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 - More 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		Oct 5, 1999 Dock Activities, Yoga and Nightlife One of the reasons I will be very sad to leave Pelican Beach Resort (when I finally find a house) is the dock. It's about 120 feet out into the ocean and 8 to 10 feet wide. The water underneath is quite shallow, no more than 2 ­ 4 feet until the very end of the dock. It has a nice little thatched side deck with hammocks and is always breezy and usually cool out there. Plus, the sand fleas don't go there. So every morning I take my coffee out and gaze at the horizon for a while to start my day. If I get tired of that, I gaze into the water. Twice I've seen jellyfish wafting by and there are usually little schools of fish and pelicans fishing and so forth. Very pleasing, even when the guard dog boys come out to visit and show off their swimming and shaking off prowess. But it's best at night. I regret to report that I'm not being very good about doing my yoga. A few stretches in the morning, downward dog for a while, tree pose if I'm feeling up to it. But in the evening--savasana! Aaaahhh! After dinner I walk out on the dock almost to the end and sit for a while trying to see the little birds that land there. At first I thought they were bats, but they're some kind of little swooping bird that appears to be eating insects ­ apparently the kind that don't bite, because I never get bitten out there. After eating their dinner, they settle down on the end of the dock just like me. I can get to within about 10 feet of them, but no closer. And I can't really see them. Mostly it's just companionable. After a while I lie down in the middle of the dock. This is very soothing and relaxing. The water is shallow enough that no Jaws or Deep type monsters can get there. The dock is wide enough that even an octopus would have to have a very long reach to get to me. No one can sneak up on me because the dock is creaky and the water is splashy and the little birds would fly away if someone came. I know this is silly, but it's amazing how peaceful this feels to have thought of all the possible and impossible things that could disturb me and to have dismissed them. And the stars! I know the relaxation techniques say you're supposed to close your eyes, but it's much better to just let them take you up, up, up and out into the sky. Cradled by the earth. Now THIS is savasana! Next