Belize – Sunday Sun
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By Kenneth Bagnell The small, very green country of Belize has many unique features. That includes one you might not notice: it’s in Central America, (alongside Guatemala and Mexico), while its 300 miles of shoreline are beside the gentle Caribbean. It’s very old. It was settled countless centuries ago by an ancient people known as Mayans; it’s estimated they flourished beginning in 300BC, fading away around 900 AD. For years Belize was under British rule, gaining independence in 1981, its name changing from British Honduras to Belize. I went to Belize along with Barbara last winter when the temperatures were also close to 80F, staying a week in its historic centre, Belize City, a rather modest city of about 60,000 people, a place that reflects its hard luck: it endured two hurricanes in the last century. But it has noteworthy character, the old streets on the southern edge, still lined by the weathered houses survived an up and down past. And it has its historic eccentricities: for years the town clock on the supreme court building showed a different time on each of its four faces. We settled in what’s often regarded as the city’s best and safest hotel, The Fort George, now a member of Radisson, in a section of town old but not ramshackle, near once fine mansions of the 19th century. Our ground floor room came with a patio, shaded by vines and swaying palms, from which the twitter of rare exotic birds came with evening. Naturally the Fort George had pretty well all the amenities, including two pools, so that it would be only too easy to settle and stay ensconced in lush surroundings. A bad mistake. Belize beckons ? at least for those the hotel Manager Jim Scott, formerly of Michigan, — meant when he told me: “Belize is for travelers even more than it’s for tourists.? But it’s got one advantages that’s for everyone: “It’s the only Central American country,? Shakira Oxley of Belize’s tourism board told me, “where English is the official language.? Barbara and I are walkers, so the compactness of the city was an advantage: we just stepped out of the hotel, looked across an an imposing white building named The Great Hotel, and within a minute’s stroll were in sight of the colonial homes that survived the hurricanes of 1931 and 1961. Beyond was an open market, slightly depressed that day, and in time to the city museum, a former jail until the early 1990s, containing Mayan memorabilia, a few artifacts and a tiny cell from its original days containing many memories if could only speak. We crossed what’s called The Swing Bridge over a creek named, quaintly, Haulover. (A handful of men appear at the appointed hour, early morning and evening, turning winches letting boats upstream.) Then, we meandered to the dock where water taxis were departing, filled with local families, but mostly visitors, for an island called Ambergris, 25 miles long, one of the finest diving locations in the Americas – the undersea life teeming with butterfly fish, parrot fish, groupers, green turtles and now and then barracuda. When you make your way to Regent Street, stop at Government House, Belize’s most impressive building, there since 1814, where Queen Elizabeth stayed in 1985. Now it’s open, so we wandered its halls, studied archival materials, then spent a half hour along with the tropical birds in its sweet smelling gardens. Some features of the country are unique and thereby world renowned. Much of it is tropical forest (60 percent) it has many Mayan ruins,(maybe 1,000) its bird life is spectacular,(at least 600 species.) To see it all, would take a month or more, but even in a day, in the hands of good guides, you can take in a revealing amount of Belizean life. Mario Gonzalez, a witty local man took us aboard a small boat he navigated through the waters of Belize river the tropical forest deep around us, where every few minutes, he’d cut the motor. Silently we’d drift close enough to see an iquana taking the sun on the grey mangrove. Or here and there, a crocodile slumbering amid a scattering of lilies upon the silvery water. Eventually, Mario took us overland, to the site that may be the most famous in Belize: Altun Ha, the ruin of an ancient Mayan city, thought to have been founded near 3000BC, at its peak having 10,000 citizens. Fortunately, there was hardly anyone there that day -? if cruise ships are in it can be crowded — so Mario gave us a great overview, then a detailed tour. What you’ll see, are two huge spacious plazas, bordered by pyramid-like temples. In one of them, back in the 1960s, archaeologists from Ontario, (actually the ROM) discovered the most valuable piece of Mayan art in history: the head of a sun god, carved out of a block of jade. Priceless. (It’s protected in a Belize bank vault.) Standing that afternoon in wind-cooled silence, before the relics of a mostly vanished people, you inevitably wonder for all the stories their silent stones still hold, maybe to be revealed someday in the world’s future. Until our trip to Belize, I’d never had a conversation with a parrot. But one afternoon, in the company of a Belizian woman named Dana Clancy, suddenly, out of nowhere, she spoke to a huge green and yellow beaked parrot: “Whose pretty.” “I am,” said the parrot. So I chipped in with the most original of all journalistic questions: “How are you today?? “Fine.”A litte chitchat followed which I’ve forgotten, then I said: “See you next time.” “Fine by me,” said the parrot, leaving me wondering if the parrot was happier to see me leave than promise to come back. The parrot and I met in a zoo that some experts say could just be the most original zoo anywhere: The Belize Zoo, where birds, reptiles, animals, live in conditions as close to the natural habitat as a zoo can provide. They don’t live in security confines as much as homey spaces. Here, back in the 1980s, a woman named Sharon Matola, an American biologist helping a film crew, came to like the animals so deeply, she decided to stay to found the zoo which has made the rescue of injured native wildlife a priority. Here you’ll see a couple of rare jaguars, a tapir, (relative of the horse) many native jungle cats, red macaws, bush rabbits, scores of tree monkeys and birds of truly countless variety. We owe our gratitude to Sharon Matola’s vision. Belize may not be for you if four star North American luxury is your inclination. But if you tend toward the natural life, the green mystery of the jungle and the stones of a very ancient people, then do give it a thought. And when you go, offer a word of gratitude that such remarkable places still welcome us. IF YOU GO: Signature Vacations provides visits to Belize via once-a-week charter flights from Toronto and accommodation at hotels in Belize City or popular Ambergris Caye. Also check Expedia.ca. For further Belize information check: www.travelbelize.org. or consult your travel agent.