#rhonda rossano
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The Final Countdown 8/18/23
Welcome to our adventure. We are really doing this! The final touches are being put on the house, the organ is on its way, and Matt and I have been trying to spend time with family and friends prior to Thursday's departure. We are so thankful for all the folks who have expressed their good wishes and are praying for safe travel and those who have supported the collection of music instruments for the students at Santa Familia RC School. God has blessed us richly with generous and kind friends, and we will keep all of you in prayer. He has also blessed us with the opportunity and means to use His gifts to help others, and so to Belize we go. I hope to post here often; we invite you to enjoy the adventure with us.
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Rhonda Fleming and Rossano Brazzi in Pão de Açúcar (1964), also known as “Instant Love”.
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Weekly Market Trip
We have settled into a bit of a routine for now. It will be changing as soon as all the approvals for me to teach music at the school are in place. At present, the days are quiet, and we have definitely simplified our lives.
This past Sunday, World Mission Sunday, was a change from our usual Sunday practice. We generally leave the house about 8:50 am to arrive at Sacred Heart Church for 9:30 Mass. After Mass, we walk to the market to get our fruits and veggies for the week, and we arrive home around noon for lunch and football or baseball via Sportsurge.net. A VPN is essential for keeping up with the Saints and Tigers.
Only one Mass was celebrated throughout all the villages last Sunday at Sacred Heart Arena. We arrived around 9:20 to visit the booths sponsored by the eight village congregations. We learned a lot of the history of Catholicism in the area. Some of the presentations also included exceptionally yummy food. (I took my samples home for lunch.) Mass began at 11:00 am and was mostly in Spanish. At the end, we participated in a very warm send off of Father Ben. He is going to spend a month in Guatemala with his family and then will go to his mission assignment in Cuba.
Afterward, we walked to the market and purchased bananas (8 for $1 BZ, that is $0.50 USD), mangoes, avocados, star fruit, one HUGE carrot, a pineapple, an eggplant, and onion, spending $12BZ-$6 USD.
I am quite grateful that produce is always fresh and inexpensive here; we love our organic fruits and veggies!
We are going to be growing our own produce. We have 6 avocado, 2 mango, and 2 date palm trees planted; all of these were started from seed by neighbors or just came up in the yard from the pits being tossed out. We also have 6 pineapple crowns rooting on the back porch. Those should be ready to plant in a couple of months. I guess our produce bill will be a lot less in 4-5 years!
I want to leave you with a short video of our latest guest. He was quite pretty; the video doesn't do him justice. He just decided to pop into the gym one morning and had difficulty finding his way out.
Tliltocatl epicureanum aka Belize Black Tarantula
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Sacred Heart Church, San Ignacio
I KNOW WHY
It is hard to believe that nearly a month has gone by since our arrival! We have had so many experiences and negotiated a good number of hurdles in getting settled. We have known God's guidance in all.
We had been participating in Mass in Spanish at Sagrada Familia in Santa Familia Village, but learned that starting next month, Mass here will only be celebrated once monthly. A neighbor offered to take us to Santa Elena for the Mass in English this past Sunday. That morning, he let us know that he was ill, so we set out to find the church by ourselves. Needless to say, we could not find it-we were close, but not close enough-so we drove to the church we knew we could find, Sacred Heart in San Ignacio. Since we arrived an hour early, and the church was not yet open, we found our way to the adoration chapel. What a blessing! I had been missing my weekly time in Adoration.
The bells pealed, rung by hand, to call the faithful to Mass. The Mass was lovely and in English and Spanish. I understood soon why things happened that morning as they did; no one was available to accompany the singing. The voices were lovely, but there was some hesitancy on the part of those leading the singing. Matt and I spoke to Father Galvez after Mass and told him I am an organist and would be pleased to help with the music if I could be of service. He was thrilled! He asked me to speak to the school principal since that Mass is a "school" Mass. The teachers lead the music, and the children lead the Prayers of the Faithful.
