Belize Trip: Cave Tubing and Belize Zoo (Day 4, Thursday, 12/28)

We got up at 6am, packed our bags, walked to the airport and got on a 14-seater airplane headed for Belize City at 7am. From the airplane, we had a bird's-eye view of the city: There is not a single glitzy skyscraper in this biggest city in Belize. Many sections of the city appear to be in need of repairs and maintenance. I wonder if the city was in a better shape before the destructive Hurricane Hattie hit in 1961; maybe money was poured into building the new capital, Belmonpan, and left the old capital unattended. We had read and heard about Belize city's reputation as unsafe; and we were warned not to walk out after dark. All in all, it was a rather grim picture.

Denis, our tour operator, was already at the airport waiting for us. He then drove us to the Water Taxi Terminal to wait for possibly another 6 tourists who might join us. While we were sitting in the car waiting, a couple of people came by and knocked on our window asking for money; adding to the weary and dreary scene, there were several homeless people sitting on the sidewalk spacing out. Inside the car, we chatted with Denis, later his assistant, Mr. Rancho while Denis went looking for the tourists. It amazes me that they both speak 3 different languages: English, Spanish, Creole. In fact, a lot of people in this country can do that. It just shows how diverse this country of merely 280,000 people is.

Mr. Rancho himself has a very fascinating story: His great great grandfather came to Belize from India and moved to an area near Corozal, which he later named Calcutta. His grandfather was a bush doctor who cured many snake bites for people in town including himself (otherwise he could have lost one of his legs (or his life). He is very knowledgeable about plants, animals and history of Belize and he also managed to keep himself updated on current events.

Denis' 6 other customers didn't show up. So, Rancho drove us through the city and soon we were on the Western Highway heading towards the cave-tubing destination. Savannas on both sides of the road are full of lush plants and animals. When Mr. Rancho spotted an alligator resting on the bank of a river, he pulled the car to the side so that we could have a good look at the alligator basking in the sun.

We turned south off of the Western Highway about 40 miles away from Belize City and had a "road massage" (in Rancho's word) on a bumpy gravel road for about 15 minutes; then we were in a jungle - green and lush. At the parking lot, people were lined up for inflated inner-tubes. We changed into proper outfit and joined the line. Another couple (they both love travelling and have lived overseas at different places for many years) joined us. We were handed off to a teenage tour guide (to-be), Elmert, who led us through the jungle barefooted. Then, two of his uncles joined us while we were hiking. Basically, we had 3 tour guides taking care of four tourists! That's quite a service.

After 30 minutes of hiking through the jungle, we reached the place where we would launch our inner-tubes. As they say, the water was indeed refreshing, not cold. We sat in the tube in pairs with M's feet rest on my tube. The river carried us gently down the river under a cave where there are stalagmites and stalactites formations. All cave-tubing people wore headlights which created a moving web of dancing light on the ceiling of the cave, adding an extra mysterious aura to the cave.

Elmert was guiding and gently paddling so we could follow him closely. We passed through two caves, one of which has a water fall that makes mellifluous echos in the cave and a swirl of warmer white water near the waterfall. Floating down the river through the caves and under the open sky is exciting and relaxing at the same time. The water is crystal clear. I could see small fish swimming around my legs. When we came out of the cave, our eyes were met with a steep wall of trees under blue sky with a few strokes of white clouds drifting across - a scene that well fits the image of the Garden of Eden!

After cave-tubing, we were all hungry for lunch. Stopped at a restaurant called "Los Amigos" off the highway and had a nice lunch (roasted chicken, cole slaw, rice and beans). There was a parrot in a cage right alongside the restaurant that grabbed a lot of tourists' attention. She shouted out random English words like "hello" and "What's up!"

Then, we went to the Belize Zoo, where we saw some amazingly beautiful and interesting animals such as Jaguar, Toucan, Jaribu Stork (a big bird on the verge of extinction) and Black Howler Monkey (their howling could well be used in a horror film to mimic the sound of a gigantic monster approaching, yet they are not big).

On the way back to Belize city, we stopped at a prison store near Hattieville, a town named and founded afer Hurricane Hattie in 1961. All the items in the store are made by prisoners and the proceeds from selling these items will be used to subsidize prisoners' monthly stipends.

