EVERYTHING'S UP TO DATE IN BELMOPAN

I just realized it’s been over a month since my last blog post.  I initially thought, geez, we haven’t done much this month that merits a post.  But then I realized that wasn’t exactly true.  It’s just that the things that have happened are at a different scale – a scale more in line with Belize in general, which is smaller, less flashy, and more laid back.

Perhaps the biggest news to report is that Belmopan now has its very own traffic light!  It’s the first traffic light in our town, and only the fifth traffic light in the entire country.  (And even then, a couple of them aren’t working.)  This was big news around town.  Everyone was on the edge of their seats to see if it would work.  Would all the lights be green at the same time?  Would the timing be off?  And, most importantly, in a country with only 2-4 functioning traffic lights, would people know how to use them?  The traffic light is really only needed during the “rush 10-minutes” immediately before 8am, at lunch time, and after 5pm when everyone in town is on the road.  Until the light arrived, during the rush 10-minutes, traffic at this intersection was regulated by 2 guys directing traffic.  The rest of the main intersections in town are traffic circles, which function quite well.  While the traffic light is working correctly, the jury is still deliberating whether it is really more efficient than 2 guys directing traffic for less than 30 minutes/day.

Behold!  The technology!  And PS- that gray-ish sky you see is what I call the Haze of Humidity.  I'm posting this blog at 10:30am and it is already 100 degrees outside.  Welcome to the jungle!

Andrew and I also spent a long weekend in the coastal town of Placencia, about 2 hours from Belmopan.  The town is a long spit on the central coast, with the ocean on one side and a lagoon on the other.  It is seriously only about 100 feet wide in some spots with a road running down the center.  We stayed at a lovely hotel, had some great meals, found the best ice cream shop in Belize (and stopped in every day we were there), and had a fantastic day trip to a little island called Laughing Bird Caye for some incredible snorkeling… but somehow I did not end up with pictures of any of that.  All I have to show for that weekend is this shot of the sunset and moon.  Fear not!  I’m sure we’ll have a return visit to this town while we’re here. 

Sunset in Placencia.

We also visited the little town of Crooked Tree during the annual cashew festival held there.  Many observations here.  First off, Belize has some awesome town names.  Crooked Tree.  Gallon Jug. Fire Burn. Guinea Grass.  Teakettle.  Cowpen.  And my favorite… Dump.  Next, Belize has lots of festivals.  There was an orange festival here in Belmopan a couple months ago.  In addition to cashews and oranges, there are festivals dedicated to coconuts, chocolate, mangoes, lobsters, and others.  Having now been to two of these festivals, it seems they all follow more or less the same theme:  tents set up with people selling the particular festival item in various forms (roasted cashews, cashew jam, cashew wine, cashew cake,..), along with folks selling barbecue, drinks and beer, and other refreshments, a few tents selling other kinds of goods, and lots of rides and games for the kids.  The festivals don’t get going until later afternoon (we arrived at the cashew festival around 2pm and they were still setting up).  So clearly, the intent is that people come and stay for the day.  I admire those who can hang out all day, in the heat, eating cashews (or insert-the-festival-item-here), but I don’t have that in me.  We made a couple rounds of the tents and headed out.  But Crooked Tree is also home to a wildlife sanctuary and huge lagoon/wetland complex, so I may have a return trip there just to geek out on birds.

The Cashew Festival in all its glory.

The Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary.

And now it’s on to summer.  The “summer transfer season” at the Embassy will see lots of my colleagues moving on to their next posts, and lots of newcomers arriving to fill those empty slots.  We’ll be sad to say goodbye to some friends we’ve already made here, but are looking forward to meeting the new folks who we’ll be spending time with for the rest of our stay in Belize.  We’re also looking forward to returning the favor that many extended to us by showing those newcomers around and pointing out what our town has to offer… especially that new traffic light.