Monday morning, we visited the school. We were very surprised to learn that the school has a student body of 700. We first talked with the vice principal who was also very excited. She said there is an organ in the church, but she would have to see where it actually is in the church since nonone has played it for awhile. Mrs. Alma said she had seen us at Mass- we were kind of hard to miss! She asked a lovely student to escort us to the principal's office. The principal was expecting us. Father had already talked to her about my offer. So, again, as my dear friend Fernando would say, "...I know why I am here, and I know who brought me here."
And today, I was notified that my pump organ has arrived in port, and will hopefully be in its new home early next week!
Until next time.....
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OUR AMAZING GUARDIAN ANGELS
Hello from the gentle chaos that is Santa Familia, Belize. Each day brings a new lesson and appreciation for God's creation. Patience is a virtue that must be habitual here, and we are supplied with daily opportunities to practice humility, particularly when trying to find our way in a vehicle down the many streets sans street signs.
Our most recent adventure was to Belize City to purchase a vehicle. The dealer only accepts cash or wired payment, and we have had difficulties wiring money to ourselves (from a small community bank in small-town LA), let alone to someone else. Our first stop, therefore, was to visit a helpful gentleman who was going to give us Belize dollars in exchange for wiring US dollars to a US account. I know this sounds like a suspicious money scheme, but it is a legitimate way to do business in Belize.
So, we set out on our 2-hour journey to Belize City, to get our cash and purchase the vehicle we had agreed to buy. Matt and a friend reviewed the route the night prior using the above map as a reference. It is a google map, but we can only use our data while connected to the internet to avoid pesky international charges, and the internet is not easily accessible when on the road. So back to the old way of committing a map to memory and navigating by recognizing landmarks we went.
The first part of the drive was uneventful over nicely paved 2-lane highways. We made it to Belize City and seemed to be making good time until.....Matt says, "I don't think we're on a main road anymore; I must have missed a turn."
Remember that I said most streets don't have signs? Well, after a couple of times, traveling in a circle trying to navigate our way through one-way streets that reminded us of New Orleans, to find our way back to the point where we made the mistake, we spotted a street sign that we recognized! Matt realized that if he just kept going toward the sea, we would probably find the street we needed to get to. After a few more hesitant turns, we discovered that we were on the very street we needed to be, Marine Parade Blvd!
The beautiful thing about this experience is that the street that led us to that point was named Angel Lane. Our Guardian Angels were leading us to where we needed to be the whole time we thought we were lost. Talk about a life lesson!
The second part of this trip down Angel Lane is even greater confirmation: when we got home, we took out the map to find exactly how we had gotten where we needed to be. There is NO Angel Lane on the map. Our friend who helped us with directions the night before, and has traveled in that area several times, said he had never heard of that street! On the map, the street is called Cork Street, but every street sign we passed- and weirdly there was one at several consecutive intersections- said Angel Lane.
Maybe someone will have a plausible explanation, but I choose to believe the angels were with us.
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Classrooms and Cashews
We have been having a wonderful time with the students from the village visiting our neighborhood this week. Each year, the teachers have a week in which they organize special events and activities for the students. This year, the teachers asked if they could bring their classrooms to Carmelita Gardens, so our activities committee leapt into action to create a fun, educational morning of activities for each of the classes.
Over four mornings and 3 hours each morning, nearly 240 students are learning about how trees make fruit and how we can preserve those to eat when they are out of season, They are learning about sustainability and how solar power works. I am having a great time demonstrating the pump organ for the children, and I think a couple of the students want to move into my music room so they can play all day! Our Standard 4 (5th grade) students are also going to learn about entrepreneurship and personal finance. And last but not least, the children are learning how to play pickleball.
We are in our hot dry season now, so I have also taken the students down to the river to cool off in the shade of our palapa before walking to the park for pickleball. The palapa is almost ready for a hammock or two, and that is where I will often be hanging out.
In addition, the students learned about the US tradition of giving an apple to the teacher-we did it Belizean style with a cashew apple.
