Doing Our Little Bit

A group of Corozaleños, Corozal Daily (our local online news source), and Daniel Cano, artist, are working to help clean up downtown Corozal. We got the chance to have a small part in that activity, by sponsoring Daniel to paint one of the barrels.

Most of the barrels have various sealife depicted on them. I thought it would be nice to have something for the girls - the girls, in this case, being Deohgee, Bela, Daisy, and Coco, since we do walkies past those barrels pretty much every day.

The Doggie Barrel We Sponsored
(Used with kind permission of Corozal Daily)

This barrel is close to the new (and very popular) exercise equipment, donated by the Republic of China (Taiwan), on the waterfront, close to the Hok 'ol K'in Guest House.

Potholes and Speed Bumps

Potholes and Speed Bumps - That's just about the Yin and Yang of it right there for Belize roads.

Since I think that I might just get tired writing about the rain - I mean, rain is rain is rain, and we've certainly been getting our share of the stuff. It seems like we have been anyway. We lived in the Northwest part of the U.S. for a bit better than twenty years, so we know all about rain with nine months of it at time.

We moved to Corozal, because this was one of the 'driest' spots in Belize (we tried to find the Great Mayan Desert, but that apparently got misplaced somewhere). Now, this stuff, happening every day, seemingly forever for at least the last three or four weeks anyway, just kind of puts a capper on it.

So, how about I write about speed bumps and potholes instead? What brought these two things to mind was a posting on a blog I saw the other day: Speed Bump (http://what-if.xkcd.com/61/). Now, I know it might seem like there's no connection between rain and speed bumps... well, there isn't. That's why I mentioned the blog posting above. But what about potholes, you ask? Now, there is a connection between potholes and rain. Potholes may not necessarily be caused by rain, but, in many cases, they're exacerbated by rain.

Sure rain softens the marl, and that leads to creation of potholes, even patched potholes on pavement, since they use marl as the fill of the hole and then cover it with a thin layer of asphalt. I'm sure there's other causes, but those are the only ones that come to mind right now.

Speed bumps, somewhat unsurprisingly, if you take them  at speed, can and do cause a variety of back injuries and vehicle damage. For example, some articles have said that the vertabrae 'L1' was the most frequently fractured vertebrae in accidents, and accounted for about forty-four percent of injuries.

It was reported that 'people are occasionally injured by speed bumps.' Here in Belize, with the number of speed bumps we have, that would seem to be a 'no-sh**' kind of statement. But, the literature suggests that nearly all of those injuries happened to  people sitting on hard seats in the backs of buses, and/or 'riding on poorly-maintained roads.' I think this is another of the above kind of statement. Ahh, poorly-maintained roads... something we're completely unfamiliar with here.

So, it seems that, here in Belize, we're faced with a three-edged sword, if it were possible, consisting of speed bumps, pot holes, and poorly maintained roads.

Lincoln Eiley, author of the Corozal Daily... (Sometimes) newsletter, just did a piece on poor roads in the Corozal area. He focused mostly on the tourism potential, mentioning the border inspection area,which has always been an eyesore, as the thing that greets new arrivals to the Belize northern border.

Arrival Area Belize Border. Courtesy Corozal Daily

He also gave mention of 7th Avenue, and that it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Works and Transport, but they're obviously short of money, so the Corozal Town Council has made several repairs to that stretch of road. Gosh, it'd be nice if the Town Council, the Ranchito Village Board, or the Transport Department (same thing as the Ministry of Works and Transport, just easier and faster to write. So, it's understood that Works Dept. or Transport Dept. pretty much means the same thing - at least in this context.) could see their way to fix the stretch of road in our area, but that's probably way too much to hope for in the next day or two.

I'm guessing that potholes can cause just as many injuries and damage as speed bumps. They're, more or less, 'negative speed bumps'. Even at low speed, potholes have the potential to cause injury and damage. Several times, I've actually had the steering wheel of my Isuzu jerked out of my hands when hitting a pothole. How is that possible, you ask? Well, with rainfall comes the hiding of potholes when the roadway is covered with water. All too easy to really whack a pothole when you can't see them.

