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BELIZE FIRST MAGAZINE

"THE NUMBER 1 MAGAZINE ON TRAVEL AND LIFE
ON THE CARIBBEAN COAST"

VOLUME III, NO. 1  (RELEASED SEPTEMBER 1995)

ON-LINE TEXT EDITION

COPYRIGHT 1995 BY LAN SLUDER.   ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Graphical on-line e-zine edition and traditional
magazine edition with maps and photos also available.
Contact Belize First for details.

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BELIZE FIRST is your guide to travel and life in
Belize and the rest of the Caribbean Coast of Central
America and Mexico.   We publish the leading travel
writers and reporters covering the region (in fact, we
generally pay more for articles than the Chicago
Tribune!)

Belize First presents candid, independent views,
always putting the READER first.

Regular features include:

Ñ  Latest news from Belize and the Caribbean Coast

Ñ  Candid critiques of hotels and lodges from readers
and friends (who get a free pound of fresh-roasted
Central American coffee when their reviews are
printed)

Ñ  Living, working and retiring in Belize and other
English-speaking areas of the Caribbean Coast

Ñ  Buying land or a house in Belize

Ñ  Eco-traveling in the rain forests and bush of
Belize

Ñ  Diving and snorkeling around Belize's atolls and
barrier reef

Ñ  Visiting Mayan sites in Belize, Honduras, Guatemala
and Mexico

Ñ  And more ... in 100+ fact-filled pages in every
issue


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IN THIS ISSUE

SPECIAL REPORT:

## Belize's South

Undiscovered. Cheap.  Wild. Beautiful.

Sunrise in Placencia by Phil Lanier Ñ Toledo & PG by
Harry Pariser Ñ A Night in San Miguel by Peggy Bond
Arbanas Ñ Kayaking the Southern Cayes by Randy
Stafford and Deirdre Crommie  Ñ  Real Estate in
Southern Belize


## Electronic Belize

How to visit Belize on the Internet and on-line
networks by Lan Sluder

## In the Days of British Honduras

Two recollections:  By Neil L. Fraser and Jane B.
Hanrahan


## Three Top Lodges:  Chan Chich, Blancaneaux, Chaa
Creek -- Compared and Rated by Lan Sluder

## Road Watch:  1995 Update on the Roads of Belize by
Lan Sluder

DEPARTMENTS:

Letters to the Editor

Opinion:  The Roads South

News of Belize:  In Case You Missed It

Of Interest:  Coffee in Belize

Quik Guide to Investment in Belize

Real Estate Available in Belize

Hotel Update:  Readers Report Candidly on Hotels

Recommended Hotels in Belize



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BELIZE FIRST:  Your Guide to Travel and Life on the
Caribbean Coast

LAN SLUDER

Editor and Publisher

BELIZE FIRST is published quarterly in Asheville,
North Carolina,  by Equator Travel Publications, Inc.,
280 Beaverdam Road, Candler, NC  28715  USA.  Fax 704-
667-1717.  E-mail:  Internet,
[e-mail] or [e-mail];
CompuServe, 74763,2254;  America On-Line, LSluder374;
Prodigy, VFJC51A.


Mail subscription rates US$29 or BZ$58 a year in North
America and Belize, US$45 a year in other countries.
The mail edition is complete with maps, photos, art
and other information not contained in the on-line
text editions.  (Paper edition printed on recycled
paper.)

Electronic editions of BELIZE FIRST are available on
CompuServe, America On-Line, the Internet and some
private electronic bulletin boards.


⌐  Copyright 1995. All rights reserved under
international and Pan-American copyright conventions.

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EDITORIAL

THE ROADS SOUTH

OPINION

By LAN SLUDER

If you haven't been on the Hummingbird Highway
recently, you're in for a treat.  Other than the first
19-mile section from Belmopan, unreconstructed still,
and a couple of other brief bone-jarring blips, the
old road to Dangriga is wonderful.  Technically,  I
suppose,   from Middlesex village south it's the Stann
Creek Basin Highway.  But whatever the name, and from
a marketing view "The Hummingbird" is a stroke of
genius, the equal of "Going to the Sun" in Glacier
National Park or "Sunshine Skyway" in Florida,   it's
wonderful.   The highway is a pleasure to drive.   It
offers some of the most-beautiful scenery in all of
Belize.

More than that, it is another step in opening Belize's
South to the rest of Belize. And to the world.

Southern Belize -- let's call it part of Cayo, part of
Belize and all of Stann Creek and Toledo districts --
is in many ways the future of the country.  It has
some of Belize's  most-scenic geography, richest farm
lands, best coastal beaches, most-important Maya
sites, hardest-working people, and least-expensive
real estate.  There's the opportunity for a deep-water
port, and plenty of land for an international airport.

From the perspective of tourists to Belize, the South
rates 110 on the Paradise Potenti-O-Meter.   Visitors
say it has eye-appeal.  It seems pretty safe.  It has
turquoise water and great diving and snorkeling.  It
has the Maya Mountains.  It has wild fauna and lush
flora. You can dance to it.  All it needs now is the
tourism infrastructure of hotels and restaurants.  And
an easy way to get there.

Already you can see a lot of new development in Seine
Bight and elsewhere on the Placencia peninsula.    The
coast around Hopkins and Sittee Point is poised for
explosive tourism and residential growth.  Investors
are coming south and they're bringing their wallets.

Even -- dare I say it? --  to Punta Gorda.    For so
long one could not even remark about poor PG  what is
said of neighboring Guatemala, that it is so far from
God and so close to the United States, for PG was
close to nowhere.   But, if and when the Southern
Highway is finally surfaced, PG may at last see a boom
not only in tourism but also in agricultural and
industrial development.

The keys are the completion of the Hummingbird
resurfacing project, the upgrading of the Manatee/New
Coastal Highway and,  most important of all, the
paving of the Southern Highway.

The Southern Highway remains the broken leg of Belize.
It's long.  It's dusty.  If it's not dusty, it's
muddy.  It's rough.  It's lonely.  Turning this gravel
butt-buster into a first-class highway will totally
reshape the usable geography of Belize.

Once those long-awaited projects are fully funded and
finished,  the South will be completely connected.
Then, watch it become a major player in Belize's
economy and a new destination for the world.

///Lan Sluder is editor and publisher of BELIZE FIRST.

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WHAT TO EXPECT FROM BELIZE FIRST

As a reader of  BELIZE FIRST, you have a right to know
what we stand for:

1.  To put you, the reader, first.  Not advertisers,
not the subjects of our stories.  But YOU.

2.  To cover the entire spectrum of travel and life in
Belize and the Caribbean Coast, that hard-to-define
but unique region of Central America and Mexico,  and
beyond, stretching along the tropical edges of the
Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.

3.  To promote the region as a desirable place to
live.

4.  To publish the best writing about Belize and the
Caribbean Coast.

5.  To work for the economic betterment of Belize and
the other areas of the Caribbean Coast.

6.  To promote sustainable, responsible, ecologically
sensitive tourism in this wonderful and still little-
known region.

7.  To work to make the region safer for both citizens
and travelers alike.

8.  To provide candid, independent reporting without
any hidden agenda  ╤ we have no connection with any
political party or ideology, or to any business or
other group.

9.  To avoid any interference with the internal
affairs of Belize or any other country in the region.

10. To work  to provide more opportunity for
Belizeans, and the citizens of other countries in the
region, to manage their own affairs and to benefit
from the investment of their own time and money.

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LETTERS, FAXES, E-MAIL TO THE EDITOR

BELIZE FIRST welcomes letters to the editor.  Send
them to BELIZE FIRST, 280 Beaverdam Road, Candler, NC
28715 USA,  fax to 704-667-1717 or e-mail them via the
Internet to [e-mail].    Letters are
subject to editing for brevity or clarity.  Please
include your address and telephone number.

To the Editor:

I am writing in response to a recent edition (Vol. II,
No. 3) of Belize First, in which you featured an
assessment of the Seaside Guest House in Belize City.
I was not only surprised by your negative review, but
bewildered about your reasons for featuring a place
which you do not appear to want to recommend rather
than somewhere that you think is good.

I obviously do not know whether your reviewers think
reasonable budget accommodations should include shag
pile carpets, spa baths and room service, but my
experiences as a regular guest at the Seaside have
always been pleasant.  Of course, it╒s simple.  I only
pay US$8 a night, but it is clean, cosy and friendly,
and the renovated two-story house with verandahs,
hammocks and orchids has a lot of character.  If this
is what your reviewers consider to be barely passable,
I would love to take them on a tour of some of the
other budget hotels I have stayed at.

If the accommodation cannot be recommended, why
feature it at all?  It would be much more useful to
read about somewhere that is considered to be a good
place to stay.  As a journalist, I╒m fully aware that
it is much easier to write a negative review than a
positive one, but the reputation of your publication
would be enhanced if you ensured your reviewers╒
assessments were fair and reasonable.  In the case of
the Seaside, it clearly was not, and now I will always
have doubts about the rest of the information you
provide.

Deborah Muir
San Ignacio, Cayo District
Belize

To the Editor:

Recently a guest brought to my attention the issue
which has a reader comment in the Hotel Update section
on the Seaside Guest House. Everybody who has visited
Belize recently knows that the Seaside is the ╥best
all around╙ guesthouse in the budget category.

The report by Chuck and Jeanne Thistlewaite relative
to the Seaside has many errors:

(1) Prices ╤US$8 (not $10) for a bed in the seven-bed
dormitory, not bunkhouse.  We don╒t have a bunkhouse.
The cost of the triple is US$25, not $30 as stated.

(2) Permits ╤ they state that we ╥have obtained
permits to serve meals and sell beer for on-site
consumption but none of this was available when we
visited.╙  At that time (October 1994, just 90 days
after our purchase of the Seaside), we had applied
for permits, not obtained them as they stated.
Anyone familiar with Belize knows that applying for a
permit and obtaining one is a quite different matter.
For that reason, food and drink was not available at
the time of their visit. Of course, by now we have
indeed obtained the necessary permits and sell beer,
soft drinks, juices and serve breakfast.

They go on to mention that the walls are plywood
partitions. In fact, there is not one sheet of plywood
in the entire building.  I don╒t know where they got
that notion.

We have continued to upgrade the building and will
continue to do so. It is owned by Friends Services
International, a Quaker service organization and is
operated on a non-profit basis. The management is here
on a voluntary unpaid basis. Only Belizean staff are
paid.

My real concern,  though,  is with your publication.
Despite your stated objectives in the front of your
magazine, I feel that to publish un-verified
information full of errors raises serious questions
about the integrity of the publication and the
reliability of any of the information contained
therein. The more than 2,000 satisfied guests which
have come through in the past year continue to send us
other guests from around the world and many have
returned for second and third visits themselves.

John Self
Chief Executive Director
Friends Services International, Inc.
Director, FSI Project Belize

From the Editor:  The Update section is a collection
of first-person reports from readers, based on their
recent personal experiences.  What pleases one
traveler may not please another.  Opinions expressed
in this section, as in the  Letters to the Editor
section,  are those of the reviewers and do not
necessarily reflect those of BELIZE FIRST.  For
example, in past issues we have included Seaside in
our listing of recommended hotels in Belize City.
BELIZE FIRST does verify statements of fact.  However,
in the case of hotel tariffs we take the figures
provided by the reviewer at face value, since actual
rates paid vary tremendously based on time of year,
length of stay, the hotel╒s occupancy level, and the
bargaining ability of the guest.  We invite additional
comments on the Seaside Guest House and all other
hotels in Belize from readers who have stayed there
recently.  As always, BELIZE FIRST will continue to
report as candidly as we can on all aspects of life
and travel in Belize, for the benefit of our readers.

To the Editor:

For more than a decade I have been specializing in
travel to Belize and Costa Rica.  And as you can
imagine, I receive pounds of mail about Belize ╤
magazines, newspapers, newsletters and brochures from
hotels, etc.  NEVER in 10 years have I come across a
publication as good as yours!

Dyanne Kruger
Imagine Travel Alternatives
Burton, Washington

To the Editor:

As the travel season approaches for visits to Belize,
a gentle reminder to kind travelers:  Do no harm as
you pass through this beautiful place. Resist the
temptation to purchase items made from endangered
species, flora and fauna. Particularly disturbing is
the availability of jaguar╒s teeth. Don╒t fool
yourself by thinking that since it╒s already dead, no
harm is done. If you purchase the tooth, another
jaguar will be killed to replace your purchase. Black
coral and tortoise shell are also from endangered
species.  There are many other ways to support the
local economy.
Belize is a small country.  Take as little trash as
possible, and consider bringing your trash home with
you (yes, even cigarette butts).  With consideration
and thought we can protect Belize for future
generations,  hers and ours.

Fran Dwight
Kalamazoo, Michigan


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IN  CASE YOU MISSED IT:  NEWS FROM BELIZE

INTERNET COMES TO BELIZE  Belize Telecommunications,
Ltd., the Belize phone company in which the large U.S.
telecommunications company MCI now holds a 25% stake,
has announced it is building an Internet access
network in Belize.  This system will allow local
access to the Internet and points beyond from Belize
City, Cayo, Corozal, San Pedro, Belmopan and many
other population centers in Belize.  The network is
expected to be operational in September.   BTL also
introduced voice mail, available to BTL subscribers
beginning in September.   Stay tuned for details.

NEW VAT TAX FOR BELIZE   A new Value Added Tax of up
to 15% is scheduled to go into effect April 1, 1996.
The VAT, terms and even the amount of which have not
been finalized, is designed to offset a planned
reduction in import taxes.  Import duties are supposed
to be reduced over the next three years to a maximum
of 20%.  Also, the Gross Revenues Tax and the Stamp
Tax are to be eliminated.  VAT is a tax on consumers
imposed in stages as goods are produced or change
hands.   Belize does not presently have a sales tax,
except on hotel stays.   Hotels likely would be
included in the VAT, adding to the burden of the hotel
tax and service charges already paid by visitors.
Only two countries in Central and North America
currently do not have a VAT:  Belize and the United
States.

HOTEL TAX GOES TO 7% in September countrywide, from
6%.  The extra 1% is to be used to fund tourism police
in Belize City.

NOW SAME-DAY AIR SERVICE FROM ENGLAND  Thanks to
changes in schedules, travelers from Britain can now
get to Belize City from London, and vice-versa,  in
one day, without the expense and hassle of an
overnight in Miami.   Travel between the two locations
-- via British Air on the leg to/from either Heathrow
or Gatwick to/from Miami, and TACA to/from Belize City
-- should take less than 15 hours.  British Air also
has upgraded it first class and business class lounge
at Miami International.

COURTS, BRODIES OPEN NEW STORES  Courts Furniture, a
U.K. chain with stores in other parts of the
Caribbean,  has opened on North Front Street in Belize
City.  Courts features furniture made in Belize and
other household items.   Brodies' new "suburban" store
is at Mile 2 1/2 of the Northern Highway.

BUGS IN U.S. EMBASSY  The American Embassy in Belize
City has been fumigated  for termites -- reportedly
the first "tenting" treatment in Belize history.  The
expensive gassing process was carried out by the
international division of a U.S. exterminating
company.

ATMs NOW AVAILABLE IN BELIZE  Both Belize-based banks,
Atlantic Bank and Belize Bank, have introduced
Automatic Teller Machines, as have Barclays Bank and
the Bank of Nova Scotia.  At present, ATM machines are
operating only in Belize City.

OFFICIAL UNEMPLOYMENT IN BELIZE OVER 12%  The Central
Statistical Office of Belize, in its twice-a-year
survey,  announced that unemployment nationwide in
Belize was 12.1% in April, up from 10.9% in 1994.  The
highest unemployment rate is in Toledo District, at
20.5%,  and lowest in Orange Walk District, at 5.1%.
Some observers believe the actual unemployment rate in
Belize may be higher than the official rate.

MBE TO MAYA HEALER  Don Elijio Panti is scheduled to
receive the title Member of the British Empire in an
upcoming Royal ceremony.  The world-famous traditional
healer celebrated his 104th birthday July 15.

REEF ROAMER II REEF WRECK NETS BAD PR FOR BELIZE  The
June capsizing of  the 50' live-aboard  dive boat Reef
Roamer II off a cut near Caye Caulker has resulted in
considerable bad publicity for Belize.  One of the
nine passengers on board the former shrimp boat
happened to be Paul B. Carroll, Mexico City bureau
chief of the Wall Street Journal.   In a column  in
the August 2 issue of the Journal, which reaches more
than two million high-income readers in North America,
Carroll alleged that the wreck resulted from errors by
the captain, who he said missed an obvious channel
through the barrier reef and then turned sharply,
exposing the boat to waves which, due to a problem
with weight distribution, knocked it over.   Carroll
charged that the captain had earlier in the trip
rammed the reef and also got the Roamer II stuck on
it.  Carroll said that the accident put nine divers
and four crew in serious danger.  In the column,
Carroll also wrote that the Reef Roamer II had gone
down twice before.  A photo found later in the dive
shop showing the Roamer II underwater had a caption
which read "Dive the boat that dives with you,"
according to Carroll.  Once rescued, Carroll said he
found available medical care on Ambergris "awful " and
that the dive operator was "slow" at covering losses
on dive equipment.  He also alleged bags returned to
the divers were "looted" by local Belizeans.  The
Roamer II has since been towed back to San Pedro,
missing its superstructure.

SEA LICE   Jellyfish larvae which cause skin rashes
and itching have been a problem for divers and some
swimmers and snorkelers all along the Belize reef.
Sea lice have plagued much of the Caribbean Coast of
the Yucatan and Central America this year.

STAR SYSTEM FOR HOTELS  The Belize government wants to
begin rating hotels on a star system.  Hotel operators
are going along with the idea, thinking that it's
better to do it themselves than to let the government
do it.  A sticking point is how to rate jungle lodges
and other inns which do not have traditional hotel
amenities.

LOBSTER CATCH UP  Opening day of the lobster season
June 16 saw a record catch of 6,370 pounds around
Ambergris Caye by the local co-op, and indications are
that the harvest in the cayes will be better than in
recent years.

NEW HOTELS  The surge of new hotel development
continues in Belize.  Among new properties under
construction or recently opened are:  French Quarter
Belize and Blue Parrot in Seine Bight, with another
unnamed inn also under construction; Jaguar Reef Lodge
near Sittee Point;  Casablanca in Consejo Shores (Don
Quixote and Adventure Inn have closed, however);  Five
Sisters Lodge in the Mountain Pine Ridge near
Blancaneaux;   numerous small inns and hotels in San
Ignacio; and the Villas at Banyan Bay, Chateau Caribe
and other condo/resort projects on Ambergris.  Site
preparation is under way at Barry Bowen's Gallon Jug
on a more-deluxe sister property to Chan Chich.  Chaa
Creek is also attempting to segment the visitor market
with a tent camp-style facility one-half mile down
river from Chaa Creek Cottages to be called Macal
River Adventure Centre.

LATEST SCANDAL:  TAIWANESE INVADE BELIZE    As many as
10,000 Taiwanese have been granted residency or
citizenship in Belize since 1989, according to reports
in Belize newspapers.    Following the resignation of
Minister of Human Resources Phillip Goldson as head of
the Immigration and Nationality Department, and the
firing of two senior officers in the department in
June, figures have been flying on the number of new
residency permits issued to Taiwanese and others, both
under the current UDP and former PUP regimes.  Almost
17,000 individuals, a majority of them from Taiwan,
have been granted permanent residency in Belize since
1989.  The Immigration Department reportedly approved
more than 2,000 permanent visas for Taiwanese
nationals in the first five months of 1995, and
hundreds in the month of May alone.   In many cases,
the recipients of these residency cards reportedly
have never visited Belize.  To help clean up the mess,
the government has transferred the Immigration and
Nationality Department to the Foreign Affairs Ministry
and Merlene Martinez has been named the department's
new director.  At least 25,000 aliens also have come
into Belize in recent years from other Central
American countries, most crossing borders illegally.

RAOUL╒S ROSE GARDEN CLOSED   The famous brothel near
the international airport is dark, a victim in part of
the British Defence Forces departure from Belize.

CAMEL TROPHY:  HELP OR HYPE?  The Mundo Maya Camel
Trophy teams which motored about Belize in May and
June have been praised as bringing world attention to
the country.  But Camel Trophy also has been
criticized for being 99% public relations and only 1%
a real sporting event.  Others note it indirectly
promotes cigarettes, although Camel Trophy is
sponsored by a corporate division which markets Camel
clothes,  not tobacco.   Land Rover also sponsors
Camel Trophy.   Belize Department of Fisheries
spokespeople also objected to Camel Trophy organizers
serving lobster tails to more than 500 dinner guests
at Xunantunich, at a time when lobster season in
Belize was closed.   For the record, a team from the
Czech Republic won this year's event.  The countries
which hosted the Trophy,  Belize, Guatemala, El
Salvador, Honduras and Mexico, did not have teams
participating in the event.

CRUISE SHIPS DIVIDE TOURISM INDUSTRY   A ╥tourist
village╙ at the old customs warehouse in Belize City
has been proposed,  with a focus on cruise ship
visitors.  Whether or not this plan is approved, the
government appears to be moving ahead on improving the
Belize City port area in ways that will make it more
attractive for cruise operators.  However, most hotel
operators oppose cruise ships in Belize, claiming that
they do not contribute much to the local economy,
presenting more negatives than positives.  Shop
owners, taxi operators, and some tour operators, and
bar and restaurant owners support expanded cruise ship
facilities.

BRUTAL ATTACK ON AMBERGRIS  In May, a little more than
a year after the murder of U.S. citizen and San Pedro
resident Ann Reilly Dines and her British husband in a
late-night attack on the beach in south San Pedro,
another U.S. expat and local resident was brutally
attacked on a dark area of beach in the same area.
Jacqueline Devine, a popular and civic-minded member
of the San Pedro community, was struck from behind as
she walked home in the early evening.  She suffered
two broken arms, a broken wrist, several broken
fingers and a concussion.  Lighting for the beach,
planned after the Dines murders, but never installed,
is at last being put up.    Despite aggressive efforts
by businesses and residents on Ambergris to reduce
crime, some serious incidents continue.  In March, a
U.S. visitor and her 12-year-old daughter were
attacked and robbed near a resort north of San Pedro.

HOTEL OCCUPANCY IS DOWN in Belize City this summer.
Hotels are running specials,  including US$69 for any
room at the Radisson Fort George.  This flagship hotel
is undergoing a major, and much-needed,  renovation.

DENGUE FEVER WORST IN YEARS    More than 40,000 cases
of dengue fever have been reported in Central America.
Dengue fever is a disease which can cause flu-like
symptoms and in some cases internal bleeding.  It is
carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.  El Salvador,
with more than 6,000 cases, has declared a state of
medical emergency.  Thousands of cases have also been
reported in Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala and
elsewhere.  It is thought there have been a few
hundred cases in Belize, mostly in the south.  At
present there is no prevention for dengue fever,
except avoiding mozzie bites.  The usual treatment is
Tylenol or its generic equivalent;  aspirin products
should be avoided, since they thin the blood and more
internal bleeding could occur.




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RAMP ON
TO BELIZE
FROM YOUR PC

By LAN SLUDER

Up-to-date, in-depth and accurate information on
Belize is now as close as your home PC.  Using the
global electronic resources of the Internet,
commercial on-line services such as CompuServe,
Prodigy, America On-Line, Apple╒s e-World and
Microsoft Network,  or private bulletin boards,  you
can research, plan and even book your next trip to
Belize on-line.

With nothing more than your trusty Mac or IBM-compat,
a telephone, a modem and some basic software, you can
read extracts from guidebooks to Belize (or read
BELIZE FIRST Magazine on-line), view color photos,
maps and even video, chat or exchange e-mail with
people in Belize, learn which hotels are good and
which aren╒t, get today╒s weather report from the
Caribbean Coast, find out what real estate is for sale
at what price, skim brochures on Belize resorts, and
then, if you care to,  make your hotel, car and
airline reservations on-line.

Here╒s a comprehensive guide to on-line resources on
Belize.

RATING THE OPTIONS

Here╒s how BELIZE FIRST rates the Internet and the
commercial on-line services in terms of information
about Belize, ease of use, cost, Internet ramping, and
access to/from Belize:

INTERNET  The Internet, especially the Web,  has
plenty of information on Belize, but whether you can
find it and make use of it is another matter.  In many
ways, the Internet remains a passive system, with what
interactivity there is taking place with computer
servers, not people.

