Shrove Tuesday

While friends at home are eating pancakes, I am staying close to home. The tradition in San Pedro -- and the rest of Belize, I suppose -- is to run through the streets, dousing others with paint. The children have been at it since the weekend, but tonight the adults are in action. While I have said I want to be a part of the community and culture, being covered in paint is not on my list.

Things have been pretty quiet at Holy Cross this weeks. There are no volunteers working at the school, so I have been catching up in the office with some of my other duties. I've planned the Ash Wednesday services for the school tomorrow, created 2 new bulletin boards and dealt with a number of sick tummies and assorted boo-boos.

The biggest issue today is that a huge shipping container of construction materials and tools has arrived in Belize City. Currently it awaits release from Customs. Then it will have to be brought to the island on a barge. Each stage in this journey requires specific paperwork and personnel. We are waiting for letters from the Ministries of Finance and Education that will allow the materials in duty-free. Then a licensed broker will go to Belize City to claim the container and its contents. Hopefully once that hurdle is covered, there will be a barge big enough and with space to bring things over. Mixed up in all of this are several boxes of printer ink cartridges that require letters of their own. Nothing is simple.

Country singer Kelly McGuire was in San Pedro last weekend at one of the resorts for a concert and made a generous donation to Holy Cross. Ms. Linda the office manager, Ms. Jamira a teacher, Ms. Grace the principal and I were delighted to receive it.

Maybe some pictures I took today on my walk to school will warm you up until your weather does.

Some of you will recognize the house in the photo below -- and the dog too. Yep, that's Sparky. For those of you have never been here, you are looking at the 2nd story of a house that is built up on stilts, so it's pretty close to 3 stories high. Sparky had only stood up to change his napping position; he prefers the view from up there.

I wish you all a holy and blessed Lent.