BELIZE - GLIMPSES OF THE COUNTRY

We left Chetumal across the Rio Hondo - the border between Mexico and Belize - in a convoy of small vans. Stamping of passports and passing Customs was not too bad at the border. From there we drove through the casino area of Corozal and sugar cane and orange plantation countryside. A lot of Spanish spoken in this area.

Corozal was named after the Spanish name for the large cohune palm trees found in the region.

To get to our Jungle Boat trip boarding point on the New River we went through the town of Orange Walk.

Along the way, we saw all these curious flags in many houses. It turns out they had had a sharply contested election in February and the Prime Minister had been removed from office in the process. Each party has its own flag.
This poster warns Musa, the current Prime Minister for the last 10 years, that the town of Tower Hill is ready to challenge him at the elections. Notice the written pidgin English. Tower Hill has one of the sugar mills that we passed along the way to the New River. The mill processes raw cane from January to June.

A surprise to us was to find these Mennonite agricultural settlements in Belize.

Mennonites keep their culture and beliefs but also contribute to the commerce, carpentry, engineering, and agriculture of Belize. The Mennonites emerged during the Radical Reformation of the 16th century in Northern Europe. They were persecuted for their beliefs, particularly their refusal to pay land taxes or support the military, and migrated from Holland to Germany and finally to Prussia as well as the Americas. Their dialect is an archaic mix of Dutch and German. It has persisted for 400 years and is still spoken in the Mennonite communities of Belize.
These are Mennonite young people enjoying the river.

About 3,000 Mennonites relocated to Belize in 1959 along the Rio Hondo (and now the New River) in search of freedom of religion and freedom to do their own thing. They signed a special agreement with the Belize Government which exempt them from military service and certain forms of taxation and guarantees them complete freedom to practice their own distinctive form of Protestantism and farm within their closed communities. They also have their own form of local government and run their own schools, banks, and businesses. Our Belizean guides told us that they have agreed NOT to export any of their production in exchange for their special exemptions.

This is an exceptionally nice house in partial state of construction. Because of hurricanes, most houses in Belize and Eastern Mexico are built using reinforced concrete. The country looks poor. Most houses are in various states of crumbling or reconstruction.

Kids play with a soccer ball people walk among buildings.
This is a pretty nice school. A Spanish language sign in front says that it is a gift from the people of Mexico to the People of Belize. Notice the Belizean blue flag with red top and bottom borders and the Mexican flag in the mural.
School kids wear uniforms and walk to bus stops.
Sugar cane appears to be one of the main agricultural crops. Here is a semi heavily loaded with sugar cane.
Fruit picking - mainly oranges and bananas are another source of work.

The Mormons have been proselytizing in Central America since 1952. Their web site says they have between 1200 and 1300 converts in Belize.

The Book of Mormon tells of three principal migrations of small groups of people who traveled, by boat, during Old Testament times to America. These travelers and their descendants included the Jaredites, Nephites, Lamanites, and the descendants of Mulek also known as Mulekites. Mormons believe that Native Americans and the Maya are the Lamanites.

In the Book of Mormon, Lamanites are described as having a "skin of blackness" caused by God's curse on the descendants of Laman for their wickedness and corruption.

We saw a number of Mormon churches in the Yucatan, and a fantastic Mormon shrine in Veracruz.