Blogs from Belize Barrier Reef, Belize, Central America Caribbean - page 33

San Pedro has an eclectic mix of inhabitants. First off, you have the locals, who are born and raised in Belize. The Creoles make up 60% of the population and have 2 distinctive traits. They have some degree of African-European ancestry and use the local English-Creole dialect. Skin color varys from very dark to very light. The Mestizos speak Spanish and are a mix of Maya and European. They have come to Belize from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Mexico. The Maya, who are descendants of the ancient Maya and make up about 12% of the population. The Garinagu or Garifuna. They came from Saint Vincent which was a refuge for escaped slaves from the sugar plantations of the Caribbean and Jamaica. The Rastafarians. They believe in the eventual redemption of blacks and their return to ... read more

The hard life of a Belizean. I really feel naive here. I just had a very educational conversation with a Belizean security guard. I was on a very nice nightly stroll, and as I was sitting on the pier, the guard came up for a little conversation. He was asking me a lot of questions about where I come from and what Minnesota is like. I myself have been giving a lot of thought to is it easier or harder to live/work in Belize versus the US. As an american just arriving, I make quite a bit less to live on here. Even if I was as busy as I was in the states, it is considerably less. There are other things to factor in of course, like this is not my own business, I do ... read more

Happy Thanksgiving! Or in Kriol it might go something like Hopy Tanksgivin. Well, well, well..... a lot has happened since I last posted a week ago. Instead of riding with my friend from Tulum, I decided to leave a day early because they were getting busy at the spa and needed me. So, last Friday morning, I woke up at 8, decided to leave, and went to the bus station for a 8:30 bus. Turns out the first class bus was booked at that time, so I decided to wait for the 10:30. I could've taken a 2nd class bus, but it would've stopped in each town, and there would've been no bathroom on the bus. Since I would add an hour, I decided to wait. This gave me time to wonder around a bit more, ... read more

From Tikal I jumped on a tourist shuttle across the border to Belize, where I then caught several different local buses to get to Sitee River. Before I entered Belize I wasn't really sure what to expect. I here very different things from peoples experiences, with some people loving it and others thinking very little of the place. Even just for the language I didn't really know what to expect, despite the official language being English. When I jumped onto my first local bus I was even more confused. I knew that, aside from English, Creole was spoken a lot and Spanish in many places too (there are also other languages spoken in places). Creole I had been told was kinda broken English and so I half expected to understand it. However, on the bus (where ... read more

Another free day in Caye Caulker. I spent a few hours in San Pedro, a neighbouring island 30 minutes away. The afternoon was spent drinking at a local bar. The local guys are like Cuban guys -- sleazy as hell. I thought the shaved head would work like it had in Mexico -- although now I'm thinking Mexican men are just more respectful -- but if anything it made the guys more outspoken. One particular man who took an interest looked like bad news with a huge scar down his belly. I managed to escape his advances and ignored him the rest of my stay. A friend of tour leader shared our bus today and she told me about how the Caye Caukler men take advantage of female tourists, getting them drunk or slipping drugs into ... read more