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           BELIZE FIRST MAGAZINE:

            THE ON-LINE EDITION

Your Guide to Travel, Life and Retirement in

Belize and the Rest of the Caribbean Coast

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            Volume II, Number 3

    Focus on:  Belize's Caribbean Islands

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         * AD-FREE * INDEPENDENT * INFORMATIVE *

        Information You Simply Can't Get

               Anywhere Else


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Full 108-Page Hard-Copy Edition with Photos, Maps and Complete Text
Also Available

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What to Expect from BELIZE FIRST Magazine

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.


IN THIS ISSUE  = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

BELIZE'S CARIBBEAN ISLANDS!

In this issue of BELIZE FIRST, we focus on the Caribbean islands of Belize.
As always, we turn to the region's top journalists for our reports.  Tom
Brosnahan, author of more than two dozen guidebooks -- that's right, two
dozen! -- updates Caye Caulker, that laid-back budget paradise.  Paul
Glassman, of Belize Guide, Guatemala Guide, Costa Rica Guide and
Honduras & Bay Island Guide fame,  helps you explore the "other" islands
off shore.

We're also expanding our coverage of other parts of the Caribbean Coast,
with articles on diving in Honduras, good eating in Mexico, real estate for
sale in Costa Rica, Honduras and Belize, and more.

This is our biggest, and we hope, best issue ever.  Hope you enjoy it!

   --Lan Sluder, Editor and Publisher

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#

Vol. II, No. 3      IN THIS ISSUE      ISLANDS

@ Opinion, by Lan Sluder:  FAA and Belize  @ Q&A on Belize:  Questions
from readers with answers from the Belize experts

@ Real Estate Listings:  If you're interested in buying, selling or
exchanging property in Belize, Costa Rica, Honduras or elsewhere on the
Caribbean Coast, this NON- advertising section may be of help

@ In Case You Missed It:  Latest news on Belize and the Caribbean Coast

@ Programme for Belize, by Caryl Bigenho:  It all started when they
spotted a scorpion on the ceiling ...

@ Greener Hotels:  Members of the Belize Eco-Tourism Association

@ Eating Your Way around Mexico, by Kit Snedaker:  Where Even the Corn
Smut is Muy Bueno

@@ SPECIAL SECTION:  Belize's Caribbean Islands.

  @ The "Other" 200 Islands, by Paul Glassman:  The region's pioneering
travel journo takes you to all the little islands off the coast

  @ Caye Caulker, by Tom Brosnahan:  Paradise on a budget, revisited

@ Diving Cheap in Honduras, by Jane Prendergast:  The Hemisphere's
cheapest diving and dive training may be on Utila

@ TACA and Pan Am in Belize, by Neil Fraser:  Go back in time to the the
days of British Honduras, when this part of Central America was a distant
outpost of Empire, and DC-3s were the latest thing in air travel

@ Crime Control:  Too Little, Too Late? by Lan Sluder:  The crime rate is
beginning to affect tourists, too

@ Belize's Jungle Hideaways, by Lin Sutherland:  New, cheap, and good
places to stay in Belize

@ Hotel Update:  Readers and friends share the real story on Belize's inns,
hotels and lodges

@ Books, Maps & Information

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= = =  MASTHEAD

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

Mail subscription rates US$29 or BZ$58 a year in the U.S., Belize, Canada
and Mexico, US$39 a year in other countries.  Electronic editions, in
abridged form,  of BELIZE FIRST are available on CompuServe, America On-
Line, the Internet and some private electronic bulletin boards.

BELIZE FIRST welcomes contributions from readers, travel writers and
correspondents. We pay highly competitive rates.

⌐  Copyright 1994. All rights reserved under international and Pan-
American copyright conventions.

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            Upcoming Issues

Vol. II, No. 4:  Off the Beaten Path, in Belize and Beyond

Special Issue:  Best of the Best

Vol. III, No. 1: Living in Paradise

Vol. III, No. 2: Update on Ambergris



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FAA DISCLOSURE ON BELIZE AIR SAFETY CONFUSING, POLITICAL ... AND
MEANINGLESS

"I'd rather fly TACA than Aeroflot any day!"


Opinion, by LAN SLUDER

For BELIZE FIRST MAGAZINE

The United States Federal Aviation Administration, the federal agency
that oversees airline safety in the U.S., prompted by Freedom of
Information requests from the media and individuals, disclosed in
September that nine countries, including Belize, Dominican Republic,
Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Uruguay,  do not meet the FAA's safety
oversight standards.    In addition,  airlines from four other countries can
fly to the United States only under close FAA scrutiny:   El Salvador,
Guatemala, Bolivia and the Netherlands Antilles.  Unconditional approval
was given to governments of several countries in the region:  Costa Rica,
Panama, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela, and to 12 others.

Although the FAA's efforts to protect air travelers is much appreciated,
we have several problems with the FAA's disclosure.  Before listing those,
I must thank senior officials at the FAA, in particular Deputy Director
Tony Broderick,  for responding in detail to several of these points, and to
clarifying a number of issues.

1.  The FAA disclosure has been widely misunderstood and misinterpreted
by the flying public.  It actually focuses on government,  not airline,
safety oversight standards.  It doesn't mean that one airline is safer than
another.  It doesn't even mean that flag carriers of an unapproved country
are less safe than that of an approved country, because both may be using
leased equipment from the same approved source.    It doesn't apply to
internal flights or to flights not to or from the U.S.   While the
misinterpretation is not the FAA's fault, it should have known that
consumer would grasp on the simplest view, which is that the airlines of
some countries are "good" and those of other countries are "bad." Thus, it
tars with a broad brush excellent airlines such as TACA.  El Salvador-
based TACA has a long reputation for professional standards and good
service.  TACA operates an FAA-certificated maintenance base in San
Salvador, and the pilots have FAA licenses. It has been flying to Belize for
50 years, with an enviable record of safety.  TACA also owns interests in
other Central American carriers.  At the same time, the FAA's opinions do
NOT extend to the safety, or lack of it, of internal airlines or to those that
do not fly into the U.S.  Thus, Belize's several commuter airlines are not
addressed or affected by the FAA disclosure one way or another.

2.  The FAA seems to have less problem pointing its finger at small
countries than big, globally important ones.   It's easier to kick the little
guy.  The FAA did not cite countries such as Russia and China, whose
safety records for air travel safety oversight appear to be grossly worse
than many of the countries blacklisted. It was an Aeroflot plane, you'll
recall, that crashed earlier this year en route to Hong Kong.   The black box
recording exposed the fact that the kids of a pilot had been allowed to
actually take the controls of the craft.   Former Aeroflot airlines in
Russia have been involved in numerous fatal crashes since the break-up of
the USSR. I'd rather fly TACA than Aeroflot any day!  The FAA says it will
complete inspections of these countries in the future.  Indeed, in October
the FAA issued a report on its Russia aviation inspection effort.  The
report, while not an unconditional okay of Russia's safety oversight,
resulted in amending an order which had prohibited U.S. government
employees from traveling on any Russian carrier;  now, they are permitted
to travel on certain internationally certified Russian carriers.  Basically,
Russia now joins 17 other countries on the approved list, while Belize,
Honduras, Nicaragua and several other small Latin American countries
remain on the no-no list, and others such as Guatemala and El Salvador,
remain on the watch list.  What's wrong with this picture?

