Drinks
Delicious and refreshing fruit juices - lime, orange, watermelon, grapefruit, papaya and mango - are available throughout Belize. 'Seaweed shakes' sold by street vendors - a blend of condensed milk, a few spices and extract of Eucheuma isoforme, which grows underwater as a tangle of yellow branches - are claimed to have aphrodisiac and many other restorative properties. In recent years, Belize has started catering to coffee drinkers with its own homegrown beans. Although Belize lacks the high...
Drummedout Dangriga
In bygone days Dangriga was known for spontaneous explosions of Garifuna drumming, not merely around festivals such as Garifuna Settlement Day or Dia de los Reyes p222 , but also ad hoc gatherings in parks, on the beach or on the street. This seems to be happening less and less outside of festival times, according to local drum-making legend Austin Rodriguez opposite . 'Dangriga got kind of drummed out a few years back. Nowadays the kids seem lazier.' This might be the case, or it might be that...
Travel Literature
Belizean character Emory King wrote Hey Dad, This is Belize and I Spent it All in Belize. They are not exactly travel books, but more collections of amusing and insightful articles on the many quirks of a country that King has been chronicling since he bumped into it after being shipwrecked one night in 1953. Bruce Barcott is a contributing editor for Outside magazine and an author. His latest book, The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw One Woman's Fight to Save the World's Most Beautiful Bird,...
Orientation Information Upc
PG spreads along the Gulf of Honduras, its downtown area stretching lazily for several blocks just in from the coast. The airport is on Earth Runnins' 18 C1 Emery Restaurant 19 D1 D1 C1 Hang Cheong Restaurant 22 B2 C2 Marian's Bayview Restaurant 24 B3 Snack Shack 25 C2
Tours Pdz
Hopkins is handily placed for day trips to some of southern Belize's top natural attractions. Cockscomb Basin p235 is the most popular inland trip tours usually include early morning walks to see birds and nature, followed by a waterfall hike and a river-tube float. Other good trips are to Mayflower Bocawina National Park p229 and Gales Point Manatee pi 15 . All these cost around BZS80 to BZS120 per person, usually with a three- or four-person minimum. Two excellent local guides for boating...
Water Sports
Like Dangriga and Placencia, Hopkins is a fine place from which to access some of Belize's best dive sites. The barrier reef is less than a 40-minute boat ride away, and Glover's Reef is about 1 hours away. Diving can be arranged at Hamanasi Dive amp Adventure Resort p234 . Hamanasi and Hopkins Inn p232 offer reef snorkeling trips, as does Noel's Fishing amp Snorkeling 523-7219, 609-1991 , outside the Watering Hole Restaurant. Noel charges two people BZS250 for a day's outing. He also rents...
How The Maya Calendar Worked
The ancient Maya used three calendars. The first was a period of 260 days, known as the Tzolkin, likely based on the nine months it takes for a human fetus to develop prior to birth. Traditionalist Maya priests still undergo a 260-day period of training before they are 'reborn' as priests worthy to interpret the ancient calendar on behalf of petitioners. The second Maya calendar system was a solar year of 365 days, called the Haab. Both the Tzolkin and Haab were measured in endlessly repeating...
pop Ezz
In days of old, pirates and British sailors would stop and fill their casks with water from Fresh Water Creek in Silk Grass nowadays, the community has another attraction for travelers. MU'IM Crocodile Isle 661-1559,614-3328 www .belizecrox.com admission BZ 10, tents per person BZ 10 S 8am-dusk is a 100-acre solar-powered bird and crocodile sanctuary that also happens to be a backpacker's paradise, with one of the best little restaurant-bars in all of Belize. The brainchild of an Australian...
Spanish Creek Wildlife Sanctuary
Several miles past the Community Baboon Sanctuary sits this amazingly pristine 5900-acre sanctuary managed by the Rancho Dolores Environmental and Development Group RDEDG 220-2191 . Another of Belize's protected areas, Spanish Creek Wildlife Sanctuary is part of the biological corridor that runs through much of the nation, allowing once-highly endangered animals such as howler monkeys and pumas to roam and breed. The sanctuary runs 5 miles along the length of the Spanish Creek beginning by the...
Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary
Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary Map p90 s 820-3032 www.monkeybaybellze.org Mile 31V2 Western Hwy camping per person BZ 15, tent rental BZ 6, bunkhouses per person BZ 25, cabanas per person BZ 35 P D is a wildlife sanctuary and environmental education center offering lodging and activities for casual travelers, as well as internship activities for those with a more long-term interest in Belize see opposite . Established in the 1980s by Matthew and Marga Miller, the 1,7-sq-mile sanctuary stretches...
Recommended Vaccinations
Since most vaccines don t produce immunity until at least two weeks after they re given, visit a physician four to eight weeks before departure. Ask your doctor for an International Certificate of Vaccination also known as a yellow booklet , which will list all the vaccinations you ve received. This is mandatory for countries that require proof of yellow-fever vaccination upon entry, but it s a good idea to carry it wherever you travel. Note that some of the recommended vaccines are not...