I can't wait to eat the fruit, but have not decided if I am going to eat the cashew or plant it. I will keep you posted!
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Felices Pascuas!
Our first Triduum in Belize was a solemn experience from the Via Dolorosa en Santa Familia to the joyous Easter Mass at Sacred Heart in San Ignacio.
Matt and I processed and prayed the Way of the Cross through Santa Familia village on Good Friday morning. After parking the car near the church, we walked a mile to get to the First Station. Each Station was beautifully decorated with an arbor of palm leaves and laced with flowers. As we processed between each station, we sang hymns and prayed. The crowd grew to about 60 or 70 people as we wound through the village. Everything was in Spanish, and the singing was particularly captivating because everyone sang in harmony.
Two and half hours after beginning, we arrived at Station 14 at Familia Sagrada Catholic Church. We did not realize our Via Dolorosa had engaged us for that long time. We did not feel we had been in the sun so long. This was a very peaceful, sacred experience. The simple Passion at 3 pm with the Veneration of the Cross was humbling.
Easter Sunday Mass was joyous. Father Max delivered a jubilant homily inviting all of us to proclaim, as the first Christians did, "He is risen! He is risen, indeed!"
We missed being with our family and faith community in the States, but each new experience here is a treasure that challenges us to see the Lord in every person and trust in his goodness and love.
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LA RUTA MAYA
Yesterday was the start of Central America's longest canoe race, and we had front row seats! The teams in the race paddle a grueling 180 miles in 4 days. We live about 20 minutes down river from the launch site. There were 63 teams in the race this year. Pre-pandemic participation was higher; typically about 100 teams dipped their paddles in the river. After the first two checkpoints, the team with members from Santa Familia was in first place!
Our neighbor, Al, has a palapa which provided a nicely shaded viewing area, but I wanted to get as close to the action as I could, so down the steep embankment I went. I was not alone. A new friend, Ruth, came with me. We found a couple of beautiful walking sticks to help us climb back up to the palapa.
The teams in the race hail from many places. At least 2 teams are from England, Canada has a team, and the ladies from Japan are racing again. John Paul the Great University, likely from Escondido, CA, also has a team. The rowers range in age from probably early 20's to, well, let's just say there were quite a few all white heads of hair in the canoes. Some race for the prize and others just for the challenge, but all race with a lot of grit and determination.
We enjoyed the excitement and the fellowship with our neighbors. Maybe next year--no, I am not going to be rowing--Carmelita Gardens will sponsor a team.
If you want to see more, check out the link at the top.
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SUPER BOWL, TAMALE, AND KING CAKE-OH MY!
You may be able to take the Louisianians out of the Pelican State, but you can't take Louisiana out of the people. Our community had a nice gathering for the Super Bowl, and everyone brought a dish to share. Since Mardi Gras is upon us, I made two king cakes. Creating the richly colored sugar proved difficult, but the pastels were lovely. The end product was quite flavorful (I surprised myself, actually) and received many compliments.
Curious neighbors listened intently to the history of the cake I had to make one adjustment; there were no tiny, plastic babies to be found, so I referenced the original fava bean and then did it Belize style. Since we don't have fava beans, I used a soursop seed which is comparable in size and shape. I warned everyone to be alert for it, and the person who found it was Queen for a day ( or at least the rest of the evening)!
If you haven't heard of soursop, you are not alone. We only learned about it when we came for our second visit here. It is a very popular fruit. The meat of the fruit is almost like a pudding. It provides thirsty folks with quite a refreshing juice.
Chicken tamales are also scrumptious. Baked in banana leaves, they tend to be much larger than tamales made in corn husks. Beef is not as much a staple here as in the States, but every third house or so has chickens in the yard, so most dishes are made with chicken-or pork. Seems pigs thrive here- until they don't.
We continue to enjoy our community and are becoming more involved in the village as welI. We are extremely blessed to be the hands and feet of our Lord to this community and to Santa Familia School. I will share my work at the school in my next post. I need to get some pictures first.