3.  The FAA disclosures in some ways the result of internal U.S. political
considerations.   One travel trade magazine editor told me, "The FAA's
'inspection program' began as a C-Y-A operation, became a bag of dirty
little secrets, and ended up a public relations triumph when [FAA
Secretary Frederico] Pena decided he would publish 'the list' in the
interests of honest government." The FAA is, in many ways, a highly
political animal.  There have even been recent discussions on privatizing
some FAA functions, and this may have played a part in the disclosures.

4.  With limited staff and government funding cut-backs, the FAA is hardly
able to monitor and inspect all U.S.- based operations, much less police air
travel for the world.  Inspections of foreign government safety standards
by the FAA are necessarily limited and incomplete.  The inspections
involve sending a four-person team to a foreign country for as little as a
week.  The FAA has its hands full inspecting such airlines as USAir, the
financially troubled U.S. carrier which has had a series of fatal accidents
(and which does not fly to Central America) and American Airlines
commuters, which have experienced a series of recent accidents.

5.  All the countries listed with airlines that fly to the United States DO
meet international safety  standards,  those of the International  Civil
Aviation Organization.  If the FAA thinks ICAO standards are of no value,
then it should act to change them.

6.  The announcement is in several ways meaningless, especially as
regards Belize passenger service,  because there are no passenger airlines
based in Belize which fly into the U.S.  Belize Air, a cargo carrier,
operates out of Belize to the U.S. According to the FAA, Belize Air had
operated using "dry leased" aircraft and crews (that is, from brokers) but
now, after being required to do so by the FAA,  operate "wet leases" from
approved countries for their U.S. operations.

7.  The FAA announcement serves, perhaps unintentionally,  to encourage
use of U.S.-flag carriers such as American, which have strong and growing
presences in Latin America.  U.S. carriers in the past few years have
grown to control more than one-half of Latin American traffic.

8.   The FAA did not show, or even claim, that airlines based in countries
on the list have had in fact a worse accident or safety record than the
airlines of countries such as Colombia,  Peru,  Barbuda,  Dominica,  St.
Lucia,  Montserrat, Grenada and Anguilla, all of which which passed FAA
muster.   The International Airline Passengers Association has
recommended against travel on the airlines of Colombia, among other
countries.

The FAA disclosure was confusing, political, of limited value to travelers,
unhelpful, and ultimately mostly meaningless.   Air travelers, and
especially those to Central America and the Caribbean Basin, deserve
better than this.

^^^ Lan Sluder, editor and publisher of BELIZE FIRST magazine, is at work on
several books, including one on Belize.  His business and travel articles
have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Caribbean Travel and Life, Miami
Herald, The New York Times, The Tico Times, and other publications around
the world.  He is in charge of the Mexico/Central America and Travel
Writing sections on the Travel Forum on CompuServe.





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Q&A

ON BELIZE AND THE CARIBBEAN COAST

Got questions about Belize?  Or other destinations on the Caribbean Coast
such as Costa Rica, the Yucatçn or Honduras?  Send'em to us.  By snail-
mail, to Belize First, Equator Travel Publications/Asheville, 280
Beaverdam Road, Candler, NC  28715 USA.  Via e-mail to Lan Sluder at
74763,2254 on CompuServe or on the Internet at
[e-mail].

Q.  I have a Sunday afternoon flight out of Belize City.  Can I get a bus back
from the Cayo in time?  I've been told bus service is cut back on Sundays.
A.N.

A.  You shouldn't have any trouble.  Although bus service is reduced
somewhat on Sundays, and the earliest Sunday Batty Brothers service to
Belize City from San Ignacio is at noon, Novelo does have early Sunday
morning service, originating at Benque Viejo near the Guatemala border.
The earliest (as of this writing) is at 6 a.m.

Q.  My wife and I are undecided as to whether we should visit Cancun or
someplace in Belize.    We have never been to either place.  J.B.

A.  First, if you're a Cancun type of person, you probably won't like Belize,
and if you're a Belize type of person you won't like Cancun.

Cancun has more than six times as many hotel rooms in a small tourist
zone than the entire country of Belize has in an area the size of
Massachusetts.  Cancun gets 2 million tourists a year;  Belize gets only
about 110,000 foreign visitors from North America, Europe, the Caribbean
and South America, plus it gets about the same number of Mexicans,
Guatemalans, and Hondurans who cross the borders for business, family or
other reasons.

Cancun has high-rise hotels, timeshares, condos and U.S. chain
restaurants.  The largest hotel in Belize has just 118 rooms, and the most
lodges and inns have just 8 or 10 rooms.  There's not a single U.S. fast-
food joint in Belize.

Q.  I'm considering flying into Cancun or Merida and driving from there to
Belize.  Is there any problem with taking a Mexican rental car into Belize?
B.T.

A.  Generally not.  Many rental agencies in Mexico will permit you to drive
into Belize.  You have to buy Belize insurance for the car, around US$12 a
week.

Q.  Is the Southern Highway paved yet?  G.G.

A.  The Belize Tourism office in New York reports, with astounding
optimism,  that it is paved.  A tour agency in the U.S. says some of it is
paved.  Fact is, although some financing for the road work has been
arranged (from Kuwait) and some bids have been let, the Southern Highway
is NOT paved, and it will be a while before it is.

Q.  Is it safe to go to Tikal by road from San Ignacio?  A.A.

A.   The latest report is that many travelers are stopped once every half
hour or so during the two to three-hour trip by Guatemalan army troops.
The soldiers are polite and won't detain you for long.  Some private cars,
buses and even tour vans have been hit by bandits, who want only money
and want it fast.  The road between the Belize border and the cross-roads
to Tikal is still unpaved, badly rutted and just plain terrible, especially
after a rain.

Tikal is well worth seeing, but unless you speak Spanish well and are at
least mildly adventurous, it is advised to take a van tour from a reputable
Belize operator (around US$50 per person for a day trip, available from
Maya Mountain, Windy Hill, Chaa Creek and other operators, with overnight
trips also available).  This will also speed your border crossing and help
smooth any problems en route.   In any event, few rental car companies in
Belize permit their vehicles to go into Guatemala.  Guatemala buses are
cheap but uncomfortable, and you will almost surely be unable to make the
trip in one day.





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IN BRITISH HONDURAS DAYS:

PAN AM AND TACA CHANGED LIFE IN 'DISTANT OUTPOST OF EMPIRE'

Editor╒s note:  This is the second of two parts on the development of air
service in Belize and Central America.  In the last issue of BELIZE FIRST,
Neil  Fraser wrote of the arrival in Belize on December 30, 1927, of
Charles ╥Lindy╙ Lindbergh, and of his subsequent Central America trip in
February 1929.