At a Belize downtown hotel, Mr. Rancho dropped off the couple who spent the day cave-tubing and going to the zoo with us as a group - we really enjoyed their company. We then picked up our tour operator, Denis and off we hit the road again for Corozal. To get to Corozal district, we had to drive up north through Belize District and Orange Walk District. Corozal is the northernmost city in Belize where we had left our car a few days ago. The 2.5 hour drive allowed us to have a glimpse into the northern part of Belize. We passed through a few small villages and towns; and they were all decorated in Xmas lights; even ramshackles were wrapped in glowing ornaments in shape of Santa Claus or Xmas tree. It's very green and lush all the way through. A couple of sugar plantations and refineries can be seen from the highway. In fact, sugar is the biggest industry in Belize; and 15% of EU's sugar is from Belize.

We picked up our car from Mr. P's house, and followed Dennis to his house at his invitation. His house is located on the outskirt of the small, quiet and peaceful city, Corozal, where we would be staying for the night before heading back to Merida. He has an impressively big plot of land on which he built his own house. Wherever I go, I tend to use China as a reference point. Belize is an interesting case. It appears to me that many people own a car and a house, yet the poverty (maybe crime also) is very mush visible, and in some cases, alarming. Then again, China is a huge. It would be hard to do a fair comparison. Denis has a beautiful wife and two little children. When we were there, they happened to be watching the movie "Cars." They were very hospitable. After chatting for a while, my stomach told me that it's time to leave.

Driving around the town for a while, we checked out the best hotel - as the road sign claims - in town: The hotel appears to be right on the waterfront, yet there was no windows facing the water; and the room we looked at was stuffy. So, we kept on driving and settled with a hotel called "Hotel Los Palmos" in the city.

Then, we went looking for a place to get some food. The choices are many and few: There are many restaurants, but the majority of them are Chinese restaurants. The one Mexican restaurant we went to was closed for the day. Now after travelling in Belize for a few days, I was still amazed by the number of Chinese here in Belize. Anyway, we went to one of the Chinese restaurants and picked up some food for ourselves and the night guard of the hotel to go.

The hotel room was clean enough, but the hot shower can only be called a luke-warm shower. We showered, ate and fell asleep on an interview about Gerald Ford, who just passed away, on CNN.

Belize Trip, Caye Caulker (Day 3, 12/27, Wednesday)

We woke up late in the morning without any plans, but we had talked about a couple of different options: exploring Ambergris Caye on a golf cart, or going over to Belize City and walk around there for a few hours. It turned out that all golf carts were rented out and they were not cheap to rent ($50 a day). We hesitated. It's hot. My arms were getting burned. After wallowing in our wishy-washiness for a while, we decided that we would go and check out Caye Caulker and maybe catch a water taxi to Belize City.

We got on the water taxi. Instead of getting another boat, the taxi operator squeezed every body in, the boat was more than full. Local and tourist passengers were all jammed in together. Most of the tourists are from the US judging from the conversations going around on the boat. One guy has moved to Caye Caulker from Montana about two years ago.


Caye Caulker is a small sleepy, laid back fishing town, now also a popular tourist destination. In fact, it didn't become a tourist spot until the late 1960s and early 1970s when some hippies found their way there. Before that, it's an island that specializes in coconut processing, fishing, lobster trapping and boat building. Even its name 'Caulker' was said to have originated from the word 'caulk' or 'cork' when fishermen and explorers would work on their boats here (corking their boats). Then again, another story goes that the name 'Caulker' is actually from the Spanish word 'hicago" referring to a kind of cocoplum trees that were abudant once on this island. At the small water taxi terminal, there was a sign that says "Welcome to Hicago," I almost pronounced it as 'Chicago!'.


We walked for a couple of blocks and ran into a store run by a Chinese guy. He owns a general store and also rents out bikes to tourists. We picked out two bikes for BZ$8 per bike for two hours. It's a great way to see this island on a bike. We randomly rode around on different roads and trails, and from one end to the other end. The island is small: about 4 miles long, and 0.5 mile at its widest point and it was split into two halves by 1961 Hurricane Hattie, which created a natural shallow area for snorkelling and swimming.


We had lunch - two big shrimp and lobster Burritos - at a Cabana-styled restaurant near the beach, with Reggae playing in the background and sea ripples glistening in sight. Then, we returned to the water taxi terminal only to find out that we missed the boat headed for Belize. No disappointment. We were on island time. No pressing agenda. We rented snorkels and fins at a local store where the owner was racking his brains trying to figure out why Ebay woudn't accept his credit card. Michael helped him and he gave his own special snorkel to Michael. That was a good deal.

