Ray of Sunshine Travel

Well, it’s official – we’re home safe and sound! There’s still 1.5 weeks that I haven’t covered on the blog, though, so I’ll try to wrap that up here soon!

Week 9 started off with a trip to Belmopan to renew our visas. We got there a little earlier this time, so the wait wasn’t as long, then afterwards went to the same food stand for lunch.

While we were there, I decided to try some lychee, which looked really funky but tasted pretty good!

Later that night, while Mama was out selling tortillas, J and H and I walked to our favorite tea place for some boba and good convos. We had a good time and caught this gem while there.

We also went to the store afterwards so H could buy a comal to make tortillas! I absolutely love how this sign is in Creole – it’s very fitting.

Tuesday we worked at the school, then hopped over to a local restaurant to call our host brother E from the village for his birthday! It was so good to talk to him and Mama L.

Afterwards we scrambled home so we could go with Mama to sell tamales. She had only made 50 that night so that she could sell out in time to go to house church that night. We made it just in the nick of time, and I was so glad we went! Even though it was all still in Spanish, it was a lot easier to understand what was going on because it was a much smaller space and people weren’t speaking into mikes. They even served ceviche afterwards, which I had been wanting to try for a while! I seized the opportunity too to get a family photo while we were all dressed up.

Wednesday we helped out at the preschool, mainly recreating some drawings of nursery rhymes.

Mama made us some delicious rice and beans with stewed chicken when we went home for lunch! It was so good.

After school, we went to the local pizza place for some team time and our final Bible study of Ephesians. The food was really good, but I was struggling emotionally and mentally with our study – really it was a continuation of some struggles with the content being taught in the churches there. I continued to struggle with it that evening, and emotions were exacerbated by not being able to get ahold of anybody back home. Thankfully H and J noticed I wasn’t doing great and really comforted me that night.

Thursday we were back at our church build site! We started off by shoveling as much of a huge pile of sand as we could inside the structure, then mixing up some more concrete. J and I got pretty covered in it, as we were lifting buckets of concrete up to pour into a column. We also made a friend of one of the local hardware store staff, and he was kind enough to bring over his shofar and play it for us! I have never heard of a shofar before, but apparently it’s an instrument typically made out of a ram or antelope horn and has been used for celebrations and announcements by the Jewish people for centuries.

We took the afternoon to rest up, as it was going to be a busy night! After dark, we first went to a Breakthrough Group at one of the churches we were attending, where we played a game and heard a lesson.

Afterwards, we taxied into town to a house of the other host family to hold a vigil! I had missed our vigil the previous week because I was sick, so I was pretty excited (and honestly nervous) to experience one for the first time! It was better than I could have expected – just a night full of prayer with breaks for coffee and pumpkin cake. I never knew that I could pray for hours at a time and still have more to say! I got to encounter the Lord in such a sweet way and experienced some emotional healing that had been truly over a decade in the making. We ended up turning in about 3 in the morning, truly worn out from a long day. But what a beautiful experience it was! I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.

We slept in a good bit the next morning, then returned home around noon or so. Our house arrived home to a delicious fried chicken lunch prepared by Mama E – I can assure you, she makes the best fried chicken I’ve ever had!

After lunch we got ready to travel to Spanish Lookout! Spanish Lookout is a large, mostly Mennonite community that’s home to the locally famous Western Dairies, maker of our beloved chocolate Ideals. My first host family from the village had planned on going out last week there, but that was the week I had gotten sick. Getting to visit definitely helped to redeem that really difficult week.

We were picked up by some friends, and we crowded into the back of their truck with our dear friend M. We got really lucky with the rain – it cleared up just before we headed out!

Our first stop was a little Mennonite store, where I was so excited to find a coconut pie! Second we stopped at the Western Dairies store to get ice cream and some pizza. I tried their caboo flavor, which was honestly just okay, but I tried a bite of the Oreo, and I think I can safely say it was the best Oreo ice cream I’ve ever had!

We stopped at a large store to browse before leaving. It was probably the closest thing I had seen to a Walmart the whole time I was in Belize, and it had about the highest concentration of white people I had seen on the trip, which was a strange feeling. While I was glad I got to experience Spanish Lookout, it was definitely an unusual mishmash of cultures – I couldn’t get over seeing silos next to palm trees!

We headed back at our favorite time of day, the late afternoon/early evening when the sun makes everything golden and beautiful. As much as it was fun to experience the town, I think we enjoyed the drive there and back as much (if not more than) the time there. It’s amazing the love these two women have for us, and have had since the day we met them.

The sunset that night was beautiful – just the lightest pink tinting the clouds. This was the view from our house.

Saturday we continued our tradition of going to the market and going shopping for tamale groceries and eating pupusas afterwards! J also got a great deal on a beautiful hammock. We got hit with a bit of rain, but las niñas made sure the groceries were safe!

We did laundry when we got home, which was much needed, evidenced by me wearing my towel as a skirt for a few hours because everything else was in the wash.

We rested up that afternoon to prepare for attending a vigil at Mama’s church that evening. It went until three in the morning, but thankfully we only stayed until one – two late night vigils in three days is a lot!

Sunday morning we attended church at a new location. We had hoped to go there from the beginning of our time in Santa Elena, but the pastor had been out of town for the last several weeks. I’m so glad we got to go for the little time we did, though – while it was still very different from my church experiences in the States, for me it was the most edifying and positive church experience I’d had in Belize by far. The pastor and his wife were so kind and welcoming to us and took the time to learn our names, which I so appreciated!

After church, we went over to the house of a woman from Mama’s church who had invited us over for coffee. J and H went to our other church that evening, but I was pretty pooped, so I stayed home.

Well, that wraps up week 9! I’ll try to get the final posts done soon. Thanks for reading!