One Month 6/9/25
Last Friday June 6 officially marked one month into my Peace Corps service. This one singular month has taught me so much with the highs and lows, cultural exchanges, and fun having. I also learned my official host site for my 2 years which I am going to visit this coming Tuesday!
My permanent site is in the northern district of Corozal near the Mexican-Belize border. One thing we are told is to never have expectations and always go in with an open mind to our site. However, I was hoping to be placed in the North so needless to say I am very excited. I am about 30 mins away by bus from the water and from the water will be able to take a ferry down to San Pedro and the keys, a trip I will definitely take in the future. The closest placed volunteer will also only be a 10 min car ride away with a few others placed only about 30 mins away. There also a few currently serving volunteers near me who I am excited to get to know and hang out with! My community itself is even smaller than my current one only being around 2-3k people, yet by Belize standards is a big village. I’ve heard the Northern schools are really into volleyball and football and I hope to get into the volleyball scene up there on my own as well.
This past week on Wednesday we had a “transportation practicum” or in other words a test to see if we can take public transit on our own without getting lost, mugged, etc. Needless to say I passed with flying colors. The bus schedules here are definitely something you have to learn how to read, as public transit bus lines are to my understanding, not actually public per se. They are private bus companies with contracts with the Government to provide transit lines, their online services have not been updated to be listed on google maps, and the schedules layouts are difficult for me to understand. The buses are also all extremely packed and to get onto the bus is a mission in itself pushing and boxing out others to make sure you can get on the bus and secure a seat. Those who can’t secure a seat stand which brings the risk of running into a police checkpoint as standing isn’t allowed. If this happens standees are usually pulled off the bus and forced to wait for the next one. The buses here are also old schoolbuses as well. During this practicum we had to visit two towns called San Ignacio & Santa Elena or “The Twin Towns, Pueblos Gemelos” near the Belize-Guatemalan border. Being in a key spot on the Macal River these towns are steeped in History. They were originally large Mayan communities, later taken over by the British for mahogany logging operations, then used for harvesting sap to make Chicle for large Gum, and now a vibrant community with Mestizo, Mayan, Mennonite, Kriol, Asian, Garifuna, and even some Lebanese influences.
I also attended the National Agriculture and Trade Show (NATS or Agric 2025), which was extremely fun. It is a famous fair in Belize that pulled 34k people over the course of a weekend. Currently serving volunteers were also there and was a great way to spend more informal casual time with them and get to know them more! I guess we got a little famous there as the next day as a group of us were walking down the street a biker passed us and said “Peace Corps Punta!” in reference to seeing us at the Agric 2025.
Overall the first month was great, it definitely had it’s highs and lows, and I am very excited to finish training in July! This week I am doing a test run at my future host family at my permanent site and have only heard great things about them so far. There is definitely more I can write, and will write, but for now those are some of the big activities I’ve done.
