbs, and a butterfly atrium. This first night, I saw 3 hummingbirds all in the same moment-just sitting on the dining deck!

Our drive here was successful. We stopped at the Hattieville Prison Gift Shop and purchased fine woodcrafted items and some hoop earrings. The entire room was filled with very beautiful hardwood sculptures and some functional items – mostly for the kitchen. In the corner of the glass case, I found some black hoop earrings. They looked metal, like iron? They were hammered out though, and have a fine swooping clasp. Carlos was very helpful and offered to call the artist to get a price. Apparently the earrings had been sitting there for years, and Carlos had found them when he was cleaning up. He got us a great price - $15. Thanks Carlos.

Then we ate sweet bread while we continued our journey to the Trek Stop, outside of San Ignacio. I also peeled off the price tag from the earrings, and found untarnished silver! Then, Tetra sang her dada to sleep. And when he woke up, he read books to her. I drove. After entering Cayo, I noticed we were passing the BAHA Office. I remembered that the woman who helped us get Doug’s paperwork was at that office. I turned around so that I could stop and thank her personally. It was great getting to say hello to Melody and shaking her hand (in standard Belize form, which is always loose, whether male or female).

Not but 5 miles down the road, I saw a post with 5 or so green circles attached vertically, each one with a different word and in the style of the Land Rover logo. Sure enough, it was a Land Rover parts dealer! TJ was asleep, so I stayed with her in the car while Mateo chatted with the man behind the counter. The property was nice. I wonder if LR sent him to Belize or if he’s doing it of his own accord. There was a strong breeze blowing, and eventually TJ woke up. I got her out of the car and we checked things out. There was a old small plane with a light dusting of moss, another metal building with a loading dock, and the garage/shop that we were standing in. Matt got a temp. sending unit that he needed, and we were on our way. Oh – we also found that the man was familiar with Steve, the dude we bought our Rover from.

It wasn't much farther til we got to a little town whose name I forgot. We ran smack dab into a wooden high-chair that was in a shop at the T section of the road. I insisted we buy it, then we continued on our way.

Within a mile, we were meeting a shallow riverbed, complete with people splashing and enjoying themselves. A simple but sturdy bridge took us to the other side. This was San Ignacio.

The city got more and more cute and we drove through. Mateo pointed out a promenade, and we parked the car. Walking around was nice. We found a complete unit stove/oven for use with gas. We also came across a beautiful park with food vendors and Raw, Vegan, Smoothie joint. Roots, as it was called was a nice place to take a stop and finally get some food in our bellies. The owner, waiter, and even patron were all very friendly and the food and smoothie were quality made.

After leaving there, we picked up a few bananas, seeds and a mango from a street vendor and got back on the road. I drove us back to the main road. We drove about 6 miles before we saw the sign for the Trek Stop. We drove past it and toured the next little village; then came back to finally settle in our accommodation.

Mateo and Tetra have been in bed for a while, and now that I’ve got this blog post drafted, I should go to bed too. Thank you, good luck, and good night.

It's Like This

What’s it like living here in the jungle of Belize? CRAZY

Matt works super hard to keep everything running smoothly. He’s always doing something, and I think he enjoys keeping busy. I know how he feels. I think I mentioned before that there’s never a dull moment.

My daily goals are pretty straightforward: work and Tetra. I also care for Douglas, and share responsibilities for the other animals daily–Jack, Lucy, Sugar, Clive, Lady Baltimore, Jenny, Salbutes, Empanadas, and the other white chicken. Completing these goals has been rather challenging for the past five months, but this week, we hired a nanny/bodyguard/gerker.

Claudio had been working on the house, but they got to a point where they couldn’t use him as often. Matt suggested right away that he watch Tetra for us during the day. She really likes him, so it works out perfectly. I can’t believe how much more productive I am becoming now that we have additional help. I mean, look. I’m writing a blog post! Today, I even had time to do art.

Having help has been a difficult thing for me to adjust to, and I’m certainly still adjusting. However, in just this one week, my quality of life seems to have improved greatly. It’s a huge comfort to know my child is nearby and enjoying herself while I’m working. She’s often in eyesight, and I can look up from my work to see her laughing, walking or talking. She still naps once or twice a day, and Claudio’s been able to help me with that as well. I’m still struggling with getting solids into her. I feel that she needs more of them, but I also feel that this will eventually work itself out. It’s a matter of getting it into a routine, and of being able to offer food every couple of hours. Moving into the house will probably help that quite a bit.

What is the status of the house? Well, it’s not finished. There have been 2 workers on it this week. They’ve been working on the framing. I see today that the frame for the ceiling has begun. I think siding is next, and then flooring. The roof also goes in there somewhere too. I had imagined these to be quick things, but when I saw the slated siding, and considered the unconventional windows we will have, I thought better. Now, I’m hoping it will be done, at least while mom and dad are here.

I honestly did not expect it to take near this long, but I also think that I envisioned a more basic design with simpler material. Matt’s instincts for architecture have always been creative and appreciated, and I’m sure I will appreciate what comes out of this venture.

Tomorrow is Domingo, and I plan to garalo suave. I hope you can take it easy too.

Also, I wrote this on Saturday, but am posting on Tuesday.

I'm still hopeful that you can take it easy, even if it's only Tuesday.

Folks here say it's important to work hard and to take breaks.