Pros:  Tons of information, global e-mail, increasing
access from and to Belize at reasonable cost;  the
Internet, in one form or another,  is really the
future not only of on-line communications but of
publishing.

Cons:  Difficulty navigating the system;   the
increasingly commercialized environment;  low activity
on many newsgroups;  at times it seems one-half the
user base is 19-year-old sophomores at Ohio State;
lack of airline reservation services (an Eaasy Sabre
site is under construction).

Belize Information:   B  (mostly passive, not active)

Overall Travel Information:  A (mostly passive, not
active)

Ease of Use:  C-

Price/Value:   B

Internet Access:  N/A

Trend:  Explosive growth

Access to/from Belize:  D+ (soon to be enhanced with
BTL╒s new Internet network)

COMPUSERVE   CompuServe is the largest commercial on-
line service, with 3.3 million members.  It has an
older, more-affluent and more computer-savvy
membership than the other on-line services.  Its
veteran users also are the most-brand-loyal group on-
line, choosing to stick with CompuServe due to many
auto-programs which allow fast, easy and automated
access to the forums.

Pros:  Tremendous variety of very active forums
(including more than 25 on travel alone);  scores of
information databases;  EaasySabre, Travel Shopper and
Official Airline Guide airline/hotel/car reservation
systems;  sophisticated, high-speed auto access
programs and many high-speed local nodes in the U.S
and around the world (but none in Belize);  extensive
library of Belize information in the Travel Forum,
plus many other travel forums and libraries;  the only
truly global commercial network.

Cons:  Mediocre Internet access, with as yet no built-
in Web browser for Mac;  lack of direct access from/to
Belize, except via Internet systems.

Belize Information:   B+ (active, not passive;  not
commercial)

Overall Travel Information:  A- (active, not passive;
not commercial)

Ease of Use:  B

Price/Value:   B

Internet Access:  C-

Trend:   Sitting on its huge profits,  with mule-like
marketing, H&R Block was in danger of letting the
cyberworld pass its CompuServe unit by.  It recently
claims to have moved to beef up its marketing, adding
hundreds of new employees and increasing its marketing
budget to more than $100 million.

Access to/from Belize:  F

AMERICA ON-LINE  Now with more than 3 million members,
AOL is the fastest-growing commercial service, and the
largest in terms of U.S. membership.

Pros:  Its strengths are in its very easy to use
interface and in its wealth of on-line magazines and
other services, plus excellent libraries of computer
software and decent travel information.   Its Internet
access and Web browser (available now for both Mac and
Windows) are refreshingly easy to use.

Cons:   Its few travel forums are not nearly as active
as those on CompuServe and Prodigy;  it offers no auto
programs for high-seed forum use;  it lacks a global
focus.

Belize Information:   C+

Overall Travel Information:  B-

Ease of Use: A

Price/Value:  B+

Internet Access:  B+

Trend:  Up, though there may be surprises ahead.

Access to/from Belize:  F

PRODIGY  Once the largest commercial on-line network,
Prodigy has stumbled badly, with membership, at 1.6
million,  now only half that of either CompuServe or
AOL.  It╒s owned by IBM and Sears and acts like it.
Unprofitable for most of its life, it remains a klunky
cybersaur trying to figure out how to be a mammal.

Pros:  Easy to use interface;  good Internet access
for Windows.
Cons:  No auto programs for quick access;  no user
travel libraries;  lack of entrepreneurial focus;
membership concentrated in the U.S. only;  lots of
kids who think chat lines are far out.

Belize Information:   C

Overall Travel Information:  C+

Ease of Use: B+

Price/Value:   B

Internet Access:  B (no Mac access yet)

Trend:  Can╒t quite get its act together.

Access to/from Belize:  F

E-WORLD  This Mac-only service was slow out of the
chute and hasn╒t grown much since, with fewer than
100,000 users, although its interface, similar to
America On-Line╒s, is intuitive and friendly.

Belize Information:   D

Overall Travel Information:  C-

Ease of Use: A

Price/Value:   C

Internet Access:  B- (no Windows access)

Trend:  May never achieve critical mass, though
there╒s still hope.

Access to/from Belize:  F

DELPHI   An also-ran, with fewer than 150,000 users.
It emphasizes Internet access but hasn╒t been able to
compete with the major services.

Belize Information:   D

Overall Travel Information:  C-

Ease of Use:  C-

Price/Value:   C-

Internet Access:  B

Trend:  Sideways.

Access to/from Belize:  F

GENIE  Only 75,000 users.  Don╒t even think about it.

Belize Information:   F

Overall Travel Information:  F

Ease of Use:  F

Price/Value:   F

Internet Access:  F

Trend:  Forget it.

Access to/from Belize:  F

MicroSoft Network   Too New to Rate

Trend:  The 800-pound gorilla of new networks.

///Lan Sluder is editor and publisher of BELIZE FIRST.
He co-authored SmartTravel, Total Travel Planning by
Computer, published earlier this year by Ziff-Davis.
His articles on on-line services have appeared widely,
including in the Chicago Tribune, Bangkok Post and
Florida Times-Union. He is a volunteer sysop on the
CompuServe Travel Forum.


@@@@@

THE BEST ON-LINE
STUFF ON BELIZE

Internet

Belize Online:  Commercial but nicely done,
informative and growing Web site.  It╒s endorsed by
the Belize Tourism Industry Association and the Belize
Tourist Board.  The site features travel information
on most areas of Belize, maps, book reviews, a list of
Belize Internet e-mail sites, and ads from hotels,
condos, real estate companies and some other Belize
businesses. Back issues of BELIZE FIRST in text and
hypertext are available on Belize On-Line through hot
links, a way of connecting one Web site to other
points on the Net via hyperlinks.     Its movers and
shakers are Manolo Romero, a Belizean journalist and
former chief information officer for the Belize
government, and Susan and Izzy Garcia, Californians
who say they are planning a move to Ambergris Caye.
Address:  http://www.belize.com

Belize Archaeology:  Information, currently a bit out-
of-date, on the Belize government╒s Department of
Archaeology summer programs.  Address:
http://www.primenet.com/~smudget

Blackbird Caye Resort:  It╒s an ad, but a good and
informative one.  Address:
http://www.travelsource.com/exotic/blackbird.html

WagerNet:  A new twist of gambling, operator Global
Gaming Services, Ltd. says it is the ╥first and only
on-line sports betting site on the Internet.╙
WagerNet, it continues, ╥will provide sports fans a
legal way to bet on sporting events from anywhere in
the world ... 24 hours a day.╙  The actual service is
not available through the Web but requires special
software and hardware to access the server, which is
in Belize.  WagerNet claims a transaction fee of just
2.5% instead of the standard 10% charged by most
bookmakers.  There is a $100 set-up fee.  Address:
http://www.vegas.com/wagernet

Lonely Planet:   Good information about this fine
travel guide publisher, which has several items of
interest to Central America travelers.  Address:
http://www.lonelyplant.com

Moon Publications:  More good information from another
great travel guide publisher.  Address:
http://wwwwww.moon.com

Many travel agents, airlines and tour operators with
information of possible interest to Belize travelers
maintain ad pages on the Web.  Travel magazines such
as CondÄ Nast Traveler have opened Web sites.  Now
they╒re trying to figure out how to make money with
them.

Internet Usenet Newsgroups
Ñ  rec.travel.latin-america, a just-formed newsgroup,
covers travel to South America, Central America,
Mexico and the Caribbean.  For the time being, what
few messages there are about Belize on travel
newsgroups are still often posted on rec.travel.misc.

Ñ soc.culture.caribbean has a membership mostly of
folks from Caribbean islands, but a couple of regulars
are Belizeans.

Ñ  rec.scuba has a few messages on diving in Belize.


CompuServe

Travel Forum:  This very active travel forum headed by
Jerry Schneiderman has a section devoted to Central
America and Mexico.  [A note in the interest of full
disclosure:  BELIZE FIRST Editor and Publisher is
volunteer administrator of this section.]  This is a
global forum with sysops from around the world,
including Hong Kong, Germany, Canada and Switzerland,
as well as from many parts of  the U.S.  Many Belize
guidebook authors and travel writers are members here,
including Lonely Planet╒s prolific Tom Brosnahan,
Moon╒s Joe Cummings, Sanborn╒s Mike Nelson, Paul
Glassman (pioneering Central American travel writer
and author of Belize Guide), and others.  The
permanent electronic library, with some 5,000 files on
travel,  has more than 300 files on Belize and other
parts of Central America, including back issues of
BELIZE FIRST, excerpts from several Belize guides,
and an extensive and popular collection of ╥Hotel
Postcards,╙ first-person reports on hotels in Belize.
The strength of this forum is in its interactivity.
The Internet probably has more, and glitzier, Belize
information, but the information is provided
passively, whereas the Travel Forum on CompuServe
offers many Belize experts who can answer specific
questions and who have contributed files to the forum
library.

Scuba Forum:  There are active Caribbean and
Yucatan/Central America sections.

In addition, CompuServe has some two dozen other
travel-related forums including ones on Mexico and
Caribbean Tourism.
Eaasy Sabre, Travel Shopper and OAG reservation
services.    Through the Ziff-Davis, I-Quest,
Knowledge Index and other databases, CompuServe offers
more access to newspaper and travel magazine articles
and background material than any other service.


America On-Line


Travel Area:   Well-run travel information area
includes a growing Travel Forum with a small but
popular library of  information on Belize (including,
of course, back issues of BELIZE FIRST).   AOL also
has Scuba and other forums of interest to Carribean
Coast travelers.  Eaasy Sabre reservation service
available, and several travel magazines including
Travel/Holiday are on-line.


Prodigy


Travel Forum   This once highly popular forum has seen
tremendous drops in usage over the past two years.  It
still offers good information from a loyal corps of
regulars, albeit its strength is in the U.S., not in
Central America.  Eaasy Sabre reservation service is
available.

@@@@

_______________________________


BELIZE FIRST IS ON THE NET

We're working on an  exciting and colorful new Web
site for BELIZE FIRST, one that offers massive amounts
of candid and non-commercial information on Belize and
the Caribbean Coast.  Watch for it.

In the meantime, there are several ways to access
selected back issues of BELIZE FIRST Magazine in
electronic editions -- in most cases in hypertext but
without maps and photos:
Ñ  Go to Belize Online (http://www.belize.com) and
check the menu for BELIZE FIRST Magazine.

Ñ  Check the Usenet rec.travel newsgroup archives.
These are maintained at several sites including
http://alpha.solutions.net/rec-
travel/central_america/belize/belize-first and also at
http://www.digimark.ca/rec-travel.

Ñ  On CompuServe, check the libraries on the Travel
Forum, Scuba Forum, International Entrepreneurs Forum,
U.K. Forum and elsewhere.

Ñ  On America On-Line, check the library of the Travel
Forum, Scuba Forum and other related forums.

@@@@@@@@

GETTING ON-LINE FROM BELIZE

Until only recently, Belize had no Internet or other
direct on-line connections.  To get on-line from
Belize was difficult and expensive.

Belize Telecommunications, Ltd., the Belize phone
company in which the large U.S.  telecommunications
company MCI now holds a 25% stake, has announced it is
building an Internet access network in Belize.  This
system will allow inexpensive access to the Internet
and points beyond from Belize City, Cayo, Corozal, San
Pedro, Belmopan and many other population centers in
Belize.

The on-line is supposed to go live in September 1995.
Stay tuned for details.

@@@@@@@@


WHICH IS BETTER:

INTERNET OR COMMERCIAL ON-LINE SERVICE?

Which is the better way to access computer information
on Belize -- via the Internet or through one of the
commercial on-line services such as CompuServe or
Microsoft's new Network?  The answer is:  It depends.

The Internet is hot.  It's sexy.  It gets more press
than O.J. Simpson.  The new heartthrob of the
Internet, the World Wide Web, a collection of often-
entertaining and sometimes bizarre "sites" and "home
pages" -- created in a hypertext with color graphics -
- on nearly every subject under the sun, includes
hundreds of files on Belize.   The problem is that the
information is so disorganized, so anarchical and so
confusing that it's difficult to quickly find what
you're looking for.  It's like walking into a library
with books piled randomly around the rooms, without
any one reliable and consistent filing system.  It's
estimated there are 5 million files on the Web, a huge
blob of mostly unstructured information.  A search
using one of the "search engines" developed to
navigate the Web, such as WebCrawler, may turn up many
files on Belize, from obscure scientific reports which
mention Belize in a footnote to back issues of BELIZE
FIRST and Belize Online.
Increasingly, visiting the Web is also analogous to
walking into a big showroom jammed with brochures and
catalogs.  The Web and the entire Internet are
becoming more and more commercial, with thousands of
people trying to sell you something at every
cyberturn.

Despite the hype on interactivity, the Web is a mostly
passive medium.  You interact with a computer, rather
than with real people.

Surfing the Internet isn't always as easy as those TV
ads suggest it is, either.  Access channels are now
more available and simpler to tap, but you still need
an Internet provider, a company or university or on-
line service which in effect "plugs" you into the
Internet, or you can access the Net via a commercial
on-line service.  Looking at Web sites even with a
14.4 bps modem involves long waits as graphics are
transferred, and there are often technical glitches
and freezes.   Costs for the provider can range from
free to the user, in the case of many university and
government sites, to $100 or more a month for high-
speed dedicated access.    To access the Web, you also
need a Web browser, a graphical interface that helps
you move around the Web and other parts of the
Internet.  Netscape is the class act in the field,
although Mosaic is also popular and there are many
others.  Commercial services may offer their own
proprietary Web browsers.
Commercial on-line services, by contrast,  offer an
easier and often-cheaper way to get information.  They
are designed for user friendliness;  if you can use a
word processing program, you can logon and quickly
learn to use the major services such as CompuServe,
AOL or Prodigy.   Information is well-organized.  If
there's information on Belize, you'll be able to find
it.  Access is based on hourly charges of about $1 to
$3.

The commercial on-line services now have about 8.5
million active subscribers.  By the time Network from
Microsoft ramps up by the end of 1995, the total is
expected to be about 11 million.  The Internet is
thought to have as many as 20 to 30 million users.
But these numbers are somewhat misleading.  Many
connected to the Internet use it only for e-mail.
Some have Internet access but never use it, or use it
infrequently.   A large number of Interneters are
college students who are on-line only because their
university gives them free access, whereas most
commercial services attract adult users who actively
choose to pay for access.  Plus, the Internet numbers
include a sizeable portion of the commercial on-line
service membership -- it's not a unique universe.

Indeed, when looking at the activity levels of
commercial on-line forums to those of comparable
forums, called newsgroups,  on the Internet, in most
cases the commercial services have much more traffic
and therefore much more information.  For example, the
main travel forum on CompuServe gets some 30,000
messages posted to the forum each month, far more than
all the usenet travel newsgroups on the Internet
usenet newsgroups combined.  Plus,  CompuServe has
about 25 other travel-related forums, on subjects from
scuba diving to traveling to Italy, with tens of
thousands of messages posted on them each month.

You can have your cybercake and eat it, too.  All of
the major commercial on-line services now are also
ramps to the Internet highway.  So you can use, say,
your CompuServe, AOL or Prodigy membership to access
the Internet and the Web.  At present, Prodigy, AOL
and e-World have the best Internet connections, but
CompuServe is working to beef up its access.  The
commercial services are moving away from text files to
graphical and hypertext files similar to those on the
Web.



@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

THREE TOP JUNGLE LODGES:


Chan Chich, Chaa Creek, Blancaneaux:
Which One is Right for You?

By LAN SLUDER

At the best of Belize╒s jungle lodges, you can spend
the day with the ancient Mayans,  share the night with
jaguars, then awake to a full breakfast of tropical
fruits and fresh-made breads before a bracing swim in
a tropical river or lake.

You╒re in the real bush, far from the echoes of
civilization, not in a manufactured Disneyjungle.  Yet
the beds are thick and comfortable, and the beer is
cold.  The showers roar with plenty of hot water, and
you can drink from the tap, or enjoy a rum-and-tonic
with ice without fearing for your tummy.

Belize has many excellent lodges, among them
duPlooy╒s,  Hidden Valley Inn, Ek╒ Tun, Banana Bank,
Mountain Equestrian Trails, Five Sisters, Pine Ridge
Lodge, Windy Hill,  and Maya Mountain in Cayo, Lamanai
Outpost in Orange Walk,  and Fallen Stones in Toledo.
But few would disagree with rating Chan Chich, Chaa
Creek and Blancaneaux at or near the very top among
lodges in Belize, and for that matter in all of
Central America.

Each of the three offers a unique experience, but they
are all different, with different appeals.  Here╒s a
look at these three special places, with comparisons
to help you decide which is right for you.

Chan Chich Lodge

Chan Chich has been featured  so many times in so many
publications around the world that management is
almost blasÄ about press relations.  ╥Oh, I didn╒t
even know we were in The New York Times,╙  said Josie
Harding, who with her husband, Tom, manages Chan
Chich, when told of a major feature story in the
Times╒ Travel section earlier this year.

It seems almost unnecessary to describe this famous
lodge:  That it╒s owned by Belikin beer magnate and
Belize Coca-Cola distributor Barry Bowen, a seventh-
generation Belizean;  that it was designed and built
about seven years ago by Tom Harding, on a Mayan ruin,
a controversial siting that most in Belize now dismiss
as uncontroversial;  that it is in a magnificent
setting on the 125,000-acre Bowen Gallon Jug farm,
surrounded by lush jungle accessible through well-
maintained cut trails.

From the moment you arrive at Chan Chich, you realize
this is a first-class operation, with considerable
money and energy lavished on it, but all in good
taste.   The entrance road is paved to international
standards.  The grounds are beautiful,  with lush
tropical plants and trees, helped along with plenty of
irrigation water when needed.   The 12 thatched-roof
cabaûas are strikingly situated literally in the
middle of a Mayan plaza.  These ruins are unrestored
and, to the casual eye, resemble large mounds of
earth.     The cottages are tasteful, with local
woods, 19-foot high thatched roofs, wrap-around decks
with hammocks, two queen beds, 24-hour AC-current
electricity from a generator, plenty of cold and hot
water, potable water from the tap,  and cold water
from a Bowen & Bowen water cooler in each room.  The
area is so free of security worries that the cabaûas
do not have locks or keys.

Chan Chich cottages have ceiling fans but not air
conditioning.  Barry Bowen is planning a new resort
near Chan Chich, which will have more luxuries,
including air conditioning.
Just outside your door you╒ll find a bird-watcher╒s
paradise.   Some 300 species of birds are said to be
in the jungle which surrounds the lodge.  Birders,
either in groups or independently, make up 30 to 40%
of the guests.  A flock of ocellated turkeys haunts
the grounds.  Howler monkeys and all kinds of other
loud-mouthed wildlife hang out in your back yard.  (A
few people have a hard time sleeping due to nocturnal
creatures jabbering their heads off.)   Ocelots,
Belize╒s two species of deer, peccaries, howler and
spider monkeys, many snakes including the fer-de-
lance, crocodiles,  and to a lesser degree jaguar and
puma are routinely seen here.   You can walk the miles
of jungle paths with a guide (recommended at least on
your initial walk), or use a booklet published by the
hotel (US$10) for self-guided trails.

The restaurant is an attractive wood-paneled room,with
gift shop upstairs and the hotel office to one side,
and a small library to the other.   The bar is in a
new thatched building next to the restaurant;  it
opened in December 1994.  Meals at Chan Chich are
filling and well-prepared, if not of gourmet standard.

Chan Chich is, very simply, for most visitors, the
most memorable lodge destination in mainland Belize.

Contact:  Chan Chich, P.O. Box 37, Belize City.  Tel.
501-2-75634;  fax [phone].  U.S. office:  P.O. Box
1088, Vineyard Haven, MA  02568;  tel. [phone] or
800-343-8009;  fax [phone].
Rates:   1995-96 high season (November-April):  $100
single, $115 double, $35 each additional person, plus
7% tax.   Full-American plan meals:   Add $40 per
person adults, $30 children under 12.   All-inclusive
plan is $135 per person double, $190 for single.
There is no service charge, but it is suggested guests
leave a gratuity at the office on check-out, which is
shared among all staff.  The all-inclusive rate
includes soft drinks, beer (but not hard booze) and
most activities including guides during the day.
Location:  In an isolated area of Orange Walk
District,  near a former logging settlement called
Gallon Jug,  south of the Rio Bravo conservation area
and only a few miles from the Guatemala border.

How to get there:   Getting here by road takes a bit
of doing.  It╒s almost four hours from Belize City.
After Orange Walk, the road is mostly unpaved, in good
condition overall but with some rough spots, which get
rougher after a rain.   The sections in the Programme
for Belize lands and Gallon Jug lands are in good to
superb condition, by Belize standards.    (Going the
shorter route via back roads from Cayo is precluded by
the fact that part of it is through private lands, not
open to the public.)  The roads are a moot point for
most ╤ 90% of visitors here come by air.  There╒s a
landing strip about 3 miles away on the Gallon Jug
farm.   Javier Flying Service offers round-trips from
Belize City╒s Municipal Airport on Monday, Wednesday
and Friday at US$98 per person.  Cost is higher on
charter flights from the international airport.

Blancaneaux

This, of course,  is Francis Ford Coppola╒s resort.
In the early 1980s, the renowned film director,
mastermind of the Godfather movies and creator of the
only film about Vietnam which adequately conveys a
sense of that absurd U.S. war,  bought what was then a
hunting lodge.  Later he began developing it as a
resort, and it opened to generally excellent world
reviews in late 1993.  Coppola visits Belize
frequently ╤  he was at Blancaneaux four times during
the first six months of 1995, Blancaneaux staff said.
The resort is a combination of rustic and hip:  It has
five two-bedroom luxury villas (the newer ones feature
art from Coppola╒s private collection, and all are
beautifully designed and decorated, if very pricey by
Central American standards), seven thatched-roof
cabaûas with screened sitting areas with views down
the hillside, and, for the time being at least,  three
small rooms in the lodge.

The grounds are beautifully maintained, with a view of
the Privassion River, which offers excellent swimming
in a dammed-up area.  The piney woods setting,
however,  may remind guests more of North Georgia than
of Central America, but the presence of orchids and
exotic flowers will soon dispel that notion.
In the main lodge, the restaurant features pizza from
a wood-fired oven and glorious pasta dishes, along
with fresh veggies from the lodge╒s gardens.  The bar
serves cold drinks and wines from Coppola╒s vineyards
in a convivial atmosphere.  The massive bar countertop
of slate is the work of the talented Garcia sisters,
whose workshop and museum/gallery are in nearby San
Antonio village.

Managers Anne and Colin Wood are originally from
Scotland but have lived and worked in the hospitality
industry in several parts of the world.  Their kitchen
is one of the best in Belize, although some find it
odd to have an upmarket Italian restaurant in the
middle of rice-and-beans country.

Coppola clearly has spent a lot of money on the
resort, much of it on infrastructure.   He  installed
a hydro-electric plant to generate power from the
river.  Earlier this year due to low river levels it
could only generate power for three to four hours a
day, after which the resort went to back-up diesel
generators.  Also, he installed a commercial-grade
water purification plant for river water, and a
satellite telephone system (though the rooms do not
have telephones).

Service is more than competent and very friendly, from
a multilingual staff, including Ramon Vargas  (a
native of the Cayo District who studied in the U.S.
and danced professionally in Belize and Cuba), Francis
Rodriquez, (a Garifuna from P.G. who speaks five
languages), Albert Valentine, John Chuc,  Bernardo
Matute,  and others.

Contact:  Blancaneaux Lodge, Mountain Pine Ridge,
Central Farm Post Office Box B, Cayo District, Belize.
Tel.  [phone];  fax [phone].

Rates:   1995-96 high-season :  cabaûas US$110 single,
US$145 double, villas US$275 double, plus 7% tax and
10% service.  Add US$40 per person for lunch and
dinner package.  A continental breakfast is included
in the basic rate, but the restaurant staff subtly
pushes  extra-priced a la carte breakfasts.
Packages including air service from Belize City are
available.  Dinner restaurant meals a la carte run
about US$15 to $30, not including drinks.   5%
surcharge on credit cards, an unfortunate practice.
Location:  In the Mountain Pine Ridge of western
Belize,  just off the road to Caracol, within the Pine
Ridge Reserve.

How to get there:  It takes about 2 1/2 hours to drive
from Belize City.  You pass a check point as you enter
the Reserve. A private airstrip is near the resort.
Blancaneaux has purchased a 9-passenger aircraft and
will have a private pilot in residence to bring in
guests on group packages.  Charter service is also
available from Belize City.

