Vacation Bullet Points

Here are a few things Belize has a whole lot of:

• Palm trees!  Obviously.  Also coconuts and noisy birds.
• Geckos.  They’re pretty much Belize’s answer to house mice.  You move a book, or a plate, or a rock, or look into a corner of the room you’re in (usually a ceiling corner), and you’ll see a cute little lizard saying, “what’s up.”
• Mangoes.  Little known fact:  there are about half a dozen different species of mango growing in front yards throughout Belize.  I’ve only tasted one of them.  There’s seeds all over the road in Hopkins, the town right near our resort.
• Cultural diversity.  Resident communities in Belize include – but are not limited to – Latin American, Garifuna, ‘native’ Mayan, Creole, Chinese, and (believe it or not) Amish.
• Yellow school buses.  Not too long ago there was a change in licensing laws, or school zoning laws, or something, and a lot of buses were taken out of service.  I swear we’ve seen at least thirty buses, most of them on cinder blocks in front of houses.
• Half-built, or half-disassembled, houses.  There’s cinder-block husks, or skeletons on stilts, all over.  Lot of it is because of hurricanes.  There’s a building down the road here that was going to be a restaurant, but the owner died and the building has been vacant for a couple years.
• Nice people.  Belizeans rock.  I don’t care what cultural demographic they’re from.
• Stray dogs and chickens, but only in the villages.
• Honeymooners.  This resort is like half honeymooners and half families.  We’ve met at least five couples that got marries on the same day as us – but we were first.  Noon wins.  Not that it matters!  But we have lots of newly-married friends, and we’re planning a reunion tour same time next year.
• Divers.  It’s like a separate classification of human being.  A really cool one.  I was certified as a scuba diver today.  We saw eagle rays, sharks, and dolphins, all close enough to touch.

Happy hour is almost over.  Time for one last Belikin beer before I clean up for dinner.

~ by joshkauffman on July 3, 2009.