By NEIL L. FRASER

Charles Lindbergh╒s flying visits to Central America in 1927 and 1929,
greeted everywhere by cheering crowds, were heralds that air
transportation had arrived in the region.

Pan American Airlines,  which had its start in 1927 flying mail from Key
West to Havana,  established a station in Belize.  Pan Am╒s flights in the
Sikorsky amphibians became a regular part of life in Belize through most
of the 1930s.  The Pan Am station chief, Didier Mason, was one of the
many colorful characters Belize has known over the years.  He was the
only French pilot to have flown with the Lafayette Escadrille in  World
War I.

The ramp at the Barracks airport ╤ the one called the ╥polo fields╙ by
Lindbergh, as the area in the north part of the city had golf and polo clubs
╤ was replaced with a pier that  stretched out from shore, allowing the
aircraft to dock like a boat.  The route finally established ran to MÄrida in
northern Yucatçn, then on to Belize.  In addition to mail,  the early twin-
engined  amphibians could carry six passengers.  Later  models, the S-38s,
carried eight passengers.       Pan Am╒s radio operator, Louis Sherouse,
played a key role after the catastrophic 1931 hurricane, which hit on
September 10, Belize╒s national day.  Learning of the  oncoming storm and
aware of its possible consequences,  Sherouse had hoisted his radio
equipment to the second floor of his house so it would be safe from the
water of the storm surge.  The regular Belize wireless towers were
destroyed, but Sherouse was able to send out distress calls telling the
world of the disaster and summoning help.   In the end, though, the Belize
stopover did not live up to Lindbergh╒s optimistic predictions,  and Pan
Am╒s service was terminated before the outbreak of World War II.        The
air age in Belize, however,  did not end with the cessation of Pan
American╒s flights.  It was maintained through a new  airline called
Transporteos Aereos Centro Americanos, or  TACA, that still serves Belize
today.       TACA came about through the entrepreneurship of a bush pilot
named Lowell Yerex who was flying mining machinery in the Republic of
Honduras.  Yerex, a New Zealander and former World War I pilot, aided the
winning side in a Honduran revolution, losing an eye in the process when
his plane was hit by ground fire.  The grateful government helped Yerex in
starting his airline to serve Honduras, but he quickly  branched out with
other air services in Central and South America.   The present TACA
international airline has its roots in Yerex╒s El Salvador air service.  TACA
originally flew the chubby single-engined tail-dragging Bellancas of the
1930s, then graduated to Ford tri-motors and later to the twin- engined,
twin-tailed Lockheed Hudsons and Lodestars, the classic air transports of
that  time made immortal in the final scenes of the movie Casablanca.
After World War II, TACA briefly flew surplus Avro Ansons before
obtaining the famous DC-3s.       In its early days, TACA provided Belize
with an air link to neighboring countries where passengers could catch
Pan American flights to the United States.   When I left Belize in 1947 to
attend prep school in the U.S., it was via TACA to Guatemala City, where I
was able to catch Pan American╒s flight to New Orleans.  I recall that the
Lockheed, lacking pressurization,  could not fly over the towering
mountains to reach Guatemala City.  It had to fly up the valleys and try not
to run into  the thunderstorms that would sweep across Lake Amatitlan
and into the city in the afternoons of the rainy season.  TACA and Pan Am
later became locked in turf battles over service  to Miami and New
Orleans, but I had left Belize by that time.        As an historical footnote,
TACA was first on the scene after Hurricane Hattie leveled Belize in 1961.
Reed Clary,  one of TACA╒s early pilots, flying a C-46 transport loaded
with relief supplies, managed to land at the devastated, tree-  strewn
Belize airport.  It was the first time emergency help had arrived in Belize
by air instead of by sea.       Two other airlines started regular service to
Belize in  the 1940s.  British West Indian Airways (BWIA), another of
Lowell Yerex╒s burgeoning air services, provided twice weekly  flights to
and from Kingston, Jamaica in the early 1940s.  Transporteos Aereos
Mexicanas, S.A.(TAMSA), a Mexican airline  ran postwar service to
Chetumal and Merida.  TAMSA╒s flights  to MÄrida allowed a more efficient
link to Pan Am╒s  flights, which also stopped over in MÄrida on their way
north  to New Orleans.        The advent of air transportation changed life
quickly  and for the better throughout Central America.  Before the
airplane, places like Belize were truly distant outposts of  the British
Empire.  Whenever my parents returned to England or Scotland in the pre-
aviation days, they took a freighter to New Orleans, then went by train to
New York where they could board a Cunard liner for Liverpool.  It was also
possible, at that time, to take passage to Kingston by  freighter then take
ship to England from that port.  The freighters and the United Fruit
Company╒s ╥banana boats╙  calling at Central American ports were usually
equipped with a half dozen or so passenger cabins, providing the only way
of international travel before the airplane arrived on the scene.

^^^ Born in Belize in 1931, Neil Fraser now lives in Atlanta, where he
operates an advertising firm.  He is a widely published poet, and he also is
the author of a book on advertising and of many magazine articles on
marketing.





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           INTO THE RAIN FOREST

       WITH PROGRAMME FOR BELIZE

By CAROL BIGENHO

We found the scorpions on the third night.  Someone happened to turn a
flashlight toward the tin roof and noticed a dark shape scurrying out of
sight behind the wooden rafters. Suddenly the lights were on and the
dormitory was filled with the sounds of laughter, screams, and brooms
hitting the ceiling.

Finally, reason prevailed. They had been there for the first two nights
without attacking anyone. Why should we worry about them now? We
turned out the lights and went back to bed.

Soon, the only sounds were those of the jungle, dominated by the
trombone-like tones of a Mexican tree frog calling forlornly for a mate
from prison in the dormitory cistern.

Our group came to the Rio Bravo Research Station in northeastern Belize
from all over the United States by plane and a bumpy three-hour drive on a
dirt road. The trip was sponsored by Save The Rain Forest Inc. and
Programme For Belize. Each summer they bring groups of teachers and high
school students to Belize to learn and to prepare to teach others about the
rain forest, its people, its problems  and possible solutions.

Our group of 23 ranged in age from 16 to 60. We each paid $625 plus air
fare for the two-week trip. Two college students from Belize, who had
won the trip in a rain forest essay contest, joined us.

We spent one exhausting week in the subtropical moist forests of the Rio
Bravo area and nearby villages, farms, and resorts before proceeding on to
a second week of marine studies on Belize╒s barrier reef.   At the research
station,  wild turkeys strolled on the mimosa lawn and a fer-de-lance
snake crossed the path just ahead of us on an early morning bird walk.
Clouds of yellow and white butterflies rose ahead of us as we walked to
meals or class from the dormitory. In the evenings a tree frog chorus sang
as we watched some of the more than 80 species of bats in the preserve
flutter overhead and fireflies flicker at the edge of our clearing.

Almost all of our power came from solar panels and a bank of storage
batteries. Lights-out came early.  We practiced conservation as we
washed our clothes and one another╒s hair in buckets of rainwater from
the cistern.

