Welcome to Belize

Finally got this blog up and off the ground! I've been in Belize 2 weeks today, but will painstackingly upload some of my past journal entries so I can start from the beginning... because I'm like that...

Way way back in a City not far from here...

20.09.2008
Belize City, Belize

I have been preparing all morning to go out into the 'Belize' environment and just as I leave the comfy hotel a very heavy down pour starts.

It's been a slow luxuriating morning of reading in my very comfy, 100% cotton sheets and 3 real pillows bed. I decided to take it easy as things have been moving pretty fast lately and I start 'work' on Monday and want to feel refreshed and not exhausted from too many buses, bad beds and hurried tourist tours and shopping. Also after arriving in this new country last night I have become wary of disorientation and overwhelming myself as this is a very different place from where I have been. The locals speak perfect English for a start!

Crossing over from Mexico into Belize the first things I noticed were the signs in English. As if it were a trick I obsessively read all of them - 'Tangs supermarket' 'Shari's Hair Salon'... I was a little in disbelief. Everyone is African Belizean, apart from a few young girls who looked Mayan. When the kids come on board at Orange Walk (to sell oranges) I was unsure whether to speak Spanish or English.

Same thing happened on arrival in Belize 'City'. I had been expecting a metropolis, forgetting that the entire population is barely over 300,000. Hard to imagine. Really hard to imagine. Of course the city can't be more than 100,000. The bus station is tiny. Too late to find the info counter (I doubt one exists anyway), I was at the mercy of the cab driver to take me somewhere decent. Well the area didn't look very decent but the hotel inside was very cozy. For the third time in a week I am handed a key for a number 33. How odd. My age. I guess I can take that as a good sign.

Outside this morning I get a glimpse through the curtain of the street scene below. A tall Creole man is slowly and thoughtfully setting up his pirated CD stall on the side of the road. Another is sweeping. Everyone seems to get around on these cool, sturdy looking bikes.

Last night at Orange Walk we stopped in front of a govt. building with camo dressed guards protecting it with automatic rifles. The building was decorated with little triangular flags and big national flags. Some posters announce the celebration of 27 years of independence from Britain on the 21st of this month. Tomorrow! I have unexpectedly stumbled on another independence celebration, but this time with staying in a hotel I have no-one to share it with. And Belize City does not look friendly and safe to walk around at night, a white woman on her lonesome.

The rain stops and I go for a walk around the streets for a nosey. There are very few modern, well built buildings around here. Most are decrepid wood board housing, flakey paint and falling apart. There are a few concrete constructions inbetween. The town is small, quiet, not too dirty but certainly not flashy. As far as I can see there isn't even a 'mall' for the richies to hang out in, although there are a good number of late model 4 wheel drives... how odd. Later this is explained by a volunteer. As the US market is going bust, the cars are being picked up cheap by Belizeans. Even though the Belizean dollar is pegged to the US dollar at 50%.

On returning to the hotel I hear voices on the balcony. It's fortunately a couple of young aussie guys having beers and I join them later on in the hopes of dragging them out with me so I can see the Independence day celebrations in the park.