Day 2: Bike riding in Belize...

It is currently day 3 in Belize, but since I didn't have a chance to write last night, here is an update on yesterday...

Saturday morning we drove out to the market and bought some fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as some fresh bread. Johnny cakes with cheese and butter are delicious!! We got some pineapple, oranges and rolls. It was fun to walk around town and see what everyone had to sell. It's nice that the exchange rate is 2 to 1, so a 500 mL bottle of Coke costs only US $1. A big drink down here is Fanta - orange and fruit punch (which we discovered tastes like cream soda).

After coming home from the market we decided that we wanted to go kayaking and upon the recommendation of nurse James (who runs the clinic here) we headed out...on the bikes. There are close to 10 bikes here at Hillside Healthcare Clinic meant for the use of the students and the family here. The 5 of us rode the bikes 7 miles into Punta Gorda. Unfortunately the kayaking place was not open on the weekends, so we decided to make our trip worthiwhile and rode around town trying to find the place where our preceptors were staying. We got within a few hundred feet and thought that perhaps we were on the wrong street and turned around heading back into town. We rode around for several miles stopping occasionally to look in shops. We also stopped at the supermarket and purchased some groceries. Our special treat was Betty Crocker cookie mix - just add water, oil and an egg (did you know that you can buy just ONE egg from the store here?). It was kind of funny and weird, but everwhere we go guys are whooping and hollering at us. Amanda and I stopped on a road to wait for a couple of the other girls and some guys came up to us and said, "hey beautiful girls" and asked us for our names and started talking to us. It's funny how some will whistle at us as we go by too. I guess we do stick out like a sore thumb and we're not typical looking girls for down here. After driving around for what seemed like forever, we stopped at a restaurant and enjoyed some curry chicken and smirnoff ice.


By this point we were absolutely exhausted and our bottoms were quite sore from biking so much. We made it back though - and before dark! A grand total of 17 miles in one day.


I will have to post a picture sometime of the little office in the clinic where we all sit to chat with our family and loved ones. It's this little room with a small desk and a couple of chairs. We can fit all 5 of us in here...but it gets really hot. Now that the med students are back from their weekend in Placencia the Abby House is kind of crowded, much more noisy, and less chance to get online. There are now 15 of us in the house! But anway, I will write more tomorrow and tell you about my day today. Having fun down here so far...tomorrow we're being put to work!