The twin towns of Cayo, San Ignacio and
Santa Elena, are separated by the Macal River with two bridges that
cross. One, the low bridge goes into San Ignacio while the other, the
Hawksworth Bridge a.k.a. The High Bridge, leaves San Ignacio going
into Santa Elena. Last Thursday, Brad and I went across the High
Bridge to do our grocery shopping on the cheaper side of town before
catching our bus, as is our usual custom. While climbing the steep
hill that is immediately after the bridge, I looked up the road to
check for traffic. Since this is a one way area, my quick glance
confirmed there was no one coming the wrong way so I diverted my
attention to the traffic coming across the b
ridge as I crossed the
street. Before I knew what was going on, I had been thrown across the
street. Puzzled, damaged and trying and figure out what just
happened, I realize I am laying in the road. I jump up, to my ankles
dismay and hobble out of the street just as a car drives by. Brad
runs to my side to assess the damage and asks where my glasses are.
By this time, a car had already driven over them and they were in a
million pieces in the road. Shocked, hurt and unable to see very well
my brain started wheeling over the recent decision to leave Belize due to a lack of funds. With just enough money to hold out until our flight I looked down at what remained of such a huge part of my life and each shard looked like little dollar symbols being ran over in the street. I had a melt down. The glasses were the final blow! I had a
scratch on the rt lens that a puppy of the Samuel twin's
chewed into it in the tenth grade so I know I can date them to at
least early high school. No matter how crazy of a night I had or how
adventurous of a trip I engaged in, I had never lost or broken my
glasses. I am now 34 years old and therefore have had those same pair
of specks8 days later. |
***Let me back track for a minute. Many
of you are probably wondering why in the hell I have been wearing the
same pair of glasses for over 15 years. The following may be a topic
where folks want to point out how my logic is flawed, that's fine but
it's your opinion. I have lived this and it is what I feel...When I
was first told I was going to need to wear glasses, my brother and I
had the exact same script but in the opposite eyes. I, being the
studious type back then, wore my glasses all day so I could read the
chalk boards and because I was told I was supposed to. My brother, on
the other hand, was a bit older and more conscious of public opinion
and was embarrassed to wear his. Over the years I grew so dependent
on my glasses that there was no way I could go out without them. My
brother, who was still refusing to wear them, didn't need them to see
to drive or to read far away. I began to think about why my eyes were
getting worse rapidly and my brothers were not. It boiled down to one
difference, I had allowed my eye muscles to rely on my glasses to
focus instead of exercising these muscles and keeping them in shape.
My brother refused to wear his and let his eyes work to focus for
him. At that point, I decided I would only increase my prescription
when I exhausted the ability of my current pair of glasses. To this
day, my brother only uses his glasses for night driving and I need
mine for everything but close up reading.
Last year Brad and I were in Va. for
three months. I was aware it was time for a new pair and tried to set
up an eye exam. Without insurance, most offices wouldn't give me an
appointment and those who would were asking anywhere from $70US to
$250US for the exam. If you have read our blog, you will know this is
outside of our price range. I did have a newer script from the time I
was working at Intel and tried to use this for my new pair. No Go!
Your prescription must be less than a yr old for you to be able to
use it. We decided we would wait until we were back in Belize to go
thru all of this. The time and money were never right and I probably
would have gone a few more years with my old trusty pair.***
The aftermath. |
Having never been with out my glasses,
the plan was to make an appointment the next day to procure my next
pair of eyes. We all got up early, early and waited for the city to
wake up while trying to make light of all the colours I was turning.
Here I want to remind folks that Belize is a small country and I
guess it can function with just two optometrist in the Cayo area and
one of them serves Cayo, Belmopan and Belize City. No one would be
available until the following Tuesday (and it was now Friday.) On
Tuesday, I received a call from the Dr.s secretary asking to
reschedule as they did not have enough appointments to warrant the
Dr.'s services for that day. So, finally, on Thursday, in less than
15 minutes, I received my new prescription. YAY!
So, what am I trying to say in this
blog? I'm not entirely sure but here are a few things I have recently
learned. It only cost me $55Bz to get my new prescription, compared
to at least $140Bz in the states. If you are an optometrist and are
thinking of relocating to a tropical environment, we could use you
down here. You don't have to be in a motorized accident to get a little whip
lash. Everything is a bit easier to handle when you have the help of
good friends.
Thanks for reading my rant and don't
forget to look both ways!