San Ignacio Homestay

Sammie and I with day old chicks.
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After a few days of lounging on the beach in Placencia, for our days off, we headed off to our San Ignacio homestays. I stayed with the Tesecum family; mom, dad, and three kids (15,12,6). I got to see what it was like to live with Scott, Brooke, and Dylan, all under the same roof! Their personalities were perfect matches! The youngest and I spent most of our time together. I taught her how to hula-hoop (with the new one I bought her after we broke the old one!) and jump rope. In return, she taught me some dirty playground songs, featuring words a six year old definitely should not know! I also spent a lot of my time with the mother. I had to do a “life story” interview for class one day, and I think talking with her and learning about her past allowed us to connect more than just host mother and daughter. I helped her make flour tortillas one night (thanks to my Mayan hosts for the lessons!) and she was amazed that I could make them round! I’m sure that is what won her admiration the most! The family’s dog was hit by a car and died one of the days I was there, and the next night a friend brought over a four week old puppy for the kids to have. It was so cute!

A cart full of day old chicks.
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When I wasn’t in class or with my family, we were exploring San Ignacio. We spent a lot of nights at the Stork Club, a nightclub inside the San Ignacio Hotel. Our classes were also held at the hotel and a couple days we had to have class in the bar-ethics class in a bar! Kalyn and I made friends with the girl who is in charge of the club and we ended up getting everyone free passes for our last night.  Dave, Kalyn, and I went swimming in the river one afternoon.  There was this rope bridge you could jump off into the river (I did a back flip) and there were people riding their bikes and motorcycles across it!  I couldn't believe it.  I would be so afraid of someone jumping and making the bridge swing and making me fall into the water, but I guess they do it all the time.

Anyone going to Belize, must definitely go to San Ignacio!

Tractor tire at the saw mill.
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We also did a day trip to Spanish Lookout, a menonnite community near Cayo.  The menonnites are a very productive ethnic group in Belize.  They produce most of the food and do a lot of the construction for the country.  So we visited a chick hatchery, and got to hold some one day old chicks!  I really wanted to keep one and take it home with me, but I knew I couldn't take care of it.  A couple girls from the group did buy chicks and ended up getting rid of them a few days later.  Then we went to one of the churches and sat and talked with our guide about Spanish Lookout, he didn't really know a whole lot!  My friend, Sammie, and I kept asking him questions about the community and the menonnite theology, but when he didn't know an answer (which was nearly everytime) he would just change the subject and talk until we couldn't remember what we had asked!  He also told us he was going to have a talk with us about why we weren't married yet, which I was really looking forward to, but I guess he chickened out!  After the talk, we drove around dusty roads for awhile looking at already harvested fields and then went to a saw mill.  This mill wouldn't survive ten seconds in the states because of safety regulations; one guy who was pushing the wood through only had one arm.  We were all so hot and tired, so of course the bus overheated too and we had to sit and wait until it cooled, but we got ice cream at the dairy.

Eggs at the hatchery.
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San Ignacio was great-best part of the program.  The town is small enough that you start to see the same people everywhere, but big enough that there is enough going on to keep it interesting.  On the last night, we had a dinner with our families at Erva's (the best resturant in San Ignacio and where I ate almost all of my meals).  My host mother was the only one who could come with me, but we had a good time.  She said a lot of really nice things to me and when we had to get up and tell everyone about our experiences, she said even more!  I wanted to cry!  Anyone going to Belize, must definitely go to San Ignacio!