Critters

As we pull up to each village clinic, our driver tries to be the first one in to open up windows and doors and to make sure there are not any critters that need to be removed before we set up clinic.  Last week I was feeling fairly comfortable and confident and so when we pulled up to the clinic building in Conejo, I beat Mr. Rudy in and began opening everything up.  As I leaned over and opened a window, I heard Mr. Rudy tell me to stop and back away from the window.  He then pointed out what I had missed lurking by the window - a huge scorpion!  Victor, one of our Belizean clinic employees, was happy to show his machismo by removing the barb from his tail with a tongue depressor and then holding him for photos.

One of the things that the modern world does is separate us from nature.  We have climate controlled houses and vehicles (things we often miss!) surrounded by man-made structure.  When we lived in Idaho I felt very close to nature with our house being isolated and the drive into town sparse with man-made structures.  Even though we are living in a town, being here has taken that one step further.  With fewer barriers it is easy to appreciate the subtle changes in temperature, breezes, humidity, visibility and cloud cover.  Other than midday, these changes seem to happen constantly.  The birds are much more active in the jungle in the morning during the long drives to the villages than in the afternoon.  The yellow butterflies like the afternoon sun and the clearing of the dirt road giving a bit of a magical feel.  The ants are numerous, tenacious and persistent.  Several times a day I go after a line somewhere in the kitchen only to find they have returned a few hours later in another place or two.   (I finally adopted a technique we used in Colombia to protect the dog food.  I put Louis' bowl of food in a larger bowl of water and it has now been ant-free for several days now.)

                              The ants are carrying their meal, a fly, up the kitchen wall.


With no phones or electricity in the villages, there are few man-made noises.  When you stop to listen, the ambient sounds are of different animals, wind, rain or occasional human voices.   The Maya seem comfortable with the changes in weather and just because the day is stifling or there is a heavy rain, they don't seem to be prevented from coming to our clinic to be seen.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for Slim.  We were unable to find a lawyer to take his case until the night before his trial.  The lawyer was in Belize City but after money was wired to his account early that next morning, he filed an "adjournment" (what we would call a motion for continuance) with the courts.  The magistrate did not accept it and pushed on with the trial.  We were not in the courtroom but according to Slim, he was able to ask some of the questions that Bill had coached him on and show some of the "irregularities" of the police's actions.  Slim feels like the tone in the courtroom was favorable for him but promptly at noon the case was adjourned for lunch break and is not scheduled to resume until the week after next.  We are praying that this lawyer will agree to come to Punta Gorda at that time to help Slim finish his defense.