Last day on Caye Caulker

What can I say….each and every day here on the island is magnificent and now it’s time to say good-bye for the time being.

While there is a sort of sadness at leaving I am ever so grateful for the people I’ve come to know and experiences I’ve had while visiting this truly auspicious country.  I may not know when I’ll return but still I know I will.

I need to give special thanks to some people who have aided me in this incredible journey.  Thanks goes out to Mr. Mike Toohey for lending me his video camera that has turned out to be the most perfect camera for the applications I’ve used on this project.  Go Canon!  A most special thanks needs to be sent to my good friend, sista, and truly best traveling companion, Linda Paulson.  You are a special lady and your love always shines through.  A big thanks to Elma & Rico Novella, for letting me stay at your guest house during these days on the island.  Your kindness is much appreciated.  I must say thanks to Bunny, Diane and Mary for the girl talk we’ve shared on a daily basis.  In addition to all these wonderful people I’ve come to know and love I must express my deepest gratitude to Mr. Dylan Chaplin for being my protector/defender and feeling safe while accomplishing this blog project in Belize.

I keep positive and hopeful that the footage acquired becomes a beginning of a new story and as my adventure comes to a close the love I feel for this country and people will never be forgotten!

Time to start wrapping things up on Caye Caulker

The last couple days have been spent both collecting more video shots or interviews and still having fun in the process.

I had a really nice complement from one of the residents of the island.  Miss Diane, who has a little stand at the corner of the street saw me and said she had to do a double take as she thought I was local.  Miss Diane, Miss Bunny (tour guide for EZ Tours), and Miss Mary (the cleaning person at Sandy Lane) have become my girlfriends/confidants’ to fill a void that I miss from home.  We’ve had some pretty darn good girl talks.

I’ve taken multiple shots of the Mangrove all over the place and Miss Bunny explained quite well the story of the Mangrove that I hope to post in the future.

That afternoon, I took Jamar swimming and while we were there Miss Mary and her youngest son was there as will as Mary’s niece and her son.  Ironically, all three boys are around the same age so they had a pretty fun afternoon of playing while we women sat under the shade and watched the multiple people pass to and from the split and just talked about each other’s lives.

I did a lot of walking around the island with camera in hand of course and recording whatever I deemed picturesque shots that may be used at a later time.  I wanted to wrap up conversations with Nelson Young and stopped by on Friday.  His friend, Johann Lopez was there painting.  I took the opportunity to get an interview with him and how he got to know Nelson.  Johann is a very talented artist as well.

Tomorrow I will wrap up my interviewing with Mr. Young and hopefully Nicole, his girlfriend too. 

Then it’s time to start thinking of packing it up as I will leave on Tuesday.  As I think of that process I will definitely be expressing my thoughts on this whole journey and what this country has given to me in the many experiences gained that will be remembered forever!

Fun & informational interviews…

On Sunday I walked out to the airport on the south side of the island to check on flights and the possibility of flying to San Ignacio.  There are no direct flights from Caye Caulker however, they do go to Belmopan and from there it’s about an hour bus ride.  So, I could save time and be over there in a two hour time frame or take the cost effective way, (water taxi, then taxi, then bus) and be there by late afternoon or early evening. 

On my walk back, contemplating these chooses I came upon Nelson Young’s place, which was on the way and stopped by to see if he was home.  Previously, I called and was unable to leave a message.  He was there and so I asked him if I get do a follow-up interview.  He graciously accepted and he suggested morning hours between 9 and 10 and decided Tuesday was an agreed day.  While I was there we began talking about the details I was looking for to capture the essence of what he was talking about.  I would say an hour and a half later we were both optimistic at the possibilities.

As stated in my previous blog post, my plans were to interview the locals I’ve come to know and it turned out quite positively.  It definitely makes a difference that the longer I’ve been here the more comfortable the people are with me.  I talked to over thirty individuals who live and work on the island.  Like Silena, from Orange Walk who comes over here to sell her brother’s slate art.  Silena is 25 years old.  She explained the Maya meanings to the carvings.  Or Douglas, the shop keeper of the mini mart around the corner from where I live, his wife and him are there everyday and most days see some of their children who may need help with homework.  I receive simple hellos each day from these people.

Mid afternoon I was walking to the split on the north side of the island I came across Chocolate’s Shop.  I saw Chocolate sitting at the picnic table and took the opportunity to see if I could talk with his wife Annie.  I talked briefly with Chocolate previously as to tagging along with the Ranger and he suggested I talk to her first about that possibility.  I stepped into the boutique but no one was around and so browsed until I saw a woman sweeping the sidewalk outside.  When I first started talking to her I was dissuaded from the idea.  As we continued our conversation I learned Annie is from Minnesota too.  She suggested I talk with Chocolate and so I did.

Chocolate is an eighty-one year old man, born Belizean, with a deep and passionate love for the Manatees.  He speaks totally from the heart.  He spoke on film for at least an hour. 

I haven’t had time to review all of the footage and right now am happy to at least get it downloaded to the hard drive.  It seems over the course of the last couple of days all I have to do is sling the camera around my neck and walk out the door and down any path and pretty soon there’s a moment to be captured.