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A TASTE OF HOME
This past Thursday, our community met for our first Supper and Seminar; Matt provided the seminar - "Legend, Love, and a Violent End: the Pirates of Belize"- and I provided the main course of the supper-gumbo! Some of our neighbors had never tasted gumbo before, and others were happy to be treated to this taste of home.
For me, cooking for this larger group of people (around 30), was such a delight and change of my routine. I made two pots of chicken, sausage, and shrimp and one of vegetable gumbo for our vegan friends. I began preparing the vegetables at 9 am, and we loaded the finished products in the car at 3:45 pm.
I was making roux on a gas range for the first time and sadly burned the first one, but the second attempt was beautiful and fragrant. As I explained to those who were curious, I love the toasty smell of the roux. That fragrance is confirmation that the roux is going to be good, and once you have a good roux, you can put just about anything into your gumbo, and it will be yummy! We had fresh okra, beans, potatoes, peppers, onions,and mushrooms from the market and celery, carrots and turnips from the community garden in the vegetable gumbo. The meats and shrimp were all local, too.
Gumbo was the perfect match for Matt's talk about pirates. At the end of the evening, of course, everyone had a chance to sample some different rums. It wouldn't be a good pirate talk without rum!
Fortunately, everyone showed great restraint, and no one stumbled home!
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Coconut Seedling
NEW PLANTINGS
Planting season continues here in January. We haven't had as much rain and have had warmer temperatures than is usual for this time of year, but we have been able to get several things planted. I helped George, our friend that helps the community plant, and harvest, and clear land, and just about anything else residents need to get accomplished, plant coconut trees and banana plants this morning.
Banana
George said we will see the banana plants start to grow from the center in a couple of weeks and should have bananas within six months. This is astounding to me-and a welcome development since we enjoy the creamy taste of bananas each morning in our smoothies. We buy a lot of bananas at the market every week!
Both coconuts and bananas propagate freely, so I am certain that, in a short time, we won't have to buy these anymore.
Bananas and Coconuts
I just need to learn exactly what to do with the coconut-milk, flour, water...
Our Pride of Barbados has started flowering! When we first moved this from another resident's yard in September, it lost all of its leaves. We had a nice green stick in front of our house for a few weeks. I knew as long as it was green there was hope that it would grow, and soon I noticed leaves sprouting. Now we have beautiful flowers attracting butterflies.
I think this is a confirmation of hope. God makes all things new again; I just have to have faith in him to help me through all challenges.
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BACK IN BELIZE-EVERY DAY IS AN ADVENTURE
Merry Christmas and prayers for a Blessed New Year!
We had a lovely Christmas with our family. We were able to spend time with good friends and hear the beautiful music at St. Joseph's Christmas Mass. We miss everyone and look forward to the next visit.
We welcomed 2024 with our return to Belize; it did not unfold exactly as we had planned.
After Christmas with the girls, Matt flew to visit his mom, so he was going to return to Belize from there. We originally tried to get him a flight that would allow us to meet in Houston and continue to Belize together, but that didn't work out, so he had to get a connection in Miami. We would both land in Belize within 30 minutes of one another. Matt had arranged a service to drive us back to our house from the airport.
My trip was going quite smoothly, but when I arrived in Houston, I received a text from Matt saying he had missed his flight and wouldn't be getting to Belize until the following day. I confirmed with the car service that I would still need a ride. After arriving in Belize, getting through customs, and finding my driver, we were on our way; I paid particular attention to the route taken because I was going to go back to the airport to pick Matt up the following day. You may think finding my way back the next day wouldn't be a problem, but Matt had the Belize phone, so I didn't have Google Maps, and there aren't many street signs to help with navigation. Landmarks are the key to finding one's way here. While Rinaldo, the driver and I had quite a pleasant conversation, i did my best to take note of the old tree or corner grocery that marked each turn in the route.
