Itchy Beginnings

Last week I was staying in a small Garifuna village on the coast of southern Belize. One night, while drinking rum out of a coconut and watching the sun set on the Caribbean, I was ambushed by a swarm of Belizean sand fleas. I immediately dove into the salty water, but it was too late. My legs and feet are now covered in hundreds of red bumps and blotches. They itch and I look like I'm suffering from some type of jungle fungus. My Garifuna friend, Elvis, assures me that everything gonna be aarait.

Two days ago, I was riding in an old school bus across the Belize border to Guatemala, and an old Guatemalan rancher sitting next to me looked at my legs and suggested, in Spanish, that I pee on myself. It took me a few repete por favors to understand what he was saying. He assured me the urine would stop the itching and get rid of the bumps.

So that night I checked into a sketchy room in an even sketchier Guatemalan town, took off my clothes, and pissed on myself in a cramped shower with a slow drain. I think it made it worse. It may be time to dig through my medicine bag (props to Sister MaeJoy B. WithU).

If you asked me six months ago what I’d be doing right now, I would've said I'd be using my degree to teach poor black students in the Mississippi Delta. I don't have a clear reason why that didn't happen. I'm sure the idea of establishing a hippy commune with my brothers had something to do with it.

Right now my only plan is to keep going south towards Panama. I started in southern Mexico and have made it through Belize and Guatemala. Currently, I'm traveling along the northern Coast of Honduras. As I go further south the food taste fresher, things are cheaper, and the women are more beautiful.

I'm traveling solo, but I´m definitely not alone. Everyday is an opportunity to share a round of beers with the locals and befriend dorky Europeans. Yet, nothing can replace deeply-rooted friends and family. I’m not quite sure where this adventure will take my brothers and me, but I´m loving the uncertainty and will keep y’all posted.