Random pics & commentary

Here’s some stuff I’ve been collecting that hasn’t fit into a post yet and / or that adds to a previously posted item.

COOL AERIAL PHOTOS
These are from Astrum Helicopters’ Facebook page. The first is Corozal; the second, the landing strip at Placencia airport; and third, the milky-blue yet clear Sibun River (known as Caves Branch in the area through the caves).

And my own aerial, from our last trip home from San Pedro. Here’s the New River Ferry crossing (though you can’t see the ferry here, it was apparently on the right side hidden by vegetation).

ANOTHER HOUSE TO NAVIGATE BY
Noticed this one the other day in the village of Chunox. At first, I thought: These homeowners are so behind the times; but then I saw a trailer on TV the other day for a new Turtles movie, so apparently they’re actually right on top of things. If you missed ’em, see previous houses to navigate by here.

TV BROUGHT TO YOU BY BAMBOO POLE
Antennas attached to bamboo poles is a common practice, here’s a home in Copper Bank that features two of them.

SOMETHING ELSE ABOUT BELIZEAN BUILDINGS
Apparently paint doesn’t hold up well in this climate, or the paint they sell here is crap, or maybe it’s too expensive for the average Belizean (possibly all of the above?) – at any rate, many houses look like this one: Exposed cement, without much adornment – – EXCEPT for the beautiful door. That’s presumably because mahogany (the official tree of Belize) is plentiful here. We’ve seen some really, really nice doors on otherwise bare-bones homes.

SUGAR WATER: IT’S NOT JUST FOR HUMMINGBIRDS ANYMORE
Saw this visitor to the feeder the other day, and after a rigorous Google search, identified it as a Leafwing Isadora butterfly. It has a bright yellow extendable tongue that can reach into the sugar water well. He hung around for a day or two, haven’t seen him since.

POLITICAL PERSUASIONS
Did you know that the flag of Belize is the only one that features humans as a main element? Not only that, but diverse humans, much like the melting pot of cultures that it is here (ie, Mestizos, Mayan Indians, Garifunas, Kriol, and Mennonites, with a blend of many other cultures from Chinese to Lebanese – not to mention us minority gringos).

The emblem features a mahogany tree, the national crest, and a Latin motto that means “I Flourish in the Shade” – though I read one snarky political commentary that said it more accurately translates to “I Flourish in the Shadow” (hey, they said it, not me).

On our travels recently, I noticed the varying methods politicos running for office used to try to stay “top of mind” in voters’ thoughts.

 

 

This enterprising guy, BOB, had painted his message on miles and miles of telephone poles along the Northern Highway. Time-consuming, if not pretty effective, except my first thought was “Bob who?” Perhaps the only Bob in the area who was running for office. Or else, not so effective after all…

Then there was LUKE. If Bob seemed to have political reach, well, Luke blew him out of the water. Luke was frankly everywhere in the Cayo district – even in tiny villages WAY back in the boonies. Gotta hand it to Luke – though again, one hopes there is only one guy named Luke running for office, or this strategy isn’t as good as it seems…

In a few areas in San Ignacio town, PENNER made an appearance. Which made me think, If Penn and Teller ran on a joint ticket…Probably not what they were going for, but my mind works in mysterious ways.

I haven’t yet been able to get a decent picture of my last contender, because he uses flags and they always seem to be blowing so that you can’t read them. But somebody named ARAGON is popular around Orange Walk.

The first time I saw it, I was like, Aragorn?! I’d vote for him! Oh, wait. Not that guy… damn it.

So anyway, I said this was going to be a random post. Here’s one that really isn’t political at all, except that it says UDP on the wall, but I mostly just liked the composition of it. If I knew where the PUP office was in Corozal, and it had an interesting arrangement of objects in front of it, I’d give it equal time.

Last but not least, in true randomness, here’s me waiting for Ray’s to-go order at the Indian place in Corozal. “Fast food” has its own timetable in Belize. Should have used the wait time for a haircut next door (just kidding, Denise).

And I posted this pic originally on my FB feed, just including it here too because I like it so much and want it to be part of this blog. Three little school boys in Orange Walk Town, one with flowers, maybe for his mother or a sweetheart. Awww…

And th-th-that’s all, folks.

Great expectations

We’ve had two years to get a lot of ideas about Belize; even so, we’ve tried to be open-minded and just accept people and places as they show themselves to us here – in other words, explore the place without preconceived ideas.

Except, apparently, for Placencia.

We clearly had expectations there – in hindsight now, pretty specific expectations, even. We hadn’t really ever spelled them out to each other, but it seems we both had the idea that the Placencia peninsula was going to be sort of like the Upper Florida Keys, or maybe even the narrowest parts of the Cape Canaveral/Cocoa Beach barrier islands. In other words, a fairly wide piece of land, with a main road where you can sometimes see the water on both sides, and where along the way, you’d see single family homes, resorts and restaurants, and some condo developments, too.

Maya Beach was like that, except that its widest spot is only 1/2 mile wide – so while technically there’s a beach side and a lagoon side, neither takes up all that much real estate (the beach is narrower than its opposite).

The next town south, Seine Bight, is a traditional Garifuna village (that’s pronounced with emphasis on the first syllable, like Griff-fin-ah, not Gare-i-foon-ah). There are a few resorts here but mostly it’s home to about 1000 villagers, who live in what most Americans would consider sub-standard housing. To us, it was a very have/have not moment on the heels of Maya Beach. Yet, like most places we’ve been to in Belize, the village felt relaxed and the people seemed happy.

The Placencia airport is interesting. The coastal road curves around the runway, so there are barricades on either side of the curve to halt traffic when a plane is coming in or taking off. We hoped we would see one during a run back and forth, but no such luck.

By this point, the peninsula is truly truly narrow – much thinner than we anticipated. By the time you actually get to Placencia Village, you can practically throw a stone from one side to the other.

The village has the kinds of  quirky restaurants and shops you often find in tropical towns, and the sidewalk that runs all through town is interesting, with its colorful directional signs pointing the way to various venues. At the same time, though, it’s an actual village where people live, with a population of about 1000 Belizeans (typically Garifuna and Mayans) and others. That’s a lot of people and activity to stuff into that kind of space, which might explain why our overwhelming sense was of congestion bordering on claustrophobia, even on an early Saturday morning with nothing much going on.

We’d heard so many good things about the place; why weren’t we feeling it? We decided to go back to the hotel in Maya Beach for the rest of the day and come back that evening to give it another try – which we did, stopping off at a few spots as we walked through town again, and we still felt like Jeff Probst on Survivor: “I got nothing for ya. Go back to camp.”

I’m surprised to be saying it, but there’s my thoughts on Placencia. I’m guessing we’ll go back again at some point, and who knows, maybe without our own hype to get in our way. we’ll enjoy it more then.