When I went to get Matt the next day, I needed to get gas, but the first station I stopped at was closed since it was New Year's Day, and I wondered if any stations would be open to fill up my thirsty car. Thankfully, I did find one open before the tank was empty.
I took the wrong exit off a roundabout, taking an alternate way to the airport without even knowing it. This error, however caused delays in my progress. I came to an intersection where all traffic was being stopped for the KREM Radio annual New Year's Day Cycling Race.
And yes, they were going my direction. The other drivers and I followed (and led, and were surrounded by, and traveled amongst) the bikes for about 25 miles. Time was ticking away, and I thought Matt would now be waiting for me for quite some time. Because of the distractions the bikes caused, I missed the turn into the airport and realized something was wrong when I was in Belize City proper; more time ticked by.
Because of the race, many police officers were out. I asked one if I had passed by the airport; he confirmed my error. The fix was fairly simple: drive to the roundabout and head back the way I had come. I was, however, still a bit unsure of the exact location of the airport. Fortunately for me, there was also road construction and the public buses were not running because of the race. The road construction caused traffic to go very slowly near the officer who had helped me. When I returned to that area, a gentleman flagged me down. He had overheard me ask the officer about the airport, and his mom and young daughter needed a ride to their home near the airport because the buses weren't running. He asked if I could take them, and I happily agreed. I know that Teresita was sent to help me find the airport to get Matt who I supposed had arrived nearly two hours earlier.
Once Matt was in the car and I introduced Teresita as my guide, I said I hoped he hadn't been waiting too long. He replied, "No, I just got through customs; you must have seen my flight was delayed." I had no idea!
We took Teresita and her granddaughter home. Teresita said she hoped we would see each other again. We had a fabulous lunch at Fu Wi Flavaz restaurant and marveled at how everything had worked out.
There are no coincidences in life; there is purpose in every circumstance. I had a grand adventure, learned about a little Belizean New Year's tradition, and made a new friend. We have so many blessings and are thankful for each one and for the adventures that help us see them clearly. I will keep my eyes and heart open for those sent my way in 2024.
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Flora and Fauna
Since the daily temperatures have cooled a little bit -highs have been in the low to mid 70's- and the school has already begun Christmas break, I have been planting and transplanting trees and flowers around our property. I was excited to get my delivery of black dirt last Sunday so I cold get started.
Bromeliads- These were in the tree that fell. They are an air plant and are attached to a branch from the tree. They will produce a flower, but we will have to wait to see what color the flower will be. It most likely is a jumbie-pineapple or a pink quill.
Golden Showers Tree. A neighbor gave us this sapling. The first one she gave us died-the temperatures were just too hot and stressed the sapling out. Planting now will give the tree time to establish before the dry season starts. It will have hanging yellow flowers.
Pride of Barbados Tropical Milkweed
Pride of Barbados. These are quite plentiful in Belize. They, along with the Tropical Milkweed, attract butterflies, so I planted one on each side of the front of the house. I found a tropical milkweed near the river and moved it up to the back of the house. It spreads very quickly and is always full of flutterbies.
I had been looking for a small flowering bush to plant in front of the landing of our front staircase, and found this Bermuda thistle in the yard. Once it grows, I think it will look quite nice. I am told it will spread. It also has medicinal properties.
We have found several lilies growing in the yard, too. I can't wait to see what specific types they are. Once they flower, the mystery will be solved. More than likely they are beach spider lilies or swamp lilies. I have moved some of them to the bottom of our outdoor staircases.
Additionally, we have a few Stickpea trees on the property. We just have to decide where we want them to be located; they are too close to the house right now. They will be quite nice when they flower.
I was able to get a few Mother-of-thousands and Aloe vera pups from the succulents growing at the community center. They grow rather quickly, so I am hoping they will fill in this area. The pups sprout around the edges of the leaves and fall to the ground. They remind me how our children are nurtured by their parents, and then, hopefully, put down their own roots and thrive.
I planted some Moses-in-the-cradle plants by our front stairs. These also grow rather easily here. I got a few small ones from the community center grounds.
