Paget’s Belize Journal #27

November 18: Dragonflies!

Just a quickie. There was a dragonfly hatch yesterday and
it is the most amazing thing to have a sky full of dragonflies.
There were truly millions of them, all drifting lazily from where
they were hatched, somewhere close to the beach to a mangrove
swamp just to the northwest of the office. For over an hour,
nothing but dragonflies as far as you could see in either direction
in a swath about a half mile wide. Their movements sort of reminded
me of the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz. Not very romantic,
I know, but it was just that unlikely floating and hovering action.
These were about the most subtly colored of the dragonflies
I’ve seen here. Mostly gold and bronze accented with brown and
black. But very beautiful even without the turquoise/green/purple
iridescence I associate with dragonflies.

This morning just a few late bloomers were about, but one
of them stopped on my balcony for a breather while I was having
coffee. Very nice. And since I’m recovering from yet another
bout of “what did I eat this time that did that to my digestive
system?” it was good to have something to appreciate. Cheers.

November 22: And one more noisy thing

When I was writing about noise last week, I forgot a pleasant
(but still sleep-disturbing) “natural” phenomenon.
After a rain, there is always a new batch of frogs in the roadside
ditches. When I first came, I had to ask the children if they
were insects or frogs making all that noise (I often can’t tell,
even in Oregon. Isn’t that a strange fact of nature? Why should
a frog and a cricket sound alike?). Anyway, I was assured that
they’re frogs. The most common ones sound something like soprano
chickens. That is, they sort of cluck contentedly, but in the
higher registers. And they sound damp, like chickens sound dusty.
But I’ve never seen any of them, so I think they’re pretty small.

After the many days of rain week before last, many, many,
many frogs hatched out in the various empty lots and fields around
town as well as the ditches. There was a particularly noisy batch
in the churchyard just kitty-corner from my apartment. And these
sounded just like a large flock of ducks flying over very high
in the night. So it did wake me from time to time, because I
kept thinking I should get up and go outside to see if I could
see the ducks.

p.s. In case you were waiting to learn this (so as not to
make a faux pas when you arrive), commercial vehicles all have
green license plates, taxis as well as a bunch of others. Government
vehicles have blue plates. But since the country is in the middle
of some privatization reform, this may not hold 100% true.

p.p.s. Didn’t make it to Placencia this weekend, but had some
fun watching the drumming and dancing at the peak of the 19^th
celebration. Also a fine-street corner Christian music revival
concert. Tell you about it when I get a chance.

p.p.p.s. Never saw Dennis Quaid, but Therese’s nephews got
their picture taken with him, so I saw that.

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