Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport, Belize District, Belize
We go to Belize
Where
should we go next winter?
This
is normally a question we ask once summer is over, but we already
knew it way earlier: when we flew home from Costa Rica and we were
looking down we saw an amazing turquois green water with reef and
islands… and Paul looked out and said “that is where we need to
go” – and when checking we were flying over the reef of Belize,
which we then learned is the 2nd largest reef in the world
– after a bit more investigation we discovered it is also a land of
jungle and Maya ruins and they speak English: that made it clear,
this is a cool place for us to go.
Some
interesting facts about Belize:
- Belize is with 22.900 sqkm smaller than Vancouver Island with 31.285 sqkm, and as we have a population of close to 750.000 – there are only 375.000 people in Belize, guess that makes it possible for us to explore it nearly all
- Belize has a mix of population: 50 % are Mestizos, 21 % Creole, 10 % Maya, 6 % Garifuna and 3 % Mennonites - and we met nearly all of them
- over 40 % of the people live below poverty line
- it is an English speaking country – good for us we love it (lucky for us, they still drive on the same side as we do)
- Belize is with Costa Rica one of the most expensive countries in Central America (wonder if why we went to both)
- there are no fast-food chains in the whole country
- it has the 2nd largest reef in the world and is know for snorkeling – yes we have to be there
- the islands in Belize are called Cayes: there are around 400 and we wll visit 3 of them
- it is the land of the Maya: with over 900 Mayan sites and the tallest building in Belize it is a Maya temple (and Gine loves ruins)
- the national animal is the tapir and the national bird the toucan
- the country’s motto is “Under the Shade I flourish – sub umbra flores
- no-one knows where the name comes from or what it means, it was called Belize long before it was British Honduras
- Belize has the only Jaguar Reserve in the world: the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Reserve
- 42% of the country is protected for conservation – the highest percentage in the world
- the jungle of Belize is home of some of the largest population of mosquitoes – and we discovered it (even they have tiny bird who can eat 800 mosquitoes an hour!!!)
- the country has only 4 highways and we will drive all 4 of them
Who found Belize?
- Columbus wrote first about it’s as a shoreline unfit for human habitations
- The Spanish came and started to baptize them into the Roman Roman catholic faith
- by the 1650 the Coast had British Bucaneers and pirates settlements
- the British brought more settlers The Bayman in, who started to cut logwood and mahagony from the forest to bring it back to England – by 1720 they brought African slaves to do the work: today nearly all of Belize is 2nd growth forest
- the Spanish were in constant war with the Mayans and the British, for the next 150 years the only roads built were tracks going to the river – no one knew where the border to the Spanish Guatemala was
- in 1807 slavery officially got abolished in Belize by England which was not agreeable by the powerful British landowners: until then land was given to settlers – now you had to pay it, which prevented the slaves to get it
- from 1862-1964 it was part of the British Crown Colony: British Honduras (Britain ruled over it since 1783, but in 1862 it got official)
- in 1973 it got renamed Belize and was a self-governing colony
- in 1981 it became independent from the British crown and in Sept they raised the Belize Flag
Snow
= Vacation??
sometimes
you think that is how it goes, because last week: it was snowing and
not only a little bit, no a lot!! It was so bad, that a tree came
down in our street, pulling down a power pole, which then pulled the
power lines on the pole across from our house: which exploded and
left us without power for a day as well some roof damage. Time to go
into the warm!! and as it is on Vancouver Island: one day it snows
and the next it rains, so 3 days later there is no problem for the
planes to leave.
We
are on time – but the plane is not
we
don’t want to be late, so we had it that we are at 2 pm at the
airport (that means Gine went to work at 6.30, comes home at noon, so
we are ready to leave at 1.30). At the counter we met a supernice
woman who was a few years back backpacking in Belize and told us, on
how great it is. And then we discover that our plane is one hour late
– that means we have a cup of coffee and wait!!
A
long wait and a short night
the
only good part with being late in Vancouver was, that instead of 6.5
hours waiting we only had 5.5 hours. And this happened because when
Gine booked the flights it was costing only 2 CAD per person more to
fly with Air Canada to Vancouver with the 6.5 hour delay – and Gine
decided for 2 hours we are waiting!!! Lots of walking – having
supper and more walking and we are on the way to Toronto. It is an
overnight flight that means Sleepy time: but the flight is only 4.5
hours – that means we have a short night.
From
Cold to warm -- From North to South
it’s
cold in Toronto -14 C, that is a big change to the 28 C in Belize.
And because the Belize airport is not so big, the plane is not so big
and we had to walk through the cold in Toronto and the steps up to
the plane even had ice on it!!! Beautiful blue sky and lots of snow:
Good Bye Canada.
Over
clouds and a few glimpses of ocean and we arrive:
Welcome
to Belize
the
huge sign greets us, and soon we are through immigration and ready to
start our vacation. As we leave the airport – the car rental is
across the parking lot it rains!!! By the way it only started to rain
and when we got the car it stopped. We paid our big bucks for our
beautiful Jeep - change cloth and on the road we are a quick stop to
get a cold pop and a water and
On
Belize Roads
Even
we downloaded Google Maps offline, and it does find where we want to
go, it is not displaying on the phone... but we still can’t get
lost. And so after turning on the Northern Highway we go in the
remote northern Area. It looks very wet lots of water near the roads
as well as the beautiful tropical plants. And not that many roads.
Once in a while we come across a huge speed bump and after 60 km with
no other signs we come in to Orangewalk.
We
had to high five – because we are here, for one whole month!!!
And
then we couldn’t believe it: there is a toll bridge – but guess
what it’s only 0.75 Belize Dollars – which is less than 50 cents
Canadian... ok we can afford that and you wonder if it is even worth
to have someone sitting collecting money.
2025-05-22