I am very excited about the fruit trees that have just grown from seeds discarded by the workers who built our house and those given to us by other residents. We have 5 avocado, 2 mango, and 1 guave trees growing. I also have seeds for papaya.
Guave Mango Avocado
We have been growing pineapples from the crowns since we got here. I finally got them in the ground. Each plant will produce several small fruit. All but one will need to be removed to have an edible fruit for harvesting.
We have a very small date palm sapling that is in a pot right now. I hope it gets a large enough to plant in the ground within the month, so it has time to establish its roots before the dry season hits, but we may have to just grow it in a big pot for the next year.
Finally, our Rain Tree is looking lovely. It will grow and be a very nice shade tree in the front yard. It should flower in a few months.
There are so many colorful trees and flowering plants here. I wish I had room for at least one of each in the yard. We are hoping to plant some apple bananas when we create our terrace to the river. We should be in good shape to harvest our own fruits in a few years.
What gifts we have been given!
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Collared Aracari
ENDLESS DISCOVERIES
A flock of these birds have been visiting us this morning. They are medium-sized toucans. Their calls almost sound like crickets - large crickets.
The egrets have returned. I didn't know these were migratory birds, but apparently they are. We had about a dozen or so in our front yard yesterday. I am just amazed at the number of bird species we see. They do keep the cats entertained!
Speaking of the fuzzies, in addition to our two that we brought with us (who have grown a lot in the past 4 months), we now have an outdoor cat. Maxie adopted us a few weeks ago.
She showed up on our doorstep looking very pathetic and in pretty rough shape. She didn't move from the bottom step except to eat a couple of times a day. She is quite affectionate and has now begun wandering into the bush. I always joke that I hope the cats don't get taken by the howler monkeys, but the monkeys pretty much stay up in the trees.
Nevertheless, they can be frightening to hear. They were right behind the house the other evening. Both of the fuzzies were safely inside and a little wary of going out for the night, I think. Max didn't seem to mind the noise - she most likely is used to hearing them.
When we first moved to Louisiana, from dry California where there were few bugs and other critter noises at night, we had to get used to the sounds of frogs and crickets disrupting our attempts to fall asleep. I guess, eventually, we'll be like Maxie and fall asleep despite the cries of howler monkeys!
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The First Thanksgiving
What a lovely Thanksgiving celebration we had at Carmelita Gardens! Since we have several neighbors from Canada and new friends who are Belizean, I wasn't certain how many people would be marking the day. I simply asked if anyone would like to share our meal with us or if the community would be interested in breaking bread together, and the response was fabulous.
The turkey and all the fixin's were delicious. The company was happy and friendly, and the conversation was enjoyable. I hope, if you celebrate this holiday, you had a pleasant experience. Whether or not this particular American holiday is observed, I think what a better world this would be if everyday was like Thanksgiving-acknowledging the gift of the people and good in our lives and sharing what we have with others as we follow the Lord's example.
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River view from our back porch as the rain begins.
Saturated ground.
Our new river view.
The rains have subsided, and sun has been shining the last few days. Our fallen tree has been removed. We had been discussing the landscaping of our riverbank with our friend who manages the flora and fauna in Carmelita Gardens. He suggested we remove the bamboo that you can see towards the left of the pictures above. The large tree was a favorite of many birds-parrots, toucans, falcons, grackles, great kiskadees, collared anacaris-which we enjoyed watching as we sat on our screened porch, binoculars in hand.
Additionally, the practice here is not to remove any trees whose trunks are large than about 6 inches in diameter, so removing that large tree was not a consideration before the rain. On day four of the rain, however, while standing on our porch, we suddenly heard the unmistakable sound of cracking wood and watched the tree fall.
The shape of our river view was decided for us when the ground became too saturated for the tree to stay upright. We also did get some nice rustic seating options for our "beach" once it is cleared.
The river is still high, but was not ultimately a threat this time; it just kept us on high alert for several days.
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