Speed bumps are designed to make drivers slow down. Potholes are not so much 'designed', but they are just as effective at making drivers slow down. The two main things protecting you from either hazard are your vehicle tires and suspension. The tires absorb the shock of striking the speed bump or pothole by compressing. This is called the tire's 'cushion.' It's the separation between the bottom of the rim and the ground and is about three to four inches, unless you're running those ridiculous low profile tires which might be OK up north on manicured road surfaces, but here, with our roads? Naturally, we still see them on some sporty vehicles.

Of course, if you hit a speed bump or pothole hard enough, the tire might compress such that it exceeds it's design limits for compressibility and explodes, or if the speed bump or pothole is large enough, permanent damage to your vehicle can be the result, not to mention, what potentially can happen to the people riding in and on the vehicle. I'm thinking here of people riding in the backs of pickup trucks and in the beds of other types of trucks.

If you hit one of the really large speed bumps (the official name for these monsters is a 'speed-table', well, all bets are off. You'll probably be launched into orbit.

Here in Belize, these huge speed bumps do double duty. They mark pedestrian rights-of-way, one of the few places where pedestrians have the right of way.

Just a final note here. I've talked to at least a couple of people who have talked to representatives of the Ministry of Works and Transport here in Ranchito, who have assured them that help (or salvation?) was on the way. In looking out my window, so far, all I see is more rain. Several folks have gotten stuck, some able to extricate themselves, some having to wait for friends to tow them out. It'll get better as soon as the dry season arrives... I'm sure.

Where's the Justice?

So, what's the Mayan word for gravel pit? Oh, that's right... It's Noh Mul. Well known hereabouts as one of the oldest gravel pits in the Yucatan, providing hand-carved limestone blocks for gravel for use in roads and whatnot for around 2,300 years, give or take a few.

What's Left of a 2,300 Year-Old Legacy

- Courtesy Lincoln Edward Eiley

The photo above, taken by Lincoln Edward Eiley, Editor, Publisher, Author, and Photographer of the closest thing we have to a daily newspaper, the Corozal Daily... Sometimes (http://www.corozal.bz/daily). See the Website for a couple nice articles and more photos of the wanton destruction of Noh Mul and its surrounding area.

It's great that the world media have picked up on this dastardly act of cultural homicide. I'll tell you, if somebody doesn't go to Hattieville (the Central Prison) for a spell, something is really wrong. I mean, when a man gets sent there for six months to a year for stealing food to feed his family - where's the justice?

But, having said that, I'd be willing to put money on the table that no one, especially any heavy hitter, will do time. Probably the best that can be hoped for, would be the back-hoe operator and/or maybe a dump-truck driver.

It's not like Noh Mul wasn't known. So what if it is on private property? There's a duty owed, moral or otherwise, to the people of Belize... and for the world, for that matter.

Instead of conducting a dig with a backhoe as your primary tool, here's an example of how it's done right - with people who care, who use small tools - trowels, scrapers and the odd shovel or two. Not to mention sweat and physical labor.

 The Santa Rita Dig From the Side

This is how it should be done. I guess we here in Corozal are lucky that the Santa Rita ruins weren't bulldozed to make way for houses or a warehouse, or something.

Granted, Dianna and I only worked the dig three days, at least we were there. Other folks, like Colleen, it almost became a full-time job or an obsession. But it was worth it. Here's some of the almost daily haul of pottery and other stuff that was found at the site. Stuff that could have been found at Noh Mul, if it had been given half a chance.

Collection of Pottery Shards

Doing a dig the old fashioned way. Yes, it was hard work. But, it really didn't seem to be that hard. There was a lot of conversation that took place while working, and at the appointed hour when you knocked off, it was amazing to see just how much dirt you had actually moved.

Bruce and Dianna Concentrating

More Shards

Explaining the Details

Rocks Waiting Repositioning

Most of these rocks have been replaced in the ruins. Really, it looks so good now, that to call it a 'ruins' just doesn't convey how great it looks.

A Nice Detail

Carefully Removing Dirt

Another Nicely Detailed Piece

Another View of the Rockpile

Denis and Bruce Hard At Work

Santa Rita From The Road

A Nice Wall Detail

There were several workers that had been hired by the archeological team to actually do the real grunt work - we were there for fun. These guys busted their asses to do a great job. They moved several tons of dirt and rocks and in may cases, put the rocks back in place again.

