Girl About the World

While in Belize recently, I participated in a program called the Toledo Ecotourism Association (TEA), which was founded in 1990 to encourage visitors to make it to the Maya, Garifuna, and Kekchi villages of southern Belize, well off the typical beaten path for travelers.

I plan to write more on my experience later (which was definitely worthwhile), but for now, I’ll give you a little tour into the village guesthouses, which is something I couldn’t find any information on before I left. I’m told that all the villages have the same guesthouse, and there are currently six villages participating in the program for overnight stays: San Jose, Santa Elena, San Antonio, Laguna, Medina Bank, and San Miguel. I was in San Jose. (Fair warning that I’m apparently a horrible videographer — this was my first attempt at it. I’ll work on it for the future!)

Inside a TEA Guesthouse from Haley Shapley on Vimeo.

Before visiting Sweden a few weeks ago, I’d heard about their ample vacation time, generous maternity/paternity leave, and government-funded healthcare. What I hadn’t heard about may just be the best of all: fika.

A twice-daily coffee and pastry session centered around socializing, fika (that’s a noun and a verb) is a tradition that constitutes taking a break in the morning and the afternoon for something sweet to eat as well as a beverage — usually coffee, but tea and other drinks work (my favorite: hot chocolate). Cinnamon rolls are a popular option, as are cakes, cookies, biscuits, and pretty much anything with sugar as a key ingredient.

I was so enthusiastic about fika-ing, in fact, that I made myself ill — beware; what looks like a plain biscuit with a chocolate topping is actually filled with decadent chocolate mousse. Pair that with a chocolate drink, and the resulting blood sugar levels aren’t pretty — I vowed from then on to fika with water only.

Clearly, being a fika warrior takes some training. Fortunately, I’m willing to put in the hours to hang with the best of them — I’ve been taking stock of the local bakeries, and the next time I return to Sweden, I’ll be able to down a five-layer chocolate cake and a mug of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream in one sitting.

I know, I know — I set high standards for myself.