Reflections and Revelations of Times Long Past

Things move pretty slowly when we're out and about and pretty quickly when we're in the cafeteria. This is not helped by the constant rainfall. Today drizzled and rained constantly. We spent several hours sitting in a cafe downtown, which I mostly spent sleeping and conversing with the grown up crowd. I dislike shopping and city exploring, so this was really the best option for me. The sleeping was made difficult by the fact that we were on an incline and it was raining, so I had to tether my legs to the table and put my hood on to dodge the never ending drizzle. I had some delicious pancakes, but in Belize food is not really "on demand", so it took awhile. Even so, there was much for everyone to do, so it's not like my eating of pancakes slowed anybody down, it just gave me a nice breakfast-for-lunch.

After that we went to some Mayan Ruins. I'll confess, I abhor hiking, even when I'm not doing any of the work. There wasn't much of it to do, but time spent on my father's shoulders is physically uncomfortable for both of us. That being said, he was a good sport about it. The Mayan ruins were a good experience though. It was worth the discomfort, and at least it stopped raining before the actual hiking began. I muddied my pants by sitting on some steps though, courtesy of the recent downpour. Rather than continue hiking, I situated myself in a courtyard and gazed upon the derelict monument, beholding its ancient resplendence in awe. I mentally set back the clock and tried to imagine myself in their time. If only I could see its magnificence in its original glory!

After that, we went back to the camp and to what I consider the highlight of the evening, Qossay's lecture. I'm in no way capable of doing proper credit to his story within the confines of this blog, but suffice to say, a lot of my preconceptions regarding Palestine were corrected. Now I can see my previous understanding of the situation had been obfuscated by American politicians. But I'll refrain from any sort of tirade about politics. Qossay outlined the various repercussions resulting from the creation of Israel, and the resulting destruction of his culture- all of which had been mostly (but not entirely) glossed over in most high-school classes I'd been in. However, I'll admit that history was not my strongest subject. I hope we revisit this topic again before we part ways.