We walked to the Split where there were people swimming and snorkelling. We joined them in the fun. I didn't see many big marine creatures, just little fish and little sting rays.

Compared to San Pedro, Caye Caulker is definitely more laid back: fewer golf carts trucking around, less dusty. Everything seems to be in a nonchalant mode which quelled some tourists' urge to make a loud statement of their presence.

We hopped on the last water taxi at 3:50pm heading back to San Pedro. The ride was quick and fuss-free, except my eyes were hurting from irritation caused by sea water that seeped through snorkels earlier.

While I was resting my eyes in bed, Michael went out and made arrangements for the next day: Cave Tubing and Belize Zoo, which turned out to be the highlight of our whole trip!

Belize Trip: Snorkelling and Exploring San Pedro (Day 2, 12/26 Tuesday)

We got up at 7am, went downstairs and had a simple breakfast (fruit salad, cereal, hardboiled eggs, toast, OJ and coffee) in front of the porch. Palm trees were swaying in cool breeze. The sand on the beach had been combed and raked in neat patterns. There were boats zooming to and fro in different directions on the water. We walked down the Woody's Wharf to the pier where a boat would pick us up for a snorkel tour. There were 7 people in our boat.

Our first stop was the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. We each paid $10 to the patrol ranger for parking the boat in the Reserve. Our guide, Albert, emphasized that we should follow him closely in the water. After putting on snorkels and fins, one by one, we jumped into the sea. The water was pleasantly warm and clear! Schools of fish swam next to snorkelers. I could almost feel their touch when they swam by me. The coral reefs were not as colorful as what I had seen in waters near Thailand (Co Phi Phi). Then again, we only saw a tiny part of long barrier reef that Belize is famous for. There are many brain corals (they literally look like a brain except that it's hard!) and fan-shaped purple-colored corals. I got a couple of scratches when swimming too closely to corals. My favorite part was gazing down at a deep valley - I felt as if I was skydiving except that I was floating and supported by cozy, clear and warm water. There are a couple of holes in the valley and a couple of snorkelers dipped into the hole to see what's in there. Michael was doing quick dips into the deeper level of the sea to see better - something I haven't learnt to do. I wish our guide had pointed out some interesting marine life down there.

Coming out of the water, we shivered. It was cold out on the boat compared to being in the water! The second stop was Shark Ray Alley. For some reason, we only stopped for about 5 minutes. We saw a huge sting ray with the body as big as a 8-person round table and a long tail, and we also saw a shark. The water there was murkier than Hol Chan area. But before we could explore more, we were called out to the boat and headed back to San Pedro on a bumpy ride. It was so bumpy that the boat was literally jumping up and down above the waves and splashing water into the boat. I nestled next to Michael trying to stay dry. It was a wet, bumpy and funny ride!

It's about noon when we got back to our hotel. The sun was beating down glaringly. I could feel the heat and humidity crawling all over my skin. We went searching for a lunch place. The dry sand and dirt on Barrier Reef Drive, the main street in town, got stirred up into the air by golf carts, main transport means on the island, we wanted to retreat back into our AC-controlled hotel room for a siesta so we settled for a restaurant nearby and had fish tacos and a burger there.

We woke up from siesta late in the afternoon. Feeling energized, we went for a long walk exploring San Pedro. We had dinner at Celi's Bar and Restaurant recommended by other tourists and Lonely Planet Guide. The grilled fish was exceptionally good. Then, we ran into a Taiwanese women and chatted for a long time and then knocked on Rebacca's Clinic and had a long time chat with the Chinese woman we met the day before (more on that in my entry about Chinese in Belize).


We strolled back along the beach to our hotel and ended our night on a mellow note without any plans confirmed for the next day.

Merida to San Pedro, Belize - A Seven-hour Journey (Day 1, 12/25, Monday)

We had two different alarm clocks set at 7am to make sure that we could get up the next day (12/25), and make it to Belize within reasonalble time frame (catching the last flight or ferry to San Pedro on Ambergris Cayes from Corozol in Belize). We got out of bed, not without any reluctance; packed two small backpacks and off we hit the road.

The streets were quiet on the morning after Xmas Eve; the air was cool and breezy. Soon, we were outside of Merida city limits following signs pointing to Chetumal, the biggest city closest to the Mexico-Belize border. It seems like a fairly streightforward route to Chetumal according to our 1998 edition Mexico road map: YUC HWY 261-> MEX HWY 184 -> 293 -> 307 (South > South East > South).

