Hello friends!
I write to you on an uncharacteristically rainy and cold Progreso day after returning triumphantly from our epic journey to Belize with Shin and Cosmo to renew our 3-month visas and not be "illegal aliens" (outlawed extraterrestrials?) in Honduras.
Way early on Friday morning we hopped in a typical converted schoolbus with a giant Jesus slogan on the front (JEHOVAH ES MI REY with a sticker of Calvin peeing on an Olimpia soccer logo under it in this case). On the ride I met a really nice guy the same age as me who by now may or may not have made it across Mexico and into the US without documents to try to make money to support his parents and siblings by doing backbreaking work - thinking about the inequality of this situation is not a new thought process to me, but now I have another face, a face just like mine, to add to it.
We crossed over into Guatemala the same day and stopped in Puerto Barrios, where we actually didn't do work (weird for us) but rather walked around and ate the best frozen chocolate covered bananas I've tried yet. Also I saw an awesome family who had two pet monkeys named Panchita and Panchito who lived in their tree in a giant birdhouse like contraption - the monkeys came close enough to high five or throw poop at me but they didn't do either of the two. We took pictures.
The next day we took a boat to Belize and spent a total of about an hour and a half in country, where we at Garifuna food, marvelled at the novelty of people speaking beautiful Caribbean English in addition to Spanish, Garifuna and Quiche, and I shared the book "The End of Poverty" by Jeffrey Sachs with the nice guy in customs. He liked it a lot, as may you.
We took a boat back to Livingston, Honduras, a community founded by Garifunas (people of African descent who were marooned centuries ago on Saint Vincent, where they killed off/mixed with the Arawaks, then moved to the coastlines of central America - their language comes from English, French, African languages, and Arawak). It was a sweet coastal town with a cool collection of people. Mayans wearing colorful tejidos, a few people of Indian (i.e. from India, descent, including our awesome boat captain and soul guide, Jorge), loads of Garifuna people, and a healthy ebb of off-season tourists, including an awesome group of Slovakian guys who accompanied us when we went to jump off a waterfall like Tarzan at Siete Altares. We also toured the Rio Dulce in a boat - I asked if the river had carved out the amazing canyons on either side of us, and Eleo, our bilingual (quiche, Spanish) captain, told me that people there believe that it was made in a moment by the word of God. It was poetic - and, I think, consistent with my initial interpretation. It was carved with an artist's flair, with thick trees and vines growing horizontally out of the sheer 20 meter high rock face.
The next day we went to a beach and drank giant coconuts and saw a scarab beatle bigger than my hand. Then we took a long series of boats and buses to get back to work in Progreso.
I don't think I've had a more amazing week in my life.
Sweet home El Progreso,
Your Friendly Neighborhood Chelito
PS - Pictures pending, promise!
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