And Suddenly...

...we're in the cold. It's hard to believe but we just traveled 20 hours to be plummeted back from 32 to 2°C. Two days ago we were swimming in the Macal River, it was at the same spot where just a week before more than 80 canoes passed on for La Ruta Maya River Challenge, the four-days, 175-miles long grueling paddling event for which Belize is famous.

Now we are in gray Belgium where the trees are not yet showing even a speck of green, where everyone is wearing long, dark coats and matching facial expressions. We're back to scarves, staticky hair, sniffles and lots of lip balm. We had to travel unexpectedly for family reasons, my mother-in-law is seriously ill.

My mother used to say that man travels by horse but the soul only follows on foot. It's true. Our spirits are still in Belize, which does not have anything in common with Belgium, apart from its first three letters.