Good Times and Great Eats

So we have successfully completed being support staff for paddlers on La Ruta Maya... I'm glad i didn't get to be that stupid. Maybe with a year of training and alot of pain killers i will be foolish enough to come paddle next year. Jim, the guy who owns and runs The Outpost at barton creek introduced us to his friends: Al and Mary Lee, Tony, Ed, Kieran, and Paula. oh wait, don't forget Sebastian.

Al is referred to by Kieran as the big pumba, he smokes cigars like cigarettes, and drinks rum and coke like no one i have ever known before. Al was the one who decided we were going to be necessary for the support crew which he was heading up. Mary Lee was one of the cooks for the support team, and has earned the nickname Howler Monkey for her voice and willingness to screech and make horrid noises if anyone thinks she shouldn't. Al and Marie lee are from near Winnipeg Canada so they have that Midwest accent that i find so nostalgic.

Tony was one of the paddlers. He is a carpenter and owns his own shop, and seems to be one of the big wigs in town, he wears aviator sunglasses and also drinks rum and coke like no ones business.

Ed was the primary cook, and the food was AMAZING. Ed is an amazing guy from Canada originally, he worked as an ER nurse before comeing to belize to retire. He would get hired to go to an ER that was doing really badly, and bring the crew together and apparently he was really good at it, he had 10 successes out of 12, and some of his crews went from worst in the country to some of the best.

Kieran is Paula's husband. Paula was a paddler. Kieran was the barbecuer. They are snowbirds, which means that they live in Maine during the summer and fishing months, since that is what kieran does(drive a fish truck) and then migrate down to Belize where they live off the grid(no electricity) for the winter months. Paula works in the restaurant industry and is one bad ass chica. She paddled with Tony and Sebastian. She has a beautiful adventurous, indomitable spirit. she and kieran are definitely some of my favorite people i have met so far.

Sebastien is in his early 20's. He lives with Al and Mary lee. He was best described by Kieran as Righteous. He seems to be a true gentleman. He speaks with a slight German accent because his parents were from Germany, but he grew up here in Belize. he works for tony as a furniture maker/ all around carpenter. I hope to have more chances to hang out with him in the future.

The trip itself was amazing. We got to see all the country we had simply bussed through on our way down; with the added bonus of people who have lived here for a while pointing out the major sights and stories.

La Ruta Maya is the largest event in Belize. There were scores of Belizians dancing and partying at every stop along the way. Ahnna and I mostly stayed at to our camp with the people we were support crew for. I don't think it is considered rude for people to stare in Belize, or at least not at the loud obnoxious gringos. I went around shirtless as i am oft inclined to do, and after the second day when some locals made comments or commentary gestures as to how white i was i started to realize that i was truly the whitest thing there; and not by any small margin either. It actually started to make me a bit paranoid. Especially the day that it rained and everyone was in their tents. The people at the next campsite over just sat in their tents and stared out the windows/doors at us under out tarp for maybe an hour strait, perhaps longer(until the rain stopped). Like they were watching TV, though they seemed less amused than your average TV goer.

Anyway, i did manage to gain one massage client. Though i have no idea if i will ever see her again because i only know where she lives and its not like i have my own transportation. anyway... i'm going to start another blog, for more stories about La Ruta Maya, you will just have to ask me when i get back.