Belize Rasta

by FERENC IVANICS
At the end of Hummingbird Highway there's a Garifuna village called Dangriga. Its population have mixed ancestry, but their origin is mainly black African. Many of them are Rastafarians. We haven't had the chance to visit Jamaica but we believe that this is the closest we'll get. Compared to the quiet mestizos Rastafari people are noticeably communicative, talkative and friendly. Sometimes it's hard to understand their creole-English. We haven't seen so many Bob Marley T-shirts, haven't heard Bob Marley singing from so many houses while walking down the main street.


So we decided to take here a haircut. A Garifuna barber, loud reggae music, Bob Marley posters, a perfect way to lose your hair. In ten minutes the breeze caressed our bald heads. It's easier to stand the heat this way.


And about weed, since it seems to be closely related to the Rastafari movement: as we understood there's an unspoken agreement between the state and the Rasta people, you won't be disturbed if you smoke pot at home, but don't you ever dare smoke marijuana at a public place...

Brutal Oranges

by FERENC IVANICS
In some areas rain forests were replaced by orange plantations. This is the main agricultural product in Belize. We've spent many nights camping in these plantations, eating fallen fruits. No one ever bothered us. The value of a piece of fruit is hardly measurable here.



Unsurprisingly these plantations look like rain forests themselves, orchids, fern, moss cover the orange trees. In some places we've seen giant oranges, fruits as big as a human head. We've never imagined oranges can grow this big. And the one you see on this photo isn't the biggest one, but our cellular was depleted and we didn't feel like carrying the extra weight 'til the next stop.

Resuming Belize

Basically the blog is still on hold, we recommend everyone subscribing to the RSS, email or Twitter feeds to receive immediate updates. But we'll pick up the thread of the story in a weeks months time.

by FERENC IVANICS
Belize is a small country. They have two cities, which are rather larger towns. Other villages are almost like ranches. Belize has, in total, 270,000 habitants. There's no soft drinks in bottles larger than two pints, these are small as well, small as the country.



But, to call the road on the photo above a Highway, that's an easy overstatement. Though it's true, this is the widest road there is in Belize. Many times you see the wilderness just one step away from the Highway. You have to pay attention, especially when two trailers pass by each other.


Everything is so small, except prices. Belize is the most expensive place here in Central America. I don't know, maybe because there's a lot of imported products. We think that the sum to pay when leaving Belize is offensively high. But to say something positive as well, people are a lot more likable than we'd been told, we've met some particularly good guys. And no one wanted to shoot us for our shoes...