At the beginning, going through villages and towns along the route was a moving visual delight enjoyed in our car: old churches, local markets, pedi-cabs, stray dogs, people loitering in front of store fronts or peddling fruits or snacks on the roadside; except that the road signs are poorly marked and there are numerous topes (speed bumps). We knew we may have missed the 'real' expressway. After a while, our attention shifted to trying to find our way out of these villages; and our frustration grew. We passed a string of villages and towns with names sounding very otherworldly - Pustunich, Yotholin, Oxkutzcab and Tzucacab - just to name a few. Finally, with positive (and negative) help from locals and our own road-trip savvy, we managed to navigate out of the maze of confusing road signs and a nimiety of speed bumps after hitting a town called "Justicia Social (Social Justice)" - what a name for a town!

The rest of the driving was largely care-free. After passing Buenavista on MEX 307, a real expressway - wide and smooth - stretched out proudly into the horizon. In no time, we drove through the border town, Subteniente Lopez, 7? miles away from the M-B border on the Mexico side and arrived at the border at about 2:00pm. Passing the border was fairly easy, except one officer fussed about us not having a written authorization for driving M's parents' car. After making us aware what he could have done in this situation, he let us pass. Alas, We arrived in Belize!

National borders are such an arbitrary thing. The scenary didn't change much; it was a continuation of same trees and similar plants along side the road. The only differences are that signs were marked in English, Belize's official language and we started seeing more black people.

After 6.5 hours of driving, at 2:30, we finally reached Corozol in Belize, and fortunately, we were able to leave the car with Mr. Pamar, father of Pamela through whom we booked a room in Hotel Corona del Mar in San Pedro. With the good luck in the car-parking arrangement, we manged to catch a 14-seater airplane at 3:30pm to San Pedro.


The ride on the small airplane was thrilling. Being on a small airplane provided a vantage point for viewing the changing terrains and water colors down below. We could see shallow waters where barrier reef are streching along the coast line beyond our vision. Different shades of green and blue are the dominant colors on the natural pallette here. We landed in San Pedro after 15 minutes of soaring into and gliding through the sky.


Taxi cabs lined up for business; one driver peddled his service zealously. But we chose to walk to our hotel knowing it's a small town; in fact, the widest part is only about 1 mile. With sun slowly and gloriously setting, we walked along the ocean front side all the way to our hotel, passing many piers, hotels and restaurants all facing the gleaming Caribbean Sea. We also passed a stinky landfill which will soon become (or already is) a piece of precious ocean-front property.


We checked in Hotel Corona del Mar (Crown of the Sea) and unwound for a short while in our room with oceanfront view on the 2nd floor. Then, we headed out to explore the island. We had great conversations with people and I was intrigued by a phenomenon - there are so many Chinese living in Belize (!) - which I will explore in a seperate blog entry. The night ended with a delicious meal at Jambel Jerk, a Jamaican restaurant that played Bob Marley's MTV video clips non-stop.

Christmas Eve Dinner

M's parents' friends, two Cubans who moved from Paris to Merida a couple years ago, invited the whole fam to their house for a Xmas even gastronomical retreat. Here is a list of multiple courses that we consumed:

1st: appetizers - home-made cheeses in shape of pyramids, crackers, and two different kinds of pepperoni
2nd: Foie Gras, a piece of toast, juicy figs in special sauces made from figs freshly picked from trees grown in their backyard.


3rd: ceviche on a bed of ice, served on individual clam shell

4th: lemon sorbet served in a real lemon filled with refreshing sorbet.
5th: guinea hen and pear with chocolate sauce. They also have guinea hens raised for them by local villagers
6th: salad with strings of lemon peel, assortment of cheeses (French way of eating Salas along with cheeses)
7th: rabbit meat wrapped in Chayo leaves
8th: chocolates and turrons (Spanish tradition during holidays)
9th: A cake that I don't quite know how to describe - cheese/icecream cake with lady fingers around it

Along with good food, there was also good wine, good music and, more importantly, good company! We basically ate from 8pm to 1am and didn't get back until almost 2am. Understandablly, finishing a nine-course dinner requires the whole body to 'work' harder to absorb everything - presentation, color, smell and taste, hence the length of time spent on appreciating, savoring and chewing!

What Day is Today?

I know Christmas Eve is in a few hours, but I don't remember exactly what day today is. Is it Saturday or Sunday? I had to rearragne my fingers to figure that out. The past couple of days have been a blur, a pleasant blur.


