December 27:
This was supposed to be a field day, and in fact Ernesto did pick us up at 6:30 as always, but in his "good truck". He was unable to get the part he needed for his work truck yesterday, and there was no guarantee that we would be able to enter Yalbac since the pass was made for his other truck. However, when we arrived at Cleofo's house, he was in bed sick. So, we decided, for the sake of the truck and Cleofo's health that we would take the day off. We surveyed Ernesto's garden, which was quite expansive. Then, we walked into his cattle enclosure and I got my photo taken with the big bull. As soon as Dad took the photo, the bull bolted up and almost knocked me over. But, I survived!
We returned to Banana Bank, got our going-to-town clothes on and I ordered a taxi. The regular boat guy took us across the river so that we could catch the cab, and then we waited for him to arrive. After waiting about 20 minutes, we decided to walk to the road and try to catch a bus. As we reached the road (after still not running across the taxi) we decided that trying to catch was futile since we didn't know when the next one was coming by, so we walked into Belmopan. Notice that this is the second day that we have walked the road from Belmopan to Banana Bank (which is probably +5 miles). Then, we walked into town, after passing by the Forest Department and the Institute of Archaeology.
I searched (hopelessly) for a swimsuit, leaving Dad sitting on many doorsteps (may I mention that I took a very short time, for a girl, in each store!). During one of these stops, poor Dad got taken by a panhandler. Sorry Mom, I did not fulfill my due duty as the female! Dad's work boots split, so he was looking for a cobbler. Sure enough, this guy knew a guy. Then, he stood around and talked non-stop while Dad's shoes were repaired. He took photos with Dad and me, asked me my age (which I refused to tell him), asked where we were from, what we did, why we were here and for how long, and asked me to write him so that he could write me back/send him my phone number/set up a videochat, etc. At this point, I was totally creeped out, but of course Dad was as laid-back as normal. When his shoes were finished (in about 20 minutes and for $2.50 USD!), Dad paid the panhandler (who at this point had given us his address and begged me repeatedly for contact - promising to be a good friend). At this point, unfortunately, another much drunker panhandler had approached and said something along the lines of "I will get him to pay me too! Pay me!" So, Dad and I took off for parts unknown as quickly as possible. Leave it to 2 fit Americans to outrun a drunk Belizian.
We had lunch at the Bull Frog Inn and then went to a business section, again looking for swimsuits. I ended up finding some child-size bottoms that would have worked nicely, but unfortunately the tops were either really really small or really REALLY large. So, I gave up. We walked back to the bus stop, very tired and having walked over 10 miles on a non-field day, and finally took a taxi back. Shortly, we will consume Mrs. Choc's lunch (plantains with rice and beans) and wind down for the evening. Last night, I had good luck watching an episode of Bones on Netflix in the room, with Spanish subtitles of course!
- - - - - - "Como todos nosotros en el Jeffersonian, el Dr. Brennan prefiere la ciencia en el tracto digestivo."
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