The main event for Day 2 was a medicine walk. Essentially, our guide was going to take us through the jungle and point out various plants with medicinal properties. Turns out, in the jungle, you only have to walk a few feet before you find such a plant. And so we took a relatively slow walk, first on the grounds of our lodge, and then into the town nearby, stopping every few minutes to learn about a new plant its impressive effects on the body.
While the tour was great, getting to walk through the nearby town with a guide was probably even more interesting. The word that seems to best describe what we saw was undeveloped. Most of the homes don't have electricity, and the school appeared to have outhouses for the students to use. I asked how many people lived in a small, two room house, and was told it was a family with 4 children. The people of the town didn't appear to be poor - they were just living a totally different lifestyle than we can imagine.
While on our tour, a van pulled into the town honking his horn. Apparently, he was the tortilla man, delivering fresh tortillas. And how much do you think a package of say 29 tortillas costs? Oh, about 60 cents US. And that's more expensive than usual, as the price has gone up lately because the cost of corn has increased.
We ate lunch in the town, and was again treated to a wonderfully delicious meal. Then again, I like cheese, rice, corn and beans - the staples of the food we were served. So, I could hardly go wrong.
We brought along a backpack to carry our little one in - which was a smart move. This isn't stroller territory at all. He liked the walk, and slept for a good chunk of it. At lunch, the ladies at the restaurant were glad to play with him and sit him on their laps. It's amazing how universal children are, with everyone being glad to pick up our little guy any chance they can.
In the afternoon, we got really wild and crazy and took a family canoe trip. Shira and our little guy were in front and I paddled in back. I'm happy to report the only thing we lost overboard was a hat, and even that we were deftly able to retrieve.
Our little one then spent a good 30 minutes wading in the water and splashing around. It's amazing how sometimes it takes so little to entertain a 15 month old.
By the time evening rolled around, we noticed that our little one wasn't feeling so hot. In fact, we could tell he had a fever. How he managed to come down with something so quickly (heck, it's the first full day in Belize!) is beyond me - but he did it. Luckily, we brought plenty of baby Tylenol and with a dose on-board he was back to being happy.
Never, never, never leave home without that stuff. I'd sooner travel without diapers and wipes. (OK, that's probably not true..but you get the idea.)
No comments:
Post a Comment