No more free rooms.

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Belize-City, 21 april 1990.
Ageing buildings made out of wood, an open drainage system with canals that reek of human wastes, faeces and urine. The city is sweltering under a tropical sun with not a trace of a breeze coming in from the ocean, pollution piling up in the streets.
Still Belize-City is funky and fascinating with its dark black creol population.
We were lucky last night getting ourselves a spare room at a small boarding house near the shore with six bunk beds, the sixth bed being occupied by a young swiss lady.
It is late afternoon now and we have found ourselves a table outside a small eatery, our table is covered with condensed bottles of DosXX, a mexican brew and quite palatable. Five plates of cooked barracuda are in front of us giving off a spicy aroma. The smell of cooked fish would have made us all sick to the depths of our bellies mere days ago due to the poisonous mushrooms we ate. But now that we've recuperated we are ravenously hungry, chatting happily and gaily while wolving down our meals, getting slightly tipsy on our first beers in several days.
The malecon in front of the restaurant is full with people out for a late afternoon stroll. Mostly they are the black creol but I also see indios, hindustani, latino and the occasional chinese.
Apart from the sing-song lilted english so typical for Belize, I hear quite a bit of spanish and even some german spoken by some ravage looking gringos walking by carrying enormous packs on their backs. "Wissen Sie vielleicht wo wir ein billinges Zimmer mieten können"? they ask me probably instintively singling me out as the only one who can speak their gutteral tongue. I surpress the anoying feeling trying to come to the surface of my mind at german people the world over expecting everybody to speak german and give them the directions to our boarding house knowing fully well there is no free room available, we took that last night.
Hehehe.

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Comments

[Michele in Playa]

Not just the Germans
Don't feel bad, Hans. We think the same way about our "fellow" Americans. Why must they insist that EVERYONE speak English. We get that here all the time....in Mexico! Helloooo...Spanish speaking country!!! I am enjoying your writing. Thanks for that!