How Not to Dissociate During an Election as a Sober Writer
Losing a manuscript and being offered drugs multiple times a day doesn't help.
Spoiler: No, I didn’t take any drugs.
My husband and I traveled to San Pedro, Belize, to celebrate our 20th anniversary. We planned it several months ago and picked the week based on the weather, the timing between my husband’s work travel, and the kids’ schedules. However, we didn’t realize it fell over election day until fairly recently.
Call me naive (I probably am) but I didn’t think the election would be as close as it was. Not going to go into a whole thing because, ugh, but we thought, hey, what a nice time to dissociate, leave our phones in our room, and enjoy each other’s company.
Ha!
The joke was on us because whenever locals asked where we were from, they inevitably asked, “So what do you think about Trump?” which led to more political discussions than we likely would have had if we’d stayed in the States. I wouldn’t say it was entirely a bad thing because it helped us put things in perspective and talk more about the future, blah blah blah. My husband and I are white upper-middle-class people in a very blue state, so we have more privilege than many do, I realize. Long story short, escaping the US wasn’t a solid plan for avoiding election talk.
That’s all I want to talk about politics today, m’kay? Let’s talk about drugs instead because HOLY FUCK.
Belize is the first country in Central America I’ve visited, so maybe this is the norm? I don’t want to stereotype, but I’ve been some places and seen some shit, and I’ve never in my life been offered drugs so many times! Every kind of drug I’d ever heard of, and some I hadn’t. I never felt unsafe, quite the contrary, since all the offers were kind and friendly. Kale got a kick out of me saying, ‘No, but thanks for asking’ on more than one occasion. Again, I’m probably naive. So, sober people, if this would trigger you, maybe avoid Belize!
Besides the consistent drug offers, it’s a great place to vacation sober. One note about n/a bevs: Bartenders were happy to make yummy mocktails, but none of the bars or restaurants had alcohol-free beer. We found one store in San Pedro with 0.0 Heineken and 0.0 Corona and bought all of them. Hopefully, they will stock up again before you visit if that’s your thing.
Other than the drugs and politics, the week was relaxing and restorative. It was SO relaxing that I almost threw away my manuscript!
I’ll try to keep this story short, but it’s a doozy.
A fellow author and I exchanged manuscripts to give each other notes. I also planned to do a full readthrough of my novel. So, I printed out our full manuscripts and arrived in Belize with a fat stack of paper.
I finished notes for my friend’s novel and threw away her pages since I needed the extra space in my bag. It wasn’t until I got home and opened the folder with my manuscript in it that I realized it was HERS, NOT MINE.
I THREW AWAY THE WRONG ONE.
Of course, I panicked and called the resort immediately. By a stroke of luck, they didn’t have anyone check in the day we left, so they hadn’t emptied the bin yet, and my manuscript was where I left it. SWEET RELIEF.
Here’s the part that makes me want to send the resort ten zillion dollars: Since they didn’t have a fax machine or a scanner, the sweet employee TOOK A PHOTO OF EVERY PAGE and sent it to me through Whatsapp. Over 300 pages. It took hours.
I left the best review on TripAdvisor and will send a gift basket of cash or something. They indeed went above and beyond! If you’re ever in Belize, please stay at Pur Resort Cabanas. They might just save your ass.1
Last thing, since I haven’t given Buddy an update in a while! My sweet dog had a TPLO (basically a knee replacement) yesterday, and he’s home and resting. He’s still the bestest and cutest boy, obviously.
That’s all. More next week.
xoxo Emily
Bonus? He also said he enjoyed the book.
Whoah!! I'm so glad you got it back!
What a rollercoaster!!!!