Belize, Day 3

Day 3 started with birds waking me up. I took a quick shower (quick cause there wasn't a lot of hot water), and proceeded to sit on the patio and read and watch birds. Lots and lots of colorful birds. If anyone is into bird-watching, head to Belize. After a late-ish breakfast, we hiked up to Vaca Falls. Just before the falls, the trail ended. In an attempt to find the way there, we headed up a hill through the jungle for a bit. It didn't appear to lead there so we turned around. On the way back down though, I slipped and grabbed a small tree to steady myself. Bad idea. My first injury in Belize was to have all sorts of wooden spiked slivers to pick out of my hand. Nothing horrible, but definitely irritating. As it turned out though, the way to the falls from that point was over the rocks. The water level appeared to be much lower than it had been at one point, because there were lots of pools carved out. I think at one point falling water created them, but water wasn't falling into them now. In the biggest one, water poured into a small, deep place in a rock. We think it had eroded an opening underwater to the larger pool below. In any case, the hole wasn't filling up. Jennifer decided to swim in the pool. I chose not to, mostly because I didn't want to break an ankle on unseen rocks below. I laid out in the sun and zoned out on the water flowing by.

The hike back was uneventful, other than the horses blocking the gate back into the main Black Rock property. Then we had a late lunch. And then I went back to reading overlooking the river. I did nothing else really that day except eat dinner. The hike tired me a bit, and all the other options for stuff to do involved hiking or mountain biking or something like that. Might have been nice to inner-tube the river, but that would have meant a hike back up toward the falls to start.

Yes, I'm lazy. It was a vacation.

Vaca Falls

Vaca Falls Picture of Vaca Falls from the web (not taken by me)

Darfur, what you can do.

Been a bit since I've written anything or encouraged anyone to do anything about the Darfur conflict. My attempt to bribe all of you was a miserable failure. Only my mother actually showed me a response letter. One other person said she wrote. I'm assuming the rest of you didn't. Which is my failure, not yours.

I've been reading the blog Sleepless in Sudan blog for a bit. Nicholas Kristof at the New York Times gave it a plug a few months ago after he met the blogger on one of his trips to the region. The blog is written by an aid worker in the region, and brings the region up close and personal.

Anyway, she wrote and excellent entry on what a person can do to help. Go read it, but here are the highlights:

Find out more.
Give money.
Nag the politicians and the newspapers.
Join an activist group.

So here I am writing about it again to publicize it. People are dying.