We have been sleeping in every morning since we got here. Early in the morning I heard birds singing in trees, dogs woofing, and early-risers chatting, yet I let my body sink into the dreamy realm again. It truly feels great not having to jump out of bed at the whims of an alarm clock; after all, we are in vacation mode: We wake up late, just in time, for comida (late lunch). After eating, we have a quick dip in the pool, then read by the pool side, then hop in a hammock for a short or long siseta dictated by the natural body mechanism. When the dusk falls and the air is breezy, we stroll down to Plaza Principal and the city center where there is music and dance - salsa, or local mayan dances - on every block in the Centro every Saturday.

Yesterday evening, we stopped by the new hotel, Hotel San Angel, which was designed and built beautifully: the murals of tropical lush plants blend in very well with the ambience in the courtyard; lighting fixtures in the U-shaped porch circling the courtyard are exquisite; the interior is even more stunning - the all-brick arched high ceiling is a loud statement of the craftsmanship on the remodellig work and it offers stunning uniqueness to the iterior of the hotel. Besides the physical beauty of the building, a sample plate of the cookies made by the owner was just out of the world! We sat down and chatted with the three Iranian sisters, two of whom (from Canada and US) are here for one of the sisters' hotel opening. Their fascinating stories broadened my views about Iranian women, which I gained through a paucity of literature (sometime with biased views) that I've read so far about Iran. They really showed a side of Iranian women - humorous, industrious, intelligent, pragmatic, opinionated - which I'm not familiar with.

Tomorrow we are leaving for Belize. More sunshine and more dipping in the water (the Carribean Sea this time) are on the way, only outside the comfort of Casa Contenta.

From Winter to Summer

29 celsius degrees, warm breeze, savory comida, blissful siesta - what can be better than this?! We are on our annual winter getaway retreat at - Casa Contenta - Michael's parents place in Merida again!

We took a red-eye flight out of Seattle to Atlanta, leaving behind the dreary winter weather, Birdie - our sweet cat, our cozy house in need of some new shingles and a few out-of-town friends. The flight was pleasantly uneventful - no delays, no drama - exept it was overbooked by 3%. Many people are trying to get to somewhere during the holiday season; we joined the holiday travelling crowd in search of family get-together, fun and sunshine.

We killed the 4 hours at the Atalanta airport while waiting for our connecting flight by eating (grits, biscuits, eggs and sausage), napping, reading and walking all the way from Concouse A to E instead of taking the train, which we did just to insure that our feet still remember how to walk after 8 hours of flying and waiting. The flight from Atlanta to Merida was short and smooth. It was a small, yet full, plane with capacity of 66 passengers - a good mixture of people from Mexico, Canada and US; young and old.

Michael's parents picked us up. It's so fortunate of us to have them living here and we get to visit them and have an extra two weeks of summer days in the darkest days of a year. M's sister is here too; the whole fam will be here in a few days - a big famly reunion. Also there are five dogs barking and wagging tails welcoming us. Blanchita was beaming with smiles. She already made a delicious comida (late lunch at 2pm-ish, the Mexican tradition) waiting for us. We ate. We chateed, then we took a long siesta.

After a long siesta, we went to a hotel (Hotel San Angel) opening here by an Iranian couple - a beautiful hotel and beautiful people with wine glasses in hand clinking around...then we went and had some yummy Salbutes and Panuchos (like a Taco), then Tepes Nieve, an icecream parlor, for some helado (icecream).

Casa Contenta, Merida - our winter getaway heaven, we don't feel like tourists here; we feel like being at home away from home.

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2006, Year in Review 岁末回首

Since the magazine Time has chosen YOU as the Person of the Year for 2006. I figure that "you" also includes me. I guess it's not too tongue in cheek to have my own version of Year in Review. Below is the email that I sent out to friends. I want to include it here to remember 2006.

My Dearest Friends,
2006, the Red Fire Dog Year, is coming to an end - Xmas is in a couple of days; the New Year is in a week. I thought it would be a good time to give you all a quick update on our life in 2006.

So, what did we do in those 300 plus days? There is no earth-shattering or life-changing news to share with anyone. We've learnt to seek for changes in baby-steps instead of giant strides: I'm still working at the Port and have learnt to appreciate many benefits that my job offers including enjoying the company of my best friends there, K and T.

