Paget's Belize Journal

The Preliminary Trip - It Begins - First days - A tourist trip - Flying, sand crabs - San Pedro 1 - San Pedro 2 - Braids, snakes, dogs - Leaving Dangriga The Actual Stay - Help for library - Books; departure - Arrival; weather - Sensations, housing - Security, more housing - Security, snorkeling - Dock activities - Day-to-day life 1 - Day-to-day life 2 - The Quadrille - The apartment! - Cleaning and culture - Hurricane Irene - Too much reality - Hopkins Village 1 - Hopkins Village 2 - Weather - Minimum wage - Transportation - Food Experiments - The Brits; furniture - Meeting and greeting - Night noise, Settlement Day - Dragonflies! - More noise - A good 19th - Wrapping up the 19th - Traveling to Mexico - Thanksgiving in Mexico - Cockscomb Basin - A Belizean week-end - Tobacco Caye - Is it really Christmas? - This is the life - Christmas wishes - Headwear - Christmas Experiences - Lottery - Caye Caulker haircut - Caye Caulker 2 - Geckos - Red Bank - The last few days		Sep 22, 1999 Thanks for (almost) All the Books Thanks to everyone who gave books and/or mailing contributions to support the Dangriga library. I have no idea if the librarian will be thrilled or appalled, but I'll let you know (and my guess is -- a little of each). I pretty much sent on what you contributed. I found that the US Postal Service book rate for the "M bag" to Belize is $.79 US/lb. (see how I'm practicing to be sensitive to other monetary assumptions). The customs declaration was pretty straightforward on this end, but I don't know how it will play in Belize. My sponsors have offered that their customs guy will take care of it. I don't know yet how big a favor this is. There *were* a few things I did not send on. 1. Anything about cute puppies and kitties and how to make them your friends. In Belize, the dogs either work or hunt for food in the roadside ditches and the cats are prey. I didn't want an impressionable Belizean child trying the "speak softly and confidently" trick on a feral (but otherwise reasonable-looking) mongrel. Not that they would be that dumb. 2. Readers Digest Condensed Books (you know who you are). 3. The Baseball Season 1985 (puh-lease). I did actually send on two copies of "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," but only because they filled up a hole better than the newspaper stuffing did. So, I'm off in the morning. Will be in Dangriga by dinner time on Thursday and possibly eating lobster. Look for another missive on Monday or Tuesday. Next