November 08

Nothing very profound this time: just some photographs to show some of the range of things we've met here over the last month.

The first couple of pictures are from St Ignacio, where Malcolm goes to take services at the Church of St Andrew. Tomorrow (Nov 30th) is their Church Anniversary / Patronal Festival. Some of the children from the school are taking part, and the service will be bilingual English/Spanish. Malcolm will be leading it with one of the Spanish clergy, Rev Olivia Vasquez. Hopefully there will be some photos of that another time.

Meanwhile this is Burns Avenue. We are looking towards the town centre at the end of this street. The Church is behind us on the left. Like most Belizean streets, it's a mixture of old and new. Wealthier people have cars - or more often trucks. There are bars and restaurants on this street for the many tourists who use the town as a base for visiting Mayan ruins, or a trip over the border into Guatamala.

But there's also evidence that many people are living much closer to poverty. We've avoided showing too many photos of the poverty that exists in Belize. It seems a bit voyeuristic to photograph someone in need, and not to do anything to help them. This man is a zapatero - a shoemaker and repairer, and his "workshop" is this table and chair on the pavement.

Nov 19th is a public holiday: Garifuna Settlement Day. The Garinagu people (Garinagu is the plural; Garifuna is the singular, and the name of the language) are descended from a mix of Nigerian slaves shipwrecked on Saint Vincent island, and the native Carib people who were the original indigenous inhabitants of the Caribbean. After the "Carib Wars" in the 1700's, which I know nothing about other than the fact that they happened, the Garinagu were resettled from the Caribbean islands to mainland Central America.

The main celebrations for Settlement Day in Belize are in the Garinagu communities on the coast - Dangriga, Hopkins and others. But every town has its celebrations, including Belmopan. This year there was a service in the Roman Catholic Church, then a parade, and then we gathered in Independence Park, very close to our house, for drumming and dancing and food, followed by a volleyball tournament. St Ann's Church were involved in organising the food and the tournament, partly to acknowledge the Garinagu members of the congregation, and partly to give something for the youth to do on a Bank Holiday!

We had a "Miss Settlement Day Belmopan 2008", and lots of drumming and dancing. Garifuna drumming is fabulous. It really needs to be heard. In 2001 UNESCO produced a list of what it calls the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Garifuna language, drumming and dancing were one of the 19 cultural expressions on that list.

The point of the list, a bit like the "Michelin Guide", was to identify things it's worth making a special visit to experience. None of the drummers or dancers in Belmopan two weeks ago were professionals. This was just the young people and the old people of the community getting together and having a good time. But they are really good. It's only a shame that our sound recorder and video camera were stolen in the burglary: it would have been really good to be able to add some sound clips to this blog.

One of the dance styles is called Punta. It's a form of competitive dance: people take in turns to perform with the drummers. As one gets tired, or runs out of moves, another is standing ready to take their turn. The aim is to impress the crowd, and attract the admiration of the opposite sex!

You'll be relieved to know that we didn't embarrass ourselves by trying the dancing, although I did have a go on the drums. Instead we chatted with folk all day, listened to the singing and the drumming, and shared in the obligatory Belizean bbq chicken, rice and beans.

Lots of folks from St Ann's worked hard all day running an outdoor kitchen to provide the food.

The photo below is of me with Roy Pandy, one of the churchwardens at St Ann's, who had been up very late the previous night cutting up 45 chickens into portions, and marinading them ready for the barbeque.

St Ann's school is gradually getting itself together . The photo below is of the headteacher and some of the children on sports day. All the schools have their sports days in November, when the temperature is cooler. We've had some fantastic news about St Ann's School: the Social Investment Fund has agreed to pay for building and furnishing four classrooms, the ground floor of the new school, in time for next September. Everyone is very excited that this has been agreed. And we are quietly proud that the Fund that's paying this is made up of money made available by UK debt relief.

As November arrived, we had to start thinking about Christmas. We've discovered that the postal service is very erratic. Some mail has reached the UK in a couple of weeks; sometimes it takes five weeks. So we wanted to get cards, and find some suitably ethnic gifts to post. In the event, Christmas cards are apparently not a big thing in Belize. We could hardly find any, and those we saw were only suitable for small children, so we've ended up making our own.

Finding postable local items was easier. The US Embassy helped, by holding a big craft fair with lots of local people coming in with their wares. It was quite an impressive event, with lots to see.

The US Embassy works with several local organisations, including the Belmopan International Women's Group, which Ruth now belongs to, to do fundraising for all sorts of local charitable causes. We've now been to a couple of their events. Including today a wonderful outing to one of our favourite "jungle lodges". So I couldn't resist adding to the vanity of Junior, the most photographed Jaguar in Belize, by posting another shot of him for his admiring audience.

As well as admiring Junior, we chatted to lots of people, went swimming, had lunch of - yes, chicken, but with mashed potato! Wow! And also joined a group for an hour's horseback ride through the jungle.
It was fantastic! Definitely a must - do for your visit to Belize. Ruth has had riding lessons, and rode quite often when we lived in South Croxton. I haven't had riding lessons, and have only been on a horse about three times before - the last time being over ten years ago. But everyone was very relaxed about it. They told us they coped with riders who didn't know what to do, by having horses who did.
We followed a well worn path, and I'm sure the horses have done the route hundreds of times. But it took us down to the river, and up steep banks, through quite dense forest and some patches of deep squishy mud - and the whole string of horses took advantage of the open spaces to break into a trot. So for a non horseman, it felt quite challenging enough.

And some "things we've seen in November" photos. The picture above is of a team of workmen rebuilding some of the Belmopan market buildings that were destroyed in a fire a few months ago. The structure you can see - a wooden floor on raised piles, with a timber frame house attached - is very typical of many of the houses we see every day.

And popping into the supermarket for a few things, we found a bride and groom and some bridesmaids. I asked for a photo, and they were happy to agree. The bride said they'd just got married, were on the way to the party, and stopped at the shop for some fanta. Sounds good to me!

And, finally, some Christmas shopping photos. There is one department store in Belize City that aspires to be a home-from-home for ex-pat North Americans and others - Mirab. Ruth had been taken there once by a Belizean friend, and we decided to go together as part of the Christmas shopping experience. The shop was full of people looking at stuff they couldn't afford - including us! Although we did manage to find a loaf tin (we've been looking for one for ages) and a Nativity Set for St Ann's Church. Mirab had the sort of Christmas display you will be familiar with, but which we haven't seen anywhere else in Belize.

Outside, they also have this. Hmm. Ruth clearly is Not Impressed.

Belmopan can't compete with Mirab. But our local Chinese supermarket does its best, and has managed to find a large inflatable Santa. Ho ho ho!