Day 6: Um… I knew I should write every day. I think this is the day Twee watched the boys and I went out on the sailboat with Matt and TJ (as captain). The ride was both relaxing and invigorating. TJ did great. Matt is a born teacher. The day also included a LONG nap for Ted, Gus and me, while TJ and Max enjoyed the satellite television without me laying on the guilt. The day concluded with another flash light walk down the beach and more good food with the Alaskans, then back to bed.

Day 7: We started at the pool around 9 and we ended when the sun was down and King closed the bar. We’ve got some pink to prove it too. Fischer, Max and Ted played well, and welcomed the herd of Mennonite children who joined them midday. The parents were very friendly and the dad and son in law joined Matt and TJ for a sail. The mother started childrearing at 15 and was still going! She was at the pool with her 2 month old and her married 22-year old daughter, and the five others that came in between. I really enjoyed talking with her. She was an easy conversationalist and didn’t seem to have taken the slightest offense to Twee and I enjoying our piña coladas wearing very next to nothing. Twee also shared with me poolside that at three years old, she, along with a couple of her 10 siblings and her grandparents had fled Saigon during the Vietnam War in a boat at open sea. She didn’t know the story well, but after landing somewhere in Indonesia and spending 10 months at a US military base, they eventually they ended up in Philadelphia. She “met” her mother at 22. Her father was killed for being associated with the South Vietnamese government. He was a French interpreter. On day 7 the mix of history and culture here 2 miles South of Hopkins, Belize was really apparent—and I’m not even considering the locals-- Mayan natives still living in some regards as they did 500 years ago and Creoles, a blend of two foreign continents. Their music and language hinting at the story of African ancestors brought here as slaves by English ancestors to work the sugar cane fields, not all that long ago. Occasionally someone broaches the topic of poverty and its obvious clash with the luxury we are enjoying, but it’s not something easy to discuss on holiday. I appreciate that there are no private beaches, nor are there high fences separating the resorts from the community. Some staying here are having a lot of trouble with the visibility of the locals.