Doing the right thing

Our resort is developing nicely, I have to say. Sharane (our massage therapist) came from Cayo yesterday to give two of our guests a massage. They were totally blown away by her! Both of them talked of having a kind of "outer body experience" during the treatment. And they both said that she is the best body worker they have ever come across. Now, these are two people who have traveled the world, spend much time in Thailand, etc. So I'm particularly happy with their comment. Actually, they've left a message on our online guest book.

Karen's yoga classes are also a huge success. Virtually everyone who does a session with her returns (often with friends and family in tow). Other resorts and travel organizations are now trying to swipe her away from us. She's been approached by several already. That just shows how quickly news spreads in Belize.

Oh...did I mention yet that John is back? He's the person who designed our beautiful pool & he lived here with us for a year before. He is just the nicest guy you could ever meet, so we're very happy to have him back. When John left to go back to Scotland a year and a half ago I didn't expect him to ever return, but he obviously missed live in Belize.

I set up a meeting yesterday with the Banana Bank parents to discuss the children's education. Basically, I wanted to make them aware of the fact that most people have been sending donations to the tsunami victims and that this may result in not being able to find sponsors for their children for next year. I told them that we have $3000 of donated money left, which (if we were to hold on to that) would be more than enough to pay for next year's school books. But we are currently using all that money to pay for transport. So basically, we either find cheaper transportation for the remainder of this school year or we continue paying out $200 a week for transport and run the risk of not having enough money left for next year's school books. I wanted the parents to decide themselves on how to proceed.

We came up with the following plans:

1. The parents will to try to save up little bits of money here and there & I'm going to "be the bank", holding the money for them until the beginning of the following school year. This money will go towards their children's books.
2. We will contact some local church groups. Many of these have little vans and/or old school busses. Maybe they can provide the children with cheaper transport.

Well...that's enough news for now. Tomorrow I'm off to several local charities to start compiling information for the Charity directory/newsletter. Wish me luck. Adios!