Two vans took us on daily field trips outside the preserve to see
archaeological sites, visit villages, and observe wildlife.  We heard and
saw the howler and spider monkeys that inhabit the forest-covered
ancient Mayan cities. We watched the rare jabarus jabbing their beaks into
the river mud to find food. We discovered that two golf balls floating in a
river were really the eyes of a crocodile.

We often passed recently cut tracts of forest where corn grew  or cattle
grazed. But some fields lay fallow because their nutrients had been used
up.  One day, we visited a Mennonite farm at Blue Creek that sends 16,000
chickens to market every six weeks. Now we understood why corn was
planted where the forest once stood. Like Belizeans, we ate a lot of
chicken with our rice and beans.

A women╒s group in the mestizo village of San Lorenzo prepared a tamale
lunch for us, cooked over a fire fueled with wood from the forest.   The
importance of the forests to the wildlife and to the livelihood and daily
life of the people of Belize soon became evident. Who were we, coming
from a country that long ago cut down its vast hardwood forests, to
criticize Belizeans for cutting theirs?

Excursions to Mayan ruins and forest resorts showed us a viable
alternative to forest destruction: sustainable economic development  in
the form of ecotourism, sustained yield harvests, and products made from
medicinal plants.

Chan Chich Lodge sits in the main plaza of an ancient Mayan city. Its
owner, Barry Bowen,  says he placed it there to stop the looting of
artifacts by marijuana growers who had overrun the archaeological site.
Though a subject of some controversy in the scientific world, in the
owner╒s view the tourism lodge protects the ruins for future excavation,
attracts visitors, and provides jobs for Belizeans.

Lamanai Outpost Lodge, located on a breeze-cooled slope above the Rio
Bravo, offers excursions to the nearby Lamanai Mayan village, museum,
and archaeological site. It, too, brings in tourist dollars and provides jobs.

At the Rio Bravo station, we learned of experiments being conducted with
sustained yield harvests of chicle, timber and allspice. Others, such as the
Ix Chel Farm and Tropical Research Center, are experimenting with natural
medicines for treating such things as upset stomach and insect bites.

Two-thirds of Central American forests have been felled since 1960. In
contrast, about 80 percent of Belize╒s forests remain and most of those
are on currently protected lands.

We left Rio Bravo aware of the rich resource that the forests of Belize
represent. They offer a chance for economic growth without deforestation.
We learned ways it can be done. The challenge now is to convince
Belizeans and foreign investors that it is possible.  ^^^ Caryl Bigenho is a
free-lance writer in California.



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MEMBERS OF THE BELIZE ECO-TOURISM ASSOCIATION

For those interested in supporting tourism operators who try to protect
the fragile ecology and culture of Belize, here is a list of the members of
the Belize Eco-Tourism Association.

As Eco-Tourism Association members, at a minimum these companies
subscribe to a code of ethics.  They agree to:

1.  Present an invitation to all guests to be environmentally and culturally
responsible.

2.  Eliminate plastic disposables such as cups and styrofoam box lunch
containers.

3.  Avoid disturbing wildlife and flora.

Membership in the Association does not, of course,  in itself assure that
these hotels and other companies are green.   However, by and large these
operators are doing what they can to support sustainable tourism in
Belize.

Jim Bevis of Slate Creek Reserve and M.E.T. is the current president.  Bart
Mickler of Maya Mountain Lodge is vice president.

Projects supported by the Belize Eco-Tourism Association include:

Ñ  developing a green code of ethics for hotels and operators

Ñ  producing a pamphlet for tourists to Belize which will outline their
role in responsible tourism

Ñ  lobbying government through the British Tourism Association for new
laws for a greener Belize

Ñ  researching alternative products and encouraging use of greener items

Ñ  publishing and distributing an Eco-Tourism Association newsletter

Ñ  providing an endorsement of eco-operators to authors of guidebooks to
Belize and to travel writers.

Members as of August 1994, followed by town or district (if in Belize),
and note that new members are added regularly:

BLAST Tours, Belize City

Radisson Fort George Hotel, Belize City

Colton House Inn, Belize City

Services Belize, Belize City

Tubroos Tree Adventures, Belize

Spanish Bay Resort, Belize

Backadeer Inn, Belize

Chan Chich Lodge, Belize

Bill Hasso, Belize

Banana Bank Ranch, Belmopan

Martin Meadows, Belmopan

Belize Communications & Security, Belmopan

CariSearch, Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker Water Taxi Assoc., Caye Caulker

Sea-ing is Belizing, Caye Caulker

Maya Ranch Guesthouse, Cayo

Ek╒ Tun, Cayo

Easy Rider, Cayo

Crystal Paradise, Cayo

David Cryer, Cayo

Maya Mountain Lodge, Cayo

Herman Velasquez, Cayo

Piache Hotel, Cayo

Maya Mountain Tours, Cayo

Snooty Fox, Cayo

Panti Mayan Medicine Trail, Cayo

Duplooy╒s Resort, Cayo

San Ignacio Hotel, Cayo

Windy Hill, Cayo

Slate Creek Reserve, Cayo

Hidden Valley Inn, Cayo

Blancaneaux Lodge, Cayo

Chaa Creek, Cayo

Westwinds, Ltd., Corozal

Pelican Beach, Dangriga

Lamanai Outpost Lodge, Orange Walk

Jungle River Tours, Orange Walk

Glovers Atoll Resort, Placencia

Serenity Resort, Placencia

Nautical Inn, Placencia

Rum Point Inn, Placencia

Ramon╒s Village Resort, San Pedro

San Pedro Sun Newspaper, San Pedro

Captain Morgan╒s Retreat, San Pedro

Caribbean Villas, San Pedro

Dem Dats Doin, Toledo

Magnum Belize, USA

Belize Adventure Tours, USA.


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REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

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.
Beginning with this issue, we are also listing properties in Costa Rica,
Honduras and elsewhere in the region.  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
send your notice to BELIZE FIRST,  280 Beaverdam Road, Candler, NC
28715 USA, fax [phone], e-mail at [e-mail]
on the Internet.  We need your listing in writing.  Please include your
name, address and phone number.

Individual owners may run up to three properties in any one issue;  real
estate brokers may have up to six listings.  Photographs are welcome.
BELIZE FIRST reserves the right to edit listings or to reject any listing
without providing any reason. All  prices are in U.S. dollars.

@@Mainland Belize

200 ACRES:  P.G./Cattle Landing area.  Rolling hills, low and high bush with
a mile of road frontage.  3/4 mile from Caribbean. Suitable for ecotourist
facility, agriculture, development.  Water and electricity hookups
available.  Asking $80,000.  Toledo Real Estate & Assoc., P.O. Box 73, Punta
Gorda, tel. [phone], fax [phone].

LOTS FOR SALE, $3,500:  Tropical Park,  60 x 118 ft., located near park.
Bulk purchaser, $2,500 per lot.  Scheffer Real Estate, 24 Gabourel Lane,
Belize City, tel. [phone].

