| (This is the second part of our trip which was on a little caye [key, like the Florida Keys] called Ambergris Caye). We left San Ignacio and were driven to the Belize Airport where we took a little puddle jumper, operated by Mayan Airlines, to Ambergris Caye. It was scary and wonderful. Ain nutin but brothers fly dem Mayan Airlines planes. Nutin on de left, nutin on de right, sky look pretty good, rain over dere, we goin to Ambergris, man. Stayed at a place called the Sunbreeze Hotel. Swimming pool fo sho, man. Dirt streets. Golf carts the primary motorized transportation. Very, very expensive to eat there and even supermarkets are very, very costly. Some usurious, in fact. It took some time to learn where the good places and the good prices were. I loved the Rasta men I ran into. Their smiles were broad and genuine. A typical greeting would be, "Mornin big man -- peace to you me bruddah." I read an entire 400-page book while in Ambergris Caye. Did six drawings on paper that was more expensive than it should have been with magic markers and crayons. I will frame them tomorrow. Maybe before my first motorcycle lesson at MATC. One last thing I'll talk about a little now: Teresa insisted on snorkeling. I said, cool knock youself out, man. I ain goin stick me face and other body parts in no sea wid creatures big as me head and other tings best be seen on National Geographic TV show. But den she talk to dis lady by de pool who say dat you gotta go in de sea -- you jus gotta and she say it in a way dat sound fo real, so me say "hmmmm, but me still ain goin." Dis lady, she say dat Mercedes Valdez be de man to go out on a boat wit, so T connect wid Mercedes and he son who name me don remember. Anyhow we get on he glass bottom boat and go out in de water fo bout half hour, past de breakers, where de water turn all color blue an green. I say to Mercedes' son, dis be beautiful, I like what I see from de safety of my seat looking down at the glass bottom of the boat, but I ain goin in. Mercedes' son, he say to me, "How come, man?" I say, "Cause I scared, man. The shore be long way off and I don know what in de water." He say, "My father be wid you. He pull you with a rope and buoy. Ain notin bad happin to you, man." Long and short is that Teresa put on her mask and fins and dropped off the side of the boat. I found myself pulling on flippers that were several sizes too small, pulling on a mask and dropping into the water. Teresa panicked at first. This was the biggest of many remarkable sides of herself that she showed me. She is fearless which means that she understands what her fears are, figures out a way to bang chests with them, and does it. She hates my descriptions of the Monterey Bay Aquarium because there are tall glass walls with the real ocean on the other side. She cannot stand being in circumstances where there are no definitions, no ends, no walls, and no discernible ending places. But she insisted on plunking herself in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. I'm fading fast now. The ending of the trip is catching up with me. I feel like a cell phone with one flickering bar left. But I can't sign off without saying that we saw exquisite stretches of coral reef bubbling with all sorts of glorious living things. There were tiny blue fish with minute specks of diamonds on their backs; there were sea urchins that Mercedes retrieved -- maybe what Aunt Lee used to call "sea eggs" -- there were fish with big lips that made Teresa laugh to the point that her mask filled with salt water and she had to clear it per Mercedes' instructions; there were times when I panicked and Mercedes gently and firmly told me to relax and put my face in the water put my face in the element that generated the fear. There was no other choice, and the primary thing to remember was to breathe slowly and evenly through the mouth because any other way of breathing would cause the mask to fill up with water, and this is not a good thing as you swim over a large fuzzy coral that despite your best intentions rubs you in your crotch as you pass by and you can't help but wonder if it's only a coral or something with teeth. And then there was the manatee floating vertically in the water not that far away. Mercedes was excited. Manatees were not often seen in the area where we sorkeled in the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. I don't know how to say it other than this: The manatee was God in a form and in a place that I could completely feel her. Her eyes faced front -- not fish eyes on the side of her head. Her flippers were like fingers covered with exquisite translucent skin that allowed her to travel her realm effortlessly. She stared at us with intent, kind, beckoning eyes that told us as much as we were able to absorb at the moment. She was huge. One flip of her tail could have easily deposited me on shore two miles away. I wanted her to come closer and I wanted her to disappear. She disappeared. I stared at her intently the entire time we were in her presence, but I didn't see her swim away. When we surfaced, I excitedly told Mercedes about the 1,500-pound, 12-foot long spirit that disappeared while I was staring right at her. Mercedes calmly said that that's what manatees do --they vanish. Peace to You Me Childruns, Dad |
| Simple Things/ Lang Kenneth Haynes Belize (2) |
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