Michael is still at his job managing a small non-profit that offers great flexibility and trips (sometimes I get to tag along) nationwide. We've been living in our first house, still somewhat new to us, since October 2005; and we love the location - 10 minutes away from the city, yet we get to enjoy the serenity of the suburbs, and I can bike to work when the weather allows. Yes, we're very much settled in.

Besides a steady job and a place we call sweet home, we are fortunate enough to mix our sedentary life with trips here and there. In January, we had a great time, as always, in Mexico . This time it was even more fun, because we got to hang out with Greg, Hyun-Joo and baby Ella. In February, we went to China and spent the Chinese New Year with my folks in Hunan; and on the way back from Shanghai, we got to meet a whole gang of friends in Shanghai: Mency, Andy, James, Gracia, Brad, and Kris, to name a few. In March, Michael surprised me with a Birthday trip to a cabin with Jacuzzi at the foot of Mt. Rainier . We had fun snowshoeing with Eric and Irene when they came and joined us the next day.

In April/May, I went to China on a business trip and was able to spend some quality time with my mom. In June, Michael and I went to San Francisco for a long weekend; we walked all over the city and saw the gay pride parade, where I was wowed by their creative outfits and makeup. In July, we had one of our best friends, Zuo You from Beijing , visiting us and staying with us for a few days. While he was staying with us, in the same month, we had the biggest party - 20 some people watching the World Cup final - at our house. Seattle 's summer is as gorgeous as always, except it feels a bit warmer this year. The summer air was filled with smoky BBQ in our sunlit backyard - Eric and Irene are our loyal frequent BBQ guests. Then, in August, we went down to Portland 's Blues Festival and did a little Oregon Coast road trip with Greg, Hyun-joo and Ella-Bella before they headed off to their adventures in China (and later Lesotho ).

In September, I went on a business trip again to Shanghai and Hong Kong for the first time. Then, I tagged along Michael for a long weekend trip to Boston in October; then we came back to the wettest month in Seattle – November! Then, there was a snow storm, followed by a wind storm. It added more unexpected drama to the normally dull dreary Seattle winter.

Now we are chilling and lounging around in Merida , Mexico again. We are driving to Belize in a few days. I will try to blog about it on my site: www.gobilily.blogspot.com if I have internet access while on the road. I finally got my blog going with inspirations from a few friends, whose blogs' links are also on my site.

Looking back, I can say it's quite a wonderful year. Life is good. If I had to wish for something different, that would be my mom's health. During the year, we also heard great news from our friends: getting engaged, getting married, getting pregnant, getting new jobs, babies growing beautifully, advancing in the academic world, moving to a new city etc. We are happy for all of you. This is life, beautiful life that we all love and cherish.

With that, we're sending you our best wishes! Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! Hope to see you (or some of you, for sure) in 2007!

Peace, love and hugs to everyone,

L and M
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What Phobia? Haircut Chair-phobia

The alarm went off like a bomb; with fair amount of resentment, I reached over and slammed on the snooze button and went into deep sleep again. Waking up from a dream, I yelled, "Shit! It's already 7:00am!" I jumped out of bed and rushed to get ready for my early morning ortho appointment. It's still dark outside; I was still half asleep harping over the fading details of a disturbing dream I had.

Sitting in a reclining dental chair, I began to feel better about the day ahead of me. Every visit to the doctor's office is getting me closer to the day when my teeth will be finally freed from braces and straight after 30 some years; and I long for the moment when I can put my front teeth to use again on corn cobs heartily.

Lying down in the chair, I always choose to keep my eyes shut and move my mouth as told. The thought of having my eyes open watching the doctor's hands moving makes me uneasy. I'd rather pretend to be a mechanical part during my time in the dental chair than making my presence visible. All the wire-tightening, drilling and shaving makes talking literally impossible, which, to me, is a blessing in disguise.

I consider my experience in a dental chair much more pleasant than that in a hair-stylist chair. After work, I went to Gary Manuel Phase 3 for a hair cut. My favorite hair dresser was not there. I had to put myself in a stranger's chair yet again. This - getting a hair cut in a chair - must be one of those experiences so mundane that most people don't even think about it. For me, it, somehow, is one of the most self-conscious personal care services that I dread. Why? I don't know. It's pathetically bizarre how my mind works when sitting in a chair getting a haircut.

I agonize over many things that seem so trivial: what conversation topics do I have to initiate? What if it turns out that I don't like the haircut? What if she tries to sell me hair care products? What is an appropriate tip? How long do I have to stare at myself, her and people around me in the mirror? These stupid and frivolous questions torment me.