They Do the Real Muscle Work

Still, it was hot and sweaty and very fulfilling to actually be able to take part in an actual dig.

A Lot of Fine Detail Work

Another of the Real Lifters

Of course, there always came a time in the morning for refreshments. For those of you with long memories, this is the same guy that used to come around to our place when we had a construction crew for our house. The food and drink was just as good as I remembered it.

The Snack Wagon; Roach Coach; or Gedunk Wagon

The debris pile - a pile of mostly fine rubble that some day will be completely sifted to recover what artifacts as can be found.

The Debris Pile

Making another pottery find. Careful work is called for.

A Pottery Piece Appears

Sometimes, the detail is amazing.

Some More Nice Detail Pieces

Vivien With a Small Find

Even though Dianna and I only made it up to the ruins to actually work on the 'dig', we feel privileged to have been allowed to do so and there is also a certain measure of pride that we had a very small part in helping the project come to a successful conclusion. And it just looks so cool!

Is It Pottery or a Rock?

Two Related Pieces

Now, this morning... Well, actually, just before lunch, Dianna and I finally got up to the ruins to take a few shots of the (for now) completed rehabilitation of the Santa Rita ruins.

This Is The Way A Ruins Should Look

It's hard to imagine that people would be willing to destroy their own heritage for road fill... Not even a decent price for a historically priceless thing. But then, what do I know?

An Oblique View. Looking Nice

 The Santa Rita ruins is supposed to be developed as a Wedding Center. Can you imagine a night-time ceremony, back lit and all? How romantic.

This is one of the side walls that helps frame in the grounds facing the ruins.

A Side Wall of the Ruins

Here's my final shot of the ruins. Looks quite magnificent, don't you think? Unless of course, your thing is road-fill, then there's still more work to be done... "Bring in the dump trucks and loader!"

Santa Rita Ruins - Looking majestic

Sunday Morning Coming Down

With apologies to Kris Kristofferson. It seemed like as good a title for this as any other.

The following is based on a verbatim transcript of the Corozal Police report  of a head-on collision that occurred almost in front of our house. The report was obtained by Lincoln Eiley, Corozal's erstwhile reporter and editor of Corozal Daily (...Sometimes), an email compendium of stuff of interest to Corozaleños. It usually includes crime reports and other news. I lifted it from his email and modified it to include my comments and the action from my perspective, as I was the initial responder to the scene and made the first phone call to 911 to report the accident.

I'll start the story off with the initial bit from the police report. Then comes our story (from my perspective only, of course). Then, the rest of the police report, which is as confusing as it is interesting and informative - as most written news items seem to be down here. Always entertaining and never dull.

Corozal - On February 3rd, 2013 about 1:55 A.M., Corozal Police visited the Pueblo Nuevo Road (Ferry Road) Corozal District where on arrival, a maroon in color Ford Pickup truck, extended Cab, LP CZL-C17308 was seen on the left hand side of the road when traveling from the direction of the ferry towards Corozal Town with extensive damages to the front portion facing same direction and a white F250 Ford Pickup LP CZL-C02707 was seen touching the next truck on the right hand side of the road facing a southwest direction with extensive damages to the front portion, when traveling from the ferry towards Corozal Town.

Late Night Head-On Crash

That's more or less accurate. The accident occurred about then. My first indication that there was something happening was that I heard a rather loud crash. It turns out it wasn't that loud, as it didn't wake Dianna. I was already awake and had been going through some of our thousands of photos, trying out a new piece of software that captures and removes duplicate photographs from your  computer files.

My initial thought was that, from the sound of it, someone had hit a tree or post. I ran out to our back porch, which faces the street, and saw what appeared to be two vehicles both in the middle of the road. I could hear people moaning and crying. I hollered down asking if anyone was badly injured. As might be expected, I got no answer. I ran back into the house and grabbed my phone and flashlight and headed down the stairs. When I got to the landing, I remembered I needed my keys, to be able to open and close the gate with the remote, so I ran back up into the house and retrieved those.

