(I wrote this in my journal a few nights ago and thought i would share...)

Power outages. well, I am becoming quite familiar with these tropical/developing country occurences. Last Wednesday we had 7 black outs in 1 day! It slows down the already laid back pace of this country. Tonight i am enjoying the quiet and the dark. loving it actually. the laptop continues to play some lovely folk music - a new artist a friend down here has recommended - Brenda Belcher. I love how a power outage forces us to turn off the tv and computer (well almost...the laptop battery can't last forever). To listen to the bugs and not the hum of electricity, and to take out my journal! set some candles and really go slow. But without the fans i am starting to sweat. ahh. i never thought i could sweat as much as i have in the past 6 months. constantly really. i do wish i had a guitar so i could make my own music. the other exciting thing about black outs is the nocturnal critters who decide to come out - thinking it is dark and safe. scorpions for example. luckily i haven't seen any tonight. Jim has headed to Guatemala for some mayan spiritual ceremonies at Tikal. very cool. I am solo for the rest of the week- i'll have to deal with scorpions and storms myself if they come. i'm sure i'll be fine. ...

And i'm fine. Heading to a public forum later this afternoon on women and natural resource management, which should be interesting. Then over to my friend Alyssa's for some dinner and a movie i think.

So last weekend we didn't get any turkey but we did have a sweet trip to Moho Caye- only about a 15 min boat ride from PG. Gorgeous i tell you! (see photos on this post) snorkeling and swimming and chilling out on a tiny little island. pretty sweet way to spend a thanksgiving monday (holiday in belize too - only it's called Pan American day). Makes it pretty hard to get too homesick ; )And it looks like we will be heading back to the Caye this Sunday after a boat trip down to the Park and Sarstun, Guatemala with Josh's EcoLogic crew. Not too rough a life i say : ) Lots of love y'all. xoxo

The Supreme Court of Belize ruled this week that seismic testing (the first 'stage' of oil exploration) is legal in what should be the country’s most protected areas- National Parks. For a country that markets its natural beauty to eco-tourists world wide as “mother nature’s best kept secret” and boasts its extensive protected area system- this decision signals another reality in Belize- the oil craze can hit even a small Central American government when it is tight for cash. Judge Awich only agreed to one of the four arguments- that under the Environmental Protection Act, it was necessary for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to be conducted before the permit was issued. We were hoping for a stronger decision- a decision that would have found oil exploration to be unlawful under the Natural Parks System Act. Although we were kind of down after the decision, it is important for us to remember that this was a victory none the less. The company now has to do an EIA. This fight to protect the park is far from being over- at the very least we are delaying the process and that costs the oil company money.

I can't believe it is already October! Jim and I have been in Belize for 6 months now- time is flying! Today is a sleepy rainy Sunday and there is not too much going on. It is days like these that I do get a little homesick for movie theatres, coffee shops, and Sunday family dinners : )

September was the month of Independence Day parties and holidays. It was the 25th anniversary of Belize's Independence- so I think there was more festivities than usual. "Belize a nation alive- a people with pride'" was the slogan we heard a lot this month. As with everything in this country- even the two separate national holidays in September were highly politicized. The two political parties are associated with different holidays. The parade last week was lots of fun- HOT with some good floats, cute dancers and marching band.

And here is my co-worker Lynette with her new babe! His name is Jaden, and is he cute or what?!