Some things I have been up to in the new year:
This is an agouti, or gibnut, a nocturnal animal about the size of a cat. One of Daniel's cousins caught it. This animal is legendary in Belize because it was served to Queen Elizabeth when she visited years ago. I had never seen one in real life, and my first thought was, they served this to the Queen?? It is closer in relation to a rabbit, but it mostly looks like a large rat. You know those urban legends about 15 pound Mexican rats? Right here. The thing GROWLED at us the entire time. Freaky.
There is a village down from the farm that you can't get to by road. Instead, there is a bouncy wood suspension bridge. I wanted to take a picture from the middle of the bridge but I was too busy hanging on. And we won't talk about the gaps where boards had broken. Villagers ride their BIKES over this.
We went to visit one of Daniel's student's family. This is an example of what an outdoor kitchen looks like here. They are very common. It makes sense to have your stove/ fire outside in the heat. The fire hearth is made of cement or clay which is formed on top of a wooden platform so it is comfortable to reach.
This little guy was born prematurely right before Christmas. It is chilly here (50's at night) and his mom didn't have any milk, so we moved him into the house to bottle feed him.
Actual conversation at Christmas dinner with my in-laws:
my niece: I got to bottle feed the baby goat at Tia Cathleen's today!
other aunt: (teasing) Eeeww! You stink like the goat shed!
me: Actually, she wasn't in the goat pen, the goat is in our living room, haha!
table: ....(silence)....
And to bring home the point that not everywhere is accessible by car, here is an alternate form of river crossing. This was fun-- they have a line set up, and you pull yourself across the river in a dory. I'm sure it's not quite as fun when it is rainy and the river is high, but we did see a river otter, so that makes up for a lot, right?
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