50,000 ACRES  CAYO, agricultural, timber and scenic mountain retreat
property. Streams, river and highway frontage.  $6,500,000 ($130/acre).
Sovereign Real Estate, 39A 4th Avenue, Corozal Town, Belize, tel. 501-
42-3160, fax [phone].

357 ACRES.  Owner wants to sell entire parcel (clear title). Includes
modern hurricane-proof, fully furnished 3 BR ranch-type home located 1
mile from the Caribbean with 1/2 mile road frontage on the main highway.
Utilities installed with back-up systems.  Land partially cleared, fenced
with 30 head of cattle.  Flat to rolling hills to mountain property.  Plus
Ford pick-up in first-class condition.  Many extras included.  Age and
health of owner a factor in selling this at a bargain price of $150,000.
Toledo Real Estate & Assoc., P.O. Box 73, Punta Gorda, tel. [phone],
fax [phone].

25 ACRES:  On the Southern Highway, Big Falls area.  Rolling hills, 12
acres planted with citrus.  Electricity hookup available. Water available
from roadside wells.  Asking $15,000.  Toledo Real Estate & Assoc., P.O.
Box 73, Punta Gorda, tel. [phone], fax [phone].

SEAFRONT 80  x 150 LOT with 2 BR, 1 bath concrete house, living room,
dining room, kitchen.  Many coconut and palm trees, older established
neighborhood.  $72,500.  Sovereign Real Estate, 39A 4th Avenue, Corozal
Town, Belize, tel. [phone], fax [phone].

@@Ambergris Caye, Belize

CONDOS FOR RENT in San Pedro:  One 1BR, 1 bath unit and one 2BR, 1 bath.
On beach at Paradise Villas.  Fresh water pool, A/C in bedrooms, fans
elsewhere.   Beautifully decorated and fully furnished and equipped, with
kitchens and full-size refrigerators.  Daily maid service included.  1BR
$125 per night;  2BR, $150 per night, plus 6% tax.  No service charges.
Local manager greets guests at the airstrip.  Free brochure.  Contact
owner at 36420 Bendel Terrace, Fremont, CA 94536, tel. [phone],
or via Internet e-mail to [e-mail].

HOUSE ON THE BEACH 1/2 mile north of San Pedro town.  3,860 sq. ft
including verandas, 2 BR, 2 baths,  luxuriously furnished including TV and
satellite dish; plus 2 furnished rental apartments and caretaker
apartment, shop, storage building, fenced-in yard, pier, asking $295,000,
with 30% down.  Owner will finance balance for 10 years at 12%.  Tel.
501-26-2677.

CASA CARIBE:  Village resort community with 1 and 2 BR units.
Restaurant, bar, pool, with on-site management.  From the $90s.  The
Windstar Agency, P.O. Box 33, San Pedro, Belize, tel. [phone], fax
501-26-2497.

BELIZE YACHT CLUB:  2-story resort villas, fully furnished, Mediterranean
design, with terrace.  Beachfront or poolside ╤ all have access to fresh-
water pool, gym, marina and more.  Starting at $190,000 to $230,000,
terms available.    Other beautiful units available at PARADISE VILLAS
from $185,000.  Suites at MAYAN PRINCESS (formerly Ambergris Lodge)
from $115,000.  Southwind Properties, P.O. Box 1, San Pedro, Belize, tel.
501-26-2005 or fax [phone].

@@TRADE/EXCHANGE

WANTED TO EXCHANGE condo in Ottawa, Canada, for property in Belize or
elsewhere.   Two bedrooms, one bathroom, one interior parking space.
Close to Parliament Hill in Ottawa and still closer to The Museum of
civilization in Hull.  It is worth approx Canadian $85,000. Rents for about
Canadian $700 a month.    Taxes are around Canadian $1650 a year.  Condo
fees Canadian $82 month.  Never a vacancy.  For more information,
contact, Jaime Aguirre, 98 Dollard,  Apt. 24,  Hull, Quebec  J8X 3M3,
Canada, tel. [phone].

@@Costa Rica

JUNGLE FARM in foothills of Talamanca Mountains, minutes from the
Caribbean.  2.5 acres, three-fourths of which is virgin jungle.  Other one-
fourth has been planted extensively with indigenous fruits (lemons, limes,
oranges, bananas, etc.), coffee, cocoa and coconut plants , and hardwoods
like laurel and cedro macho.  20 x 26 ft. house, wood with corrugated
metal roof,  with two rooms plus kitchen and porch, is three years old.
Outhouse, no electricity.  Property is surveyed and has all legal
documentation.  Free access via public gravel road.  Beautiful property but
not for the fainthearted tourist who cannot live without modern
conveniences.  $30,000.  Contact Paul Hawkins or Cathie Whittaker, 268
Scotchline Rd., W., RR#3, Merrickville, Ont., KOG1NO, Canada, tel. 613-
258- 5284.


@@Honduras

FOR RENT on Roatçn, Bay Islands:  Oceanfront,  three bedroom house.
Premier location, spectacular views.   $395 a week, $900 month.  Call
512-749-4152.

#############################################

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.

Belize Business Consulting Services, P.O. Box 407, Belize City, tel. 501-
23-0012, fax [phone]

Belize Land Consultants, Ltd., P.O. Box 35, Corozal Town, tel. 501-42-
3195, fax [phone]

Bella Vista Group, 63 Bella Vista, Belize City, tel. [phone], fax
501-23-2895

Caye & Country Real Estate Ltd., P.O. Box 258, Belize City, tel. 501-23-
5308, fax [phone]

Langdon Supply Limited, P.O. Box 15, San Pedro, tel. [phone], fax
501-26-2245 (affiliated with Belize Real Estate)

Maya Landings at Moho Caye, Belize City, tel. [phone]

Playa de Piratas Properties, Placencia, tel. [phone], fax 501-22-
3203

Scheffer Real Estate, 24 Gabourel Lane, Belize City, 501- 23-4285

Southwind Properties, P.O. Box 1, San Pedro, tel. [phone], fax 501-
26-2331

Sovereign Real Estate, 39A 4th Avenue, Corozal Town, Belize, tel. 501-
42-3160, 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.  501-23-
1022, fax [phone] (affiliated with Belize Real Estate)



##############################################

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Recent news of Belize and the region:

NEW HOSPITAL  A new Belize City Hospital, tagged Belize City General and
outfitted with US$5 million of new equipment, is set to open early in
1995 on Princess Margaret Drive.  The new hospital is much-needed, as the
old hospital is widely considered out-dated, too small and lacking staff
and equipment to handle the large patient load.  In August, the ceiling of
the old hospital╒s only working operating room suddenly collapsed while a
patient was being prepped for surgery.

