Day 7 Wednesday

To see pictures, be sure to log on the internet to http://www.flickr.com/photos/rmcmissionpictures/ Best to go to the right-hand column and view the pictures day-by-day; otherwise they are in totally random order. Give it a few minutes to load, then click on “slideshow”.
To read all of these e-mails, log on to www.rmcmission.blogspot.com.
You can view a map of Belize at http://www.progressoheights.com/location/belize_map.jpg . “Click” on the map and it will zoom in; we are working in the very northernmost tip in Corozal town (which is located in the District of the same name).

Here is what happened on Wednesday.

Today was the first of our recreation days. Initially we had planned on going cave tubing, but things changed and we decided to go to the island (Caye) of Ambergris, to the little town of San Pedro. We boarded the boat right here in Corozal, and rode the 1 ½ hours to our destination. It is a little beach town that is THE tourist destination of Belize. In the past few years it has become a bustling place with cars and condos. It has an abundance of shopping, restaurants, souvenir shops, and a very nice beach. Our kids were able to spend 5 hours walking the streets, laying on the beach, and shopping. It was a welcome break from the heavy labor of the past few days.

We left Ambergris at 2 p.m., arriving back in Corozal at 4. One of our local “hermanos” runs a sidewalk café, and was commissioned to prepare us 50 meals. What great food it was, all local fare! On the plate was a burrito, a garnacha (a tostada without lettuce), a salbute (thick, small tortilla with nothing on it), 2 empanadas (beans wrapped in pastry and fried), and a tostada, with a side of repollo (like cole slaw). There was plenty to fill up even the hungriest of the guys.

After supper, most of us went to VBS, some went to bed, and a few wanted to make a trip to town just for an ice cream night cap. These are great kids all having a great time.

More on the subject of our food… as previously mentioned, Toni Odenthal is our cook. Food is a huge part of any youth project, and especially mission trips. But in a tropical setting, unique opportunities are offered. Every day when we go to market, we look for foods that may not be familiar to the kids so that their culinary horizons can be broadened. Below is a list of some of the things they have tried:

Chayote (prickly pair) vegetable that is in the squash family that tastes a bit like artichoke.
Mamey - orange colored fruit that looks like an oblong cantaloupe, but tastes like a really sweet, fruity sweet potato.)
Anona (custard apple) ugly rind with white, sweet flesh with black seeds.
Guayava (guava) closest to a pair in looks/texture, but tastes altogether different, really hard seeds
Papaya (same) yellow/orange flesh with frog-egg-like seeds, size of a small watermelon
Zapote (Sapodilla fruit) looks like a brown golf ball; tastes like honey
Kaimito (like a deep purple baseball) don’t eat too close to the rind or it’s bitter

The pineapples from here are ripe when they are picked, and as sweet as if they had sugar dumped on. Ditto on the watermelon. Believe it or not, there are no native mango or avocado available here in Belize. Whatever is available has been imported (smuggled) in from Mexico. The cantaloupe is also picked ripe, and very, very flavorful and sweet.

Funny thing, here in Belize they have some fairly strict import laws of fresh produce. Locally grown stuff tends to be scraggly, and rough looking. Produce from Mexico (15 miles north) is usually prettier, with better color and packaging. To protect the local grower, there are laws forbidding the sale of Mexican produce; it is contraband. So as you walk around the market, the merchants sidle up to you and ask if would like broccoli, cauliflower, avocado, lettuce, etc. They whisper as they glance around. In the USA we arrest people for peddling marijuana, cocaine, etc. Here in Belize they are arrested for peddling broccoli and cauliflower! Weird!

Yesterday the rain curtailed a lot of our work, and today we were completely shut down for recreation. So tomorrow we must really make some headway if we expect to see this project to completion.