Out in the street, I walked toward the scene. As soon as the vehicle occupants saw my light, they all started limping toward me and asking all sorts of strange questions. It seriously reminded me of a scene out of Night of the Living Dead, the way they were limping toward me.

About this time, I called 911 and let them know there had been a multiple injury, head-on collision on our road and that we needed an ambulance. I gave them the approximate location.

Usually, we have a hard time getting people to understand just where we live as the road is known by several different names. Our official address is 29 'A' Street, South, Corozal. But, no one knows that 'A' Street goes that far south. We usually call it the Copper Bank Ferry Road down past Tony's (hotel and resort). I have tried using Pueblo Nuevo Road as well. Few know that name either. I used the Copper Bank Ferry Road with the 911 call taker.

They said ok and that they would get an ambulance on its way. That was it. They asked no other questions regarding injuries or location, so I hung up, fully expecting to get a subsequent phone call with questions about the location.

I realized this was a fairly serious situation and that most of the people were injured, so I immediately began doing sort of a triage affair as I waded into the crowd.

Most had abrasions and contusions. There were a couple with fairly good cuts and some minor eviserations where it looked like they had made contact with sharp metal and had skin and flesh gouged out. One girl was on the ground, sitting in a sizable rain-water puddle beside the road. She had a either a compound fracture of the left ankle or a severe dislocation, as the bone wasn't broken, but the lower end of the tibia, the larger lower leg bone was definitely exposed.

Incidentally, I did smell alcohol on the breath of several of the people as they talked to me. They pointedly told me that the driver of the south-bound vehicle was drunk, as though they were all pristine, so I didn't pay a whole bunch of attention to that at the time.

I noticed that the accident, instead of being into a post, involved two pickup trucks that had collided head-on. And they were locked together big time.

The driver of the north-bound pickup, a young man, told me that he didn't want to have the police contacted as his license had expired on January 15th. He asked me if I could get the drunk guy to back his truck up, so that he could leave. It was a good thing the trucks were locked together so that no one could drive off.

I grabbed one member of the group who seemed to be less injured and he and I tried to gently pull the girl out of the puddle. It was then evident that she was in a great deal of pain, so after a slight movement, I decided to leave her as she was. The water wasn't going to cause her any more problems than it had already. I finally got her convinced that she wasn't going to die, as she had been loudly crying that since I arrived.

About then, I saw Vivien and Denis, our neighbors across the street arriving on scene. Vivien is an RN with Alberta Health Services. I think that's what it is, so it was great to have someone on scene who really knew what was what. And she looked so cute with these large yellow dish-washing gloves on.

She'd grabbed those as she left the house so she could work on victims as needed without fear of body fluid contamination. I had not thought of gloves or anything other than my light, keys and phone, but I had also been pretty careful to not touch bloody clothing or wounds. I didn't have anything to bind anyone with anyway. Besides, it appeared to me that shock had set in with everyone and the wounds looked to be pretty much blood-free. There was a fair amount of blood-soaked clothing, but as I looked at wounds, very little blood. A good thing. No arterial bleeding - even with the compound fracture on the girl who  had been 'dying'.

Vivien began getting people doing the right things. She had brought a few pads and stuff down with her, so that looked pretty official, if nothing else.

At about that time, Vivien asked if we had anything to use as a splint for the girl with the fracture. Denis and I hotfooted it back to my place, where we found a roll of plastic Visqueen that I had used as a painting drop-cloth. That and some nylon cordage that I had seemed like it would make a great improvised splint. Dianna asked if we needed any blankets, but it seemed like everyone was doing relatively well and blankets weren't needed. Probably just as well. They'd have gotten covered with mud and we probably would have never seen them again. We then headed back to Vivien.

Several of the people who I had initially talked to, began to get themselves excited about the drunk guy, so I could see that it wouldn't take much for thet the situation to get  out of hand.

Thankfully, the ambulance arrived on scene, which was a stabilizing factor in itself. Their response with the victims, not so much, at least by standards we were used to. But, they had arrived on scene in a timely manner and began loading the more severely wounded into the ambulance. They placed the girl with the fracture on a backboard, no assessment, no strapping. She was sitting on the backboard and they hauled it to the ambulance.

