| The
country of Belize occupies the South Eastern corner of the Yucatan Peninsula,
directly South of Mexico, with Guatemala on its Western border, and Honduras
on the Southern border. To the East is the Carribean sea, which is the
big magnet drawing tourists to the country. The photograph below shows
Belize City, the largest city, a fairly sleepy and somewhat seedy place
which used to be the capital city before the government moved inland to
avoid hurricanes. |
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| And
there are hurricanes! I had been planning for about a year to visit
Belize, attracted by the prospect of great underwater life, bird life and
Maya ruins. But then hurricane Mitch put in an appearance, sweeping through
Florida and then Westward straight towards Belize.
I started looking for somewhere less devastated to go, then a few weeks
later I heard that maybe things weren't as bad as I thought. I found an
internet site showing an hour-by-hour map of the eye of the hurricane.
Sure enough, Mitch headed in a straight line for several hundred miles
towards Belize - then two hundred miles from landfall it took an abrupt
left turn and headed directly South.
Belize's gain was the rest of Central America's loss, as Mitch caused enormous
damage and loss of life in Honduras and Nicaragua, before weakening and
heading West of Belize through Guatemala, then looping North of Belize
through Mexico before heading directly East and hitting Florida for a second
time! It dropped between 40 and 60 inches (100 to 150 cm) of
rain on Honduras, twice the yearly average in the USA. It's estimated
that Honduras will take 15 years to recover, including rebuilding 220 bridges
which were destroyed. |
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About
the only damage Belize suffered was to the piers on the beaches (as well
as coral damage in some areas, although the barrier reef kept this from
being severe). I did actually get trapped by rough weather on Halfmoon
Caye, but it wasn't because of hurricane Mitch, it was one of the dreaded
"Northers". But it turned an overnight trip into a two day trip, and although
the first day of the trip was in bright sunshine, we had to plough through
10 foot waves for about three hours to get there, and the same again on
the way back. |
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| Most
visitors to Belize don't stay in Belize city, or even on the mainland.
Like me, they head straight out to one of the hundreds of islands or "cayes"
(pronounced "keys") between the mainland and the barrier reef. Although
there are quite a few resorts on the smaller cayes (like the one above),
most people do what I did and go to the largest and Northernmost Caye,
Ambergris Caye, which is very nearly attached to Southern Mexico.
From the main town (or really, the only town) of San Pedro it's easy to
do day or overnight trips to the mainland, the Maya ruins at Tikal in Guatemala,
or other cayes such as Caye Caulker, Goff's Caye or Halfmoon Caye (see
picture directly below) at Lighthouse Reef near the Blue Hole. |
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| You
can go between Belize City and San Pedro by boat, but most people make
the 15 or 20 minute hop by plane. And this way, you get to see the pilot's
tattoos! |
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Well,
Dorothy, you know you're not in Kansas
when
you see the thatched roof and the plane in the garage! |
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| But
then, San Pedro is that kinda place! What else can you say when the main
tourist town in the country has sand streets and the main means of transport
are golf carts? |
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Or
where local mutts treat the airport runway as part of their turf? |
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| And
even the town birds think they're circus stars! |
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rush
hour
at
the
San
Pedro
ferry |
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| I
had uniformly pleasant experiences with all the locals I met, both those
involved in the tourist industry and others. Unfortunately, things aren't
always as good on the mainland. Thefts and some violence occur in
places like Belize city and Orange Walk. Much of this is linked
to the drug trade, but there are also occasional incursions of bandits
from Guatemala on the road between Guatemala and Belize city. |
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But
it's hard to be gloomy for long when there are such nice things outside
your hotel window!
Sand,
sun, blue sky, crystal waters, palm trees and that white line on the water
- the barrier reef! |
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