Picture of the Day 122: Mama & Papa Chuc..."Is this a problem?"

One of the best parts of our trip to Belize is that we all stayed with host families for 8 nights during our time in San Ignacio. We each stayed with families that were unique, quirky, and helped us to create personal connections with the people of Belize - something we would have missed staying in a hostel.

Let me introduce to you my homestay "parents," Mama and Papa Chuc:

 

They've been married for 40+ years, have nine children and have been hosting foreign students for over 20 years. Mama Chuc speaks intermediate-advanced English; Papa Chuc thinks he speaks intermediate-advanced English (but actually it's about beginner level). :) 

My homestay homies (two students named Jake and Jeremy) and I enjoyed a daily breakfast cooked by Mama Chuc that usually comprised of a bowl full of fresh fruit including pineapple, papaya, oranges, and bananas. Then she would really make sure we didn't go hungry by giving us a heaping mound of scrambled eggs with tortillas, fritas, or johnny cakes (don't ask me what that is...some kind of biscuit thingy). 

Then she would hand us a sack lunch to take to our service site. This usually consisted of a bologne sandwich with lots of mayo and mustard. I didn't have the heart to tell her that bologna and mayo both gross me out, so I usually participated in our daily blackmarket of sack lunch items swapping bologna for a burrito, a cookie for a banana, or whatever.

Then we would come home in the evenings to a house full of spicey aromas and a plate full of hot rice with savory chicken, beans, vegetables, and the like. Mama Chuc, you're the best!

FAMILY PHOTO

Back: Jake, me, and Jeremy

Front: Papa Chuck & Mama Chuck

 

About their names: No one in town ever called them anything other than Mama & Papa Chuc. In fact, if you called them by their first names, most people wouldn't know who you were talking about. But if you said "you know, Mama and Pap Chuc" everyone would say "yes, of course!!!!!". From what I could tell from their stories and comments, the Chuc's host foreign students both to supplement their income (since Papa Chuc is retired) and because Mama Chuc likes the company and likes to keep busy. All of their children are grown and married and Mama Chuc's profession is taking care of others. And she's very good at it.

Luckily most of their children still live in San Ignacio. In fact, two live on either side of them on the same block. Therefore, the Chuc house was always bustling with grandkids and kids coming and going. If you walked by, you'd hear Spanish, English, and Creole conversations and laughter echoing from the house. Let's me some of the famous Chuc family grandkids:

First there's Josh. He lives next door and constantly wants you to watch him ride his bike. 

 

Then there's Melody, a sassy little beauty who liked to give me lots of hugs: 

And finally, there's Harmony. He's probably sassier than his older sister. At six years old, he's a self proclaimed vegetarian who loves his food spicey spicey spicey. He was Jake's #1 fan.

 

Mama Chuc's spicey sauce! Just a couple drops of this and your entire meal will go up in flames. It was amazing! 

 

One reason we decided to go to Central America for this year's international AWOL trip is because the weather would be nice enough in the middle of winter for us to work outside (giving us more service project options). It also didn't hurt knowing that SD would be about -25 the entire time we would be gone. Well, like most of North America, Central America was having a record-setting cold winter with temperatures at night dipping into the 40s. And for a country where indoor heating is rarely used (and therefore never installed in homes), we had a few shivering nights. Regardless, enjoying days with the temperature in the mid-60s was fine by us (even though we'd hoped for the 80s). Anything's better than SD in the winter! Explaining this temperature difference to Mama and Papa Chuc wasn't easy. They were sure there would be people in Belize who would freeze to death with temperatures as low as - GASP! - 40 degrees! ;) To illustrate our point that it was way colder in South Dakota and that people can live through those winters, I had Papa Chuc try on my winter coat. It was hilarious! 

Here's me showing him how to put on gloves. Classic.

He's so freakin cute! 

 

To put it simply: In just nine days, we fell in love with the Chuc family!  

What a great way to spend our stay in San Ignacio, Belize.

The Chuc Estate