Mr. Jack's Dog - Punta Gorda - Belize 2015

In this place, even the paper gets wet as I try to write with pen and paper. Bugs feast on our skin with fierceness. The thick humid air makes me tired from doing nothing. I wonder how that is even possible. I can't remember what it is like to feel cold.

We walk the gravel road to the main street which brings us into town for WiFi, electricity, breakfast and socializing. We order up eggs, potato with blackened cheese and cassava and while away the day under the ceiling fan watching the buses come and go. Sending messages to friends and planning where we are headed next. We drink wonderful cold coffee with milk and sugar to balance the lethargy of the insanely humid air. Our friend is an excellent cook and owns a small cafe in town. 

At night, we sit under the beautifully woven thatch of the drum school. It was recently built and is a huge expanse of roof over our heads. There is no electricity here so we wit in the dark, tell stories, and listen to the night sounds. The humidity is relentless and the sky is dark. 

When it's time to sleep, we crawl under a bug net into dampened sheets from the humid air. I hear a rustling outside as some critter has one more go at my fear of things that crawl around in the night. I trust the net will protect me from the scorpions I have seen about, the yellow, red and black.

I awake just before dawn to the howler monkeys as they announce the coming of a new day. This is one of my most awesome memories. Their orchestra is followed by birdsong at first light. When I am not thinking about the snakes and scorpions I am reveling in the welcoming in of a new day.

We watch the preparations for a Black Pot Friday event and we are in awe at the incredible food that this kitchen can produce. What a beautiful hearth. Food that will be presented to customers attending an evening cultural food and drumming event. The menu is fantastic, lots of choices and amazing flavors. There was boil up with roasted tomato sauce, yellow ginger or brown rice with chick peas and coconut milk, stewed chicken, fish roasted in cowfoot leaf, tamale casserole with vegan chili, cornbread, kriol bread and jalapeno cornbread.

The next afternoon, I see Mr Jack's dog running into the thatch and erratically pawing his face. His all too curious nature put him in a situation where he did not win in his encounter with a small porcupine type critter. He comes by for help to remove the sharp quills from his mouth and face but he is in too much pain to sit still. One person consoles Mr Jack's dog while the other tries to remove the quills with a pliers. We remove only 5 bloody quills before he lumbered off back towards his home. There were maybe 30-40 more quills that needed to be removed. We hope that Mr. Jack will have better luck removing the quills. Sadly we didn't see Mr. Jack's dog again that day and early the next morning we walked the gravel road back into to town to head north up the coast to Placencia for some very mellow beach time. 

Blanca and my Broken Foot

Blanca - photo: Bryce Fairbanks

As dreams go they are often full of little vignettes and I usually don't remember them. I've been trying to write them down sometimes and use them to feed my writing.  

I dreamed I had a broken left foot or ankle. The dream did not divulge how exactly I broke it, but since I am in Mexico my guess it I walked into a hole in the sidewalk or stumbled up or down a curb somewhere. The sidewalks here are very treacherous and much like an obstacle course. Curbs appear in odd places, trees appear in the middle of the path and unexplained holes that will never be repaired, rebar jutting out for a someday light pole and a pathways of varying heights.

The clinic had simply put a lightweight beautifully decorated cast which stopped about mid shin. I was happy there was no pain and running around like nothing was wrong. The cast seemed to weigh no more than my black engineer boot I was wearing on my good foot. My feet looked good together a nice juxtaposition of beauty and toughness.

I'm sitting on top of a picnic table, both feet resting on the bench and some of my friends are there with all their happy dogs and cats. I'm not in Mexico and not sure why. We are getting ready to share food. 

We are all happy and excited because for too may days Blanca, the dog had gone on an adventure in a neighborhood she was not familiar with. She was unable to find her home and unable to cross the big river. She is a little bit shy and difficult to lure.

We are celebrating that Blanca is home safe again. At the gathering we notice that Blanca has again wandered off, but we can still hear the jingle of her tag attached to her collar. We are not concerned because we know she is near her home and can find her way back. After a short time, she runs up to everyone and looks at us as if she is joking about wandering off but she says with her eyes, "I won't do that ever again." She is happy to be home.