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Magdalena Zetina, a native of Mexico, peeks through the yellowish green banana leaves in her yard to catch a glimpse of the strangers walking by in downtown San Ignacio in the Cayo District. She's used to tourists and the townspeople stopping in front of her two-story wooden home to admire the eight caged birds on her second-floor balcony.
Her life in downtown San Ignacio is simple. Amid the sound of hammering, scooter horns, wind chimes and distant shouting, she sits on her patio and talks to her Spanish-speaking birds. She waves to passersby, some who know her by name and others who know her simply as the bird lady. Even the rain is welcomed.
"Oh yes. I love when my plants get rain. Ayeeh. Happy," the 79-year-old says with a toothless grin. But a gentle rain, not the 140 mph winds of Hurricane Iris, which ripped through Southern Belize on Oct. 8 leaving more than 13,000 homeless.
"It pulled everything. Now if he want to come back he can come back. I am not taking nothing [in]. I'm tired," Zetina said.
Even Zetina's birds welcome anything that's moving.
"Buenos Noches" the lime-green parrot recites during a mid-afternoon visit. While Zetina sits visitors, her granddaughter Jadda Awe shows off the birds upstairs.
"And these are the American birds," the 10-year-old points to two oversized gray pigeons in a cage. "They like to fight too much."
-- Amy Zerba