What to do nearby:  By all means, see Caracol.  Visit
the Rio Frio Caves.  Discover a waterfall or two.
Drive back to San Ignacio to visit Xunantunich and
Cahal Pech, or for nightlife and a change of dining
pace.

Chaa Creek Cottages

Despite worthy and growing competition, Chaa Creek,
which first opened its doors in 1981,  remains the
premier cottage colony around San Ignacio.

Owners Mick and Lucy Fleming, like the Hardings at
Chan Chich, are widely known and well-respected
through the hospitality industry in Belize and the
region.  They appear to have the art of running a
jungle lodge down to a science.  One suspects, for
example, that the reason why Chaa Creek still uses
kerosene and paraffin lamps to light the thatched
cabaûas owes more to an understanding of what
customers want than the practicalities of electrical
generators.

Chaa Creek╒s luxe-Maya cottages have baths en suite
(as elsewhere at Belize lodges hot water is provided
by propane insta-heaters), lovely Guatemalan bed
covers and attractive furnishings.  There are no
phones ╤ hooray!  Most of the rooms are in duplexes,
not as private as the single-unit cabaûas at Chan
Chich or Blancaneaux.

Despite the well-kept grounds, at Chaa Creek you╒re
not in Kansas anymore.  You may find a bat flying
around your room, or in the morning discover a huge
insect in the shoe you left out.

The lodge is on 330 acres in the rolling limestone
foothills near the Macal River, with good swimming.
The setting is picturesque, overlooking the rolling
hills of Belize and Guatemala beyond.  Immediately
adjacent to Chaa Creek is the Panti Medicine Trail,
well worth visiting.  Canoeing, mountain biking,
horseback riding and hiking are also available at Chaa
Creek.

Earlier this year, Chaa Creek opened its new Natural
History Centre and Blue Morpho Butterfly Breeding
Centre.  At present, neither quite lives up to its
public relations, and it seems a bit cheeky to charge
US$3 to visit the two small sites.   The butterfly
farm, in particular, is nothing more than a small
screened shed.   If you╒ve seen butterfly farms
elsewhere in Belize or Costa Rica, this may be a
disappointment.  Still, the potential is there.  It╒s
a good idea, and one that likely will grow and mature.

There is a small gift shop on site with a decent
selection of Guatemalan goods.

Chaa Creek╒s bar is first rate, a fine place to gather
after a day of touring or river rafting.  (Keep a
flashlight handy, though, for the after-dark stumble
back to your casita.)  The restaurant serves more-or-
less typical lodge fare, plentiful and tasty but in
most cases not memorable.  Breakfast, with fresh
Guatemalan coffee, freshly baked breads and fresh
fruits and jam, is always excellent.

Chaa Creek recently has changed the access to the
lodge.  Now you have to stop and park some distance
before you get to the main lodge area.  Someone will
come for your bags.

Chaa Creek does a booming and highly professional
business in tours of the Cayo and Tikal, through its
Chaa Creek Inland Expeditions division. It also
attracts a considerable number of package and tour
groups from the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Contact:  Chaa Creek, San Ignacio, Cayo, Belize.  Tel.
501-9-22037;  fax [phone]

Rates:   US$95 single, US$115 double;  breakfast US$8,
packed lunch US$7 (lunch at the hotel also now
available), dinner US$22.  Plus 7% tax and service
charge of US$5 per person per day.  All-inclusive rate
(cottages, meals, activities only), $125 per person
per day, 3-day minimum.  Package and charter rates
available.  There  is a 5% surcharge on credit cards,
unfortunately.

Location:   West of San Ignacio, about three miles off
the good Western Highway.

How to get there:  It╒s about a 2 to 2 1/2-hour  drive
from Belize City, all but the last three miles on a
very good road.  You can also fly into San Ignacio.

What to do nearby:   Xunantunich and Cahal Pech, and a
couple of newly discovered Maya sites,  are nearby.
Caracol is about 3 1/2  hours away.   Visit the Rio
Frio Caves.  Go canoeing or waterfalling.  San Ignacio
and Santa Elena are pleasant towns, quiet except when
the beer flows.

@@@@@@

How the Three Lodges Stack Up

All three lodges are highly rated, but they do differ
in the emphasis they put on different aspects of the
lodge experience.  Here are admittedly subjective
ratings based on recent visits to all lodges by BELIZE
FIRST staff and also by readers who turned in reports.

Natural Setting

Blancaneaux      B+
Chaa Creek        B+
Chan Chich        A

Price/Value

Blancaneaux      B
Chaa Creek       B+
Chan Chich        A-

Bird Watching/Animal Spotting

Blancaneaux       B
Chaa Creek        B
Chan Chich         A+

Accommodations

Blancaneaux      B+  (villas A)
Chaa Creek        B+
Chan Chich        A-

Dining

Blancaneaux      A
Chaa Creek        B
Chan Chich        B

Bar

Blancaneaux       A
Chaa Creek         A
Chan Chich         A

Service and Friendliness

Blancaneaux      A
Chaa Creek        B+
Chan Chich         B+

Library:  Selection of Regional Books and Magazines

Blancaneaux      C
Chaa Creek        C
Chan Chich        B+

On-Site Activities

Blancaneaux      B
Chaa Creek        A-
Chan Chich        A-

Nearby Activities/Sights

Blancaneaux      B+
Chaa Creek       A
Chan Chich        B-

Accessibility by Car

Blancaneaux      C
Chaa Creek         B-
Chan Chich         C-

Accessibility by Air

Blancaneaux       B+
Chaa Creek        C+
Chan Chich        B+


///Lan Sluder's travel articles have appeared in The
New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald,
Caribbean Travel and Life, Newsday and many other
publications.


@@@@@@@@@@@@@


IN THE DAYS
OF BRITISH HONDURAS

Two Recollections:

Belize City in the 1950s
By Jane B. Hanrahan

Mule Carts and Lighters
By Neil L. Fraser


@@@@@

BELIZE CITY, CIRCA 1954

By JANE B. HANRAHAN

╥Nobody╒s driving to British Honduras tomorrow,╙
advised the taxi driver at the Chetumal airport.
╥Probably there╒s a wagon going down Thursday.╙

To get from MÄrida, Yucatçn, to Belize in November
1954,  we had flown to this capital of the then-
province of Quintana Roo.  En route our DC-3 had
paused on a grassy strip in Cozumel to drop off
current movies and new baseball bats for the Mexican
troops there.
╥Some British Army fellows are Christmas-shopping
here,╙ continued our driver.  ╥It╒s a free port, you
know.  They╒ll need a ride back to Belice.  You want a
hotel?╙

So he drove my husband and me to Chetumal╒s Hotel
Iris.  A gracious lady welcomed us.  The next evening
she showed us browning photos of her late husband,
Didier Masson, a pilot in the first world war╒s
Lafayette Escadrille and at one time the Pan American
Airways station chief in Belize City.

It was Friday before the station-wagon driver gathered
a full load for Belize.  We climbed into the weathered
Chevie with two English soldiers, an itinerant
photographer and a corpulent scrap-iron dealer.

At the border, a dusty clearing with a mud-colored
building, the Mexican official chatted with us in
Spanish.  A bit paunchy, he wore a khaki uniform open
at the neck and smoked a cigarette.  With a grin he
waved us on.

A short way down the road the British Honduran station
had a low white fence and blooming hollyhocks.  A slim
black officer with crisp creases in his uniform
trousers asked terse questions in English.  The humid
heat remained but the ambiance had changed.
We jostled and squeaked down an unpaved one-lane road
through forests of logwood and mahogany.  Occasionally
a clapboard home stood on stilts above the swampland.
Cable-ferries floated us across two rivers.  An
unofficial postal service, we collected several
messages for Belizeans and a letter ╥for Lupita.╙

As we approached the capital, today╒s Belize City,
bicycle traffic increased and some small European cars
appeared.  Horse-drawn wagons hauled bags of grain and
cases of soft drinks.  Store signs, block letters
painted on board, announced ╥Bread and Buns,╙
╥Licenced for Sale of Drugs and Poisons,╙ ╥Assurance.╙
Black women in print dresses carried umbrellas against
the sun.
White houses with green gingerbread trim sat back from
the road leading to the Fort George Hotel.  White
picket fences and pink hibiscus hedges lined the
lanes.

The new Fort George stood alone at the tip of the
peninsula. With its floors and furniture of polished
local hardwoods the 35-room hostelry offered a subdued
luxury somehow lost in the bustle of today╒s enlarged
chain hotel.

Air-conditioning did not exist.  Through hotel windows
opened for the ocean breezes came the lap-lap sound of
water against the sea wall and the occasional splash
of a fish.  Lighters hauled sand-fill; lone men
paddled dugout canoes.

The Fort George rate of  US$18 dollars per night,
expensive for newly-wed graduate students, included
all meals for two people.  In the nearly empty dining
room the waiters, mostly Spanish-speaking, served from
silver platters imported from Sheffield.  In those
days before ecological awareness, turtles often
appeared in soup or as steaks.  In true British style,
crackers and cheese always followed dessert.

Most of the other hotel guests were businessmen.  An
occasional visitor boated to a caye to fish but few
even knew Mayan ruins existed in the area.  Eco-
tourism hadn╒t been invented. Since we had come to do
historic research we walked to town to find the
government archives.

Just after we crossed the swing bridge over Haulover
Creek we watched the Crown-appointed governor get into
a black English limousine.  He nodded to a salute from
his black driver standing at attention in immaculate
whites with red trim.

Officials then told us that in spite of our academic
letters of introduction we could not use the archives
without the governor╒s written permission.  They would
send it to us!

When the governor╒s courier arrived at the Fort George
with a personal message for us, he opened doors to
more than the government documents of the national
archives and the historic holdings of the Baron Bliss
Jubilee Library.  First, Hotel Manager Dan Powell
invited us for after-dinner drinks.

╥I can╒t offer you a true Fort George Special,╙ he
apologized. ╥The English dock strike╒s made the boat
late and we╒re out of lemon volley water.╙

He explained how vital British shipping was to the
colony because all imported goods must originate in or
pass through England.
╥Our potatoes come in big crates from the Netherlands,
not Maine.  There╒s good Mexican beer just across the
border but we can only sell beer that╒s English,
Danish, Dutch or German.  Even our butter comes in
huge cans from England.╙

After closing-time we were still sampling various
concoctions as Mr. Powell and his bartender
experimented with substitutes for lemon volley water╤
whatever that is.

Next day the assistant secretary of the colony invited
us to a party where Londoners displaced to this town
of Creole and Spanish chattered about ╥bawk home.╙  In
the sultry heat the dean of the Anglican Church
removed his coat and conversed genially in his white
dickey while sipping gin and ginger.

    The deputy crown surveyor and his wife drove us
south on a black-top road that was not on any recent
map.  He told us there was no reason for British
Honduras to expose its development to its neighboring
enemy that constantly threatened invasion.

    ╥Guatemala claims our colony.  That╒s why we have
so many soldiers here.  And why the border╒s closed.╙

    Although no road then reached Guatemala, TACA╒s
flight from New Orleans to Guatemala City stopped in
Belize three times a week.   This made our leaving
British Honduras 40  years ago much less complicated
than getting there.

///Jane B. Hanrahan now lives in Alexandria, Virginia.



THE MULE CART
AND THE LIGHTER

By NEIL L. FRASER

If ever a classic symbiotic relationship existed
between a creature of land and one of water, it was
that of the mule cart and the lighter in Belize.

Motorized vehicles and vessels did exist in Belize
during the 1930s and 40s, but they were expensive and
never plentiful.  Besides, this was a poor country.
During WWII, there was the added shortage of fuel.

Yet Belize did not lack for the transportation needed
to supply its businesses and homes, or to carry goods
to the numerous settlements on the cayes or up and
down the long coastline.  The gap was filled by a
curious and primitive combination:  the mule-drawn
cart, known to Belizeans simply as ╥mule cy-ahts,╙
and large sailing barges called ╥lighters.╙

The mule cart is a basic device that would have been
as much at home in Europe in the Middle Ages as it was
in Belize in the 20th century.  A shallow wooden box
straddled a wooden frame that held an axle in place.
On each side was a large wooden spoked wheel with a
greased hub and a metal rim ╤ the kind of wheel that
carried prairie schooners across the Great Plains of
the United States West.  Two long wooden spokes
protruded from the front to hold a harness that
straddled an always solemn-looking mule.  The driver
sat on a narrow plank across the front of the box
where his load was carried, his feet resting on
another plank attached to the harness poles.

Mule carts abounded in Belize.  They were the city╒s
basic form of drayage, carrying anything from loads of
sand and rock to precious furniture and pianos.  The
carts assembled daily in front of the courthouse at a
place known as ╥The Battlefield.╙

The area is now a park, but in those days it was just
a grassy field between the courthouse, Brodies and The
Royal Bank of Canada.  Anyone needing the services of
a cart could go there and secure one.

One of the most frequent assignments given to the
carts was to load supplies from shops or warehouses
for shipment to the cayes or villages along the coast.
They would carry these loads to the concrete wharf
along the river behind the courthouse called,
appropriately, ╥The Courthouse Wharf.╙   There,
assembled along the wharf, were the carts╒ sea-going
companions, the sailing lighters.

The lighter, another relic of a European past, is
abroad-beamed, shallow-draft wooden sailing vessel
ranging from 20 to 40 feet in length.  It has very
little deck space, with most of its area devoted to a
capacious ╥hold╙ for carrying cargo.   Belize lighters
usually had one large sail and a jib, and were steered
by a helmsman holding a long tiller.

Lighters had no motor power, just sails to move them
slowly through the choppy seas while laying low in the
water from the weights of their cargoes.

When arriving back in Belize from one of their supply
trips, frequently carrying passengers and livestock,
they would sail as far up the mouth of the river as
the wind would safely carry them, drop their sails and
be propelled to the wharf behind the courthouse by the
crew using long poles.  The same procedure in reverse
applied to departures.  The lighters would be ╥poled╙
far enough out into the river mouth for their sails to
catch the wind and start them moving.

Both lighters and mule carts had their own unique
charm.  The mules pulling the carts, for example,
seemed to have individual personalities that reflected
those of their drivers.  The mules were solemn, hard-
working beasts resigned to lives in harness, but they
could sometimes rebel and be seen struggling to rear
up or go backward while being cursed by a frustrated
driver.

The lighters too, gave off the appearance of hard
work.  Their sails were ragged and patched in many
places, and they always appeared to need painting.
Their crews were a hardened lot, although sometimes no
more than children.  There was no shelter on a lighter
caught in a storm or hit by a squall, no protection
from the boiling heat of the sun.  If the seas were
too rough, all the crew could do was to seek the
leeward side of a caye and wait until the waves
subsided.  But lighters were lifelines to many places
along the Belize coast, delivering the precious
supplies loaded from the mule carts at the courthouse
wharf, and always bringing something back to Belize on
their return journeys, even if no more than a load of
white sand dug from a beach with hand shovels.


///Neil L. Fraser was born in Belize and now lives in
Atlanta.  He has contributed other articles to BELIZE
FIRST on the days of British Honduras, including a
history of Pan Am and TACA airlines in Belize, in
Volume II, No. 3.



@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

ROAD WATCH:   UPDATE ON DRIVING CONDITIONS IN BELIZE

By LAN SLUDER

In June, on my annual drive-about in Belize, I rented
a Suzuki Samurai in Belize City, traveling all of the
major roads in the country and many of the back roads.
I did 1,200 bouncing, fish-tailing, bottom-bruising
miles.  Is there a chiropractor in the house?

Despite the bumps, the high cost of auto rentals and
gas, and the fact that only moments before I was due
to return my Avis car to the airport, it gave up the
ghost in the parking lot of the Save-U supermarket in
Belize City,  not to start again until Avis mechanic
paid a house call, I find a rental car is the best way
to see mainland Belize.  It provides the chance to
visit out-of-the-way spots not possible by bus, and it
gives you the freedom to stop and go as you please,
perhaps taking a private tour of a just-discovered
Mayan ruin, stopping to investigate  jaguar scat,  or
lazing by the Macal River with a picnic basket and a
Belikin.

Are the roads in Belize as bad as you╒ve heard they
are?  Naw.  They╒re in better condition than you might
expect, given the low population density of the
country and the lack of funds for building and
maintaining highways.  A few roads, such as the
Northern Highway and the new sections of the
Hummingbird, are very good indeed, among the best in
all of Central America.  But back roads can be
terrible, especially after rains.  Some of these
gravel and rubble roads are scraped and graded rarely
if at all ╤ they quickly become nightmares of
washboards, ruts and tire-eating limestone rocks.

Signage is fair, better than in the rest of Central
America.   Most critical turns and junctions are
marked.  Still, you╒ll be miles ahead with a good map
such as the Traveller╒s Reference Map of Belize from
ITMB and the invaluable Emory King╒s Driver╒s Guide to
Beautiful Belize.  For seat-of-the-pants road work,
the Driver╒s Guide is more useful than the map.

Here, for those planning to drive in Belize, is an
update on road conditions throughout the country.

Main Roads

NORTHERN HIGHWAY   This 85-mile route is a very good
two-lane black-topped from Belize City to Corozal and
then a few miles to the border with Mexico at
Chetumal.   The only thing that will slow you down are
a few ╥sleeping policemen╙ in villages,  the main drag
through Orange Walk Town,  slow-moving trucks when the
sugar cane harvest is going on in late spring and
early summer, and a toll-booth at the bridge over New
River (BZ 75 cents).  Your first glimpse of the azure
waters of Corozal Bay are a highlight of this route.

Overall Road Condition:  Very Good

Paved:   100%

Gas Availability:  Very Good

OLD NORTHERN HIGHWAY  If you want to see Altun Ha
ruins, you╒ll have to drive at least part of this 41-
mile arc to the east of the New Northern Highway.
Under the British, this highway was paved, but little
maintenance has been done on it in recent years.  The
blacktop is badly potted and, for part of the way,
non-existent.  The section south of Maskall village is
better than the section north.  The 2-mile access road
to Altun Ha is not paved.

Overall Road Condition:  Fair to Poor

Paved:   70%

Gas Availability:  Poor

WESTERN HIGHWAY  The 78-mile road takes you from
Belize City quickly past Hattieville, the Belize Zoo,
the capital of Belmopan, the ╥twin cities╙ of San
Ignacio and Santa Elena,  and then on the Benque Viejo
road to the Guatemala border.  Just past San Ignacio,
you hit ╥cottage country,╙ where a number of excellent
lodges including Chaa Creek and duPlooys offer cold
beer and a soft bed under quiet Central American
skies.  The Western Highway is still in pretty good
condition, but it will soon need resurfacing.

Overall Road Condition:  Good to Very Good

Paved:   100%

Gas Availability:  Good (although a couple of Shell
stations have closed)

HUMMINGBIRD HIGHWAY  This 56-mile highway stretches
from the Western Highway at Belmopan to Dangriga.  The
Hummingbird dips and swoops through some of the most-
beautiful territory in Belize.  This was once a very
bad road.  Now all but about 20 miles of it is in
superb condition, thanks to foreign loans to Belize.
The 19-mile section from Belmopan to the Sibun River
is a combination of old pavement and rubble.  Take a
break from the rough part of the drive at the Blue
Hole, where a swim in the truly blue water is
refreshing (a guard will watch your car, so don╒t
worry.)  The section into Dangriga town is now fully
paved.

Overall Road Condition:  Mostly Excellent with one
long section Fair

Paved:   65%

Gas Availability:   Fair

MANATEE HIGHWAY  This 36-mile gravel road, also known
as the New Coastal Highway, for a time was considered
a short cut from Belize City to Dangriga and points
south.  However, with the improvement to the
Hummingbird/Stann Creek Valley Road and the
deterioration of the Manatee, it╒s arguable whether
this route saves any time or not.  Certainly, the
Hummingbird is more scenic.  The Manatee is badly
washboarded in places and is extremely dusty in dry
weather.  During heavy rains, bridges can wash out.

Overall Road Condition:  Fair to Poor

Paved:   0%

Gas Availability:   Poor

SOUTHERN HIGHWAY  This is a highway in name only.  The
100-mile road from 6 miles west of Dangriga to Punta
Gorda is a desolate stretch of gravel and dirt road, a
journey broken only by the dust of the occasional farm
truck or 18-wheeler.  The scenery, except for views of
the Maya Mountains at about the halfway point, is
unexceptional.  The Southern Highway is truly one of
the most unpleasant roads in Belize.  This is supposed
to change, however, as Kuwait has loaned funds for
paving part of the highway.  Contrary to some reports,
none of the highway is yet paved, although surveying
work and some grading has been done.

Overall Road Condition:  Fair to Poor

Paved:  2% (near P.G.)

Gas Availability:  Fair to Poor

////Other Important Roads

ROAD TO CONSEJO  This level 8-mile stretch takes you
from Corozal Town to the Chetumal Bay, where if you
are arriving or departing by boat, there is a Belize
customs station, and a new hotel, Casablanca.

Overall Road Condition:  Fair

Paved:  0%

Gas Availability:  Poor

ROAD TO SHIPSTERN  This road just goes on and on, over
washboards and ruts.  It╒s about 40 miles to Sarteneja
Village and the area of the Shipstern Butterfly Farm,
but it will seem like twice that.  A redeeming feature
of this road is Progresso Lagoon, the quintessential
tropical lagoon.

Overall Road Condition:  Fair to Poor

Paved:  0%

Gas Availability:  Fair

ROAD TO CHAN CHICH AND GALLON JUG  From Orange Walk
Town, it╒s about a three-hour, 68-mile drive to Chan
Chich, the excellent Barry Bowen lodge.  Along the
way, on a road that varies from a poor rubble road to
an excellent paved road at Gallon Jug, you╒ll pass a
number of villages, some farms, the Mennonite
settlement of Blue Creek (where you can also take
spend time as a hard-working, paying volunteer at a
major Maya archeological site) and plenty of jungle.
As you cross the Programme for Belize preserve and
Bowen land (you╒ll have to stop at two guard houses),
you╒ll almost certainly see a variety of wildlife,
including Belize╒s two species of deer and the
oscellated turkey.  At San Felipe village, about 23
miles from Orange Walk Town, you can turn on a dirt
road to the Lamanai ruins, about 13 miles from San
Felipe.  This road is in poor but passable condition
most of the year.

Overall Road Condition:  Mostly Fair to Poor, with
some Good to Very Good sections

Paved:  15%

Gas Availability:  Fair (gas up at the Linda Vista
╥shopping center╙ at Blue Creek, run by Mennonites)

ROADS TO BABOON SANCTUARY  You have two choices to get
to Burrell Boom, Bermudian Landing and the Baboon
(Black Howler Monkey) Sanctuary:  Turn off the New
Northern Highway at about Mile 13, or off the Western
Highway at Mile 15.5.  The route from the Northern
Highway is slightly better.

Overall Road Condition:  Fair

Paved:  3%

Gas Availability:  Fair

ROAD TO SPANISH LOOKOUT AREA This part of Cayo will
remind you a bit of the Midwest, with spiffy Mennonite
farms.  The roads are gravel and better-maintained
than average.  (Note:  In theory it is possible to get
to Chan Chich from Cayo via this route, a much shorter
route.  But access involves crossing private lands,
not open to the public.)

Overall Road Condition:  Fair

Paved:  0%

Gas Availability:  Fair

MOUNTAIN PINE RIDGE ROAD TO CARACOL   By the shortest
route from Georgeville, it is about 46 miles from the
Western Highway to the ruins of Caracol.  From San
Ignacio, the trip is a few miles longer ╤ this route
connects with the Mountain Pine Ridge Road near the
village of San Antonio.   Locals will tell you that
the Georgeville road is better, but there╒s very
little difference in fact.   Even in good weather in a
good vehicle, don╒t expect to average more than 15 to
20 mph on this road ╤  it╒s a three-hour rough ride to
Caracol, even with recent improvements to the road
between the Augustine ranger station and Caracol.   A
reward:   I have never seen so many butterflies in
Belize as I╒ve seen on this road, and the scenery in
many spots is lovely.   After a heavy rain, the
limestone dirt can be very slick and dangerous, and
clay areas even more so.  You have to stop at a guard
station as you enter the Pine Ridge Reserve and also
at the Ranger station in Augustine for a pass to
Caracol.  En route, stop for a cold drink or a hot
gourmet pizza at Francis Ford Copolla╒s lodge,
Blancaneaux, about 15 miles in from Georgeville.