DINES MURDERER SENTENCED TO HANGING  A San Pedro jury of eight men
and four women on November 11 found Herman Mejia guilty of the February
murder of Ann Reilly Dines and Alan Dines.  Ann Reilly Dines, an American
citizen and internationally known rose and gardening writer, and her
British husband, both Ambergris Caye residents, were brutally murdered in
a late-night robbery attempt south of San Pedro town.  The jury
deliberated about three hours before returning with a verdict of guilty.
The judge in the case, His Lordship Judge Troadio Gonzalez, sentenced
Mejia, a Belizean originally from Toledo District, to death by hanging.
IRAQIS BUY BELIZE PASSPORTS  Iraqis desperate to reach the West are
paying up to $18,000 for stolen or fake passports from Belize, according
to news reports.   A passport from Belize ╤ a British Commonwealth
country considered to be widely accepted and to provide good mobility ╤
brings more than passports from some other countries.  A passport from
Venezuela costs $10,000 while one from the African country of Guinea
might be $7,000.

BDF VOLUNTEERS IN HAITI  About three dozen Belize Defense Force troops,
under the command of Captain Juan Teck,  joined U.S. and other Caribbean
Basin soldiers in Haiti, in the joint effort to restore democracy and Jean-
Bertrand Aristide to the presidency of the island nation.  The all-
volunteer expeditionary force was Belize╒s first international military
mission to a potential combat area since World War II.

TONS OF COCAINE  In September, a federal grand jury in Florida indicted
19 people on charges of trying to smuggle tons of cocaine into the United
States.  The indictments charge that a South Florida seafood distributor
and others transported about a ton of cocaine worth US$220 million into
the Fort Lauderdale area from off the coast of Belize on the boat ╥Achy
Heart.╙  The smuggling ring has been operating for more than 10 years, FBI
and Drug Enforcement Agency investigators say.

RITZ-CARLTON ON AMBERGRIS?  Is this a joke?  A Ritz-Carlton luxury
hotel similar to the one in Cancun, a golf course, a new town, an
international airport, and a container port  were among the options
recommended for development of the 30,000-acre North Ambergris
property formerly called the Pinkerton Estate, in a proposal made by a
North American consulting and development firm.   However, the plan,
from the Broadhead Group,  was rejected by the North Ambergris Caye
Development Corporation, an Ambergris-based group chaired by Fidel
Ancona.    A NACDC report from its own planning consultants called for
small-scale, ecologically sustainable and incremental development of the
prime property north of San Pedro, with active participation by Belizeans.
The matter is currently under review by the Belize government.

NEW U.S. AMBASSADOR  The new U.S. Ambassador to Belize, George Bruno,
was sworn in Aug. 16.  Bruno, 52, an attorney and resident of New
Hampshire, is a political appointee, rather than a career diplomat.

RETIRE IN HONDURAS  A U.S. company is in the process of acquiring up to
500 acres near La Ceiba to develop a retirement community called New
California.

KILLER SNAKES  Of the 54 species of snakes in Belize, 28 are poisonous,
but only 9 have venom strong enough to kill humans.  The deadliest Belize
serpent is the yellow-jawed tommygoff.

BEEPERS IN BELIZE  Belize Telecommunications Ltd. now offers beeper
service in Belize City and areas within 15 miles of the city.

CHAMBER LOSES LOTTERY  The Belize government has yanked the authority
of the Belize Chamber of Commerce to operate the National Lotto.   The
troubled Chamber reportedly remains deeply in debt, despite infusions of
money from the U.S. government, staff layoffs and other personnel
changes.

COSTA RICA JACKS TOURISTS  Costa Rica has raised the admission fees to
its national parks by 1200%.  Entrance fees, even to the smallest Tico
parks, are now US$15 per person for non-resident foreigners.   Residents
will continue to pay only about US$1.25.  Costa Rica also has raised the
sales tax on hotel rooms and restaurants meals by 50%, from 10% to 15%.

SAN PEDRO FREEWAYS?  What next?  San Pedro now has one-way streets,
street signs and 23 stop signs.  As of Nov. 1, cars and trucks on Ambergris
are regulated in the same way as vehicles in the rest of Belize.  Barrier
Reef Drive (Front Street) is one-way south to north.  Pescador Drive is
one-way north to south.

NEW VALUE ADDED TAX  The UDP government has announced a new value
added tax will replace the unpopular gross receipts tax and stamp taxes in
April 1996.

BELIZE TURNS DOWN $50 MILLION  Belize in September reportedly turned
down a US$50 million offer from the U.S. government if Belize would take
up to 10,000 Cuban and Haitian refugees.  The U.S. opened refugee camps in
Panama and Surinam.

POWERFUL WOMEN  Belize ranks 13th in the world in the number of women
serving in parliaments, with more than one- fifth of the legislature
female.  Norway, Finland, St. Lucia, Sweden and Denmark have the most
women in parliament, while eight countries including Kuwait and Papua
New Guinea have none.

BAD BELIZE BUCKS  Keep a wary eye out for fake $100 Belize banknotes.
The blue bills have been cleverly forged using a high-quality color copier.

AIDS  It╒s a fact of life in Belize as in many other countries.  By some
estimates, more than 3,000 Belizeans are HIV-positive or have full-
fledged AIDS.  Almost 100 Belizeans have died from AIDS.  Honduras,
however,  has more AIDS cases than the rest of Central America combined.
About 60% of C.A. AIDS infections are in Honduras.  Private estimates are
that as many as 70,000 Hondurans are HIV- positive, and that 3,000
already have died of AIDS.  Government figures are lower. San Pedro Sula
is considered the No. 1 city in Central America in incidence of AIDS/HIV.

NEW TOUR GUIDES LICENSING  All guides in Belize are supposed to have a
license which must be carried and prominently displayed, according to
new regulations approved by the Ministry of Tourism and the Environment.
Guides must be at least 18 years old, fluent in English, be Belize citizens,
have no criminal convictions in the past five years and must have
completed a course of study on ecotourism, first aid and CPR, Belize╒s
history, geography, art and folklore and be a member of a recognized local
tour guide association.  The new regulations went into effect Nov. 1, 1994.

BELIZE HOLDINGS EXPANDS  Belize Holdings, the Belize holding company
listed on the U.S. NASDAQ exchange which owns interests in Belize
Telecom,  Belize Bank, Radisson Fort George Hotel and other companies, in
October bought 75% of the issued capital of Panama Holdings, Inc., for
US$13.5 million.  This is part of a strategy of diversification in Central
America, according to Belize Holdings.

HOW HIGH IS UNEMPLOYMENT IN BELIZE?  The government says it is about
20%.  However, only about 60,000 of Belize╒s 118,000-person labor force
between the ages of 14 and 60 are actually employed, government stats
show, suggesting that even taking into account those who are students,
wish only to work part-time or who otherwise are inactive members of
the work force, unemployment likely is higher than 20%.

TOURISM LOGO  A jaguar sitting on top of the word Belize is the new
Belize tourism logo.

SHRIMP CAPITAL OF THE CARIBBEAN  Belize could become the shrimp
capital of the Caribbean Basin, thanks to a new hatchery opened at Mile 5
of the Western Highway.  When fully operational, the hatchery could
produce 10 million baby shrimp a month.  The government of Taiwan has
contributed funds and expertise for the project.

