Susanne in Belmopan: Freaky

The Curse of Belize

Belize is a stunningly beautiful country, but it has one curse. Can you guess?

◘ Mosquitos

◘ Humidity

◘ Traffic Jams

◘ Greenhouse gasses

◘ Botlas

The answer is 5) botlas, which is Creol for bottle-ass (don't ask me why). They are mega tiny little flies, you can't see, hear or feel them at the time. Only a day later you will notice the spots. They itch like the devil and only very slowly recede (between 7 and 10 days). They're everywhere in Belize; in sand, grass, near water and even the most hard-core repellents (Deep Woods) and long pants and sleeves will not fully protect. I use Benadryl gel to relieve the itch but mostly just wait and sit it out.

Pinky House

As any 4-year old, Soleine gets pretty bored when we travel long hours in the car. But now we have a game. The first one to spot a specific object gets points. As follows:
- a pink house = 10 points
- a horse = 5 points
- a tractor = 10 points
- a pair of shoes hanging from power line = 20 points

A regular trip from Belmopan to Belize can score about 100 points, to San Ignacio 150 points because more horses and tractors. Soleine usually wins. When we'll be in Belgium or Holland this summer we'll have to change the rules, There aren't many pinky houses (as Soleine calls them) there, right?

Friday, May 8, 2009

Freaky

One of the major reasons we enjoy living abroad is of course: the sun. It is just easier to wake up in the mornings when the sun peeks through your curtains, when you can wear cute sandals without having to worry about socks and when your face is tanned.

Of course we sometimes complain that it is too hot but I am careful with what I wish for. However, there is one serious down side to the hot tropical climates we have been living in for the past fifteen years. With heat comes humidity, and with that comes…bugs. Roaches, mosquitos, flies, fleas, ants whatever... I thought I was used to it by now. Until…

…on the very first day we stayed in our newly rented house, we had two ladies giving it a good clean up. They found a tiny bright green frog in the store room, screamed and then ran away from it. They said it was a poisonous frog and that it could spit in your eyes and make you blind. I found that hard to imagine from such a tiny thing that looked like a Haribo gummi candy. But am I going to disbelieve these Belizean women? No way, so we took it seriously and approached the empty room with utmost care.

Later that day my guy wanted to see if froggy was still there and he found a black spider keeping it company. Now this was getting interesting. A frog and a spider in an otherwise totally empty room? Is this a new fable of La Fontaine? Later that evening he took another peek into the store room, and to his big surprise the frog and spider had been joined by a scorpion! Really t

rue, all on the same day in the same room! What is this? Some kind of plot to say that we are (not) welcome in this house? A scorpion? I have never had those in my house… those fellows are a little dangerous aren’t they?

We have baptized that store room the Freaky Room. I will forever be careful when I go in there, and will never go near it with bare feet. We’re still enjoying the sun but have yet to learn to accept all creatures that come along with it. If you decide to visit us I promise you you won’t have to sleep in the Freaky Room. Unless you like scorpions…