Weekend Tourist

Last Saturday dawned bright and dry and I decided to take a boat to Ambergris Caye, the main tourist destination in Belize.



San Pedro is the honeypot for tourists; it's developed, it's commercialised, and it's none the worse for that.



I enjoyed my day there immensely, wandering round pleasant shops, dabbling in a spot of retail therapy (bliss), relaxing over a proper coffee (oh joy), and dining under a swaying palm by the beach. My lunch of jerk shrimp with cucumber and carrot salad and pineapple dressing was just delicious, and with a bottle of lager and a handsome tip my bill came to less than a tenner.



Oddly, you can eat out on good food very reasonably, but supermarket food prices are quite high, for instance a packet of bran flakes is about four quid.



I met a young American who was selling timeshares, and he helped me through the minefield of buying a local cell phone. I'd been anxious to get one as using my Orange contract mobile phone has been costing me a fortune. How I wish I was technologically competent and could use Skype!



Travelling alone is a wonderful opportunity for people watching, and on a boat is best. You can hide behind your shades and study your 50 or so fellow passengers at leisure.



There will be the inevitable European or American backpackers, unshaven and dressed like tramps, struggling under impossibly huge and heavy state of the art rucksacks (and that's just the girls). You'll probably also have a couple of American tourists (active senior citizens) in shorts and sensible footwear with camcorders and expensive digital cameras.



Your other companions will be Belizeans, some of them distinct representatives of different

ethnic groups, others a glorious mix of different ethnicity. Elaborate hairstyles are popular; cornrows, braids, dreadlocks, the slick-gel look etc; and bold jewellery is favoured by many. Clothing in the main is either white or bright. Although you'll occasionally see an older person in what I assume to be traditional Mayan dress, you'll more often see American fake designer jeans and tshirts, mostly tight-fitting and figure-hugging.



For a country the size of Wales Belize has a remarkably mixed cultural background. Pay attention now while I give you some facts and figures.



The largest ethnic group, which makes up nearly 50% of the population, are the mestizos, descended from American Indians and early Spanish settlers.



Creoles, descended from Africans brought to the West Indies as slaves and early white settlers, make up nearly a quarter of the population.



The Maya account for about 11%, the Garifuna(descended from shipwrecked and escaped African slaves) number just over 6%, and East Indians (descended from indentured labourers) form about 3% of the population.



Another significant group is the white Mennonites, (4%) who to me resemble the Amish, and have revolutionised farming methods in Belize.



The total population of Belize is around 295,000, and in addition to the groups mentioned already there is a small percentage of Chinese and Taiwanese, and a growing number of Central American immigrants, refugees from war and poverty.



Luckily, English is the official language of Belize (formerly British Honduras), and I haven't met anyone yet who doesn't understand me. Spanish is widely spoken, and the most common language is Creole. I love to hear the lilting sounds of Creole being spoken, which is quite often, because if two Belizeans get together they immediately lapse into it. The words sound familiar, but strangely you can't just quite grasp what's being said.



I seem to have drifted of my subject, the weekend tourist, and getting back to my theme, I wonder what my fellow passengers thought of me?



Bye for now.



Viv