Overall Road Condition:  Poor to Very Poor

Paved:  0%

Gas Availability:  Poor

ROAD TO PLACENCIA  This 25-mile dirt and gravel road
runs from the Southern Highway to the tip of the
Placencia peninsula, passing Maya Beach and Seine
Bight.

Overall Road Condition:  Fair

Paved:  0%

Gas Availability:  Fair (one station in Placencia
village)

ROAD TO  MAYA VILLAGES IN TOLEDO  A series of
connected roads take you from the Southern Highway
near P.G. to the Mayan villages of San Antonio,  Santa
Cruz and Pueblo Viejo villages, or in other direction,
to San Pedro Columbia village, Lubaantun ruins, San
Miguel village, and then back to the Southern Highway
near the Nim Li Punit ruins.

Overall Road Condition:  Fair to Poor

Paved:  0%

Gas Availability:  Poor (gas up at the junction to the
road to San Antonio)

@@@@@@@

PRACTICAL TIPS

Best Vehicles for Belize:   Do you really need four-
wheel drive in Belize?  On the main thoroughfares such
as the Western and Northern Highways, no.   In the dry
season, even back roads generally are passable without
four-wheel drive if you have sufficient road
clearance.   But four-wheel drive is good insurance,
just in case you hit a stretch of soft muck or sand.
The vehicle of choice in Belize is a larger four-wheel
drive, such as an Isuzu Trooper, Jeep Cherokee or Land
Ranger.  These offer a smoother ride on washboard
roads, and the large petrol tank cuts down on the need
to stop for gas so frequently.  However, rental rates
on these large vehicles are outrageous ╤ US$80 to $110
day or more in most cases.

Maps:   The best general road map to Belize is from
ITMB in Vancouver, B.C.  A new 3rd edition was
released in mid-1995.  The color, 1:350,000-scale map
is US$7.95.  Even more useful for most travelers is
the mile-by-mile Driver╒s Guide to Beautiful Belize,
published annually by Emory King.  Although the maps
are rough, the 58-page guide is reliable and easy-to-
use.  It╒s a bit like the Belize version of the famous
Milepost to Alaska.  The 1995 edition is US$12.  Both
are available from Equator Travel Publications, 280
Beaverdam Road, Candler, NC  28715 USA, fax 704-667-
1717, e-mail [e-mail].   It is a good
idea to buy these or other maps and guides before
arriving in Belize, as they often cost more in Belize
or may not be available.

Service Stations:   Belize has Shell, Texaco and Esso
(yes, good old Esso) service stations, with a total of
around 50 stations in the country.  In some rural
areas, individuals also sell gas out of their homes.
Regardless of what the pump may say, there is no
unleaded gas in Belize ╤  just regular and premium ╤
except what may be brought in from Mexico by
individuals.    Service stations are fairly well-
spaced around the country, but outside Belize City and
larger towns it╒s a good idea to top off the tank at
every opportunity.  Skilled mechanics are few and far
between, although you can get a tire changed almost
anywhere.  Someone will come out and pump gas for you,
and there╒s no need to tip.

Gas Prices:   Costs vary slightly across the country,
and from station to station,  from about US$2.40 a
gallon to US$2.60 a gallon for regular.  Premium is a
few cents a gallon more, and most cars run better on
the higher-octane grade.  Prices are in Belize
dollars, so don╒t be shocked if the pump registers
$5.10 per gallon.  Belize stations accept Belize or
U.S. dollars, but not credit cards.

Miles or Kilometers?  Like the U.S., Belize has been
slow to accept the metric system.  Distances are given
in miles, and gas is sold by the U.S. gallon.

Speed Limits:   You occasionally see a speed limit
sign in Belize, but there is little if any traffic law
enforcement.  Speed limits are a function of road
conditions, and even on the best highways, few drivers
go faster than 65 or 70 mph.

Sleeping Policemen:   Speed-breaker bumps are used to
slow traffic coming into residential areas.  Expect
them as you enter any town or village.

Bum Raps and Bad Cops:    Unlike in, say, Costa Rica
or Mexico, where shaking down gringos in rental cars
is a cottage industry, in Belize you will not be
pulled over for phony traffic offenses, and if you are
stopped at a checkpoint, which occasionally happens,
no one will promote a bribe.

Safety:   In other parts of Central America, macho
drivers take blind curves at heart-attack speed.  In
laid-back Belize, that╒s less of a problem.  Drunk-
drivers are a danger, though, in hard-drinking Belize;
be cautious especially late at night.    Do watch
carefully when passing stopped buses ╤ kids may
suddenly dart around the bus to cross the road.
Another big difference in Belize is that outside of
settled areas, you may drive for an hour or more and
never see another car.   Be prepared:  Bring water, a
flash-light and other basic supplies, just in case.
Don╒t leave valuables in your car, locked or unlocked.

Driving at Night:   Driving at night in developing
countries is seldom a good idea, but in Belize night
driving is easier than in some other countries
because there are so few people on the roads after
dark.  Jaguars and snakes, yes;  people, not too many.

@@@

TIPS ON RENTAL CARS IN BELIZE

There are just two things wrong with renting a car in
Belize:  First, the cost is high, roughly twice the
typical rate in the U.S.  Second, the vehicles are
often in poor condition.  Rental companies often buy
used cars in the U.S., have them driven down from
Texas (drivers get free use of the car for a week or
two), and then put them in service in Belize.
Unfortunately, some of these vehicles are gas-guzzling
clunkers.  On my last trip to Belize, I met one couple
who had had three flats in one week in Belize.  The
car renter, Crystal, finally sent a man to install
four new tires.

Here are questions to ask and things to check BEFORE
driving off in your rental.  Keep in mind that a
break-down on a deserted road in Belize is not like a
break-down in Suburbia, USA.

Ñ  Check the mileage on the vehicle you╒ve been
assigned.  Even ╥name brand╙ renters often have high-
mileage cars in their fleet. For example, Avis in
Belize City has vehicles with more than 70,000 hard
miles, and others that are almost new.

Ñ  Check the tires.  Six-ply truck tires are best for
Belize roads.  But since six-ply tires are more
expensive, many rentals run four-ply passenger car
tires, which may not stand up to heavy off-road use.
At the very least, tires should have plenty of tread.
Also, check the spare, and be sure you know how to
locate and use the jack.

Ñ  Ask what will happen if you have a break-down
somewhere in the boondocks.  Some renters, such as
Budget, will send a mechanic out to repair the
problem.  Others may not.

Ñ  Determine in advance whether you need to accept
Collision Damage Waiver.  CDW runs US$10 to $15 per
day in Belize, and typically it does not cover the
first $500 to $1,000 in damage  ╤ so you have to cough
up for a windshield broken by a flying rock, for
example.  American Express and other credit cards DO
provide primary coverage in Belize, but the catch is
that these cards may not cover driving on unpaved
roads or in some cases for 4WD vehicles.

Ñ  In-season especially, make reservations in advance,
as rentals can be tight.   There╒s now a car rental
row at the international airport, a short stroll from
the airport entrance.   Present are Budget and Avis,
and locals Jaguar, Cadles Travel Services, Crystal,
G/W Holiday, Pancho╒s and Tour Belize.  National has
an office downtown.   Hertz has closed its Belize City
location.

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SPECIAL SECTION:  SOUTHERN BELIZE

SUNRISE
AT
PLACENCIA

By PHIL LANIER


Ask Belizeans where to find the best beaches and
chances are they╒ll tell you Placencia. By that they
mean the Placencia peninsula, a long slender tongue of
land midway down the eastern coast and home to three
communities: Maya Beach, Seine Bight and Placencia
Village.

Maya Beach is really little more than a condo/vacation
home development and budding resort. Consider it a
poor man╒s Hilton Head in the making. Seine Bight is a
friendly Garifuna village just opening up to the
promise of tourism. Placencia Village is the southern
mainland equivalent of Caye Caulker, a laid-back
little beachside community where a narrow sidewalk
serves as the main street in town.

WHAT TO EXPECT   Come with realistic expectations:
The beaches at Placencia, while pleasant and
uncommercial, are not the wide and white postcard-
sands you find on the Yucatçn or on some Caribbean
islands.  Turtle grass and other natural flora and
fauna thrive on the sea bottom close to shore, making
swimming less than world-class in many places.
Snorkeling, while superb around the cayes offshore, is
at best fair from the beaches.

Prices, too, have risen.   While you can stay cheaply
in Placencia village, accommodations range from basic
to very basic.  At the attractive resorts north of
Placencia Village, in Seine Bight and Maya Beach, in
season two people will end up paying around US$200 a
day or more for room, meals, a few Belikins, maybe a
snorkeling trip, tax and service.  That╒s moderate by
Caribbean resort standards, but it's not that cheap
Central American vacation you╒ve heard about, either.
Summer rates are lower, thank goodness.  Still,
Placencia remains one of the most-appealing
destinations in Belize, a friendly, safe, comfortable
and enjoyable spot, and happily not a place where your
neighbors have been.

Placencia has had something of a history of booms and
busts.  Today, with the air strip operating and
renewed government interest in tourism development,
the area is in a growth phase, with a hot property
market and new small inns being built, especially in
the area between Seine Bight and Maya Beach.  At any
one time, usually at least two or three of the
peninsula╒s resorts are for sale, at prices that seem
high based on the potential return, but perhaps
reflect a bet on real estate appreciation.  These
days, land on the Caribbean here reportedly fetches
around US$1,000 a front foot.

MAYA BEACH   New homes recently have appeared on Maya
Beach, a little more than 16 miles from the turnoff of
the Southern Highway, among cleared mangrove and
palmettos. There will be more.  It╒s simply too nice a
beachfront for developers to leave be. Meanwhile,
there really isn╒t much to the place besides a very
comfortable resort, Singing Sands (tel./fax 501-6-
22243), now owned by Australians Bruce Larkin and
Sally Steeds.

One of the first things the new owners did when they
bought the property was to open a bar, selling some of
the coldest beer in Southern Belize.  The former
owners had frowned on alcohol, as do the present
operators of nearby Serenity Resort.   Singing Sands
is a collection of six thatch-roof cabaûas along a
beach sprinkled with palms, appealing to travelers who
seek a little solitude in paradise. Each of the
cabanas has a ceiling fan, hot and cold water and a
private bath. At present, the electricity is from a
generator by day, batteries at night. Rates are US$79
single, US$89 double, with lower rates off-season.
Credit cards are okay. Meals are extra. There are
mountain bikes, a couple of windsurfers, 45-foot
catamaran, ski boat/slalom skis and a dive shop; Sally
is a certified PADI instructor.

A new inn, the Blue Parrot, is under construction not
far from Singing Sands.

The Ted Williams resort, a pioneering spot at this end
of the peninsula, closed several years ago and later
burned.  The new owners apparently have plans for
residential use only.

SEINE BIGHT   Seine Bight is a Garifuna village a
couple of miles south of Maya Beach, consisting of
simple one-room wooden houses on stilts and a few
hundred people. The men tend the fish nets and the
women nurture the family garden.  The village (and its
hotels) are now on the power grid and recently were
connected with the Placencia water supply.

The Nautical Inn (tel./fax [phone]), just outside
Seine Bight, is a bright new-comer to the peninsula.
Here, owners Ben and Janie Ruoti, expats who moved
here from Arizona,  preside over 12 rooms in a covey
of octagonal buildings (the latest erected this
summer) imported from North Carolina.  A 100-foot dock
with a palapa at the end is a beaut.   Nautical Inn╒s
wood exteriors and seaside decor inside fit well with
the theme of the place. There╒s a bar/restaurant, on-
site travel agency, beauty salon, gift shop, massage
service, catamaran, canoes, motor scooters, a new dive
boat for snorkeling/scuba trips, with loading on the
quiet lagoon side.   The US$40 tour to Monkey River is
recommended.   Rooms come  with ceiling fans, hot and
cold water and private baths (a few A/C units
available).  New rates for high-season 1995-96:
US$89, single,  US$99 double;  complete meal package
US$30 extra per person.   A/C $10 per night extra.
Plus 10% service and 7% government tax.  Lower rates
in summer.  (Editor╒s note:  For a first-person review
of a recent stay at Nautical Inn by BELIZE FIRST
Editor Lan Sluder,  see the Hotel Update section in
this issue.)

Several new hotels are opening in Seine Bight.  French
Quarter Belize Resort (P.O. Box 286, Berlin, MD
21811;  tel. in U.S. 410-641-0800 or 800-641-6665, fax
410-641-0921) is one.    It consists of five mahogany
Mennonite-style cottages on stilts close to the
Caribbean, on a pleasant small beach.    Planned also
are several RV hook-ups and campsites across the road,
on the lagoon side.   The cabaûas are attractive, with
an interior of rosewood, mahogany and ironwood.
Bathrooms are large.  Each unit has a veranda 8 feet
above the sand to catch the breeze, a nice touch.
Most furnishings were made locally, with textiles from
Guatemala.  The owners, Glenn McCullough and Kathleen
Eschenburg,  formerly owned a hotel in Ocean City,
Maryland, also called The French Quarter, hence the
unusual name for the Belize resort.  Rates:  High
season:  US$99 per cabaûa (double, US$10 for
additional people), higher at Christmas, plus 7% room
tax and a stiff 15% service charge.   Summer rate is
US$85.   Meals:  breakfast, US$5-8;  lunch, US$7-12;
dinner, US$15-$25, with children 12 and under half
price.

But maybe you would prefer the rustic charm of a room
in town. Auntie Chigi╒s Place will fill that bill.
It╒s a colorful wood frame building of green with
yellow trim. Auntie Chigi╒s appeals to backpackers and
those who really want local flavor. Smack dab in the
middle of town, too. Inside, there are five rooms with
very simple but clean surroundings, shared bathrooms.
Rates are US$20 per room. Contact Edna Martinez in
Seine Bight Village. If you can╒t find it,  just ask.

Once in Seine Bight, head over by the hurricane
shelter to a little place called Sunshine, the local
bar/disco run by Herbert Ramirez. There╒s natural wood
on the outside, pale blue walls inside, four HUGE
speakers, and room to dance to punta rock and reggae.
A notice tacked to the wall reads, ╥Attention: No
loafers allowed. No bad words allowed. Avoid
unnecessary arguments. No credit until tomorrow.
Please do not spit on the floor.╙
Take your choice of libations, including bitters, a
potion made of various roots and herbs marinated in
rum. ╥De bitter, de better, mon!╙ Well, it is bitter.
But not bad. Especially after the first one or two.

    NORTH OF PLACENCIA VILLAGE   Just as with Seine
Bight, some of the best resorts around Placencia
Village are north of town. Rum Point Inn (tel. 501-6-
23239;  fax [phone]; in the U.S. tel. 800-747-
1381), operated by George and Corol Bevier and son
Wade Bevier, is certainly one of these and a long
favorite of divers from around the world.  Only
moments from the Placencia airstrip, it offers odd
formed concrete cabaûas that resemble igloos. Inside,
these present a cool, spacious, tropical atmosphere,
attractively furnished with hardwood furniture and
native plants. There╒s hot and cold water, private
baths and fans. One of the assets of Rum Point is its
extensive library of books and videotapes on the
region.  High-season rates are US$175 single, US$224
double, including all meals, which are served in one
of the most-attractive dining rooms in Belize;  June 1
to mid-November rates are US$150 single, US$185
double.  Rates are plus tax and 10% service.  The
bustling dive business has a 42-foot jet boat, Auriga,
considered one of the best dive boats around. There
also are a windsurfer, bikes and tours to the cayes,
rivers, Maya ruins and the rain forest.

For my money, though, Turtle Inn (tel. [phone] or
501-6-23244, fax [phone]), is hard to beat.
Resorts don╒t come much more comfortably casual than
this one run by American Skip White. The place is so
laid back, for the longest time there was no sign out
by the road. Turtle Inn offers great atmosphere,
diving and adventure travel to far-off cayes, the
reef, and deep into the Maya Mountains. The
bar/restaurant╒s wood deck spills out onto the beach
inviting one to step up, plop down and strike up a
conversation with the nearest fellow wayfarer. The
food here won╒t disappoint,  with a menu heavy on
seafood and local dishes.
 Accommodations are in quaint thatch-roof cabaûas on
the beach with ceiling fans, cold water, private bath,
veranda and hammocks.  After some increases, rates now
are US$99 single, US$150 double,  three full meals
included.  With breakfast only it╒s US$72 single and
$100 double.  Tariff includes tax but not gratuity.
Rates are slightly lower in summer, US$67 single, $85
double with breakfast;  $93 single,  $136 double,
with three meals.

An always-popular choice in this area is Kitty╒s
Place.  It has a real island feel, and one of the best
beaches on the peninsula.   The bar and the restaurant
╤ now ╥subcontracted out╙  ╤ on the second floor of
the main building overlooking the sea have a perfect
Belize setting.  The food is fine but not exceptional,
with dinner around US$15 to $20.   Best accommodations
are in the Colonial building, especially the apartment
on the second floor which is delightful (US$108
double.)   New additions increased capacity and have
generally upgraded the resort.   About half the guests
are divers.  Rates November 1 to June 1  range from
US$33 to $93 single, US$43 to $108 double, plus tax
and 10% service.  Tel. [phone], fax [phone].

PLACENCIA VILLAGE   Located at the southern tip of the
palm-dotted peninsula, Placencia Village is more than
100 miles south of Belize City. Placencia has been a
fishing village from the time of the Maya. Even with
the growth of tourism, it╒s still home to many
fishermen.

The town is about a mile long with a sidewalk running
down the middle of it ╤ well, sometimes it╒s a
sidewalk and sometimes it╒s sand. There really isn╒t a
main road through the downtown but a back road runs on
the lagoon side right up to the service station/bus
stop at the end of the peninsula. An aspect of the
town╒s charm is that everyone seems to be related;
this is a very small pond and most of the fish are at
least cousins several times removed. Almost every
other person is an Eiley, a Leslie, a Westby or a
Young.

Two places where local activity seems most
concentrated are Tentacles Restaurant and Jene╒s
Flamboyant. Tentacles is at the far south end of town,
a large cafe with a grand thatch roof over a hardwood
deck. Here, you can watch the sea while sampling good
seafood, burgers, Italian and local food. Ask about
the Reggae Salad. A lobster dinner is about US$15.

In the center of town, Jene╒s Flamboyant is hard to
miss,  or at least it╒s hard to miss the flamboyant
tree outside for which it╒s named. Uncle Jay, the
proprietor, takes pride in using fresh ingredients and
accommodating special requests. Belizean specials run
about US$6-8. Sunday is the day for open-pit barbecue
and Garifuna drummers.

The Galley Restaurant and Bar should not be missed by
jazz lovers or those who enjoy good food. Cleveland
and Julia Berry fix a fine T-Bone (US$8), as well as
Creole style lobster (US$12.50). Try their famous
╥Seaweed Drink╙ ╤  similar to egg nog with a pleasing
flavor and a shot of brandy for good measure. Locals
giggle and say, ╥It╒s good for de back mon!╙ by which
they mean it improves a man╒s performance of his
husbandly duties. Who can say?

Kingfisher is another possibility for food.

The Galley and Dockside at Tentacles are where the
action is at night.

For accommodations there are numerous small
guesthouses in town with names such as Deb & Dave╒s
Last Resort, Jamie╒s Rooms, Julia╒s Budget Hotel,
Lucille╒s Rooms, Lydia╒s Rooms and the like. Most of
them are less than US$20 a night. These are great for
those who like to live simply.

My suggestion would be to try Tradewinds Hotel ( tel.
501-6-21322) on five acres near the sea. Three cabaûas
with spacious rooms, fans, refrigerators, coffee pots,
and private yards are US$50 per night for up to four
people.

The Sea Spray Hotel tel. [phone]), 30 feet from
the beach on the point has five cabaûas and eight
rooms with private bathrooms. Attached to the hotel
find the Thatch Bar. Rates for cabaûas with
refrigerators, hot and cold water US$53; rooms with a
community bath, about US$25-35 single, with a private
bath US$50-60 double.

Westwind Hotel (tel. [phone]) is priced higher
than most other lodging in Placencia Village, and it
is also one the most attractive and comfortable. There
are eight rooms in all with bright modern interiors,
great views, sunny decks, kitchens, hot and cold
water, private baths, and fans. This resort provides
all the amenities of some of the ones north of town,
but right in the heart of the village. Rates are US$25
single, US$55 double; suites are US$90.

For activities, try fishing for permit, tarpon, snook
and bonefish. Scuba and snorkeling trips are worth the
investment. Trips to the Mayan ruins of Lubaantun and
Nim Li Punit are fascinating. But doing nothing can be
equally rewarding in Placencia. Take your fun at your
own pace, Placencia-style.

////Chicago-based free-lance writer Phil Lanier helped
update the new edition of Belize Handbook by Chichi
Mallan, from Moon Publications.  He did articles on
Corozal and Ambergris Caye in the Vol. II, No. 4 issue
of BELIZE FIRST.  Lan Sluder contributed additional
material to this piece on Placencia.



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PG:

TROPICAL OUTPOST
ON THE CARIBBEAN SEA


By HARRY PARISER

Almost 210 miles by road from Belize City, Punta
Gorda, popularly known as ╥PG,╙  (population under
4,000) is the last sizeable settlement in southern
Belize.  Despite its Spanish name this town contains
Garifuna, Creoles, Kekchi, Mopan Maya, Chinese,
Lebanese, and East Indians.  All of its five streets ╤
Front, Main, Back, West, and Far West ╤ parallel the
shoreline.  The town has a tropical-port, land╒s-end
atmosphere.  A fishing and farming (beans, maize, and
rice) community, it receives  over 170 inches of rain
annually.  Originally a fishing village, it was one of
the places originally established for the Black Caribs
after they fled Honduras in 1823.  Today, it is the
capital of the Toledo District.  Schools line Front
Street, and youngsters are imported from surrounding
villages on weekdays in season.  Nearby are the ruins
of  Lubaantun as well as indigenous villages.   Trips
may be also made to the Sapodilla Cayes.

GETTING THERE:    The most frequent service is offered
by Z-Line (tel. [phone]) which leaves Belize City
at 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., arriving at 5:45 p.m. and 12:45
a.m.   Buses leave Dangriga at noon and 7 p.m. James
also runs.  Allow nine hours or more from Belize City.
Leaving from Pound Yard, Belize City, Williams Bus
Service is yet another line.

By air:   Tropic Air (tel. [phone]) flies from
Belize Municipal (US$60 one-way, US$108 return) and
from Belize International (US$70 one-way,  US$140
return)  as does Maya Airways.  If you take Tropic
Air╒s  flight, on the way to Punta Gorda, you make a
last sweep over Belize City and then over the sea
before swinging back over the coast passing by
marshes, jade green rivers, pristine rain forest
interlaced with cohune palms which protrude like giant
upright feather dusters, small offshore cayes, and
citrus farms of staggering proportions.  Cut through
it all is a road network; the clay color of the strips
is clearly visible from the air.  As you descend, you
spot the former Voice of America antenna, rain forest-
covered Seven Hills, and the former British army base.
Maya Airlines also flies via Dangriga.
By car:   From Belize City and the Western Highway,
you can take either the Manatee or Hummingbird
Highways.  Since the resurfacing of most of the
Hummingbird Highway, this is the better option.   The
Hummingbird is pleasant and scenic; the Southern
Highway from near Dangriga to PG is not.  For details,
see the article on Belize roads elsewhere in this
issue.

Ecotourism trail:   First proposed in 1991, an
ecotourism trail around the town is still in the
development stages.  The idealistic vision of Nature
Way╒s Chet Schmidt, the 4-mile trail and greenbelt
surrounding the town has four aims:  to preserve land
while providing a sustainable lifestyle for locals, to
provide income through jobs in tourism, to garner
funds for a Homesite Farmer╒s Fund which will be used
for developing permaculture farming techniques which
will replace slash-and-burn and will be intended to
serve as an ecological model for others.
The trail will begin at the end of Main Street on the
town╒s outskirts and will then head inland through
mangrove swamps and along a creek to a Maya home,
where local customs and slash-and-burn will be
discussed, and then on to a new permaculture site.
Next will be a mini-zoo and then a stop at an East
Indian farm where locals will discuss their history
and lifestyle.  At St. Vincent Block╤a tract of land
deeded by Garifuna forefathers for farming use╤there
will be a replica of a traditional Garifuna village
(circa 1920) where such activities as cassava bread
making will be demonstrated.  Next will be a visit to
Toledo Community College; the trail will culminate
with a canoe trip down a quarter-mile strip of river
to the coast.   Campgrounds will be located at both
ends of the trail and guesthouses are to be
constructed at St. Vincent Block which will also be
known at Habiabara Garinagu Cerro, meaning ╥Garinagu
Village╙ in Garifuna.

