Brea
GKT Blog

Spring Break in Belize

04/25/2009 20:05
Alright, so I just went to the country of Belize. Where's that? you say. Well, Belize is a small country about the size of New Hampshire that is located in Central America. This country was the first place to have a jaguar reserve, it has a beautiful landscape with many Mayan temples and history, most of the citrus of Florida Orange Juice comes from here, there are islands all around its shoreline, and it has the second largest coral reef in the world. What does this have to do with reducing?  I guess I can tell you my story. 
      
The group I was with arrived later in the afternoon by boat on the island of South Water Caye. We were tired, sticky and encrusted with salt from the boat trip, and we wanted showers. We soon found out that this was not a luxury they had. This island gets all of its power through generators and solar panels. It gets its water from rainfall and a small well under the island. The dry season in this place lasts for almost five months, and we were in it. Our showers were military style; you get in, wet your hair and body, turn off the water, scrub, turn the shower back on, rinse, turn off the water and you’re done. These showers also had nobs that you had to hold in place if you wanted more water and if you let go the water would turn off. The reason for this is because they need to reserve water for the months to come. 

For energy they turn off all electricity at 10 o'clock sharp, so you have no lights and no water pressure (except the toilets and sink). The people on this island cut down on luxuries to elongate the amount of time they have water and power. Just think, if parts of the world started doing the same, how much energy and water could we save? This trip to the island taught me that not everyone is as fortunate as I and that cutting down on luxuries could help elongate our time on this planet.   

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