MANHATTAN PUNTA  Caribbean-format WNWK Radio in New York, 105.9 FM,
plays an hour of Belizean music on Sunday afternoons.  Former Radio
Belize DJ Steve Perriot hosts the program.

SEPTEMBER RAINS END DRAUGHT  Belize got relief from a dry year as up to
15 inches of rain caused flooding in Belize City and in Cayo, Toledo and
Stann Creek districts.  The new coastal highway from Democracia had as
much as five feet of water.  In November, Tropical Storm Gordon also
dumped rain on parts of Belize.

ELECTRIC AVENUES  While Honduras struggles with electricity rationing
due to an on-going draught,  Belize╒s new, privately owned Macal/Mollejon
hydroelectric station is actively hiring Belizeans for management,
maintenance and operations jobs.   Belize boasts among the best
electrical, telephone and postal systems in all of Central America.

BIG MAC IN BELIZE?  Fast-feeder McDonald╒s is expanding its locations in
Central America and the Caribbean Basin, with new units set to open in
Honduras, El Salvador and Jamaica in 1995.  Is Belize City next?
McDonald╒s already has more than 14,500 restaurants in 75 countries.

 ###########################################

GOVERNMENT MOVES TO FIGHT CRIME WAVE IS IT TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE?

By LAN SLUDER

Reacting at last to demands from outraged tourism operators, business
people and ordinary Belizeans, the Belize government announced in late
October it is pledging new money to fight the rising tide of crime in
Belize.  The United Democratic Party government said it would spend
US$1.6 million to restructure the Belize Police Force, add cops and outfit
them with better equipment.

The question remains:  Is it too little, too late?  In a world where a single
cocaine shipment seized in Florida on a boat from Belize was valued at
US$220 million, the government╒s offer of a thin stream of cash,
following several notable failures at controlling crime, may be woefully
inadequate.

Indeed,  can anything at all be done to stop the surge of murders, robberies
and attacks?   Crime, observers say, is fed from several springs:  a poor
economy and high unemployment;   the ready availability of crack and
other dangerous drugs;  the demographics of a society where almost two-
thirds of the population is in the high-crime under-21 age group;   the
scourge of ill-trained, underpaid and sometimes corrupt police;   and the
influence of the worst side of U.S. popular culture as carried to Belize on
satellite television.

If there is a good side to the situation, it is that in Belize, unlike in some
other countries in the region where police are viewed as paramilitary
exploiters, here the constabulary and the authorities are still widely
considered the ╥good guys,╙ and there is real public outcry against
lawlessness.  Belize, a country whose population of 240,000 (including
illegal immigrants) is hardly larger than a single small city in the United
States, produces a grisly resume of crimes, week after week.

Here╒s a partial list of serious crimes in recent weeks:

Ñ In a bungled robbery attempt, a 19-year-old youth allegedly shot a
Belize City policeman in the stomach.

Ñ In Belize City a 64-year-old man was accused of killing another man
after an argument over a bicycle.

Ñ The home of the Belize Minister of Housing reportedly was burglarized.

Ñ Five people were charged with firing shots at a van in Belize City.

Ñ A Wackenhut security guard in Belize City was attacked by two
intruders who took his 12-gauge shotgun and shot him with his own
weapon.

Ñ A mother of three in Belize City was raped and then murdered.  She was
found dead by her 15-year-old son.

Ñ The home of a Belize City accountant was burglarized;  almost
US$150,000 in gold and jewelry was stolen.

Ñ Over a single recent mid-week holiday, five people were wounded in
shootings in Belize City.

Previous attempts to cut crime, especially in Belize City, have been
failures.  A money-for-guns program earlier in the year produced 260 guns
but few other results.  And when a group of new special constables was
hired,  it was determined that several of them had criminal records or
were otherwise unfit for duty.

While most victims are Belizeans, and the vast majority of visitors never
experience any crime, there is an unsettling new trend of attacks
affecting tourists.

One of these took place at about 9:40 p.m. on Aug. 3.  Three masked men
walked into the Belize Guest House on Hutson Street at Marine Parade,
owned  by John (Sean) Hauck, a U.S. citizen who had lived in Belize for
nearly two decades.  Hauck, 42, and his wife, who had purchased the
popular guest house a few months earlier, were relaxing at the
bar/restaurant on the first floor, with three foreign guests.

Here, from an interview with an eyewitness, is what happened next:

╥Three young men came in the door.   Only one had a gun.  It appeared to be
a small caliber automatic.  The man with the gun was in the front.  He
fired off a shot to get our attention, announced that this was a hold-up,
and at that point Sean (which is how we knew him) charged them.  There
were two more shots in rapid succession and the guys ran off.  No money
was taken. My girlfriend ran from the room.  I dove for cover. The other
two people froze.

╥Sean was on the ground dying. We called for an ambulance and they put us
on hold, so we picked him up and put him in a pick-up truck and he was
taken to the hospital, where he was DOA.╙

The eyewitness, a California resident who asked not to be identified in
this story, said he and his girlfriend went to the police station and filled
out statements. ╥The police were polite,╙ he said,  ╥if not a little
disinterested.╙   It took an hour and a half for statements to be taken.

╥I can only judge the actions of the police based on what I am used to at
home,╙ he said.  ╥If someone had been killed in that fashion here, the
neighborhood would have been swarming with police for hours. That didn╒t
happen. The crime scene was gone over, but not for more than the time it
took us to give statements and return.

╥When we returned, the American Consul was there, and he was helpful
and provided Embassy guards for the remainder of the night. The next day,
the State Department tracked us down at our new hotel,  and we were
questioned again. The following day we left for Chan Chich.╙

The eyewitness, who was on his first trip to Belize, says he will go back
to Belize but will probably avoid Belize City if at all possible.   ╥I live in a
big dirty city where people get killed everyday.   I do not need to travel to
to find the same elsewhere.╙

To date, the police have not apprehended anyone for the crime.  ╥They may
never do so,╙ said one prominent Belize City resident.  ╥We can only grit
our teeth and bear the terrible decline in our society.╙

Another resident and observer of Belize tourism said, ╥Belize╒s reputation
as a destination will shortly begin to suffer if many more attacks like the
one at the Belize Guest House occur. ╥

There also have been several incidents of armed hold-ups of visitors at
Xunantunich ruins near San Ignacio, so many that some local hotels now
recommend that visitors go only in groups or on a tour.  Recently, bandits
have been reported on the new coastal highway going south to Dangriga.

Muggings and robberies of tourists in Belize City remain so common that
many are not reported in local newspapers.   Criminals who prey on
visitors are particularly difficult to punish, since tourists may need to
leave Belize before police finish investigating the crime.  They also may
not be able to return at the time of the trial, so many cases collapse in
court.  This encourages offenders to commit more crimes against tourists.
In November, the Attorney General╒s Ministry announced new measures to
speed up the recording of evidence from visitors and to look into
establishing ╥quick trial courts╙ to deal with cases involving theft and
other common crimes against visitors and Belizeans.