If my sense of time was anywhere close, I estimate that it took the ambulance about five to ten minutes after my call to arrive on scene, which is pretty swift for this area, the fact that it was late and night, and location directions under the best circumstances are sketchy.

I took a moment then to call 911 again, to ask them to send police, as none had arrived yet, and I was concerned about the excitability of the group. They advised that they had dispatched a unit and that they should be arriving soon. As I looked up the road right then, I could see the police arriving, flashing lights and all. So, probably within fifteen minutes, more or less, the ambulance and police responders had arrived on scene.

Shortly after the police arrived, we figured our services were no longer needed. We announced to one and all that "Our work here is done". We let the police and ambulance crew know that we were leaving and told them we lived just down the road, pointing toward the gate and porch lights. So, we headed home to resume our slumbers... sort of.

After the ambulance departed, activity went on all the rest of the night. The police stayed on scene for about an hour after the ambulance had departed for Corozal Hospital. There were vehicles coming and going. Friends of the injured stopping to offer help and advice, etc.

In fact, it wasn't until about 9:30 AM, the following morning that both trucks were finally towed off. One truck, being towed by a friend's pickup, headed toward the ferry landing. The other, towed away by a dump truck. They had had to remove the wheels on the front end of that pickup, as they couldn't lift it enough with the dump truck for the badly damaged front end to clear the ground and be towed.

As soon as the dump truck went away, the rest of the friends who had stopped to help and gawk, also left. As exciting as that whole thing had been, it was nice for things  to settle down and get back to normal.

Ok, now back to the official police report. I did take the liberty to break the thing up into a few more paragraphs and added some punctuation, and clarifying words as necessary, all for readability.

Initial investigation reveals that about 1:50 A.M. on February 3rd, 2013 whilst a maroon Ford Pickup LP CZL-C17308 driven at the time by Ivanir Patt, 21-year old Belizean bar tender of Chunox (Pronounced Shoo-noosh) Village, accompanied by Eber Santoya, 24-year old Belizean farmer from Chunox Village, (2) Abisai Tun, 16-year old Belizean student of Chunox Village,(3) Felix Copo, 23-year old Belizean lab tech of Chunox Village, (4) Julia Pinelo, 33-year old Belizean domestic of Copper Bank Village, were travelling inside the extra/extended cab, (5) Edwany Ramos, 18-year old Belizean student of Chunox Village, (6) Andres Ramos, 23-year old Belizean fruit Vendor of Chunox Village, were seated in the truck pan and traveling from the direction of Chunox Village to Corozal Town.

Upon reaching and passing the ferry of Pueblo Nuevo Road, a white in color Ford F250 Pickup, LP CZL-C02707, driven at the time by Alvaro Babb, 35-year old Belizean fisherman of Chunox Village, Corozal District, was traveling from the direction of Corozal Town to Chunox Village, and drove on their lane and collided onto the front portion of the maroon Ford truck, pushing it to the opposite lane on the left side.

Ivanir Patt complained of pain on both shoulders and his waist. Eber Santoya complained of pain on the left foot and head. Abisai Tun complained of pain on the right knee and cut wound and abrasion on the left hand. Felix Copo complained of pain to the ribs, head , cut wound on the right hand and abrasions on the right foot. Edwany Ramos received abrasions to the right hand, left knee and complained of pain to the left side of the head, back and neck. Andres Ramos received bruises to right and left hands, cut wound to the right eye and abrasions to the left knee. Julia Pinelo received an exposed fracture on the left foot.

Sketch plan drawn and measurements taken, Medical Forms issued to all injured persons. Medical Officer (MO) certified injuries to Ivanir Patt as Harm; injuries to Eber Santoya as wounding; injuries to Abisai Tun as wounding; injuries to Felix Copo as wounding; injuries to Edwany Ramos as harm; and injuries to Andres Ramos as harm. Julia Pinelo was transported to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH) in Belize City, in a stable condition. Alvaro Babb seems to have been under the influence of alcohol and a sample of blood was obtained.

I'm not sure what 'harm' injuries and 'wounding' injuries are. I'm guessing 'harm' injuries are worse.