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		Nov 22, 1999 And one more noisy thing When I was writing about noise last week, I forgot a pleasant (but still sleep-disturbing) "natural" phenomenon. After a rain, there is always a new batch of frogs in the roadside ditches. When I first came, I had to ask the children if they were insects or frogs making all that noise (I often can't tell, even in Oregon. Isn't that a strange fact of nature? Why should a frog and a cricket sound alike?) Anyway I was assured that they're frogs. The most common ones sound something like soprano chickens. That is, they sort of cluck contentedly, but in the higher registers. And they sound damp, like chickens sound dusty. But I've never seen any of them, so I think they're pretty small. After the many days of rain week before last, many, many, many frogs hatched out in the various empty lots and fields around town as well as the ditches. There was a particularly noisy batch in the churchyard just kitty-corner from my apartment. And these sounded just like a large flock of ducks flying over very high in the night. So it did wake me from time to time, because I kept thinking I should get up and go outside to see if I could see the ducks. p.s. In case you were waiting to learn this (so as not to make a faux pas when you arrive), commercial vehicles all have green license plates, taxis as well as a bunch of others. Government vehicles have blue plates. But since the country is in the middle of some privatization reform, this may not hold 100% true. p.p.s. Didn't make it to Placencia this weekend, but had some fun watching the drumming and dancing at the peak of the 19th celebration. Also a fine-street corner Christian music revival concert. Tell you about it when I get a chance. p.p.p.s. Never saw Dennis Quaid, but Therese's nephews got their picture taken with him, so I saw that. Next