Small Business Struggles in Belize
NOTICE: I have amended this from the original post, as the issue has been resolved honourably with the Facebook page in question. However I think it is good to leave it up in some form, so that people become more…
ruth
Hard-Work and Hammocks: Belize Work Culture
Some visitors to Belize may leave with the illusion that many of its residents are, shall we say, under-worked. Stores that close for two-hour lunch breaks, people lounging around in hammocks in the middle of the day, people that extend…
A Chronology of Muddy Walks
Things have moved on…I have graduated from daily chicken bus runs to the Belizean “Banana Belt” to monthly muddy walks to Machakilha Mayan village, and our drum school has been promoted from a small, cluttered spare bedroom in a rented…
Observations from A Belizean Bus
I spend four hours a day, five days a week sitting on a Belizean bus on the commute between my home town of Punta Gorda and the “banana belt” villages where I work. If it wasn’t for my finely honed…
Belize time – I’ll do it right now….
Since moving to Belize, if I need something done urgently, and someone tells me they’ll do it “right now”, I get an uncanny sinking feeling in my stomach. In Belize time, “right now” can be roughly translated as meaning “at…
Better step back cos I might pee on you!
So concludes the sign in front of one of the tapirs at Belize Zoo… I recommend everyone that comes to Belize visits the Zoo, because it’s great fun, the animals are all in their natural habitat, there is no…
What’s in a name?
Considering the name of my husband, I feel an entry on the general inventiveness of Belizean names is apt. There is no McDonald’s restaurant in Belize (in fact there are no chains at all), and so Ray has not suffered…
Shilling Chips and Sweets
Being a former British colony and a current close neighbour to the USA seems to have caused some interesting idiosyncrasies in Belize. For several months when I arrived, I wondered whether Belize used British or American spelling. I would see…
Royal Rat – A Vexing Meal? Kriol, the language of Belize
While English maybe the official language, Kriol, the language of Belize, is the real language. Based on English, but with its own grammar system, and lots of other words thrown in, on first coming here, you will probably understand 50-70%…
Black man lay the pipe: Belize race relations
“Spanish man build the house, Chiney man cook the food, White man pay the bills, Black man lay de pipe!” Immortal words from a song of Belizean punta rock super star, Supa G. “Hey, Blondie!” I keep walking, aware of…