On Tuesday I set out to get some b-roll footage.  There are messages on various sized plywood pieces in front of his house.  When I got there, his girlfriend, Nicole greeted me at the door.  Nelson went to the store to get a few things.  It was fun to talk with her as well.  She was brushing her 15 month old daughter’s teeth.  Another friend, John was there on the back deck painting a Caribbean sunset landscape and we had a light conversation before Nelson got back.  Upon his return he dug right in with preparing breakfast.  As he continued breakfast he continued speaking about his views and values.  After breakfast we continued the interview and he read to me from a book he wrote.  I kept taping until I ran out of battery power.  When I was ready to leave he asked when I was coming back and that he was inspired.  Wow, I thought…he’s inspired?  So, what turned out to be what I thought was going to be a rap up in the story may be turning out to be the beginning.

Furthermore, it looks like I’m meant to stay here for the duration of the trip.  I’ll probably be talking some more to Nelson tomorrow, God willing (as an old mentor of mine used to say).

So after I get this posted I continue to set out with the camera.  The weather is perfect today or at least so far.  It’s not quite warm enough to suit me for swimming but all the same, still spectacular!

The last couple of days…….

The island had a shift of weather yesterday that has brought in cool and cloudy days.  Last night was the coolest so far.  In fact, I slept in lounge pant, a t-shirt and even footsies.

Friday night was very fun though.  Oceanside brought in a band, The Islanders which provided great entertaining value.  Their range of music swings from punta to reggae to even some salsa.  The punta dance is very interesting and while I was able to capture the dance on video I would need a lot of practice to fully do justice to the dance.  As an American, coming from a rural conservative community the dance appeared more than quite sensual.

This front is suppose to pass by tomorrow with warmer days ahead.  In the meantime, I am wrapping up the stories here on Caye Caulker and am contemplating heading to San Ignacio for the last part of the journey.   I’ll see how much I can get accomplished in the next couple of days.

The people and places of the island…

While I have had trouble with my uploads, I continue to document some of the more frequented places I go to along with the people who occupy some of these places.

From a reporting standpoint achieving the interviews have become a little more challenging in that some are a bit camera shy.  Never-the-less, I have been able to capture some really cool cats.  I start out the day and leave my camera slung around my neck as I walk the beach, street and various establishments.  Most people are pretty receptive to me and my casual approach and am having a super time finding new and interesting information each day.

My Australian friend Mandy left this morning and so to celebrate her last day she took me to still another dock on the lagoon side of the island where we had a most wonderful conversation and had the most delightful swim.  The water was so clean and clear from this particular dock you could see everything below the surface.  It is not uncommon to see many varieties of swimming creatures below.  Once in the water, a renewed sense of self emerges from the ocean that is neither too hot nor too cold.  We stayed until after sunset which by-the-way is quite different every day casting either various light forms from the sky that may peek through the clouds or sometimes amber to reddish hue that appears when there are no clouds.

On our way back we ate at Pizza Caulker, the only pizza place on the island.  Last night’s special was Hawaiian pizza.  I was able to interview both the waitress and the proprietor of the restaurant and that was fun.  Then Mandy took hold of the camera so that I may do a bit of an introduction or at least a few words on my part on the subject of Caye Caulker.  All the while we were there Bob Marley played in the background.

Afterwards, between the sun and tropical air I was ready to head back and call it a night.

More stories and visuals to capture…

I spent a good portion of yesterday saving videos, editing clips from the music festival, and diligently trying to upload those clips to my blog and will try again today.  Hopefully, I’ll have better luck?

I ran into the two Italians that Linda and I met in Placencia.  Sounds like their having a blast with their fishing expeditions.  Marco showed me some pictures of the barracudas they caught.  They were really nice size fish. 

I’ve had a variety of fish for meals and tasted the barracuda.  It’s good.  I think I like the snapper better.  I was thinking of sitting at the split and maybe capture some fishing as quite a few individuals fish from there and have had pretty good luck at catching something.

We got rain here early this morning and I’m glad as the past few days have been really hot.  The rain has brought cooler weather and there’s a calmness among the people here.  Right now the sun is peeking through the clouds with hints of a warm day.

Wednesday evening
I still couldn't get the videos uploaded and so perhaps a different strategy will need to be formulated?

A Tribute to Bob Marley

I got back to Caye Caulker Sunday morning from San Pedro and pretty much relaxed the day away.  It was an especially hot weekend and soaked up some sun with intervals of dipping in the ocean.

I left for San Pedro on Friday to get my visa extension and that business went smoothly.  Although, I had to first report to Immigration and they gave me a little tab of paper with the amount of money I would need to pay for the extension ($25.00 US), then go to the treasurer’s office to pay, then go to another office to make a copy ($.25), then back to immigration to get my stamp.  It was kind of a lot of running around but I got the job done.

Saturday morning I set out for the Saca Chispa Football Field, where the festival was held to find people preparing the stage and got a chance to interview Ras Milan, one of the promoters of A Tribute to Bob Marley. 

After two days of trying to upload these rather short clips (1min. to 1 1/2 min.) rather than put off my followers with various news I will delete these clips for now and add them or do something different upon my return home.