I can count the number of times that I've been to a hairstylist - average about 3 times a year - since I was 18 years old. Before that, my existence was so minuscule that I didn't even get to go to a saloon - a hair cut by our neighbour, or my father, or a friend - I didn't have to sit in a chair and examine myself painfully in a mirror for an hour or two. After I started going to hair saloons, I remember how painful it was to sit in front of a mirror, looking nervous and out of place; worse than that, I somehow would always end up with a running nose every time when I sat in a chair getting a haircut.

For the first time, I confront myself with these absurd fears associated with sitting in a chair getting a haircut. The bizarre thing is that I feel totally comfortable being scrubbed like a baby, lying on a bed without a stitch in a Korean Spa: there is no mirror, no small talk, just pure hard scrubbing. It's actually quite a cathartic experience - physically feeling a layer of dead skins coming off!

P.S. Here is a link to a brief history of hair. It seems that people in ancient times, or even as late as the 19th century, have put much more emphasis on braiding hair, decorative hairpieces, wigs or hats. Women's modern day hair-cutting grew out of the need to be more efficient around house chores. After women won their rights to vote, and began actively participate in social, political and economic activities, the hair styles began to become more casual and free-spirited.

Cozying up in front of "Breathless"

Blue sky, crispy air, squirrels hopping around and birds chirping - no obvious signs of a disastrous storm just the day before. Looking more closely, there are trees lying around with root balls dangling over gaping holes; many households - over 40,000 - are still without power. We got lucky: survived the storm with uninterrupted power and gas supply; our roof also endured the storm without leaking on us, although dozens of shingles got blown off.

Late Saturday morning, we were aware of our fortune of having power and heat on a winter day. Michael made crepes; and along with crepes, we cozied up and watched a French film, Breathless, by Jean-Luc Godard. It was shot in 1960, and later became one of the most influential movies made during the French New Wave period. Since modern movies have absorbed many of the new editing techniques (e.g. jump cuts) and theories (e.g. "auteur theory") that the New Wave movies championed, as a modern viewer, I can't quite fully comprehend the revolutionary impact that this movie had on movies and directors of his time.

Like many other movies, this one deals with human existence, death, love and betrayal - subject matters of movies of all times. The plot is fairly simple: Jean-Paul Belmondo, a heartthrob French actor, played a thief who fell in love with an American girl who sold newspapers in Paris. The thief, Michel, killed a cop. From then on, he was on the run from the police. When betrayed by his American girlfriend, he didn't choose to flee from the police. The last scene was a protracted scene of him running away from the policemen who shot him, but it seems to me that he was trying to run away from his imminent death, or his love (maybe) not worthy of dying for. That was left ambiguous.

Actually, one thing that does strike me as something special is the way the movie portrayed the main character. The movie didn't portray, Michel, a thief as an evil person; instead, the movie presented an amoral picture of his being, his emotions and his philosophy of life. That seems to be a new exploratory concept rising out of the given historical period - reconstruction and rebuild after WWII. The director grew up during war times when the Axis armies were fight against the Allied Forces, the evil vs. the good. As a challenge to the black-and-white way of view of the world, an amoral portrayal of a real human being strikes a different cord blurring the moral lines.

On a different, yet related note, comments about American and French cultural differences in different scenes and conversations were an interesting reflection of the interactions that these two nations experienced during the after-war rebuild period. It appears to me America was a symbol of strength and independence, a word used a few times at different scenes in this movie.

There was a sweet sense of humor and naughtiness that added to our cozy ride throughout the movie. Even the seemingly painful ending was endearing. Admittedly, with 21th century viewers' lenses, I wasn't awed by the plot or the highly-praised revolutionary editing techniques used in this movie.

A Quick Glance at Belize - History and Its Peoples

Belize is located in Central America. On its northwest border, lies Mexico; on its southwest border, lies Guatemala; and on the eastern side, it boasts a long coast line facing warm blue waters of the Caribbean Sea, which hosts miles of barrier reef, coral reef and atolls (环礁).

It’s the only country in Central America where English is the first official language. The reason for that, of course, is historical. Unlike Mexico, Belize had been a British colony for a long time until the 1970s. Even now, they still recognize Queen Elizabeth II as their sovereign. Its current name - Belize - was only adopted in 1973. Before that, it was called British Honduras. How did the British end up there?

