cahal pech and produce

Welll... it's been a slow week here at CASA. No new patients, nothing catastrophic has happened (knock on wood). I've been trying to think of ways to make the day to day routine of the birds less boring. I'm not as inventive as I once was. I'll just blame age. I mean, I will be 27 in less than two months after all. Ha?

I'm a little worried about the summer here... today it topped out at 96 degrees with a bazillion percent humidity. Even the breeze is sweltering. I was told the other day that it's gotten up to 105 in April before... that's only April! What about the summer? Ack! Alison, I hope you're ready to sweat buckets!

Last Friday I went to Cahal Pech, which are the Mayan ruins above San Ignacio. It was more extensive that I had originally thought and it's only about 2-3 miles away... uphill, but that's okay. Who doesn't like a good workout? They had a few relics and even some bones in the museum on site. There were a lot of children on a field trip so it was a bit noisy. I got a lot of "hi miss!" and some waves. I drew a lot of attention in general on Friday for some reason...

They recognize me now down at the market where I buy produce for the birds. Not that it would be hard; how many other blonde (no longer so) white girls buy $35 worth of produce every week? Speaking of delicious local produce, mango season is right around the corner. There are about 14 different types / flavors of mangoes grown here - from the kind you generally see in the US to dark colored ones which are extremely sweet. Apparently they're fairly expensive at first but later on you can get a giant bag for $1. Cheap! Most produce things are fairly inexpensive as long as they're in season. Bananas are 10 for $1 BZD at the market... not bad compared to the states where it's $0.70 or more for one pound. The apples, since they aren't grown here, are pretty expensive. The coconuts (and plantains!) are free, just get one of the guys to climb up one of the many coconut trees here and cut you down some. Yum.

I mentioned the Chinese stores last week; the majority of the 'supermarkets' are run by Chinese families. There are generally five in a row all right next to each other... nobody really knows how there is possibly enough competition for them to thrive, but they do. The stores all consist of miscellaneous items - groceries, soap, random housewares, and pet food. All of these items change with each shipment, so if you can't find something one week, try again the next week and eventually you'll get what you need. I was trying to figure out what the American equivalent to these stores would be and the best I could come up with are the dollar stores with their random factor.

Tomorrow I think I will be headed to Spanish Lookout again. I have to pick up some items for the clinic (yes, on my day "off") and look into some fabric for a particular pushy person (kidding!). Maybe I'll actually take some pictures this time... maybe.