Entertainment, geared towards cruise ship passengers
and individual travelers, will feature music, dance,
food, and drink for US$20 per person.   For
information on the trail╒s current status contact the
Garinagu Village at Nature╒s Way Guest House (tel.
501-7-22119;  P.O. Box 75, Punta Gorda.)

ACCOMMODATION:  Located on the seaside far past the
town center, one of the best places to stay is low-
budget-priced Nature╒s Way Guest House (tel. 501-7-
22119) which charges around US$8 single and US$17
double.  Equipped with bunk beds, many of its
attractive rooms face the sea.  A large selection of
charters is offered.  One of the best places to stay
smack dab in the middle of town is the attractive, 12-
room St. Charles Inn (tel. [phone]), 21 King
Street.  The 10-room inexpensively-priced Charlton╒s
Inn (tel. [phone]) is at 9 Main Street.  Tate╒s
Guest House (tel. [phone]), run by postmaster
William Tate, has rooms with A/C and cable TV for
around US$20 double. It╒s around the corner from the
St. Charles. The Punta Caliente Hotel & Restaurant
(tel. [phone]), 108 JosÄ Nuûez Street, is clean,
very friendly, and has inexpensive rooms. Just one
street over and run by a relative, the Circle ╥C╙
(tel. [phone]), 117 West Street, charges around
US$12.50 double for rooms with shared bath and
US$17.50 to $25 for rooms with private bath. The most
expensive hotel is The Travellers╒ Inn (tel. 501-7-
22568, fax [phone]) which is next to the Punta
Caliente. Its attractive A/C rooms have cable TV, and
there╒s a restaurant.  Rates are around US$52.50
single,  US$67.50 double,  including tax. Three good
values for low budget travelers are Mahung╒s Hotel, 11
North Street corner of Main (tel. [phone], P.O.
Box 21, Punta Gorda); 7-room Verdes Guest House (tel.
501-7-22069), 22 Main Street at Middle, and the 8-room
Foster╒s Hotel (tel. [phone]), 19 Main Street.
For an unforgettable sojourn, Man Man,  corner of King
and Far West Streets, rents out the beds and hammocks
in the hut in back of his house.  Other hotels include
the Wahima Hotel, 11 Front Street,  and the Isabela
Hotel, also on Front. You can also camp for a
reasonable fee at Arvin╒s Landing just outside of town
to the north.  The Orange Point Marina Resort, near
the VOA complex, should be open by now.
FOOD:   The best place to eat has the best atmosphere.
A meal with Man Man is an unforgettable experience.
Located at the corner of King and Far West Streets,
it╒s marked by the ╥Five Star Restaurant. Recipes by
Duncan Hines╙ sign by the entrance.   Serving whatever
he can get fresh from the market and his garden, Man
Man and his wife, both Garinagus, dish out hearty and
healthy portions of food.   If you╒re vegetarian, they
will cater to your tastes.  If not you may have the
opportunity to sample such local delicacies as cow╒s
foot soup.  The second-best place to eat is the
screened-windowed unmarked restaurant next to Verde╒s
Guest House.  Reina╒s is a greasy spoon popular for
breakfast. Open only evenings, Bobby╒s Restaurant
sometimes has  conch soup.  Serving overpriced Chinese
food, the Mira Mar Restaurant is at 95 Front Street.
Also try the Kowloon.  Goyo is near the main plaza as
is the Palma, a store which features snacks such as
ganaches.  Near the gas station at the beginning of
town, Lucille╒s Kitchen has reasonable prices.
Lucille herself works on her sewing machine behind the
bar when she╒s not serving.  Shaiba╒s is classier but
comparatively expensive.  Granny╒s Kitchen across from
Shaiba╒s serves breakfast as well as rice and bean
dishes for US$3.75.  You can also try the small food
stall set right next to Palavi╒s Hotel which sells
Belizean food as well as flour tortillas every
evening. The Morning Glory Restaurant, 59 Front St.,
also provides Belizean meals and opens for breakfast.
For snacks try the Wahima and Punta Gorda Bakery.
Just out of town near the soccer field, the Roundhouse
is a popular bar and restaurant.  A bakery is up the
road from the Texaco station along the coast at the
town╒s entrance.  Just down from the Clock Tower, the
Ice Cream Parlor serves ice cream and sandwiches.

ENTERTAINMENT:  Set across from Traveller╒s Inn, the
Massive Rock Disco is the most active place in town;
video movies are shown in the early evening.  South
Side Disco is the second-liveliest place in town.
Bobby╒s sees a lot of action as does the neighboring
Starlight.  The Mira Mar is also a popular spot for
imbibing.

SERVICES:   Dem Dats Doin has a tourist information
office (tel. [phone]) in the town╒s center next to
the ferry pier.  Extremely helpful, they╒re open daily
(except Thursday and Sunday) from 7:30 a.m to 11:30
a.m. They also have cards and attractive and
impressive boxed insects (butterflies and large
beetles) on sale.  Ask about ╥the indigenous
experience╙ as well as their homestay.  They also have
a number of tours as does Nature╒s Way Guest House.
Charter by Land/Sea is at 12 Front St. (tel. 501-7-
22070, P.O. Box 18, Punta Gorda).  A newcomer on the
scene is the Toledo Explorer╒s Club, 46 JosÄ MarÆa
Street.  It is not so much a club as a tour agency
which offers tours and camping trips; customized trips
are available. Jack and Janet Nightingale (P.O. Box
11, Punta Gorda) offer sailing trips aboard the
Juanita; inquire at Arvin╒s Landing.  Belize Hotel and
Tourism Centre (tel. [phone]) can make travel
arrangements.  Requena╒s Charter Service (P.O. Box 18,
Punta Gorda), 12 Front Street, offers boat charters
and trips.  They also have runs to Puerto Barrios
three times  a week.  A Toledo Tour Guide Association
was formed in early 1995 and now has about 30 members.

SHOPPING:   A small branch of the National Handicraft
Centre is at the corner of JosÄ MarÆa and Prince
Streets.   PG shops seem to sell the same items,
mostly imported from Guatemala.

LEAVING PG:  Z-Line buses (tel. [phone]) depart
daily at 5 a.m.  and 11 a.m. arriving Belize City at
around 2:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.  The fare to Belize City
is US$11; to Independence,  US$4.50;  and to Belmopan,
US$9.50.  James buses leave at noon on Tuesday and
Friday and at 6.am. on Thursday, Saturday,  and
Sunday,  from the terminal which is opposite the
police station. The late departures allow passengers
arriving from Guatemala to make connections. All stop
in Belmopan, Dangriga, and Mango Creek.  These buses
have more leg room than their competitors, and their
conductors are trained as tour guides. The San Antonio
bus departs on Monday,  Wednesday,  Friday, and
Saturday  at 12:30 p.m. for the 1 hour,  20 minute
trip;  the San Jose bus leaves at 12:30 p.m. on
Wednesday and Saturday. The San Pedro Columbia bus
departs at 1 p.m.  on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and
Saturday.  Service to all these locations may have
improved by the time you read this; times may have
changed as well so be sure to inquire.  Hitchhiking is
a viable if slow option.  Wait at the bakery along the
coast road on the way out of town to the north.
By air:   Both Tropic and Maya fly.  To reserve and
purchase Tropic tickets contact Heston Wagner at his
shop next to the St. Charles Inn at 23 King Street.
In addition, for both Maya and Tropic tickets contact
Penell & Sons at 50 Main Street. Also, both Maya and
Tropic have offices at the airstrip.

By boat:  The boat for Guatemala leaves on Tuesday and
Friday at around 2 p.m., and it takes 2 hours.  Fare
is around US$6.50.  It returns those same days in the
morning and arrives around 10 a.m.  The Tuesday boat
tends to be faster as there is less demand. The ferry
ticket agent (Indita Maya, tel. [phone]) is at 24
Middle Street.  Sales start at 9:30 a.m.  Be sure to
buy your ticket as soon as you arrive.  If you need a
Guatemalan visa, you╒re out of luck.  Requena╒s
Charter Service (P.O. Box 18, Punta Gorda), 12 Front
Street, also has runs to Puerto Barrios three times  a
week. The immigration office  is next to the post
office and near the pier.   Buy some quetzales from
the female moneychanger or from passengers arriving
from Guatemala and bring some food and  water for the
boat as none is available on board.   Private water
taxis can be hired to Honduras as well as to
Guatemala.

Health note:  Malaria is fairly common in Toledo.  It
is wise to take Larium or other prophylaxis.   Dengue
fever is also present here.

///Harry Pariser is author of Adventure Guide to
Belize (one of the most-comprehensive and most-current
of all Belize guides, and from which this article is
adapted and excerpted) and other guides to Central
America and the Caribbean, all published by Hunter.

@@@@@@


OFF THE BEATEN PATH IN SOUTHERN BELIZE

By HARRY PARISER

Many places in Toledo District surrounding PG have
much to offer.
Because of the paucity of public transport, getting
around Toledo can be difficult unless you have your
own vehicle. However, people will stop to give you a
lift.  As an area Toledo continues to grow and
diversify.  When it is finally resurfaced, the
Southern Highway  is likely to radically transform
this area.  Currently, dolomite is being mined in the
district, and cacao is being exported to a British
firm.  Controversy ensued in 1994 when it was
disclosed that Malaysian businessman Ting Jack Heng
had been granted a concession to log some 200,000
acres near the Guatemalan border.  After protest
spearheaded by the Belize Alliance of Conservation
Non-Government Organizations, the concession was
revoked.

ATTRACTIONS:  Operating until 1978, the nearly-intact
Saddle Back Sugar Mill is 1.5 miles from town past the
airstrip.  As it╒s on private land, permission should
be obtained before entry.  The remains of Seven Hills
Sugar Mill can be reached by boat; contact Bobby
Polonio at Bobbie╒s Restaurant for guided tours.  The
southern end of the barrier reef and the Sapodilla and
Ranguana Cayes may be also reached by boat.

Trekking:  One challenging hike is from San Miguel,
north of Punta Gorda, through a chicle-gathering area
to the Valley of Esperanza.  Takes one or two days.
Contact Alfredo Romero or his uncle in San Miguel for
more information.   It╒s also possible to hike from
Santa Cruz to Blue Creek; check with the TEA for
information.
Village Guesthouse Program:  One way to explore the
area is with the Village Guesthouse Program designed
by the Toledo Ecotourism Association Village
Guesthouse Ecotrail Program.  Lodges have been built
in Laguna, San Pedro Columbia, Santa Cruz, San Jose,
and San Miguel. The basic lodges are generally
thatched with cohune palm, and there are eight bunk
beds in each; men and women are segregated, and the
charge is US$8.  Bathrooms are detached. Each meal╤all
with different Maya families╤costs US$3.  Tours of
local attractions are US$2.50.  Musical performances
are also available. Access to the villages is either
by local transportation or by charter.  Many visitors
to Belize maintain that a stay in the village was the
highlight of their trip. For information and
reservations contact TEA, P.O. Box 75, Punta Gorda, or
call 501-7-22119. While in PG, stop by Nature╒s Way
and chat with Chet.  Be sure to give him (or mail him)
the evaluation form so that the program may be
monitored.

Sights and attractions:  Laguna offers a cave with
pictographs and another with bats, a swamp with great
birding, and hiking.  Santa Cruz has a park (the RÆo
Blanco), waterfalls and pools, as well as nearby
Uxbenka ruins.  At San Pedro Columbia, you can visit
Lubaantun, ride in a canoe, and visit old cacao
groves. San Miguel offers visits to caves, hikes to
Lubaantun, and river canoeing. The most remote of the
Maya villages participating, San JosÄ may only be
reached by horse or on foot at times; it offers
hiking.

The Indigenous Experience:  This innovative project is
the brainchild of Alfredo and Yvonne Villoria (see Dem
Dats Doin below) and is an attempt to facilitate
contact and cultural exchange between locals and
outsiders.  For a US$5 fee they connect you with a
Maya family homestay.  You can stay with a family,
share a lunch or dinner of pumpkin stew and corn
tortillas or a breakfast of eggs and tortillas.  As
there are no special facilities or tourist amenities
offered, nor is there any privacy, it╒s not for
everyone.  You╒ll bathe by moonlight in the cool
river, stoop on the outhouse and use a corncob to
clean yourself (if you wish), watch tortillas being
shaped by hand, sleep in a hammock in the same room
with the kids, and generally experience life in a
similar fashion to the way it╒s lived by billions all
over the world.  If you wish you can have a ╥hands on
experience╙ such as picking corn in the fields,
harvesting coffee and cacao beans, threshing rice
stalks, or chopping firewood╤all of the innumerable
activities that make up a sustainable subsistence
lifestyle.

Rates (of which all the money provides badly needed
income for the family) are US$5 for a hammock and US$2
for each meal.  For more information contact the
Villorias (tel. [phone]; P.O. Box 73, Punta Gorda)
and enclose US$3 to help defray duplicating costs.  If
you╒re already in PG, visit their offices by the ferry
pier (under ╥services╙ above).  Ask about their newly
operative ╥Hamaca & Tortilla╙ network which will
enable you to stay with villagers in San Antonio,
Santa Cruz, San Jose, National  Luum Ca, San Pedro
Columbia, Silver Creek, and Santa Elena simply by
contacting the Village Council Chairman (Alcalde).
Again, remember to fill out the evaluation forms.  If
you have complaints and/or suggestions, be sure to let
them know.  Note:  Oh╒s Traveller╒s Farm has opened in
Chano Creek in San Pedro Columbia village.  It has
five rooms.
Forest Home:   The remains of this settlement are to
the north of Punta Gorda.  Founded in 1867 by defeated
Confederate exiles, many of the original settlers at
this site, discouraged by the extreme climactic
differences and the rigors of existence, quickly
returned.  Mississippi Methodists bolstered their
numbers, and the number of estates operating sugar
mills had grown to 12 by 1870.  Falling sugar prices
sent production into a tailspin in 1890, and the
Methodists refused to turn to producing moonshine,
preferring to either dump the molasses or feed it to
their cattle instead.  The community finally faded in
1910, and only traces remain today.

Nim Li Punit:    Lying to the northeast of PG, this
Maya site╒s name (meaning Big Hat) comes from the
carved figure wearing a large headdress on the site╒s
tallest stela.  Only partially cleared, this two-plaza
ceremonial center features at least 25 stelae, eight
of which are carved. One╤apparently never raised owing
to a fault╤stretches 31 feet and is the largest yet
unearthed. Of the several groups of buildings, only
the southernmost can be visited. While one structure
is 36 feet high, another is only 9 feet high but 215
feet long.  The site╒s center consists of a ceremonial
group and two civic and elite ones.  Similar
architecturally to Lubaantun, the site was discovered
by oil workers in 1976.  Although initially surveyed
by Norman Hammond, in-depth excavation did not begin
until Richard Leventhal worked here from 1983-1986.
It╒s 25 minutes north of PG about half a mile off the
west side of the Southern Highway at Mile 75.  The
only way to get here is by the bus running to Belize
City, or by car.   There are no facilities.  There are
usually guides/caretakers on site.  Admission is free,
although most visitors offer the guide a dollar or
two.   The Maya village of Indian Creek is nearby, and
you may see women washing their clothes in the stream
flowing along the site╒s border.  Mayan kids (and
adults) often sell handicrafts near the site.
Whitney╒s store is just below the turnoff for the
ruins.  A sign on the highway points out the trail; if
you╒re heading south, you╒ll know you╒ve passed it if
you see the Whitney Lumber mill on the east side of
the highway.  The beginning of the site is marked by a
large ceiba. There╒s great birdwatching in the area,
particularly from March to July when the fruit trees
are producing.

Big Falls:  Located just to the south of Nim Li Punit
at the point where the Southern Highway crosses the
Rio Grande.   The nation╒s only readily accessible
warm medicinal mineral springs are on the Alaman Farm
nearby.  Ask Mr. Alaman at the General Store for
permission to camp.  There╒s also a small hotel here.

Dem Dats Doin:   One of the most unusual places you╒ll
visit anywhere in the world is right here, just 1.25
mi. down the  entrance road to San Pedro Columbia
village╤just look for the sign.  In the course of the
past 14 years, Alfredo and Yvonne Villoria have
created their own appropriate technology farm which
uses sustainable agricultural techniques.  Both grew
up in Hawaii but first met in L.A.; while Alfredo is
of Filipino stock, Yvonne is German-Hawaiian.
Dissatisfied with stifling, routine jobs, they
traveled over much of the Caribbean and Mexico
searching for a place to settle.  They finally
selected Belize because its British-based legal system
offered them security.  Giving themselves five years
to make a go of it, they╒re still here and doing quite
well.  Between the biogas digester and the
photovoltaics on the roof, they╒ve reached 95% energy
self-sufficiency.  Conscious of the need to change
agricultural practices among the Maya, they offer free
tours to educators and children, exposing them to
appropriate technology techniques.
The farm:  For a US$5 donation, you╒ll get a personal
tour of this inspirational place.  During the course
of the visit, Yvonne and Alfredo display flow charts
and illustrations to help you digest what they╒re
showing you.  You begin in their house which they╤like
everything else you╒ll see╤built by studying books.
Supported by rosewood posts, its design is nearly as
remarkable as the methane-cooled refrigerator from
which they pull the lemonade served to guests.  Nearby
is a homemade ferroconcrete wash basin, a fuel-
conserving Lorena stove, and the insect dryer in which
captured bugs are processed for sale.   The first stop
on this demonstration of a ╥Self Sufficient Integrated
Farm System╙ is the pig pen and methane vat.  The
giant hogs produce excrement which is fed into the
biogas digester, which produces methane sent through a
pipe to  a ╥floating drum╙ storage container.
Filtered, the gas is used for cooking, refrigeration,
and lights; the sludge/fertilizer goes to the fruit
trees and the garden.  The pigs are either slaughtered
when still relatively small or when full grown are
sold out of the area, so as to not compete with the
local market.

Nearby are the ferroconcrete-reinforced fish ponds.
The plan for these call for raising tilapia to feed
the pigs.  Since these fish have not yet been granted
immigrant visas owing to governmental restrictions,
the ponds are filled with ordinary fish for the
present.  The more than 70 trees are grown on the
property include governor╒s plum, white custard apple,
rambutan, acerola (Barbados cherry), macadamia, Ceylon
gooseberry, Indian juju, three varieties of starfruit,
soursop, Malay apple, anatto, passion fruit, guava,
tropical almond, flying potatoes, and frangipani.
Plants in the primarily ornamental garden include
pineapple, bamboo, torch ginger, and sweet potatoes.
The latter are grown in large tires; when it comes
time to harvest them, they are flipped over.  No
chemicals or artificial fertilizers are used; jicama,
a tuber which acts as a natural insecticide, is ground
into a powder and sprinkled on the plants.  There╒s
also a small but attractive orchid grove as well as a
plant nursery from which cuttings are sold to locals.
Rice hulls from a rice mill a couple of miles away are
brought in to use as mulch.  The whole tour takes less
than 2 hours.   To book, either take a chance and drop
in,  write them at P.O. Box 73 in Punta Gorda, or
visit them in their office at the ferry pier in PG.
The Villorias also run a small and inexpensive bed and
breakfast operation as well as supervising the
Indigenous Experience (see above).

San Pedro Colombia:  This small Kekchi and Mestizo
village is famous for its Kekchi embroidery.  San
Pedro must be close to God because there are seven
different churches in this village of 150 families.
To get there from Punta Gorda, drive west for 1.5 mi.
past the Shell station at the junction with the
Southern Highway, then turn right down an unmarked
road.  San Pedro Columbia is 2 miles ahead.  If you
have no car, you must hitch or take a bus (San Antonio
bus) along the Southern Highway and get off at the
junction for San Pedro Columbia which will be on your
right.  You╒ll know you╒re entering the village when
you cross an iron grating set into the road.

Lubaantun:  Translating as ╥Place of the Fallen
Stones╙╤which is the modern but not the original name╤
this is the foremost Maya archaeological site in the
nation╒s south.  A major Late Classic ceremonial
center, the site sits poised on a tall ridge near San
Pedro Columbia which the Mayans leveled off╤building
up to form a roughly rectangular shape, about 300
yards long by 160 yards wide, featuring square courts
surrounded by pyramids once topped off by thatch
buildings.  Constructed upon a core of rocks, smaller
stones, and layers of earth, the structures were faced
with hard crystalline limestone blocks which resembled
marble when viewed from a distance.  What makes the
the site unusual is that there are no stone buildings
set on platforms or pyramids, very little stone
sculpture, and no stelae.  It is thought that
decoration was done in wood. From its highest
structure you can just barely see the Caribbean more
than 19 miles away.  The layout includes 11 major
structures grouped around five main plazas and three
ball courts.  The entire site is essentially one
temple complex.  Unlike other Maya temples, no mortar
is used.  Rather than leveling off the site, the Maya
systematically shaped and added fill to the slopes,
and the tallest structure rises to 40 feet.   The site
is crumbling badly in the aftermath of too many
visitors scampering to the top for a view.  There
isn╒t much to see here, but the serenity and ambience╤
augmented by the whir of cicadas and the crisp
crackles of birds and the haunting rattle of a boring
woodpecker╤is wonderful.  Keel-billed toucans and
brocket deer frequently visit the ruins late in the
afternoon.

Getting here:  To get here, make the first right after
the village church, then proceed down the clay and
gravel road, turning left when you see the sign, about
20 minutes from the village in all.
History:  Lubaantun apparently was occupied only
briefly near the end of the Classic Period between
730-890 A.D.  It is believed that cacao was used to
trade for the imported objects (jade, obsidian, and
lava) found at the site╤a thesis which the excavation
of a ceramic musician wearing a cacao-pod pendant in
1970 supports.  The site first came to attention when
it was uncovered by members of the Toledo settlement
in 1875, and it was first excavated by Thomas Gann in
1903.  Harvard University╒s R. E. Merwin visited the
site in 1915.  Taking the first photos, he spirited
away three carved ball court markers (each depicting
two men playing the game) to the Peabody Museum.
Another of the men who worked here was the famous
archaeologist J. Eric S. Thompson in 1926-27 under the
sponsorship of the British Museum.  As Pusilha, 30
mile to the southwest, seemed to be more interesting,
the British Museum expedition virtually abandoned this
site during the late 1920s.   In 1970 a group of
Cambridge archaeologists and geologists under the
leadership of Norman Hammond continued to excavate the
site, finding it to be larger than originally thought╤
a surprising discovery in light of the fact that it
was in use only from approximately A.D. 700-889 or
possibly as short a time as A.D. 730-750.   Although
the stone was quarried locally, smaller objects such
as blades and axes where imported.  Some stone
carvings have been found on ball court markers and on
walls.
The crystal skull:  The site╒s most controversial find
is a crystal skull unearthed by Anna Mitchell-Hedges,
daughter of expedition leader and Atlantis researcher
F.A.  Mitchell-Hedges.  Coincidentally or not, she
found the skull on her 17th birthday.  Its origins are
uncertain, but all agree is is a remarkable piece of
work.  A similar skull is found in the MusÄe de
l╒Homme in Paris.  Today the crystal skull abides with
Anna in Ontario, Canada.  For a rather zany view of
the crystal skull, written by New Age folk in Marin
County, CA, read The Message of the Crystal Skull.
Note that it has Lubaantun situated incorrectly on its
Belize map!

Practicalities:   The site is open 8-5.  The caretaker
may or may not be present.  Admission is free. In
terms of ambience, the best times to visit are
definitely dawn and dusk.  There╒s nowhere to stay
directly at the site, but it might be possible to
camp.  Or you can stay at Fallen Stones Butterfly
Ranch and Lodge, which is nearby (see below), or in
San Pedro as part of  the Indigenous Experience or at
the Village Guesthouse which will afford you a bit
more privacy (see above).

Fallen Stones Butterfly Ranch:  A roller coaster of a
road leads up about a mile from the entrance to
Lubaantun ruins to Toledo╒s most remarkable lodge, one
notable for its views, wildlife, and overall tasteful
ambience.  It is the product of one man╒s vision.

