Elective attempt 1: Cayo

 As much as I hated to, I left Caye Caulker on a Saturday so I could make it to my elective. After sharing a delicious iced coffee and granola with the awesome Tatyana, I trudged to the ferry to start the next adventure. What a joke. I arrived in San Ignacio, a beautiful rural ‘city’ in the middle of the lush green jungle. Cayo, as everyone calls it, is the gateway to adventure, known for amazing caving, rafting, trekking, horse-riding and many ancient mayan ruins to explore. It is also the place to be. I arrived as Prince Harry left after completing a visit for the Queen. If it’s one thing the Belizeans love, it’s the Queen(it was called British Honduras once). If it’s one thing the Belizean women love, it’s Prince Harry. Ninfe, the hotel owner of the place I stayed, informed me with glee of how she’d shaken his hand. Others talked for weeks about sightings and photos they got and how Prince Harry had ‘tried to dance with them’(look it up on youtube). A few weeks previously ghost busters had filmed with the brother of my co-ordinator in some of the ancient sacrificial areas. The annual San-Ignacio to Belize city canoe race was also going on one weekend we were there with many people coming into compete. Very popular right now.

The annual San Ignacio-Belize Kayak race

My Hotel

My restaurant

I was informed on arrival that I would be staying in a private room at ‘Nefry’s Retreat’, a proper hotel with my own bathroom, cable TV, wifi and the comfiest double bed. All my meals would be provided at one of the restaurants in the area up to the value of $12 a meal(awesome!) My first night the hotel owner Ninfe offered to take me out. After taking one look at my skirt and top she produced a slinky black dress for me to wear(shorter than anything I own) and  she and four of her girlfriends took me out. Belizean women dance crazy and wear killer shoes. That night we went to the Casino club where a Jagermeister party was happening. Picture free shots followed by rounds of tequila shots, cocktails and rum. The night pretty much turned into Ninfe’s guy friends attempting to dance with me, saying ‘you don’t dance often do you?’ followed by a tutorial in the proper Belizean style; guy behind, butt wiggling, girl in front, butt wiggling, add appropriate amounts of grinding but do not face the person unless you have kissing plans. I have never felt so embarrassed! We finished up the usual time for Belizeans, 4:30 am!

On Monday I met up with my co-ordinator, Nancy, who informed me Clinic wasn’t on that week and I would be starting Friday. It then started raining for 4 days straight-talk about timing! I spent my days running in the rain, exploring the steamy ruins of Cahal Pech, working my way through the menu at Maya Walk Tours, watching endless movies on cable and waiting for Bernie to get back so we could hang out. I was going Crazy! Finally, Friday came around and I could check out the clinic. 

The Good Shephard Clinic

The Good Shepard clinic isn’t associated with anyone, religious or otherwise. It is run by Nurse Margaret, a saint who came over 38 years ago to be a midwife from England. She returned multiple times and eventually met her husband and made a life here. She runs a free clinic and arranges for multiple missionaries and specialist to come down and see her patients. She started out in a little shed with no proper doors but now she has a proper, beautifully tended building with her own chapel. The day starts with morning prayer, my first prayer ever, followed by dressings. The rest of the day depends. Friday was antenatal clinic where I was given my own room and expected to manage my own patients. The next week a urologist came from Virginia with a group of missionaries. We’d see urology patients in the morning and travel to surrounding towns(including one in Guatamala) and test the kids for strabismus. The experience involved 4WD through the jungle hillside, crossing rickety bridges where we placed bets on who would fall first, getting caught in afternoon showers and travelling to crazy towns where one side is in guatamala and the other in Belize. 

A casualty

The poverty was bad, the state of nutrition worse, the schools lacked glass for the windows and the library had about 100 books from the 80's. Despite this, the kids and teachers alike were cheerful and friendly and still managed to make the place function. After 425 children being tested I can say 20% had a VA over 20/40 and none could afford glasses.

That will be the missionaries next challenge. It was so fantastic working with this team. In the afternoons I got roped into helping them rebuild and paint a new community centre. What a team, it was almost finished after 1 week!

The community centre/church I helped rebuild

They were so lively and fun and it was just nice to be needed somewhere. We did some really good work for people who needed it and I really hope we can follow through with the sight problems

My nights in Cayo were spent doing Karate at the Karate club I joined, catching up with new and old friends for drinks and, of course, eating cake and icecream. I will remember Cayo always for its cakes and icecream. Sweet ting is one of the best bakeries in Belize and ships out to all the surrounding areas.  The cakes were phenomenal: pecan pie, peanut butter silken pie, chocolate raspberry torte, oreo cheesecake-the list goes on and I tried it all! This was a good meeting spot and late night retreat.

Jo and Fiza checking out the cakes of the day

Down the road from here was Cayo twist, non-dairy, soy icecream- the smoothest, creamiest icecream you will ever have. Everytime you went, there was a massive line of locals and tourists alike and the peanut butter blizzard was incredible! The largest markets in Belize are in San Ignacio so when Saturday came around, we were there. There was such a selection of street food, fruit, veges, spices and handmade goods and we had a great time browsing and trying the different, crazy selections(from salty banana chips to tamarind sweets-yuck).We also headed to the same ruins Prince Harry was at the weekend before, Xunantunich! This was a beautiful, impressive ruin that, from the top, you could all the way to Guatamala. Getting there involved a hand pulled drawbridge across the river. It was amazing!

From the top of Xunantunich

 I also spent a lot of time at our English medstudent friends, Jo and Fiza’s, house. Here we worked our way through their 3L bottle of sugary, cheap rum, baked cakes and watched movies. This was a social haven and super safe with its big walls, 3 locks and two Rottweilers. Needless to say, we had an election day lock-in after 6pm to avoid the most violent part of the day and managed to miss the parades and fighting.

6:30 am at the river watching the race

The entrance of the ATM

A big Mayan offering pot

Spending two weeks here and not doing some kind of adventure tour would be a travesty.  One Sunday we spent trekking through the famous ATM cave. This is an ancient, holy Mayan sight of sacrifice-their ‘church’ for Chuc, the Mayan god of Rain. After 45 minutes of hiking through rivers in the jungle you swim into the cave and wade through water for about 2 hours.  You do some climbing and end up in the most spectacular chamber, with the most beautiful column formations. After passing through this grand, ball-room type chamber, you climb some more and end up in what is a perfectly preserved Mayan museum. The room is a place of offerings with 14 sacrificial remains untouched in the area(from babies to the elderly) as well as many perfectly preserved pots and plates. When it was discoverd in 1988, the people decided to leave the area untouched. The cave is exactly as the Mayans left it over 1000 years ago. The whole experience was fantastic and one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done. 

After two weeks here, I was told the clinic would be closed on my last week. My urologist offered to set me up with a group of paediatricians in Belize city. It was a risk and I would lose out on money but I think we’ve established already that Kaya volunteer can’t organize anything and takes your money without doing their job. There was no real elective for me in Cayo anymore and all my friends were leaving. Plus, all the cake was making me fat! For these reasons I decided to just do it. I packed my bags a week early, got into a van with a group of missionaries and hitched a ride in to Belize City.