Susanne in Belmopan: Belmopan Slide Show

The Curse of Belize

Belize is a stunningly beautiful country, but it has one curse. Can you guess?

◘ Mosquitos

◘ Humidity

◘ Traffic Jams

◘ Greenhouse gasses

◘ Botlas

The answer is 5) botlas, which is Creol for bottle-ass (don't ask me why). They are mega tiny little flies, you can't see, hear or feel them at the time. Only a day later you will notice the spots. They itch like the devil and only very slowly recede (between 7 and 10 days). They're everywhere in Belize; in sand, grass, near water and even the most hard-core repellents (Deep Woods) and long pants and sleeves will not fully protect. I use Benadryl gel to relieve the itch but mostly just wait and sit it out.

Pinky House

As any 4-year old, Soleine gets pretty bored when we travel long hours in the car. But now we have a game. The first one to spot a specific object gets points. As follows:
- a pink house = 10 points
- a horse = 5 points
- a tractor = 10 points
- a pair of shoes hanging from power line = 20 points

A regular trip from Belmopan to Belize can score about 100 points, to San Ignacio 150 points because more horses and tractors. Soleine usually wins. When we'll be in Belgium or Holland this summer we'll have to change the rules, There aren't many pinky houses (as Soleine calls them) there, right?

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Belmopan Slide Show

Belmopan has been the capital of Belize since 20 years or so. Before it was Belize city, which makes more sense because it is much bigger though still small. The Belize government and many of the embassies shifted to Belmopan because of the hurricanes and floads affecting Belize city. Belmopan basically consist of one road, named the ring road. There are 12,000 inhabitants in this town...it's even smaller than my home town in the Netherlands which I managed to escape on the day I turned 18. Sorry to say but Belmopan is boring and dusty. And I mean that literally and figuratively. There are no shops (unless you consider Chinese supermarkets as shops), no good restaurants, there is no cinema or theatre. Being in Belmopan feels like living back in the fifties. The good part is that the people are really friendly, strangers greet eachother when they pass in their cars, you can leave your car unlocked with the key in it. I find it hard to preserve my good habits of locking doors and putting seat belts. It is easy to do your shopping here because you simply buy what is available. Having limited choice is acutally convenient I have noticed.

Apart from a few colorful trees such as the Flamboyants, Golden shower and Jakaranda's there isn't much beauty in Belmopan. Nobody makes any effort to please the eye here. Restaurants and bars consist of wooden picnic tables and tasteless overdue Christmas decorations. You will understand that we have to make all the fun ourselves here in this hole. But we're pretty good at that...