Fauna:    Right around the vicinity of the farm you
can see magnificent blue morpho butterflies and the
lesser-known but nonetheless spectacular white morpho
resides some 4 miles away.  There are also three
species of owl butterfly as well as a number of
heliconids.  All three of Belize╒s toucan species are
here as are hummingbirds and other flying wonders.
You might see an agouti come right up on the property
feasting on coconut chunks, and jaguar tracks may be
seen on nearby trails.  There are also a couple of
nests of the stingless Maya bees which each produce
about a pound of honey per year.   Mozzies can be
fierce here.
The butterfly farm:  Outside visitors may pay US$1.50
to visit the butterfly farm, one of the best of its
type in Central America.    Owner Ray Halberd╒s been
interested in butterflies since he was eight, but his
employment in tropical agriculture kept him busy over
the decades and it is only in recent years that his
long-held dream of operating a butterfly farm has come
to pass. Ray  operated a butterfly farm in the
Philippines (on the island of Panai in Iloilo city)
until one day when seven gunmen showed up with the
intention of kidnapping him for ransom. Luckily, he
was not on the farm that day. After that ╥I wasn╒t
very keen to go back and stay there.╙  The kidnappers
were eventually apprehended:  ╥One was shot dead while
resisting arrest, and the others are languishing in
jail.╙

There are two rooms filled with eight different
species of butterflies. As the butterflies have a
tiled roof over their heads while Ray himself lives
under a thatched roof, his workers consider him to be
╥a bit deranged.╙ The farm╒s highlight are its blue
morphos which live only about 12 days but spend their
days filling the world with color.  There will be some
4-5,000 blue morpho caterpillars in total when the
farm is fully operational. The eggs resemble little
drops of water. As it╒s difficult to tell the dew
drops apart from the eggs in the morning, it╒s
probably a technique used for camouflage purposes.
Every butterfly has a different colored pupae; some
are jade green.  You might see a newly-hatched one
hanging on its pupae. You╒ll note that the resting
blue morphos resemble the owl butterflies except that
the eye is not so large. In flight it goes from
something expertly camouflaged to something
frighteningly bright. Each of the passion flowers
found inside the enclosures caters to a different
species╤sort of like jocks choosing their brand of
beer.

Eventually, 600 pupae of 35 species will be exported
to Europe and the US every week which should bring in
a US$1,500 gross. However, the process is extremely
labor intensive, and the pupae must be transported by
courier, so this cuts down on the profitability.  The
lodge is intended to help support the butterfly ranch.
Ray╒s  intent is to turn the area around the lodge
into a breeding ground for butterflies through
clearing an area for them and by enriching the natural
vegetation with food and nectar plant sources.

Practicalities:  The cabins are a combination of
Kekchi and European-design elements.  You can sit on
your porch and view the Columbia and Maya Mountain
reserves:  only a vast expanse of jungle stands
between you and San Ignacio.  (The scenery is
dramatic:  A shot taken from one of the cabins is the
center-piece two-page spread in the recently-published
Insight Guide to Belize.)  There are seven rooms in
all;  some can accommodate up to four.  Solar power
provides light and operates a fan, and shower water is
heated via individual heaters.  Food is imaginative
and surprisingly well prepared; vegetarians can be
catered to.  Meals are loosely based on Maya cooking,
but an international dish (such as a West African
peanut stew) is served for Sunday lunch.  Repasts are
served in the cozy restaurant and bar as well as the
open-air restaurant which commands a view of the
village of  Columbia village.  Like the driveway to
Fallen Stones, rates are fairly steep (but this is a
unique spot):  US$150 double, including all meals,
plus US$5 per person service charge plus government
tax of  7%;  room only US$110 double plus service and
tax.   US$50 one-way is charged for transport to or
from PG for one to three.  For more information write
P.O. Box 23, Punta Gorda. In PG itself contact
Alistair King (501-7-2126, 501-7-2104) at the Texaco
Station at the north edge of town.

Belize Agroforestry Research Center:     This
remarkable farm is just a short walk from the ruins.
Take the path left to the river and then along a path
and under a barbed wire fence.  Pre- and post-
Hispanic Maya agriculture are practiced here.  Crops
grown include corn, bok choi, Chinese cabbage,
cabbage, coffee, and cacao.  Fruits include pineapple
and carambola.  In an attempt to revolutionize
permaculture in the area, various techniques are under
R&D.  For example Lucena trees (the Latin name for a
type of legume) are planted on slopes, girded, and
allowed to die on top.  Wingbean, jicama, and flying
potato are planted and harvested; their leaves serve
as mulch.   Eventually, the tree is cut down, and the
girdle is used for firewood or left in place as a
natural terrace; meanwhile, new sprouts have started
under the girdle.  Also on the property are beehives
and small Maya ruins on hilltops.

History:  The brainchild of environmental
activist/attorney Don Wirtshafter and horticulturalist
Mark Cohen, this innovative project began in the
1980s.  Surveying the area in 1980, Wirtshafter
brought back enthusiastic reports which piqued Cohen's
enthusiasm.  Seeing the potential for a tropical field
station in the area,  Cohen began to look for a site.
The current property was originally leased from former
Peace Corps volunteer Russell Turner who had lived on
the parcel before returning to the States.   He agreed
to lease the land to them in 1988 along with an option
to purchase for US$10,000.   The Tropical Conservation
Foundation was created in order to fund the purchase,
and the Belize Agroforestry Research Center was formed
as a separate Belizean entity to supervise the
property.  After finally securing the needed funds in
February 1990,  the Tropical Conservation Foundation
became the official titleholder of 147 acres.  Despite
the name, there is no official government involvement
in the project, and there is still little to no
involvement of Belizean farmers in the area. Anyone
with a serious interest in tropical agriculture is
welcome to come for a visit or stay for a day or two.
A US$10 donation per night is requested along with an
additional donation for food.   If no one else is
around see Doles, the Belizean caretaker.   For more
information write the Tropical Conservation
Foundation, 14 N. Court St., Athens, OH  45701

San Antonio:   There are a few shops and not much else
here.  You might see some women, members of an obscure
Christian sect, wearing head shawls.  An unusual
feature of the town is the stone church and mission
house.  When the original San Antonians arrived in
1886 they brought with them their patron saint San
Luis and bells along with images of the saints from
their original village.  Locals from San Luis PetÄn
arrived to claim their goods but were rebuffed.
Shortly thereafter, the church was struck by lightning
and burned to the ground; only the bells survived the
fire.   Both the school and church were built of hand-
quarried stone.  Its stained glass windows were a last
minute thought╤procured when a member of the Order,
walking down a street in St. Louis Missouri, had come
upon a church being demolished.  He persuaded the
demolition company to donate them, collected donations
for shipping, and they have been in place ever since.

History:  San Antonio╒s residents emigrated from the
PetÄn.  One of the more amusing incidents in the
history of Guatemala╒s claim of Belize took place in
January 1962 when Francisco Sagastume, a political
opponent of President YdÆgoras (who had staged a
similarly unsuccessful  ╥liberation mission╙ to Benque
Viejo in 1958), arrived in town.   Having already
announced in the border village of Pueblo Viejo that
liberation was at hand, and having burnt photographs
of Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh along
with a Union Jack to dramatize the declaration, he
encountered hostility from the locals whose ancestors
had fled from Guatemala three generations before.
Proceeding to PG, the band was arrested and sentenced
at Stann Creek to 10 years of hard labor.  This was
the last Guatemalan attempt at ╥liberation."
Practicalities:  Stay at low-budget Bol╒s Hilltop
Hotel  which has basic but clean rooms with fans. The
village pay telephone is at the Bee Cooperative behind
Bol╒s.  There╒s no nightlife to speak of except for a
bar or two.  The village now has 24-hour electricity.

Festivals and events:  At Easter, sporting a brown
masked-face and smoking a pipe a scarecrow-like Judas
is hung in back of the church on Holy Thursday at
around 10 a.m. and executed by a firing squad on Holy
Saturday evening after mass.   Costumed young men
perform dances at fiestas, such as the one which takes
place around June 13.   A recently revived deer dance
takes place each September 25.  The festival commences
with an all night vigil nine days before  during which
the masks and costumes are wreathed in incense and
offered food.   The story of a hunter-and-deer told to
the accompaniment of marimba music, the deer dance is
high melodrama.  As part of the celebrations, a pole
is greased and a prize (usually money) is set atop it.
Three men compete to climb it.

Getting there:  Chun╒s buses run from Punta Gorda╒s
Civic Center daily at 4 p.m. and return at 5 a.m.  To
get here from Lubaantun, drive to the road leading
from Punta Gorda, turn west for about 2 miles, and
then turn right at the junction for 2 miles.  The
village╒s founders came from the Guatemalan village of
San Luis which is just across the border.

Uxbenka:  A small ceremonial center ╥discovered╙ in
1984, Uxbenka  is situated just 9 miles east of the
Guatemalan border in the foothills of the Toledo
District located beyond San Antonio near Santa Cruz.
Reposited here are over 20 stelae,  one of which dates
back to the Early Classic Period.  As is typical in
the area, the hills have been terraced and faced so
that they resemble large buildings.  Its name (Ancient
Place) was given to the site by residents of Santa
Cruz.  On site, you╒ll find two terraces with erosion-
erased stelae sheltered underneath thatched pavilions.
All in all, there╒s not much to see, but the
refreshing breeze and views are great.

Getting there:  Although some trucks do pass on
Saturday, the only assured way of getting here╤unless
you have your own vehicle or charter╤is to make the
long, hot 4-mile hike along the rock-strewn dirt road.
(Watch out for ticks if you sit down!)   Turn to the
right just before the village to find the entrance
road to the site.  The site╒s caretaker lives at the
edge of Santa Cruz and may or may not be at the scene
to dispense tickets.
RÆo Blanco Santa Elena Nature Reserve:   Set 3 miles
west of Santa Elena, this 500-acre expanse was
declared a reserve in 1993.  It is known as as ╥Santa
Elena Falls╙ after its waterfall.  A proposal to
increase the reserve╒s size to 25,000 acres is under
consideration.

Blue Creek Caves:  Infrequently visited, this cave and
stream combination is out of the way but worth it. To
get here return to the junction (marked by Roy╒s Cool
Spot Grocery), and then follow the sign to Aguacate.
Blue Creek is 5 miles farther, past Blue Creek
Village; its entrance is marked by a narrow concrete
bridge.  Sign the register and follow the trail
upstream to an open sided structure where there╒s a
swimming spot.  From there take the path along the
water which continues along a creek.  The creek dries
up during the dry season.  The trail crosses the
smaller creek and then wends through an area with a
lot of boulders.  After 15 minutes,  you must climb up
to a canyon which leads to the Hokeb Ha cave entrance.
An entrepreneur has leased the land from the
government, built some cabaûas, and declared the area
to be the ╥Blue Creek Wildlife Sanctuary,╙ a
designation which has no legal status.  He is
requesting a US$1 donation which is given to the
village towards trail maintenance.  In 1994, the
controversial ╥Jason Project╙ was based here and on
South Water Caye.  Using grants from the U.S.
Department of Education and large corporations
(including at least one defense contractor) wishing to
clean up their image, it brought a number of
╥argonauts,╙ U.S. schoolchildren, to Belize to
participate in research.  Broadcasts were beamed to
the U.S.  Although the enterprise did help to put
Belize on the map, there was little Belizean
involvement, and it seemed at times as though Belize
was a convenient exotic background with a catchy name
instead of a real place with real people and real
problems.  One lasting legacy of the project is the
canopy observation system which is accessed via a 100-
foot tower.

Pusilhç:  About 1 mile east  of the Guatemalan border,
these low-lying ruins, built on a hilltop along the
river,  can be reached only by boat.  There are more
than 20 carved monuments in the plaza.  Some are
zoomorphs similar to those found at Quiriguç. They
date from the 6th to 8th C. A.D.  There╒s also a ball
court which is surrounded by walls.

Barranco:  Belize╒s southernmost settlement, this
small Garinagu village (tel. [phone]) of around
200 can be reached by boat (ask near the market) and
by a bad road during the dry season.  Its name (╥Red
Cliffs╙ in Garifuna) refers to the cliffs it sits
atop. Founded in 1862, today the village has a
decreasing population. There╒s no formal
accommodation, but it╒s possible to stay with locals.
Arrangements can either be made on your own or through
the TEA.  While here be sure to meet Carlson Tuttle
who is working to revitalize Garinagu culture; he has
an excellent library. Howler monkeys are found near
the village as are mangroves.  The uninhabited Moho
River is set between here and PG.
Sarstoon-Temash Nature Reserve:    This 80,000-acre
tract covers the area surrounding the mouth of the
Temash River.  It is a haven for waterfowl and may be
reached by boat from PG.  The KekchÆ Maya village of
Dolores may be reached by taking a boat upriver to
Crique Sarco and then proceeding on foot.

Offshore Cayes:  Located near the mouth of the Deep
River, Wild Cane Caye has mounds and artifacts
belonging to the Mayas.  Earthwatch has conducted
research expeditions here under the direction of Dr.
Heather McKillop of Louisiana State University.  The
Sapodilla Cayes, a set of cayes running down to
Honduras, is one of your best bets for snorkeling.
Nicholas Caye has been developed for tourism. Its
vegetation has been trimmed and  cabaûas constructed.
It will become the Toucan Island Resort.  Set to the
southwest of Nicholas Cay, Hunting Caye has a base for
the Belizean Defence Force.  It has the remains of a
ship (as well as an enormous ancient anchor, overgrown
by coral) in the depths off of a nearby reef lying to
the southeast. It has both a lighthouse and a good
harbor as well as Crescent Moon, a lovely beach.  If
you visit here be cautious:  It is a nesting ground
for hawksbill turtles and too much activity could
prove disruptive.  Lime Caye (Low Caye) is another
beautiful island. It receives tour groups from
Livingston.  Also known as Sapodilla Caye and South
Caye, Ragged Caye is the southernmost link in the
chain.  Although largely denuded by tropical storms,
it is an excellent snorkeling spot.  There is good
diving around all of these cayEs.

///Harry Pariser, who lives in San Francisco, is a
world traveler. He is author of Adventure Guide to
Belize (from which this article is adapted and
excerpted),  Adventure Guide to Costa Rica,  and
several guides to the Caribbean, all published by
Hunter.



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KAYAKING THE BARRIER REEF
OF SOUTHERN BELIZE

By RANDY STAFFORD and DEIRDRE CROMMIE

As the 727 cruises above the eastern coast of Mexico╒s
Yucatçn Peninsula, we get a startling preview of the
waters we will travel through for the next six days.
Between the small islands the bright aqua water blends
into greens and blues, turning abruptly chartreuse
near the shores.

After a 20-minute wait for our bags at the Belize
International Airport, everything happens quickly:
We pass through customs, check-in at Maya Airlines and
are rushed onto the 10-seat, twin-engine prop plane
headed for Dangriga.  The luggage space is tiny.
Unable to convince the baggage handlers to cram all
our bags aboard, we imagine the worst as the plane
bounces into the air.  Below, the meandering oxbows of
the muddy Sibun River cut through the thick dusty-
green blanket of rain forest.

Having landed in Dangriga at 1 p.m, we sit in a
sweltering hut at the gravel airstrip sipping the
national drink of Belize, Orange Fanta.  We hope that
the rest of our foldable kayak will be on board the
next hour╒s plane.   We have come to Belize for the
barrier reef, and Rodney, the jack-of-all-trades taxi
driver, has easily persuaded us to head for the reef
today.  At first, we suspect that Rodney will somehow
take advantage of us given his monopoly on the small-
time tourist trade of the Dangriga airstrip.  He is a
flamboyant, well-liked, heavy-set black man in his
late 30s with the largest car in town.  He turns from
jovial to serious and back to jovial as he serves as
our self-appointed guide.
Ordinarily immersed in our professional lives, Deirdre
as a research biochemist and Randy as an internist, we
have tried to get the most out of outdoor vacations
that are too short and too infrequent.  We prefer the
task of setting up our tent while swatting at
mosquitoes to the challenges of hotel check-ins.
As promised, the rest of our kayak arrives.  Soon
after, Rodney drives us to a dusty, but sturdy
concrete grocery store amid tenuous elevated shacks.
The store has few of the prepackaged goods that we
typically use for camping in the U.S., but by foraging
aisle to aisle we amass a sufficient supply of food
suited for our travels.  Rodney returns and we gather
a few remaining items from people selling fruit and
vegetables out of their homes.  When we ask about
white gas for our camp stove, Rodney states simply:
╥there is no white gas in Belize.╙  We buy kerosene,
hoping it will substitute.

Originally, we planned to kayak to the barrier reef
after a night in Dangriga.  Rodney, however, has
arranged for a motor boat ride out to the reef that
will save us a day of traveling. At the river port our
gear has been loaded into an open, 20 foot-long
fiberglass skiff.  As the young, thin driver guns the
big outboard motor through the first ocean waves, we
regret not packing our gear into our special dry bags.
Splashing through the rough water, we╒re thankful not
to be paddling our kayak out against the brisk wind
and surging water for these eight miles. The water is
a cloudy aquamarine with two-foot waves just short of
breaking into whitecaps.

The skiff lands at a small, simple settlement of faded
blue shacks built on the only dry corner of a cluster
of swampy mangrove islands known as the Tobacco Range.
We smell the faint acrid aroma of smoldering coconuts
mixed with the salt wind.  Although we had thought we
arranged to go to nearby Tobacco Caye, we have ended
up where we have and are enjoying the juxtaposition of
a reggae beat with the small motor repair business run
by the island╒s residents.  After arranging to camp at
the edge of the settlement for two days, we set up our
tent on the sand beneath the palms, checking that no
coconuts are directly overhead.  The reef is visible a
mile to the east, a long continuous line of crashing
white surf without a shore.

As we assemble our 17-foot red and black folding
kayak, several curious children come to talk with us.
They understand us better than we do their Creole and
British accents. Unfortunately, our camping stove
doesn╒t work with the kerosene from Dangriga.  After a
friendly offer from one of our hosts, we cook our
dinner of macaroni and cheese on a small natural gas
burner in their nearby hut.  Exhausted from traveling,
we want desperately to collapse into a restful night╒s
sleep, but the tent is too hot and we are restless.
Sleeping in the open is impossible because of the
mosquitoes and sand flies. The wind comes up strong at
night, howls through the palm fronds. Through the
screened tent window we scan the sky for clouds and
rain, but see only bright stars.

The Reef Close Up

Considering the 90 degree heat, we wake up
surprisingly well-rested.  After a quick breakfast of
pancakes and mango jam, we apply a thick layer of
sunscreen and launch the kayak into the warm Caribbean
water.  After the wind and choppy seas yesterday, we
are nervous, yet excited, about setting out in our
kayak. With the boat nearly empty, we paddle northeast
on a short day-trip to a section of the reef just
north of Tobacco Caye.  As we approach, we see a long
straight line of white water churned up in the middle
of the ocean.  The line of surf, extending for miles
to the north and south, is at first unnerving.  The
waves breaking over the reef, however, dissipate
quickly without disturbing the calm of the inland
side.

From the kayak, the reef is a false shore of stone
made by tiny invertebrates nine miles from the nearest
land mass. Underwater in our snorkeling gear, the reef
becomes a mesmerizing collection of fish and coral in
implausible shapes and colors. In the shallow water,
we crawl awkwardly along the sandy bottom staring at
this strange world.

Although not absolutely continuous, the barrier reef
begins 100 miles to the north and extends another 60
to the south. After the Great Barrier Reef of
Australia, the Belizean reef is the second longest in
the world.  Varying from five to 20 miles offshore,
the reef is dotted with small islands.  The barrier
reef is a uniquely complex and fragile ecosystem.  The
density of animal and plant species is exceptional.
Thousands live together, each exploiting a very narrow
ecological niche.  This fantastic complexity makes the
reef very susceptible to human disruption. Because of
extensive fishing and tourism, northern portions of
the reef are showing signs of overuse.

Back in the kayak, the humidity closes in on us again.
It is a short paddle to nearby Tobacco Caye, with its
raked white sand and series of rustic resorts with
simple tourist huts.  We have bread, cheese and juicy
oranges for lunch followed by a relaxing siesta
beneath the coconut palms.  Initially, we had intended
to stay on this island, but are happy to head back to
Tobacco Range with its local flavor and absence of
tourist bungalows.  A strong tail wind helps push the
kayak toward our camp. As the sun goes down, we rush
to prepare our dinner.

Paddling
to South Water Caye

Again the sky is clear and the sea calm as we set out
toward our next destination, South Water Caye, six
miles away.  We plan to visit two more Cayes in the
next three days and then travel into the tropical rain
forest of the mainland.  Loaded down with our gear,
including 40 pounds of fresh water, the kayak moves
less quickly than the day before.  We meander
southward through the mangrove islands of the Tobacco
Range.  In the distance, the air above Man-O-War Caye
is wild with circling birds.  This island rookery is
one of several Belizean National Preserves.      From
the mangrove islands, we head more directly south
toward South Water Caye.  The wind and waves from the
northeast make it difficult for us to stay on course.
The kayak has a natural tendency to line up
perpendicular to the wave front, heading us to the
southeast.  To maintain our southward bearing, we are
forced to paddle hard only on the left side of the
kayak for several miles.  During this time, South
Water Caye remains a small tuft of green on the
horizon; then suddenly every paddle stroke seems to
bring us nearer.  Reaching the island, we pass the
extravagant Blue Marlin Lodge, with its scuba diving
boats and no trespassing signs.  Past the congestion
of the large resort, we enter a calm cove that is home
to dozens of diving brown pelicans.  At the shore,
Jorge Rosado welcomes us to the more modest Leslie
Cottages.

The caretaker of the cottages, Jorge,  is a broad,
sun-darkened man.   We had phoned him from Boston to
arrange for our stay.  Often used by large educational
groups, the lodge is now empty except for a British
scuba instructor, who has her own cabin.  With the
weather warming and the rainy season coming, it is now
off-season and Jorge has recently sprayed for insects.
Dead roaches litter the floors.  The two-way radio
crackles constantly at times and then is oddly silent
for long stretches.  Most of the messages are for the
Blue Marlin Lodge and quickly we begin imitating the
slurred British: ╥Blumahlin, Blumahlin, come in
Blumahlin.╙  Even with the dead insects, we know we
have found a special place.

The temperature remains in the low 90s with high
humidity. We are slowly acclimating, partly by
paddling no more than four hours a day.  We
fastidiously apply our SPF 30 sunscreen, threatening
to deplete our 16-ounce supply.  Whether in or out of
the water, we wear long-sleeve shirts and blue
surgical scrub pants to protect our skin from the sun,
insects and stinging sponges.
After unpacking, we paddle to the south side of the
island. In the six-foot deep water, snorkeling is now
more like swimming. The bright blue-green parrot fish
crunch at the coral with their beaked mouths, while
many smaller fish hide underneath the shelf-like
masses.  Of the many varieties, the huge domes of
yellow brain coral are the most impressive.  Brown and
purple cactus-like sponges sway in the gentle current.
That night, after cooking our dinner alone in the huge
lodge, we set up two mattresses side by side on the
veranda.  The wind off the ocean protects us from the
insects and we have our most comfortable night,
sleeping late into the morning.

Snorkeling & the Shark

On Tobacco Range we worried about our supply of water.
Although low on water himself, Jorge generously allows
us to replenish our supply.  We are constantly
drinking the sugary fruit punch mix we purchased in
Dangriga, aware of the huge amount of water we are
losing in our sweat.  Today we use the kayak only to
carry us past the perpetually diving pelicans to the
island╒s south side for more snorkeling on the
windward side of the reef.

After lunch and a mid-afternoon siesta at the lodge,
Randy returns to the calmer, inland side of the reef
while Deirdre studies several books on the coral reef
and its ecology.  As Randy snorkels, an eight-foot
nurse shark, brown and velvety, moves around him in
slow undulating arcs.  Gentle in its movements, the
shark is menacing in its large size and powerful
shape.  Although supposedly docile, the shark startles
Randy enough that he decides to head back to land.

At sunset we interrupt our wilderness experience for
drinks at the Blue Marlin Lodge and its backdrop of
thatched-roof huts with air conditioners.  The last
orange light bathes the small wooden deck, the horizon
punctuated by the black silhouettes of flat islands.

