BELIZE - 1st to 7th November 2009

Introduction

What a break to be in a predominantly English speaking country, if just for a while! This tiny country has quite diverse cultures with the majority being Mestizos (people of mixed Spanish and Maya descent), then Creoles (descendants of the British and African slaves), Garifuna (mixed Caribbean Indian and African heritage) and of course the Maya people. We were struck by the rather basic living conditions of the people and the exorbitant cost of just about anything touristy, hence the short stay!

Background and History

The Maya have been in Belize since the first traceable human habitation with settlements from 2000BC. During the classic period (AD 250 – 1000) power shifted between competing Maya cities until their decline and subsequent dispersion (drought and internal revolt with wars being the common reasons). Then the Spanish arrived in the 16 th century, but Maya resistance and the lack of resources discouraged their staying. British pirates used it as a base for their exploits from the 17 th century until they engaged the logwood business importing slaves and becoming colonial masters in the 18 th century. Defeat of the Spanish fleet in 1798 at the battle of St. Georges Caye effectively handed the country to Britain and it became the crown colony of British Honduras in 1862. Post WWII an economic crisis and anti colonial movements eventually led to the independent nation of Belize in 1981. Although a relatively stable democracy, corruption and power struggles have dotted the political landscape of contemporary Belize into the 21 st century.

Our Experience

Our border crossing at Chetumal took under an hour, with the only negative being the $20 per person non-immigrant exit fee for Mexico . The drive south through tropical lowland took us through seaside Corozal to Belize City . This once graceful colonial city had us quite uncomfortable with inebriated beggars hustling us at every corner as we drove around the main sights. The wooden buildings seem to wobble on their foundations with laundry draped everywhere and sewerage overflowed the canals lining the streets. We made our way out of there after a few missed turns to Sittee River , another small coastal village.

This is where we needed to get information on Glovers Reef, but we just missed the weekly Sunday 7am boat and as was it was after dark, we camped up somewhere along the river. Early the next morning we back tracked a bit to get a feel of Hopkins , a one street Garifuna fishing village. As it wasn't exactly what we were looking for, we ventured further south through orange groves and banana plantations to Placencia – the last 30km on a real rough gravel road. Tipperdee held up and by noon we were at the southern tip of the long narrow sandy peninsular with a laid back ambience of the cayes. But the setting did not lend itself to wild camping and the usual scouting eventually landed us a gorgeous basic $45 cabana on the eastern palm-lined beach. This is the place for seafood hence dinner had to be Creole style snapper and a conch steak! Snorkelling trips to the world's 2 nd largest reef were however over the top (nearly $200 for a 6 hour family outing) and as we were desperate to sample at least one of the famous cayes, we headed back north to Dangriga, the departure point for Tobacco Caye.

Dangriga is the centre of the Garifuna culture and Riverside Café appeared ordinary but their Creole chicken stew with beans and rice is anything but that – finger licking stuff! Friendly travellers at the cafe directed us to the great Louise of Bluefield Lodge who allowed us to camp on her property for the night and organised our stay at the family's Paradise Resort on Tobacco Caye.

We decided to bite the bullet - with the return 45min boat trip to the island costing $100 and accommodation $105 a night (for the 4 of us), this was a splurge. But this was paradise – a 2 hectare palm tree covered island atop the reef surrounded by azure waters with our basic 2 bedroom cabin perched over the Caribbean and 3 meals included too. Right off the shore we snorkelled a reef with damaged coral that's home to colourful abundant sea-life. Unfortunately, bad weather dampened our stay and as a tropical storm that was upgraded to a hurricane was in the area, we decided to rather play if safe on the mainland after just one night.

Joseph, an Israeli-Swedish tourist joined us for the drive inland past the capital Belmopan and down a dirt track to Barton Creek Outpost. We were in the heart of the jungle with all its biting insects, lush vegetation and waterfalls. The ‘off the beaten' track to this slice of Eden ended up being quite an off-road challenge with us having to abandon a rather steep, muddy winding descent down the mountain for a narrower but safer alternative route at the ‘Archaeological Site signpost'. This gorgeous property is situated on a bend in Barton Creek and the kids pushed for a 3 night stay here as the American owners have 3 kids, 2 of them similar ages to Jade and Dane matching the genders! Tipperdee was our base with camping going for just $5/night. If they weren't concocting a drink of limes, oranges and lemon grass, they were swinging from tree ropes into the cool swimming holes or clay sculpting. Resident parrots, dogs and the neighbours spider monkey kept them entertained and we could read and just chill. Eight year old Logan took us on a hectic slip and slide jungle trek up mountains and through streams with the fairer sex cursing for the full 90 minutes! The highlight was a tour on canoes through a Maya cave, a portal to the underworld where they worshipped the rain god Chaak with human sacrifices. Along the kilometre long subterranean waterway between ancient stalactites and stalagmites we could feel their presence with scattered pottery and human skulls on sacrificial alters.

On the 8 th November we had to move on and continued along the muddy dirt road to the Maya village of San Antonio to visit Wayne, an interesting South African with an immense knowledge of the Maya, whom we had met at Barton Creek. After 15km we said our farewells to Joseph in San Ignacio, who continued on to Belize City as we made our way to the border with Guatemala . As in Mexico, we had to part with $19 per adult as departure tax which left us feeling that Central America's ‘taxes' could add up to a pretty penny! Hopefully our Spanish will improve substantially as the next 6 months will be entirely through Spanish speaking countries!

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