Ruins and Chocolates

I had a phone incident for the last few days, so I didn't get a chance to post about most of my trip. Some highlights Include:

1) The Great Blue Hole (most surreal dive ever)

2) ATM Cave (the single coolest experience I've ever had!!)

3) Friends, coconuts, chicken buses, etc etc.

But I'll update on the end of my trip!!

Today was one of those greatest days.

Kicked off the day with a local market trip with hostel friends, where we got hella fruits for cheap - pineapples and papayas and bunches of bananas for a couple dollars. We cut some up, stuffed it in our bags, and headed to the local bus stop.

Then it was off to see some Mayan ruins on a chicken bus! (Chicken bus is a tourist term for central/south American local buses, aka old American school buses)

$1, a wild ride passing trucks on a narrow highway, and some good raggae music later, we arrived at the town by the ruins. I helped crank us across the river on the ferry thing:

And off we went to see some large Mayan remains.

We read (and sneakily listened to other people's guides) about the history of the place.

It was pretty incredible to see a few unexcavated sites looking just like mounds of earth with vegetation growing on it:

We also saw Guatemala from the top of the temples!

Also asked some questions about interesting trees - it was so cool to learn about all local plants and uses of every part of them. Really reminded me of how out of touch we developed countries are with the nature around us - when every piece of life around us, the bark, the wood, the leaves, flowers, fruit, and seeds, could possibly be used for something, and we just don't know or care because of all the plastic and aluminum we rely on.

Anyway, 4 buckets of sweat, a delicious lunch, bus ride, and break later,

we headed on excursion #2 - a demonstration of Mayan ceremonial chocolate-making.

It was incredible.

The owners were 100% Mayan (the husband speaks his group's native Mayan language, which is pretty uncommon nowadays!). The demonstration began with an immersive tour of how cacao is grew and processed from seed to fruit.

1) The plant only thrives in southern Belize (and other parts of the none Belize world of course)

2)Fruits are harvested and opened:

3) Seeds are fermented (juice from day 5 of fermentation could be made into wine, which tasted kind of like maotai!), washed and dried:

4) Roasted:

5) De-shelled, crushed into nibs, and ground using a molcajete(sp?) - a traditional grinding instrument only passed down through Mayan families because they aren't made anymore!

6) After being ground into an oily paste, it is served mixed with hot water in a bowl (the OG hot chocolate) made of the shell of a Calabash fruit:

So this drink is traditionally only served to Mayan elites during special religious occasions like the Mayan calendar new year, weddings, etc. and dates back to 2000BC. Nowadays Mayans are more liberal with its consumption, but still view it as a religious/ceremonial thing (aka children can't have it, only the wedding party gets served during a wedding, etc.)

But they let us (and bajillions of other sunburned tourists) try it! 3 different versions too! Even though we're neither elites nor worth celebrating.

We tried all this chocolate we just ground up with just hot water, with honey, with chili powder, and with cinnamon & Belizean all spice. Yum.

Lucky for us, our time with the couple didn't end there - we continued chatting, and learning so much about their culture and current life in modern society.

We learned about Mayan matchmaking beliefs, wedding rituals, their concern for their children's education of the Mayan language and culture in today's society, and so on.

It was an incredible hour and a half, an absolute privilege to learn about the Mayan culture from them.

Now, sitting in an hammock with the evening breeze, I feel so full. Not the stomach kind. My stomach could actually use some more filling right now. But anyway. I feel that I've seen, experienced, and learned so much more than I could've asked for 10 days. I'm ready to cap it off with a day of service tomorrow. Met a guy who's taking a few weeks to help build a halfway shelter for orphans, gonna try to help out tomorrow, before heading back to NYC to finish what I left off.

<3

Never stop wandering (<-- gonna use this word until I find a better one that means exploring, experiencing, and learning)

YOU BETTER BELIZE IT!

I'm back baby!!!! Doing the thing I love most - finding the cheapest flight ticket to anywhere in the world (minus the US & Canada) and just going. Woooo.

So 3AM this morning I peaced out from the quiet and lovely NYC, and headed to BELIZE CITY. Onboard United. I know, but in my defense they were dirt cheap. AND they served me FIVE stroopwafels as breakfast snacks. That shits high class. I was happy. "Traitor", "Jenny how could you", etcetc. I know.

This. FIVE. With coffee and everything

In order to split the outrageously expensive taxi fare from Belize city airport into the main city, I latched on to this couple from Indianapolis and pretended to also be from the great land of Indiana. Cuz apparently otherwise cab drivers get mad and make us pay double. 

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“Out of curiosity,” I asked the cab driver “what's the cheapest way to get to the islands?”

“You swim.” He replied. I double checked, he's serious.

“Hah! What's the second cheapest way?”

“Um... You find a guy who's going, and tag along.”

He was a skinny guy, ruffled trousers covered his bony legs. He had a wedding band on. What's his family like? How many kids does he have to take care of? Guess the taxi job pays pretty well....

We all say that everyone's problem is real to them, but in that moment, all of my crazy clerkship anxiety and obsessions seemed so minute, and so far away..

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A terrible cab photo of where Belize river meets the Caribbean Sea

Most people recommended that I escape Belize City right away, but I decided to take a stroll around town before heading off to the islands - pretty great decision.

Belize City is tiny, with no buildings over 3-4 stories that I could see. It used to be the capital of Belize until a bad hurricane hit and they moved the government inland to Belmopan. 

I paid a visit to the city museum, which was super cool and built inside an old prison. I'll spare you the history lessons (if you are interested I'd LOVE to tell you more on pm)

Long story short, I learned that Belize has an incredibly heterogenous culture and population, both relics from its eventful history. Mayan villages are flourishing despite conflicts with Europeans, African music and proverbs live on despite the horrendous slavery period, and the British language is still used officially since colonization. (It's weird to not have a language barrier). There were also some really cool Mayan artifacts there. Cool museum. Highly recommend.

 Plan of slave ships

Mayan necklace made of shells and stones. Bad quality sorry

The famous “Jade head” found in a tomb

Then it was time to hit the ISLANDS! I chose to go to San Pedro first - that's where most of the diving is, and that's definitely top on my list. 

By then I was exhausted and famished. So the 75min crammed and bumpy boat ride with no back support was not the most pleasant. But it's cool, it got me on an island!

Had this:

 Which turned into this:

Also this is my new official all time favorite non Asian hot sauce:

May also be because it was my first meal of the day. Unclear.

Now I'm chilling out the back of my hostel, with the salty sea breeze getting every part of me all sticky, while some guy nearby jams on the guitar (currently "here comes the sun"). It's fucking amazing.

Gonna call it an early night - DIVING TOMORROW!!! CHYEAHHH