On to Wee Wee Caye

Before we head out, Jorge scans the horizon and points
to our next destination.  Lacking a detailed nautical
chart, we rely on the help of the locals and low-tech
navigation techniques. Wee Wee Caye, named after the
leaf cutter ant, is six miles to the southwest toward
the mainland.  A moderate tail-wind pushes us along.
The kayak has handled the Belizean waters well.  The
sea has been relatively calm.  Gusting winds have been
ever present, but usually under 15 knots and
predictably from the northeast.  Ocean currents and
tidal changes in water level have been small.
Traveling in the off-season, we have seen no other
kayaks.  We have heard many tales, however, of
ingenious kayakers rigging sails to help propel their
boats.  Mostly, we are alone on the ocean.  In
paddling to Wee Wee Caye, we pass only a couple of
Belizean conch divers pulling their small canoes along
as they dive.  Glancing back often, we see the
receding line of surf along the barrier reef.  Now and
then the water beneath us changes from deep blue-green
to brilliant aquamarine as we pass over sandy
shallows.

Landing at Wee Wee Caye, we experience the excitement
of a new place and the relief of completing a long
crossing.  Jorge had radioed ahead and Bernard
Andrews, the caretaker, greets us. He gives us a tour
of the modest Wee Wee Caye Marine Lab.  The Lab is run
by Paul and Mary Shave, who we expect to meet the next
day as we travel up the Sittee River.  Bernard also
introduces us to his mother, who is spending her
vacation on the island.   They talk to each other in
the Garifuna language.

Several skiffs are parked at the dock, each with a
name incorporating the Garifuna word for the boa
constrictors found on the island.  Holy Wolla and Rock
╘N Wolla are our favorites.  The island, only about
300 by 100 yards in size,  is 75% mangrove with a
little sandy land at its center.  The red and black
mangroves that once lined most of Belize╒s islands
form a critical ecosystem for many plants and animals.
Superbly adapted for survival in saltwater, their
long, one-inch-thick roots split-up like greedy
tentacles as they plunge into the water.
Unfortunately, the value of the mangroves is not as
obvious as that of the coral reef.  Lacking the beauty
of fish, coral and sponges, the mangroves initially
seem a web of convoluted tree trunks growing out of
humid mud to form a haven for biting insects.  In the
past, a desire to provide tourists with sandy beaches
led to vigorous efforts to remove the trees. Stripping
away the mangrove rim from islands, however, left the
land unprotected.  Many such islands diminished in
size or washed away entirely.  By destroying a vital
fish hatchery, mangrove removal also reduced fish
stocks.  The Belizean government now attempts to
control removal by requiring special permits and by
emphasizing the value of this ecosystem.  The Marine
Lab focuses its research on the mangroves, helped by
an inexpensive government lease of the island.

We have developed a routine: kayak in the morning,
unpack at our next destination and jump into the water
to snorkel.  On Wee Wee Caye, we swim through 200 feet
of eel grass on the island╒s west side before reaching
the coral on the south side.  Instead of being part of
the barrier reef, the coral here is a small fringing
reef surrounding the island.  Although the scale is
smaller, the snorkeling is superb.  There are more
fish than ever, including huge schools of blue tangs,
the more reclusive damsel and butterfly fish and the
darting sergeant majors. Swimming in the five-foot
deep water, we are tenaciously followed by two-foot
long barracudas with sharp, threatening front teeth.
They are harmless under most circumstances, according
to Bernard. A spiny lobster scuttles beneath a rock,
its foot-long antennae still protruding from its
hiding place.

We prepare our dinner of Spanish rice in the lodge and
carry it to the west dock.  The sky turns a deepening
iridescent orange as the sun sets behind the Maya
Mountains of the mainland.
Bernard talks of life in the village of Sittee River,
15 miles away.   A former school teacher, he is proud
of his election to the village council of the People╒s
United Party, now the country╒s opposition party.
Bernard and most people in his town are Garifuna, an
ethnicity that can be traced back to escapees from
slave ships in the late 1700s.  These escapees first
settled on St. Vincent Island, then the Bay Islands
off Honduras and finally to Dangriga on November 19,
1823.  This date is now celebrated locally as
Settlement Day.  While the Garifuna make up only 7% of
Belize╒s population, their culture is integral to life
in southern Belize. They typify the ethnic and racial
pluralism of the nation.

As dusk wanes, Bernard points out a landmark for
tomorrow╒s travels, a small notch on the horizon seven
miles away that is the mouth of the Sittee River.  We
sleep in one of several quaint eight by eight-foot
wooden cottages built off cat-walks extending into the
mangroves.  After less than an hour, however, the sand
flies are intolerable despite the screens on the
windows, our insect repellant and the smoking insect
coils.  We move our mattress, sheets and pillows to
the east dock where the ocean breeze allows us to
sleep in peace.

From Ocean to River

The warm breeze and bright sunlight coming off the sea
wake up Randy, while they soothe Deirdre into
continued sleep.  Before heading out, we spend a last
hour snorkeling along the reef north of the island.
The sponges are extraordinary in their diverse colors
and odd shapes.  Swimming away from the island, we saw
the sea drops off so steeply that the bottom
disappears.

Small waves travel in our direction as we paddle
toward the mainland across the choppy channel.  The
wind at our backs also aids our progress.  Mid-way
across, dark clouds pass over us, dropping the first
rain of our trip.  Thirty seconds later, the rain
stops as abruptly as it started.  Drenched by the
sweat of seven miles of strenuous paddling, we arrive
at the mouth of the Sittee River.  Barely perceptible
last night, the river╒s mouth is now an eighth of a
mile-wide meeting of aqua sea and silty brown river.

Entering the calm water, we realize the effort we have
expended maneuvering the kayak in the ocean.  Paddling
is now easy as we meander upriver.  Each lazy ox-bow
brings us closer to the Possum Point Biological
Station.  Like the Wee Wee Caye Marine Lab, the
Biological Station is run by Paul and Mary Shave.
Sunburnt former New Englanders, Paul once worked at
the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.  Their two
biologic stations allow educational groups to see the
coral reef, mangroves and tropical rain forest
firsthand.  At both places, we have come between
groups and have been the only visitors.  We find Paul
and Mary╒s enthusiasm for the rain forest contagious.
On their advice, we paddle a short distance up Boom
Creek, a small tributary overgrown with dense foliage.
The flattened, twisted tree roots descend into the
water looking as though they are draped with brown
fabric.  The Shaves warn us about poisonous snakes
along the banks, but we see none.  Still later in the
afternoon, we walk to the nearby bamboo forest.
We join Paul and Mary, and their Garifuna workers,
Clifford, Horace, David and Shalmadine, for dinner.
Twice-baked potatoes, vegetable salad, corn bread and
rum with grapefruit concentrate form a delicious meal.
This noisy, laughing family oscillates between put
downs and bragging accounts of past exploits.

Pointing to the scars on Clifford╒s arm, Paul tells us
of Clifford and the fer de lance, Belize╒s most
poisonous snake.  While clearing brush, Clifford was
struck on the forearm by a large snake.  The village
snake doctor decided that the situation was beyond his
abilities and sent Clifford on to the hospital in
Dangriga. Clifford╒s survival depended on rapid
administration of a dose of antivenin and surgery to
decompress the swelling.  Later Clifford and Paul show
us the snake in its glass tube of formaldehyde, its
head flattened in revenge.  After cautiously crossing
the yard with flashlights sweeping the ground in front
of us, we sleep comfortably in a raised cottage.

Up the Sittee River

Now acclimated, we find the humid morning brings
energy for our last full day in Belize.  Randy
fashions a crude canopy for the kayak using our tent
poles and sheet.  Traveling upriver for the day, we
get deeper and deeper into the jungle as the river
narrows.  The foliage of the rain forest is arranged
in layers, each interconnected with vines.  Starting
with the dense undergrowth, the foliage builds up
through shrubs, then small trees, then larger trees
that form the dominant upper layer, only to be topped
by the huge domes of the occasional kapok trees.
Immense stands of bamboo cover portions of the river.
Mimosa plants line the rocky beach at our lunch stop,
each curling up when touched.  On the way back, a pair
of toucans flies across the river.  Their brightly
striped beaks are so large that balance in flight
seems implausible.  Further down-river, we stop to
survey the Shaves╒ hacienda-in-progress, beautiful
even in its unfinished state.  Its huge, open lawn
leading down to the Sittee River contrasts with the
nearby rain forest.

///Randy Stafford and Deirdre Crommie live in Boston.


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A NIGHT IN SAN MIGUEL

"My total bill came to US$38.  This included the
overnight stay, all my meals and my two private
tours."



By PEGGY BOND ARBANAS

In the foothills of the Maya Mountains in Southern
Belize there are still many Mayan villages where the
Indians grow crops as they have for hundreds of years.
A visitor may stay in one of those villages among
ancient Mayan ruins, beautiful scenic rivers, and
limestone caves in a lush tropical rain forest.  In
this setting the local people run their own tourist
business, a cooperative venture called the Toledo
Ecotourism Association, designed to protect the
ecology of the area.

The Toledo Ecotourism Association (TEA) is composed of
people from 13 diverse villages. The villagers are
Mayan and KetchÆ Indians, Garifuna people
(descendants of South American Indians and African
slaves), and Creole people (descendants of the mixture
between European and African people).  The association
makes decisions on the organization, control, and
profit from the business.

Tourist dollars are used for rain forest conservation,
for paying local guides and food preparers, and for a
general fund that supports village health and
education projects. The business of handling the
tourists is rotated to those people who are members of
the association and who have attended workshops to
learn about the tourist business.

From Punta Gorda, travelers can arrange transport to
any of the villages by visiting the TEA office located
on Front Street in the Nature╒s Way guest house.
Private transportation is comparable to U.S. taxi
fares, at least US$20 depending on the remoteness of
the village.

On Saturdays in PG,  buses are parked all around the
central plaza waiting to take families home from the
biggest market day of the week. Everyone from the
outlying villages with something to sell from gardens
or farms comes into town early and returns home at
noon.  If you can arrange to start your bus trip on
Saturday, as I did, you will need to arrive by 11:30
a.m. in order to find a seat.  Don╒t hesitate to bring
your lunch, as everyone on the bus  will be eating and
children will be sucking on Ideals, similar to snow
cones in a plastic bag.  From a Garifuna woman selling
by the Community Center, I bought panades, fried corn
meal pockets with beans or fish inside, optional
onions on top.

Earlier that morning, I had  purchased some cilantro
from two young KetchÆ girls at the PG market.  In a
few hours I would be in their village of San Miguel
and they would be trying on my lipstick.  The next
morning their father,  Marcus Ack, with a machete in
hand, would be leading me on a trail through tropical
farm land and into the lush rain forest to the Tiger
Cave on the Rio Grande River.

The scenery from Punta Gorda on the winding dirt road
heading towards the Maya Mountains is enchanting
because of the many small farms with flowers growing
alongside the road.  In less than an hour the bus
arrived in San Miguel, even after many stops along the
way to let people off.

San Miguel is memorable for the beauty of its thatched
roofs and its people, who speak English and are very
friendly.
I stayed in a recently built guest house with thatched
roof, a concrete floor, two bunk beds with mosquito
net, and a nicely strung hammock, the coolest place to
be in the tropics.  Purified water was available and I
noticed the oil lantern I would need after dark.

That afternoon,  I walked to the Mayan ruins of
Lubaantun with Domingo,  a KetchÆ farmer who four
years ago planted citrus trees.  He was good at
educating me about the usefulness of plants and the
importance of a full moon for planting or cutting
trees.  I learned that everything necessary to build a
house is available in the rain forest.  The cohune
palms supply the leaves that will become the thatch
for the roof.  Not a nail is needed because a woody
stick can be peeled to make the string for tying the
leaves and branches together.  Early November is corn
planting time and also the time to replace the thatch.
We walked by the long cohune leaves that had been cut
lengthwise and left to dry.
The pyramids at Lubaantun were constructed entirely
without the aid of mortar.  Each stone was measured
carefully and cut to fit exactly with the stones it
adjoined.  The site is a Late Classic ceremonial
center with 11 major structures grouped around five
main plazas.

Many people interested in Mayan ruins know Lubaantun
as the place where the mysterious and controversial
Crystal Skull was found in 1926 by F. A. Mitchell-
Hedges and his daughter Anna Mitchell-Hedges.

That evening, children came to take me to the house
where I would have a dinner of fresh corn tortillas
and a delicious stew made from a yellow squash.  After
dinner, I talked to the children and adults, while
sipping sweetened coffee.

The next morning breakfast was at 6:30 a.m. so we
could begin the hour-and-a-half trek to the Tiger Cave
in the cool of the morning.   We saw many birds and
heard the heavy snorting of a peccary (a pig-sized
rodent) who had just crossed the path.  I was shown at
least 20  useful plants.  I learned that you cut the
╘mes╒ or broom plant during the full moon.  It takes
three leaves to make a broom.  Just tie it up and
leave it for three days in the sun.
Two boys were waiting in a dory to take us across the
Rio Grande to the Tiger Cave.  There I was shown a
piece of ancient pottery  and learned that the whole
clay pots found there have been removed for safe
keeping.  Presumably this had been someone╒s home
1,000 years ago and tigers (the Belize name for large
cat) apparently liked the place too.  The entrance was
well protected on both sides with steep limestone
walls.  The cave is quite long and requires at least
two hours to explore with a flashlight.
My guides down the river back to San Miguel were two
school boys in a dugout canoe.  The younger boy caught
tiny fish and the older boy, high school age, paddled
us leisurely down stream.  I held a thick yellow cacao
pod eating the sweet white fruit around the bean, that
famous bean that makes chocolate.  Our conversation
drifted to the older boy╒s interest in school and how
much he had enjoyed reading Shakespeare╒s Henry V.  He
had acted various important scenes in class and hoped
to go on to school in Belize City next year.

After a very nice lunch with a woman who has seven
children, I regretfully prepared for my trip back to
Punta Gorda.

My total bill came to US$38.  This included the
overnight stay, all my meals and my two private tours.
I paid about US$10  to return to town as I took a
truck to the Southern Highway to wait for the bus to
P.G.

For a few days I had stepped out of time.  I had left
the consumer society and was in a place not much
different in vegetation and wildlife than it had been
1,000 years ago, a place where the average annual
income for village Indians is around US$500 a year, a
place where the land provides almost all human needs
such as housing, food and medicine.  I had a glimpse
of people living in harmony with nature, of people who
want to preserve their land and way of life.

To the people of San Miguel,  I say toehoreh (thank
you) and o ho quan (goodbye in the Mayan KetchÆ
dialect).

///Peggy Bond Arbanas is a free-lance writer who lives
in Michigan.


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REAL ESTATE IN SOUTHERN BELIZE

The following properties are listed as a convenience
to readers.  They are not paid ads.  All prices in US
dollars.

BEACH-FRONT LOTS,  with all-season roads, power &
water. Outstanding location near pristine reefs,
river.  Directly adjacent to the new Jaguar Reef Lodge
near Sittee Point and Hopkins.   $30,000 to $50,000.
Terms available.  Contact Adventure Coast Properties
in Canada.  Tel./fax [phone].

HOUSE, RESORT & 20 ACRES ON SITTEE RIVER:  1,000 sq.
ft. concrete house, 1 year-old, fully furnished.  Plus
7 cabaûas, 1 1/2 years-old (2 of them apartments).
16,000 gal. concrete rainwater tank.  Includes 1994
Nissan pick-up, garden equipment, mountain bikes,
canoes  and boat.  On 20 acres, with river frontage,
dock.  Electricity now, village water and phones soon.
Everything well-built.  Health complication forces
sale.  $450,000.  Neville Collins, Toucan Sittee,
Sittee River Village, Stann Creek District, Belize, or
leave message at 501-5-22006.

SMALL RESORT ON PLACENCIA PENINSULA:  On the beach.
Ideal owner-operated or could be managed.  New on
market.  Tel./fax in Belize 501-6-22243.

25 ACRES on Southern Highway, Big Falls area.  Rolling
hills, 12 acres planted with citrus.  Electricity
available.  Water from roadside wells.  Asking
$15,000.   Other properties available, including 357
acres and 3BR home for $420/acre.  Toledo Real Estate
& Assoc., P.O. Box 73, Punta Gorda, tel. [phone],
fax [phone].

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COFFEE FROM BELIZE, PLEASE



By LAN SLUDER

Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua
grow some of the world╒s most-prized coffees, but
Belize has always had to import its java.

Until now.

Belize lacks the high mountains ╤ coffee grows best at
altitudes of 3,600 to 8,000 feet ╤ proper tropical
climate,  and abundant cheap labor of its Central
American neighbors.  But a few innovative
entrepreneurs are experimenting with growing coffee in
Belize.   Several lodges in the Mountain Pine Ridge
have started small coffee plantings to supply their
guests with a home-grown cup.  Hidden Valley Inn has a
well-established coffee planting, and Blancaneaux is
setting out a small number of coffee plants near the
lodge.

The major effort is on Barry Bowen╒s large farm at
Gallon Jug in Orange Walk District.  There, farm
manager Carl Trahan, a former rice planter from
Louisiana╒s Cajun country, is developing a 50-acre
finca,  using primarily a coffee variety from Costa
Rica designed to grow at low altitudes.   The plants ╤
grown from seed by people around Gallon Jug who were
paid by the seedling ╤ appear to be thriving, despite
some losses from near-draught conditions in the
region.  The coffee plants  grow under a canopy of
natural but thinned-out jungle shade.   (In Costa
Rica, shade is often provided by banana plants.)

Trahan,  gregarious and tanned from working under the
sub-tropical sun, is beginning to produce what he
hopes will be high-quality speciality beans of
interest to gourmet coffee drinkers around the world.
In the best Belize tradition, Gallon Jug is
approaching the new crop on a learn-as-you-go basis,
experimenting with different approaches to cultivation
based on Belizean conditions.
Already, coffee from Bowen╒s farm, roasted by Trahan
and his crew in a 12-kilo Probat roaster,  is
available in groceries in Belize, under the Gallon Jug
brand.  It╒s also served to guests at Chan Chich,
where it is sold by the bag for US$8 a pound.  The
current product is a blend of medium- and dark-roast
beans.  When installation of additional processing
equipment is complete, the Bowen farm will be able to
produce coffee in greater quantity for local and world
markets.

------------------------------------------

How Does Belize Coffee Taste?

I purchased a small quantity of past-crop green coffee
from Gallon Jug and brought it back to the U.S., where
my brother,  Randall Sluder, who operates Mountain
City Coffee Roasters, Inc.,  a speciality coffee
roaster and wholesaler in Asheville, N.C., custom-
roasted it for me.

We chose to do a medium roast.  We did several
╥cuppings╙ or taste tests of the Belize coffee.  The
consensus was that the coffee was highly drinkable.
It had fairly low acidity, lacking sharpness,  and a
pleasant,  mild body.    In a medium roast, it was
somewhat bland, and I believe it does benefit by being
blended with beans from a darker roast.

The Belize coffees I╒ve had so far do not compare with
the great smoky high-grown coffees of Guatemala or the
smooth, balanced coffees of the Central Valley of
Costa Rica, two of my favorites.   But the rarity and
uniqueness of Belize coffee should make it a viable
niche product in the fast-growing speciality coffee
industry.

You can╒t necessarily judge Belize coffee based on
what you buy at Save-U or elsewhere, as coffee on the
shelf, unless vacuum-packed, quickly loses its
freshness.  Most of the Belize coffee I saw for sale
in Belize on a recent trip was far past its peak of
freshness.  The true test of Belize coffees will be
when they are roasted by experienced gourmet roasters
and sold and brewed within hours of roasting. ╤Lan
Sluder


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QUIK GUIDE TO BUYING AND INVESTING IN BELIZE

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:  Valid passport required.  Birth
certificates will NOT suffice.  Visitors from the
U.S., Canada and most other countries do NOT need
visas.  Entry is normally for 30 days.

LANGUAGE:  English, with Spanish widely spoken.  Also,
Garifuna, Mayan and German.

COMMUNICATIONS:  The Belize telephone system is one of
the best in the region, with a modern fibre-optics
network.  Cellular and paging services available.
International calls are expensive -- about US$1.60 per
minute for direct dialed calls to North America.
Direct Internet access coming in September 1995.  Mail
service is generally reliable.  Letters to the U.S.
from Belize City take about a week.

BANKING:  Belize's banks are tiny by U.S. standards.
The largest, Belize Bank, has assets of under US$120
million.  U.S. dollar accounts in a Belize bank are
possible, but most expats maintain an account with a
bank in the U.S. in addition to any local account.

ELECTRICITY:  Same as in the U.S. and Canada, 110
volts AC.

CURRENCY:  Belize dollar, fixed at 2 Belize dollars to
1 U.S. dollar.  The U.S. dollar is widely accepted, as
are traveler's checks and credit cards (the latter
sometimes with a surcharge).

REQUIREMENTS FOR IMMIGRATION & CITIZENSHIP:   Belize
"welcomes immigrants who are in a position to come
here and establish themselves without government
assistance for ... agricultural purposes, either on a
small holding or a plantation basis, industrial
development or sponsored employment by established
commercial organizations" says the Belize Immigration
and Nationality Service.  Immigrants must have a
medical exam, provide a police reports, and show
evidence that funds are available to finance the
proposed business. The government now offers an
Economic Passport program, requiring an investment of
US$25,000 plus a deposit of US$50,000.  A scandal
developed earlier this year involving the alleged sale
of immigration papers to Taiwanese.  Responsibility
for immigration has been transferred to the Foreign
Affairs Ministry.

LEGAL SYSTEM:  Like that of the U.S, Belize's derives
from English common law, where innocence is presumed.

PERMANENT RESIDENCY:  If you are a citizen of the U.S,
Canada or some other countries, retired or otherwise
do not work, permanent-resident status is possible.
You retain your present citizenship and have most
rights of Belizean citizens except the right to vote
and serve in the army.  It costs US$350 to apply, per
household.  You will need a letter from your bank --
no specific amount of funds are necessary, but you
must show you are a responsible person with some
assets -- medical form, work permit if you are of
working age (even if you don't plan to work), police
clearance letter and birth certificate.  It usually
takes less than six months for approval.  During this
time you will need to keep your entry permit up-dated
-- that requires either leaving or re-entering the
country every 30 days, or visiting Belmopan or Belize
City and paying US$12.50 per month.  It can be paid in
a six-month lump sum.  Note:  application for
permanent residency by citizens of Central American
and some other countries involves a different
procedure.

PURCHASING PROPERTY:  Non-Belizeans CAN buy property
in Belize.  Purchases of 10 acres or less in a rural
area or 1/2 acre or less within city limits require no
special approval.   There is a land transfer tax of 8%
for non-Belizeans and 5% for Belizeans, typically paid
by the purchaser.  Attorneys fees and other closing
costs runs to several percent of the sales prices.
Property taxes are 1 to 1.5% of value annually, higher
in cities.  Most tax bills are nominal.  Work with a
knowledgeable attorney or other adviser in Belize to
assure that title and other papers are sound.
Citizens and those officially resident in Belize for
at least 3 years can lease land from the government
for a few dollars a year.  Once a land is cleared and
a residence is built, the land can be bought from the
government for under US$500.

REAL ESTATE PRICES:  Raw land still is cheap in
Belize, especially in rural areas.   In large tracts,
it often goes for only a few dollars an acre, $100 to
$500 an acre in smaller tracts.  Surveying costs may
exceed the purchase price.  Waterfront land has risen
in price by 10 times or more in recent years, and is
now US$1000 a front foot on Ambergris and some other
areas.  North-American style houses are priced only a
little lower than similar properties in, say,
Florida, but Belizean-style homes can be inexpensive
to buy or rent.  Building prices vary -- labor is
cheap but slow, and imported materials prices are
high.  A nice home can be built for US$25 to $35 a
square foot.

TAXES:  Generally, non-Belizeans in Belize pay tax
only on income derived in Belize.  The progressive
income tax maxes out at 45%, 35% on corporate income.
At present, Belize has no sales tax, but a VAT of
about 15% is planned beginning in April 1996.  This
would replace some import taxes (which are now up to
80%) and the gross receipts tax of 1 to 2%.

WORKING IN BELIZE:  Possible but difficult for most.
Unemployment is officially 12% in Belize and the
actual rate may be higher.  Minimum wage is US$.75 to
US$2.50.  Although Belize needs skilled workers,
permits for work in tourism or retailing are difficult
to get (unless you are investing) and professionals
such as physicians also find it difficult to get a
license to practice.

INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES:  100% foreign ownership of
Belize companies is permitted, although the government
encourages Belizean participation.  Tax abatements and
holidays are available.  Investment is especially
sought in agriculture.  Products must be exportable,
as the home market is small. There are also
opportunities in tourism.  The International Business
Company (IBC) Act of 1990 and the Trust Act of 1992
were passed, in part, to increase foreign investment
in Belize.  These laws protect investments in Belize
from  appropriation or taxation.  IBCs do not pay
income taxes and do not file income or dividend
statements with Belize or other governments.
Shareholders are not identified.

COST OF LIVING:  Belize can be surprisingly expensive,
especially if you try to live in a U.S. style.
Because so much is imported, the Belizean market is
small and inefficient, and import taxes are high, many
items purchased in Belize, such as appliances, cars
and supermarket items, cost twice what they would in
the U.S.  There are no Wal-Marts or McDonald'ses in
Belize.  Still, if you live closer to the Belizean
style, it can be affordable, especially outside
Ambergris Caye and Belize City.

TIME:  Theoretically same as US Central Standard Time
(GMT minus 6) -- but in practice Belize time is a bit
different. Daylight Savings Time is not observed.

FORM OF GOVERNMENT:  Belize, until 1973 known as
British Honduras,  is a parliamentary democracy  and
a member of the British Commonwealth.   The country
has a tradition of democracy and free elections.  The
most-recent national election, in June 1993, saw the
United Democratic Party's Manuel Esquivel regain the
post of prime minister that he lost in 1989 to
People's United Party  veteran leader George Price.
Both parties are centrist, with the UDP being
considered somewhat more conservative and pro-U.S.
There are other minority parties.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:  Two small books are starting
points:  Belize Retirement Guide by Bill and Claire
Gray, $19.95, and 1995 Guide to Business, Investment
and Retirement, by George W. Rea, $29.95.  For facts
on investing, contact the Ministry of Economic
Development, P.O. Box 42, Belmopan, or Embassy of
Belize, 2535 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC
20008.   For residency matters, contact Immigration
and Nationality,  Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Belmopan.


@@@@@@@@@


REAL ESTATE FOR SALE IN BELIZE

Due to reader interest in real estate, BELIZE FIRST
offers the following listings of properties for sale,
exchange and wanted.  These listings are NOT paid ads.
They are being run at no charge as a reader service.
BELIZE FIRST does not warrant the facts or figures.
For more information, contact the owner or real estate
agent directly.  If you would like to have your real
estate notice run at no charge, please  contact BELIZE
FIRST.  All  prices are in U.S. dollars.

Mainland Belize

LOCK, STOCK & BARREL, SMALL RESORT AND 20 ACRES ON
SITTEE RIVER:  3-bedroom, 2 bath, 1,000 sq. ft.
concrete house, 1 year-old, fully furnished.  Plus 7
well-built, fully furnished cabaûas, 1 1/2 years-old
(2 of them fitted as apartments with stove, fridge,
etc.)    Worker's house, gift shop and gazebo.  16,000
gal. concrete rainwater tank. Sale includes 1994
Nissan pick-up with only 3,000 miles, garden
equipment, mountain bikes, canoes, skiff and boat.
All on 20 acres, with river frontage, dock, coconut
palms, citrus and other trees.  Property has
electricity from Dangriga, with village water and
phones soon.  Everything well-built, no economizing.
Unexpected health complication forces sale.
US$450,000.  Write Neville Collins, Toucan Sittee,
Sittee River Village, Stann Creek District, Belize,
C.A., or leave message at 501-5-22006.

3 BR HOUSE AND 3.51 ACRES IN COROZAL, US$75,900, TAXES
$9 A YEAR.  Owner and BELIZE FIRST reader says, "After
19 years in this paradise we call Belize, I must, most
sadly, return to northern climes -- to cold weather
and often colder people, but with instant cardiac
care."  30 x 30 ft. house, plus patio and carport.  3
BR, 1 bath with large shower, living room,
kitchen/dining combo.  Concrete block and stucco
construction with steel roof. Solar heat.  Lot has 2
wells, 2-room workshop, paved roads, street lights,
partially fenced.  Orchard with many fruit trees --
mango, avocado, grapefruit, lime, lemon, custard
apple, tamarind, banana, cherry.  Close to Corozal
Town in San Andres.  Contact owner, Stan Coulthard,
P.O. Box 140, Corozal Town, Belize, tel. [phone].
10.43 ACRES OF PRIME AGRICULTURAL LAND EAST OF SPANISH
CREEK, US$600 PER ACRE.  Close to Rancho Dolores
Village, in rural Belize District.  Robin Roberts,
Belize tel. [phone];    Internet e-mail:
[e-mail].

36 ACRES ON OLD NORTHERN HIGHWAY, $500 PER ACRE.
Offered by BELIZE FIRST subscriber.   Adjoins Maskall
Village, near milepost 39.  Tel. in Belize 501-1-
49672.

SMALL RESORT ON PLACENCIA PENINSULA:  On the beach.
Ideal owner-operated or could be managed.  Tel./fax in
Belize 501-6-22243.
$300 ACRE  Two prime 100-acre farm/ranch/recreational
properties available.   Close to main highway, Mayan
ruins, lakes and rivers nearby.  Many mature hardwood
trees.  Vendor very motivated and open to all offers
and terms.  Each parcel $30,000.  Contact BELIZE FIRST
subscriber Bruce Foerster, Adventure Coast Properties
in British Columbia, tel./fax [phone].

Caye Caulker

SMALL OPERATING RESORT on approx. 1 3/4 acres on Caye
Caulker.  Marl and cement cabaûas with thatched roofs,
all with bathrooms.  Also, large cabaûa with living
room, bedroom and bath, covered walkway to kitchen and
dining area.  Own well and pier. Nice wooden building
for laundry and storage. $400,000.  Contact Mary Jo
Wilson, The Anchorage, Caye Caulker, Belize, C.A.
Tel. [phone].

Ambergris Caye

VILLAS  FOR RENT by BELIZE FIRST subscriber.   One
1BR, 1 bath unit and one 2BR, 1 bath.  On beach at
Paradise Villas.  Fresh-water pool, A/C in bedrooms.
1BR, $125 per night;  2BR, $150 per night.  Owner,
36420 Bendel Terrace, Fremont, CA 94536, tel. 510-792-
2639, or e-mail to [e-mail].

REAL ESTATE COMPANIES IN BELIZE

Note:  Companies here are listed as a convenience to
BELIZE FIRST readers.  No endorsement of any
particular real estate  or development company is
implied or intended, nor does the absence of a company
suggest any lack of endorsement.  This list is not
comprehensive.

Belize Business Consulting Services, P.O. Box 407,
Belize City, tel. [phone], fax [phone]

Belize Land Consultants, Ltd., P.O. Box 35, Corozal
Town, tel. [phone], fax [phone]

Bella Vista Group, 63 Bella Vista, Belize City, tel.
501-2-44711, fax [phone]

Caye & Country Real Estate Ltd., P.O. Box 2231, Belize
City, tel. [phone], fax [phone]

Langdon Supply Limited, P.O. Box 15, San Pedro, tel.
501-2-62147, fax [phone] (affiliated with Belize
Real Estate)

Maya Landings at Moho Caye, Belize City, tel. 501-2-
33075
Playa de Piratas Properties, Placencia, tel. 501-6-
23180, fax [phone]

Scheffer Real Estate, 24 Gabourel Lane, Belize City,
501-2-34285
Southwind Properties, P.O. Box 1, San Pedro, tel. 501-
2-62005, fax [phone]

Sovereign Real Estate, 39A 4th Avenue, Corozal Town,
Belize, tel. [phone], fax [phone]

The Windstar Agency, P.O. Box 33, San Pedro, Belize,
tel.  [phone], fax [phone]

Toledo Real Estate & Assoc., P.O. Box 73, Punta Gorda,
tel. [phone], fax [phone]

W. Ford Young Real Estate, Ltd., P.O. Box 354, Belize
City, tel.  [phone], fax [phone] (affiliated
with Belize Real Estate)


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HOTEL UPDATE

The latest word, good and bad, on lodges, inns, hotels
and resorts in Belize, plus tidbits on related matters
such as knowledgeable guides or rip-offs, from BELIZE
FIRST readers and friends.  BELIZE FIRST will send a
pound of delicious, fresh-roasted Central American
coffee from Mountain City Coffee  to each reader
providing a hotel update.  Note that the opinions
expressed here are those of the individuals, not
necessarily of BELIZE FIRST.

Belize City

The Bakadeer Inn,  74 Cleghorn Street, Belize City,
Belize.  Tel. [phone];  fax [phone]  (located
north of the Fort George area about three blocks west
of the Ramada Royal Reef).  We paid US$50 double,
US$40 single;   breakfast is US$4 per person for
fruit, homemade bread, eggs, juice,  etc.  Despite the
Tudor exterior, the 12 rooms are modern and immaculate
with very good king-size beds, desks, refrigerators,
good A/C, color TV with cable, vanity with sink and
bathroom with tub.  This is a very clean, comfortable,
well run hotel that seems to do a brisk business.  The
staff is exceptionally friendly and helpful.   The
breakfast we had there was delicious.  The A/C works.
The rooms are a bit dark;  it lacks charm, but that╒s
O.K..  You need to take a cab anywhere at night.
However, the hotel itself is very secure, with guards
at night,  and is one of the few hotels with
sheltered, secure parking.  Gregory Garber, Clarence,
N.Y., June 1995

Update on Four Fort Street Guest House, Belize City:
We spent one night here and ate several meals.  The
rooms have not changed.  This is still one of my
favorite places in Belize,  but the heat can be a bit
stifling in the summer.  The summer rates have dropped
to US$50 double and US$40 single including a great
breakfast.  The food remains among the best in the
country, particularly lunch and breakfast.  I will
continue to go back.   Another suggestion for food in
Belize City:  Sea-Rock Cafe, near the post office and
the swing bridge.  My wife has gone here several times
at the recommendation of friends in the Peace Corps
and British High Commission.  You can╒t tell by the
name but they serve very good Indian food in a
comfortable,  A/C atmosphere.  This place must be seen
to be believed ╤  it has a large TV on which they show
martial arts movies and there is a full-size pool
table.  Worth a try!  Gregory Garber, Clarence, N.Y.,
June 1995

Colton House, 9 Cork Street, Belize City, Belize.
Tel.  [phone];  fax [phone].  It╒s in the Fort
George area, close to the Radisson Fort George, within
view of the water but not on it. Singles with shared
bath are US$32.50, or $37.50 with private bath;
doubles are US$40 with shared bath, $45 with private
bath.  Rates are plus 6% tax (going to 7% in
September).  There is a refundable US$10 key deposit.

Colton House is a small guest house in a Caribbean-
style wooden house built during the 1920s.  The inn is
the home of Alan and Ondina Colton, their son, Sean,
and Brandy, a friendly Siamese cat.   Alan is a former
British army soldier who has lived in Belize for about
17 years and now holds dual Belizean-British
citizenship.  Ondina is a Belizean originally from
Caye Caulker.  Both Alan and Ondina are very concerned
about ecology and have a collection of environmental
videos about Belize, along with many books and
magazines on Belize.

Colton House has five guest rooms, two of which are
air conditioned and the others cooled by fans and,
most of the time, by the breezes from the Caribbean.
It╒s a charming and very comfortable place to stay in
the historic area of Belize City.  To sit in one of
the swings on the Colton House front verandah, doing
nothing on a lazy Belize afternoon, cooled by sea
breezes, has to be one of the great delights of
visiting Belize.  It is conveniently located just
around the corner from Four Fort Street Guesthouse,
which ╤ with its new chef formerly at the Bellevue ╤
is surely one of the best and most-enjoyable
restaurants in all of the country.  The public sitting
rooms at Colton House are open from 7 a.m. until 10
p.m.  After that, guests have access only to their
rooms.  Each room has a separate entrance with key for
entry after hours.   Colton House is not for everyone.
It is the Coltons╒ home and they have a set of rules
by which guests must abide, but for visitors who want
a quiet B&B atmosphere, it is perhaps the best choice
in Belize City.    Lan Sluder, Asheville, N.C., June
1995

Cayo District

Five Sisters Resort, Mountain Pine Ridge Reserve,
Cayo.  Office Address:  29 Teodocio Ochoa St., San
Ignacio Town, Cayo, Belize, tel. [phone].   In
the Pine Ridge Reserve, about 2 miles below
Blancaneaux on the same road.  Just opened in June,
and it is owned and operated by Belizeans.   Rates:
around US$45 to $90, plus tax and service.  Rates are
just being set and may change.  Typical thatched
cabaûas lodge, with a few hotel rooms in the main
building.   The lodge is near Five Sisters Falls, a
group of five waterfalls on the Privassion River.  The
river and falls area offer excellent swimming.  Five
Sisters has a bar and restaurant with a dramatic view
of the river.  Lan Sluder, Asheville, N.C. ╤ visited
June 1995

Corozal District

Tony╒s Inn, P.O. Box 12, Corozal Town, Belize, C.A.;
tel. [phone], fax [phone], just south of
Corozal Town on Chetumal Bay.  My room was US$50 per
night, plus  tax and 10% service, for one of the best
rooms in the house.  Rates are more in-season. Tony╒s
has long been the best place to stay in Corozal.  It╒s
a small spot,  comfortable rather than being a slick
resort, on the water, with a dock, though no beach.
Rooms vary ╤ those upstairs in the newer building are
the best, with double-cold A/C, tile floors and cable
TV.  Some units do not have A/C.    The bar is one of
the best in Belize, a thatched job right on the water
with plenty of sea breezes (except when the rains come
in summer, when the breezes usually stop).   Tony╒s
restaurant is pretty good ╤ I had a terrific dish of
fried chicken topped with ceviche-style dressing and
lime.   Tap water is potable but brackish ╤ hotel
sells Florida bottled water for guests to drink.   Lan
Sluder, Asheville, N.C., June 1995

For another dining option if you╒re staying at Tony╒s,
walk across the street to Henry╒s ╤ I think the
service and food are both better, let alone the price.
Henry is starting to build a beach front bar right
next to Tony╒s,  and time will tell what will come.
Tony╒s it still the best lodging in town, and it has
the coldest A/C in Belize.  Carl Rupke, Houston, Tex.

Hotel Casablanca, Consejo, Corozal District, Belize.
Tel./fax:  [phone].  At the end of the road in
Consejo, past Consejo Shores real estate development,
adjacent to the customs/immigration ╥office╙ for those
traveling by boat to or from Chetumal.  Rates
undecided by owners at this time.  Apparently they
will be fairly expensive.  The hotel is an eight-room
upscale inn owned by North Americans with a dream.  A
New England physician, John Temte,  and his wife,
Beverly Temte,  bought the property and plan to
operate it ╥for retirement.╙  The hotel has a lovely
setting on Chetumal Bay.  No expense is being spared ╤
the doors are carved mahogany each alone worth $1,000,
and the telephone wiring is coaxial cable which will
support dataports, perhaps a first in Belize.  The
rooms, however, are small.  The restaurant has an
attractive first-floor location overlooking the water.
I looked at it when the rooms were still far from
completed, but I suspect everything will be tasteful
and first-class.  Lan Sluder, Asheville, N.C., June
1995

Belmopan

Belmopan Convention Hotel, P.O. Box 237, Belmopan,
Belize (right across from the market).  Tel.  501-8-
22130; fax  [phone].  Rates US$50 double, US$45
single.  This is a modern hotel with 20 air-
conditioned rooms with either two full-size or one
king-size bed, color TV with cable and large
bathrooms.  It has an outdoor pool and bar as well as
a large dining room.   The staff was kind and
efficient.   The location is excellent.  However, this
hotel has seen better days. While the rooms were
clean, the carpets were old and coming up from the
floor, the bathrooms were stained, the air
conditioners were very noisy, and the TV got poor
reception.  The impression one gets is that someone
has stopped putting any but the most necessary money
into this place and it shows.   As an aside,  if
you're in Belmopan (and there's little reason for most
visitors to go there) it is highly worthwhile to go to
the Archaeological Vault as well as the Archives.  The
New Capitol Chinese Restaurant and Sports Bar, next to
the Bullfrog Inn, is a very good  restaurant with hot,
fresh and tasty real Chinese food in a comfortable
dining room with reasonable prices and good service.
The Caladium, next to Novelo's Bus Terminal.  This is
a good place for breakfast or lunch and is always
crowded with government people.  The food is well
prepared and reasonable and the service is good and
fast.  Gregory Garber, Clarence, N.Y.,   June 1995

Orange Walk District

Programme for Belize Rio Bravo Research Station, Rio
Bravo Management area in Orange Walk District.
Contact address:  P.O. Box 749, Belize City, Belize,
tel. [phone], fax [phone].   On a large,
isolated nature reserve in northwest Belize,  about 45
miles from Orange Walk Town.  Rates:  US$80 per person
in cabaûas, including all meals and taxes;  US$65 per
person in dormitory-style rooms, including all meals
and taxes.   Group rates available.   I think these
rates are a tad high, but it╒s for a good cause.
Programme for Belize hopes to achieve economic self-
sufficiency by the year 2000, and lodging visitors is
one way to do it. Food is basic,  such as rice and
beans ╤ healthful but not fancy.  This is an eco-
destination in the jungle, not a lodge.   Programme
for Belize has 229,000 acres of forest in northwestern
Belize, designated as the Rio Bravo Conservation and
Management Area.  This area has many Mayan ruins
including La Milpa, one of the largest sites in the
region.  Programme for Belize is a Belizean non-profit
organization dedicated to the conservation of the
natural heritage of Belize and the wise use of the
topical forest.   Most of the region is jungle, and
cut-over forest, but the research station is in a
small cleared area.  A jungle interpretative trail has
been cut.    I liked the friendly, dedicated staff,
and the casual but ecologically aware and involved
atmosphere.  Wonderful setting in the jungle ╤ you
WILL see many wild animals, birds, plus reptiles and
insects of every kind.  This is not a place for
everyone ╤ there╒s no bar, no planned entertainment,
no fancy food, no A/C.   It╒s for those who want to
experience ╥outback╙ Belize, get close to nature, feel
they are doing something positive for Belize and
natural preservation, and are willing to rough it a
bit.   Lan Sluder, Asheville, N.C., June 1995

Lamanai Outpost Lodge, Indian Church, Belize.  Tel.
and fax: [phone].  Located on the western bank of
the New River Lagoon about two miles from the site of
Lamanai.  You can get here by boat from North of
Belize City or by car on a fairly decent road.
Cabanas are US$90 double, US$70 single. Meals are
US$30-35 day/person.   This is a beautiful place with
a great location. The thatched cabaûas have two good
quality queen size beds with quiet ceiling fans and
great showers with individual hot water heaters.
Electricity is provided by a generator 24 hours.  The
sheets, towels and amenities in the room are high
quality and it is evident that care and money were put
into this place. The dining building is at the top of
the hill and has 180 degree views of the lagoon and
surrounding jungle, and a nice veranda for drinks and
relaxing.  The food is excellent, prepared by two
Guatemalan women who work in shifts, much better than
standard jungle lodge fare.  The lodge is surrounded
by dense forest,  and we saw monkeys and many
varieties of birds well within walking distance.
Gregory Garber, Clarence, N.Y.,   July 1995

Stann Creek District

Nautical Inn, Seine Bight Village, Belize.  Tel./fax
501-6- 22310.   Summer 1995 rates US$65 single, US$75
double.  1995-96 high- season rates:  US$89 single,
double US$99;  meal package US$30 extra per person.
Plus 10% service and government tax.  Nautical Inn is
in the Garifuna village of Seine Bight on the
Placencia peninsula.   Nautical Inn is a casual,
friendly spot, run by Americans Ben and Janie Ruoti
(pronounced Root-ee), transplanted from Arizona.   It
consists of 12 modern rooms in four buildings close to
the sea ╤ this includes the fourth unit completed this
summer.  The buildings are partially prefabricated in
Yadkinville, N.C., and then shipped by container to
Belize.  The nautical theme of the restaurant and bar
(now with a wonderful view of the Caribbean but
perhaps eventually to be moved to the lagoon side) is
continued to the modern rooms.  Most rooms have fans
only, though some A/C units are available.  The
restaurant serves the usual Belize resort fare cooked
by local women, about the same as you╒d get at
Kitty╒s, Singing Sands or one of the other inns.
Drinks in the bar are reasonably priced╤ local rum
drinks US$1.50, regular Belikin, US$1.50.  Nautical
Inn is getting its own Delta dive boat and dive
operation later this summer, with loading to be on the
quieter lagoon side.  There╒s a pier and a pleasant
sandy beach area.    I liked the friendly management,
the fabulous view of a full moon over the Caribbean
from the deck of the bar,  and the wonderful Placencia
peninsula sunrises. Lan Sluder, Asheville, N.C.,  June
1995


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RECOMMENDED HOTELS IN BELIZE

Belize has about 3,400 guest rooms in some 300 hotels,
ranging from tiny guest houses to modern hotels.   The
following list of recommended hotels is NOT by any
means all-inclusive, but these are some that have been
found to be visitor-friendly and offer good value in
the price category.   Hotels of special note, due to
excellent value, friendly owners, attractive style or
special Belizean charm are highlighted with a #.   If
your favorite hotel is missing, write to us and
complain!  Price range:  A (over US$100 double);  B
(US$50 to $100 double);  C (under US$50 double).
Rates are for typical rooms without meals (though
breakfast may be included),  may vary by season or
with specials, and are subject to change.  Rates shown
do not include government tax of 7% or service, which
may range from nothing to 15%.

NORTH OF BELIZE CITY:  #Chan Chich Lodge, Chan Chich,
A;  #Casablanca, Consejo, A;  Crooked Tree Resort,
Crooked Tree, B;  #Lamanai Outpost, Lamanai, B;
#Tony's, Corozal, B;   Blue Heron Cove, Sarteneja, C.

BELIZE CITY (800 hotel rooms):    Ramada Royal Reef,
A;  #Radisson Ft. George, A;  Chateau Caribbean, B;
#Four Fort Street Guesthouse, B;   #Colton House, C;
Glenthorne Manor, C; Hotel Mopan, C;  Bakadeer, C.

CAYO DISTRICT (700 hotel rooms):  #Chaa Creek
Cottages, A;  #Hidden Valley Inn, A;   #duPlooy╒s, A;
#Blancaneaux Lodge, A;  #Banana Bank Ranch, B;   #Maya
Mountain Lodge, B;  #Mountain Equestrian Trails
(M.E.T.), B;  Windy Hill Cottages, B;  Hotel San
Ignacio, B;  #Ek╒Tun, B;  Bull Frog Inn, B;
Nabitunich, B;  #Parrot╒s Nest, C;  Las Casitas, C;
#Venus Hotel, C.

AMBERGRIS CAYE (1,000 hotel rooms):  #Victoria House,
A;  #Belize Yacht Club, A;  #Captain Morgan╒s Retreat,
A;  Journey╒s End, A;  Ramon╒s Village, A;  Paradise
Resort, A;  #Paradise Villas, A;  Sun Breeze, A;
Rock's Inn, A; #Caribbean Villas, B;  Spindrift Hotel,
B;  Barrier Reef, B;  #Ruby╒s, C.

CAYE CAULKER (300 hotel rooms):  #Tropical Paradise,
B/C;  Rainbow Hotel, C;  #Vega╒s Far Inn, C;
Shirley╒s Guest House, C;  #Jimenez's Cabaûas, C;
#Sea Beezzz Guest House.

OTHER CAYES: #St. George╒s Lodge, St. George Caye, A;
#Blackbird Caye Resort, Turneffe Islands, A;  Turneffe
Island Lodge, Caye Bokel, A;  #Lighthouse Reef Resort,
Lighthouse Reef, A;    #Spanish Bay Resort, Spanish
Lookout Caye, A; #Manta Reef Resort, Southwest Caye,
A;  Blue Marlin Lodge, South Water Caye, A; Reef╒s
End, Tobacco Caye, B;  Cottage Colony, St. George╒s
Caye, B;   Reef's End, Tobacco Caye, B;  #Glover╒s
Atoll Resort, Long Caye, C.

PLACENCIA:  (200 hotel rooms):  #Rum Point Inn, A;
#Kitty╒s Place, B;  #Turtle Inn, B;  Singing Sands, B;
#Nautical Inn, B;  French Quarter Belize, B.

COCKSCOMB NATURE RESERVE:  #Dormitory Cabins, C.

DANGRIGA:  Pelican Beach Resort, B.

PUNTA GORDA:  #Fallen Stones Butterfly Ranch, A; St.
Charles Inn, B;  #Nature╒s Way Guest House, C.

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