Pepper’s sister and her husband have been living in Belize for about eight months. They’re serving a senior mission, much as we did in San Diego last year. In many ways, their mission experience has been similar to ours… but it’s also been very different. Often when people think of Belize or see photos, there are beautiful white-sand beaches and sunny skies over the ocean. That’s not what most of the country looks like, though. It’s a hot, humid jungle with a scattered population who lives mostly in poverty.
When they invited us to come down to visit, we were excited for the opportunity. We scheduled some flights and headed south for a week in Central America.
Upon arriving, we learned that customs isn’t terribly efficient. At one point I snapped a picture of the line we were in. What’s not visible here is the line behind us, which is at least as long, and the line that turns the corner at the end of this hallway and continues for another hundred feet.
Needless to say, it took a while to get from the airport tarmac to our rental car.
Once we had wheels, we headed across the country– about a two-hour drive– and spent five days with Dave and Jeanele. They were excellent tour guides, taking us to several places they’d visited and enjoyed. We started at Caracol, a Mayan site with massive temples, a palace, game courts, and scattered residences. It was easily the most impressive set of ruins I’ve visited.
Unlike many other sites we’ve seen, we were free to climb all the monuments, explore nooks, and roam at will. It was so cool to see the Mayan writing and carvings everywhere.
From the top of one of the temples, it’s possible to see Guatemala– it’s the ridge on the horizon here:
There were several armed guards patrolling the ruins; apparently they have problems with Guatemalans crossing the border and stealing things. It wasn’t clear to me what was being stolen– Mayan relics? Rocks? Valuable jungle fruits? Regardless, the jungle is so thick it’s hard to imagine how one could get through the underbrush without heavy machinery.
We spent hours wandering the site. It was so interesting.
Afterward we went to Big Rock Falls, a nearby waterfall and river. Of course the guys went swimming and climbed under the waterfall, while the ladies watched from afar and waited for someone to get washed downstream.
We enjoyed some ice cream at Dave’s second-favorite ice cream shop in the area. What you can’t tell from this photo is that across the street, in the tree half-visible at top center, were hundreds of birds that were screaming so loudly we literally had to shout to be heard above the racket.
Although they win for volume, their shrieks were nothing compared with the cries of the howler monkeys in the jungle. The noises they make as they preen and threaten one another are the fuel of nightmares.
We went kayaking for seven miles through a network of caves, but have no photos because they said it was risky to bring a camera. We also went spelunking through a different set of caves, where cameras are strictly forbidden because too many tourists have dropped them and broken priceless Mayan artifacts. Instead, we just looked on in amazement at pottery (and human skeletons!) that are literally 1,500 years old.
On my birthday we decided to go to Guatemala. With the guidance of a neighbor who’s a Guatemalan native, we went to a “real” marketplace. It wasn’t one of those tourist traps where you can buy overpriced t-shirts and hats that say “Guatemala” or “Belize” on them. Nope. Instead, we saw a gazillion t-shirts and hats emblazoned with American brands and sports team logos. Apparently the locals all enjoy looking American. I’m sure it was all properly licensed.
Although many of the houses in Belize are run-down or even crumbling, they’re painted in vibrant colors. Here are a couple of examples:
The variety of colors is astonishing– every bright shade you can imagine is used somewhere. It made me wish that HOAs in America would allow a larger color palette, instead of the spectrum of beige that seems to be popular these days.
In addition to sightseeing, we met neighbors and friends, and just sat around playing games and chatting. We heard stories of crazy mission experiences, hard work, and the struggle to help people in the community who have significant needs. Despite the poverty, people here seem happy and content. It’s definitely a different way of life.
Our time came to an end much too soon, and we crossed back to the coast and boarded our plane in Belize City. It was a great trip.
