It's 100 degrees everyday and there is no air conditioning...but I still love it.

I am writing to give you a little update of my past week in Belize and show you some pictures of all the cool stuff that I have been seeing :-)

This past week has been amazing - I am in love with this country. Last week I went to go and see the Jaguars and they are the most amazing creatures that I have ever seen in my entire life....I have included a few pictures of them. There were two of them, one was spotted and the other was black. But notice on the black Jag how you can still see the spots - cool huh? We were so close to them it was unreal, if I wanted to I think that I could have reached out and touched it...but I decided that I really like all 10 of my fingers and that I would keep my hands to myself, just in case it got a little hungry....














My days generally consist of working at the nursing home in the mornings and then working on Jaguar stuff in the afternoon. I am starting to like the nursing home more and more and the people there are really sweet. After I am done doing physical therapy on some of the residents I generally play games with them or help out in the kitchen (they are so understaffed there that the nurses have to make all of the food and prepare the meals as well....and here in Belize everything is hand made and fresh...nothing is prepackaged or in a can....so the nurses have their work cut out for them). The residents all speak Spanish and English and have been trying to teach me Spanish...we are working on my numbers right now and yesterday I played an entire game of Bingo in Spanish...it was pretty great.

Last weekend I went on the most amazing adventure of my life. The girls and I and a group of guys we met from Washington state went to this cave called Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) and it absolutely blew me away. To get there we had to hike through the jungle for a few miles, foraging rivers and climbing rocks and stuff...and then once we finally made it to the cave, we had to swim through the entrance, put on helmets and head lamps and then walked, climbed, swam and squeezed our way through tiny openings within the cave for at least an hour before reaching this huge opening with all of these amazing Mayan ruins and skeletons. It was so fun and such an adventure...I think that I can honestly say that it was the coolest thing that I have ever done in my entire life....I wish that I could explain it better, but words will not suffice - if any of you ever come down to Belize you have find a way to get to this cave, as I promise you that you won't regret it.

This weekend the girls and I are going to take a bus down to the Cayes (pronounced Keys) which are the islands off of Belize in the Caribbean....I am not sure if we are going to be leaving Friday (as Friday is my birthday and we may want to spend it here in town) or Saturday morning...but regardless we plan to go and snorkel and swim and lay on the beach and just have a good time....

Well that is about it for now...I am doing well and enjoying the country, my host family and all of the cool people that I have met thus far. I think that meeting the people down here - whether they are locals or just traveling through - is one of my favorite parts of this entire trip....everyone has such a good story...its great. Yesterday I was thinking about how earlier this year a friend said to me "I hope that at some point you can stop surviving and start living" and I feel like I have definitely started living again...and it feels great :-)

The pictures are of the Jaguars, a cougar, the entrance to the cave, me eating a termite (it kind of tasted like a carrot and is supposedly high in protein), and one of the old men at the nursing home who takes care of the chickens in the chicken coop out back. And sorry that it isn't presented all cute and stuff...I just put them up there as quick as I could just so that you could get a little peak of what I am all seeing...maybe when I return to the states I will put it together cutely, but for now this will just have to do! :-)

Belize it or not....I'm leaving tomorrow!

Yes thats right, the start of my adventure is upon me and I am getting pretty excited and a little nervous - but mainly just excited. I found out that for my volunteer work I am going to be working at a health center in the mornings and then in the afternoons I am going to be working with - get this - Jaguars. Ok ok so I don't think that I will be actually working one on one with them, but I will be setting up a survey project that they will be using for the next 10 years and I will get to see demonstrations done with them and stuff like that.....I don't think that it is really as cool as it sounds....but whatever, I still really like to tell people that I am going to be working with Jaguars cause really who in Minnesota ever gets to say that? No one.

I also have found out more about my host family. I will be living with a family of four - a mom, dad, 18 year old son and 15 year old daughter. I don't know much about them except that their dad works for the Ministry of Health (does that remind anyone of Harry Potter and the Ministry of Magic....maybe these guys are wizards...lets hope so anyway). My family also said that in the afternoons when it is hot out they like to go and have picnics by the river and go swimming - which sounds pretty great to me, cause I'm always down for picnics and swimming!

I am a little nervous about this whole deal as I don't know what to expect from it all. But I do know that whatever happens it will be a good adventure and that there will be a lot of learning that will take place.

I was watching the movie Into the Wild the other day and this quote really stuck with me, it said:

"I've learned how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong. To measure yourself at least once. To find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions. "

I think that with everything that has happened in the past four months that this trip will be one of those experiences where I really measure myself. I feel like I got the whole "strong" thing down when I went through the divorce, but I don't feel like I truly measured myself. I am hoping that with this trip - with being of service and traveling alone and having adventures and time to reflect - that I will be able to truly measure myself. I am excited to see what it all entails....

I will try to update while in Belize....so keep checkin' back. Enjoy your desk jobs everyone :-)