Site Placement...

Drum role please....
And the news is finally in. Site placement will be....

Benque Viejo del Carmen. My counterpart(s) will be the House of Culture (HOC) and the Community of Artists for Cultural and Historical Endeavors (CACHE).
I will be working out of the house of culture with youth, working with HOC to support and expand existing youth activities with an emphasis on cultural awareness; engaging with the high school community with environmental and community service related activities; and helping to develop the space at HOC for use of more youth friendly activities.

Benque has about 8,000 inhabitants. Most of the community is mestizo-based, therefore Spanish will be the main language. Therefore.. I should hopefully be speaking up a storm of espanol during my time there and by the time I'm leaving Belize. My site is moments away from Xunantunich, a huge majestic Mayan archaeological site. Benque is right on the Mopan river which is a beautiful area for many fun activities such as picnics, swimming, hiking, horseback riding, etc.

OK -  those are words paraphrased from my site assignment packet. My words... I'm excited. This isn't what I was expecting. But it will be good. The work ahead of me is going to be a lot of fun and the community is largely Mestizo - meaning more of a Latin American feel rather than Caribbean which is what most of Belize feels like. And I'm right on the border of Guatemala! Meaning.. I can travel back and forth at my wim to purchase wine, beer, clothes, etc. for much more reasonable prices than I'll find in Belize.

We got our news yesterday afternoon through a game of pictionary and then had our evening FREE. FREE! The first free weekend in 6 weeks. I'm not exagerating. Amazing! Last night we partied in the fashion of true Peace Corps volunteers - set up a hotel bar in the bathroom and eventually moved 30-40 people to the top floor of the hotel where there is an open floor space and bar area. Much fun was had. We left around 10 for a bar, danced the night away to a mix of punta, raggae and American classics. When it was time to go home.. there was a limo taxi waiting for us. Sounds bizarre? Yes, it was. Where did it come from? Nobody seems to know. But they drove us around for a while, we danced in the backseat and came home at 2am and eventually made it into our respective beds.

Quote of the night, "Heather, get off of Peter, we need to push him down the stairs!" (Adam) or "Is this real life? Is this really happening?" (Erica)

Today was lazy and fabulous. Tomorrow, swimming in the river. Monday morning, I take off for my newest adventure, the next leg of this journey, and to discover the reason that I've come here in the first place. Let the adventures begin!!