Similar to the rest of the American continent, before the Europeans ‘discovered’ this ‘new’ continent, there were Amerindians – in this area, the Maya – living here. The Maya civilization thrived for centuries, peaked in the 9th and 10th century, and suddenly suffered a mysterious decline around the 11th century. The first Europeans, the Spanish sailors, came to the shores of Belize in the early 16th century (1508). Their control over this area was crippled by repetitive attacks by the British, French and Dutch pirates, who started looting Spanish ships in this area in the 17th century. In particular, they raided Spanish ships for logwood, which was a high-profit commodity of the time, due to its ability to generate colors for dying wool. These different colonial factions fought over the rights to cut logwood. Later on, these wood cutters became known as“baymen,” who were mostly British nationals. In the late 18th century, they were able to negotiate themselves a sweet deal and push the Spanish rule away from that area, and eventually gained full control of the area after winning the Battle of St. George’s Caye in the late 18th century.

After logwood, mahogany wood became another hot commodity as a top choice for making luxurious furniture. To supply sufficient labor for cutting down mahogany tress, these white British settlers started bringing African slaves from Africa and other parts of Latin America such as Nicaragua. This practice, over time, also changed the demographic composition of Belize. When the British abolished slavery in 1833, these freed men stayed in Belize.

The 19th century saw Belize in the control of a couple of powerful British private companies. There were protests and riots against the racist British rule. One of the protests was launched by WWI veteran soldiers, who weren’t allowed to fight shoulder to shoulder with their fellow British solders in the trenches.

In the first half of the 20th century, Antonio Soberanis rose to be a leader of anti-colonial rule. In 1964, Belize achieved its self-governing status as a British colony. After a series of pro-independence movements, Belize finally achieved its independence in 1981.

The demographic mix of Belize is multiracial and multi-ethnic. The creoles used to be the majority of the population, now they account for about 25%. The Mestizos make up about 65% of the current population. The rest are the Maya, the Garifuna, the Mennonites and other ethnicities.

Trying to get a clear understanding of which ethnicity is which can be daunting at first. Here is my version of oversimplified interpretation:

• Creoles (Kryoles): descendants of Europeans and Africans (e.g. French/Spanish + African; sometimes they are called mulattoes)


• Mestizos: descendants of Spaniards and Amerindians (e.g. Spaniards + Mayan)


• Garifuna: descendants of Africans and Amerindians (e.g. Africans + Caribs/Arawaks)


• Mennonites: a Christian group (many of them are descendants of Germans and the Dutch) that came into being as a result of the Protestant Reformation in the 15th Century. Their beliefs are often characterized by emphasis on community, simplicity and Pacifism. They are also the best farm hands in the world. They move to wherever they can be allowed to have religious freedom and military exemptions. They are scattered in tightly-knit and predominantly rural communities in all four continents. Most of the Mennonites in Belize traveled all the way from Canada, and some migrated out of Mexico and other parts of the Americas.

OK, That's Belize's history in one page!

Merry Merida, Felize Belize – embracing sunshine and sandy beach

The local weather channel must be awfully busy this winter: first, incessant rain, then snow storm, then ice, now windstorms and thunder showers. I hope our roof can hold up - some shingles have been blown off. This winter is all about drama and extremities, and far from its normal pattern of being mild, drizzly and cloudy. Somehow, this seems to coincide with what’s been going on at my workplace – a series of unexpected personnel changes and departures. Maybe the crazy weather had a hand in this?!

The night falls early here in December, and on December 21st, we’ll have the longest night of the year. With trees dressed up in twinkling lights and other glowing ornaments hanging every where, every twinkle sets off the drabness hanging over the city under imminent rain clouds, and gives me comfort, knowing that we are gearing up for the biggest and longest holidays of the year. Yesterday, on my way to work, I saw a huge full rainbow erecting across the skyline over the harbor and downtown. It was an exhilarating sight! Yet, an evanescent display of a spectacular rainbow can’t hold me back from a two-week long vacation in a zone of sunshine and sandal-friendly space!

Our annual southern getaway trip is in a week. I’m counting days and hours. We’ll be staying in Merida for a couple of days, and then head off to Belize for a few days. Belize has long been known as one of the best diving destinations in the world. My original plan of becoming a diver has failed. Snorkeling would do for me, at least, for now. I’ll record my first imaginary tour of Belize in my next blog entry.

The wind is howling and shaking trees vehemently outside our cozy house; Some neighborhoods have experienced power outages. Tomorrow, school closures are expected; treacherous commuting to work is forewarned. The whole city will slow down - a pace that we'll truly get to enjoy once we are on vacation!