On the popular tourist center of Ambergris Caye, the double murder in
February of U.S. citizen and prominent author, Ann Reilly Dines, and her
British husband, both San Pedro residents,  shocked the expat community
in Belize. (See related story in Vol. II, No. 1 of BELIZE FIRST.)    Following
the murder of the Dineses, a suspect, Herman Mejia,  was quickly
apprehended.  In November Mejia was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to
death by hanging.

Steps have been  taken to beef up security and improve police protection
on the island, although efforts to improve lighting on the dark beachfront
where the murders occurred have stalled.

Hotel owners and other tourism operators find themselves in an ambiguous
situation.  On the one hand, they want strong action by the government to
reduce crime, especially any that may impact the growing hospitality
industry in Belize.  On the other hand, publicly they maintain that crime, if
at all a problem in Belize, is limited mostly to some areas of Belize City,
and they try to hush up or play down any crimes that do occur, thinking
that reports in the press will cut into travel to Belize.

╥Crime is a fact of life all over the world,╙ said one San Pedro hotel
operator earlier this year, at the time of the Dines murders.   ╥People
understand that.╙   That may be, replied a travel writer, but visitors do
not expect to have murders in paradise.

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




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BELIZE'S CARIBBEAN ISLANDS

Belize is the Caribbean.  The Caribbean Coast.

Almost 200 islands are waiting for you to explore in the Caribbean Sea off
the Belize mainland.  Ambergris is the best-known and the most-popular -
- look for an Ambergris update in an upcoming issue of BELIZE FIRST.  But
for laid-back and affordable, go Caye Caulker, or Tobacco Caye, Long Caye
or Middle Long Caye.  Dive the reef, hit the fish, or head farther out to
South Pacific style lagoons and atolls.  Here, the water is ridiculously
green, blue and purple, and the diving is unbelievably great. Or hide away
with a stack of novels in rustic, remote luxury.

 This special section of BELIZE FIRST focuses on Caye Caulker and the
"other" islands, in reports by two of the leading travel journalists
covering the region.  Tom Brosnahan, author of an entire shelf of
guidebooks for Lonely Planet and other publishers, updates paradise on a
budget, Caye Caulker. Paul Glassman, whose Belize Guide was out before
most of us even heard of Belize, leads you on a personal tour of the most
interesting of the out islands of Belize.




 #########################################


BELIZE'S OTHER 200 ISLANDS

Here's the skinny on Belize's little-known cayes from Paul Glassman,
pioneering Central America travel journalist

Although Ambergris and Caulker are the most-popular island destinations
in Belize, the country boasts almost 200 other small cayes in the
Caribbean Sea.  Most of these are unpopulated, and many are little more
than patches of wet sand, a few mangroves, and an iguana or two.  Some,
however, have comfortable lodges, with world-class fishing and diving.
Paul Glassman, author of Belize Guide and other guides to Central
America,  takes you on a tour of these islands.

Note:  Numbers in bold to the left of  the caye name are keyed to the Belize
islands map (in the regular hard-copy edition only).  When calling lodges
listed from outside Belize, telephone and fax numbers shown should be
prefixed by the country code, 501.  From the U.S., dial 011-501 plus the
number shown.  Calls from within Belize should be prefixed with a 0.


By PAUL GLASSMAN

(1)  CAYE CHAPEL Caye Chapel measures only one by three miles. Most of it
is covered by coconut plantations and beaches. The island is just off the
barrier reef only 15 miles from Belize City.  It has its own landing strip.

Pyramid Island Resort   32 rooms and two beach houses. $60single/$96
double, plus 10% service plus tax. Add $30 per person for three meals.
Low-season rate $40/$60. Master Card, Visa, American Express.
Reservations: P.O. Box 192, Belize City, tel. 24-4409.   U.S. reservations
tel. [phone].

This resort owns all of Caye Chapel. Accommodations are in a long row of
die-of-depression 1950s-motel-style plywood rooms with plastic
panelling, linoleum and cheap furniture. But they're slowly being
renovated, they all face seaward and are air-conditioned, and the beach is
long and sandy and beautiful.

The central bar-common room rises to a pyramid roof, visible by any
navigator. In addition to the dive shop, gift shop, and fishing and diving
boats found at most of the better hotels on the cayes, Pyramid Island has
a fresh- water pond, tennis and volleyball courts (at no charge) and a golf
driving range, as well as a full-service marina--and a beach party on the
last Sunday of every month.

Fishing in small boats is available at $125 for two persons, diving for $50
per person, snorkeling at $15 per person.  Boats heading to Caye Caulker
usually also stop at Chapel.  (See related Caye Caulker article for details.)


(2)  ST. GEORGE'S CAYE Nine miles out from Belize City, St. George's Caye
was the site of the major settlement and informal capital of Belize from
about 1650 to 1784. A Spanish fleet was driven away just off the island
in 1798, an incident that secured Britain's hold on the territory. An old
graveyard from the early settlement remains at the southern tip of the
island.  St. George's Caye suffered badly in 1961 when Hurricane Hattie
washed away a good part of the island, but rebuilding has proceeded over
the years. Today, it is a little slice of paradise, with at least two
windmills, a venerable cemetery, a dozen private cottages with neat
lawns on island-wide lots, several docks, and, in times past, a rest-and-
recreation base for British forces in Belize.  There are no facilities for
the public, and unless you're staying at one of the two lodging places, the
island is basically not visitable.

St. George's Lodge   10 rooms and 6 cottages. $228 to $257 per day per
person, including airport transfers, meals, two dives daily, tanks, and
weights. 25 percent reduction for non-divers, 50 percent for children.
American Express, Master Card. Reservations: P.O. Box 625, Belize City,
tel. 24-4190 (radio patch to lodge), fax 23-0461; tel. [phone] in
the U.S.

St. George's is the most serene of the diving lodges I have encountered in
Belize, a state that results from the nature of the island--a non-
commercialized getaway--and the seemingly imperturbable personality of
the owner, Mr. Fred Goode.

The main building is a shipshape roundhouse, hardwood- paneled,
shuttered, and set above the grassy ground on piers. Guest rooms in this
part are like cabins aboard ship, each with a full bathroom. Over-water
cottage units are larger, with thatched roofs, and air circulation over,
under, around and through. Waves lap underneath the clefts in the
floorboards. Electricity is provided full-time by windmills and batteries.
Meals are mainly seafood, plain but copious, served family style. Bring
your own bottle of liquor. Coffee is brought right to your door at 6:30 a.m.
There are a sun deck and a palm-shaded beach, and a solar- heated hot tub,
but most guests come to enjoy diving with no distractions, and ratings of
St. George's Lodge are consistently high. The reef is a half-mile out, and
varied sites for divers of all levels are no more than twenty minutes
away.  Equipment includes three compressors and four dive boats.
Instructors and a dive master on site can complete dive training started
elsewhere, or certify from scratch. Fishing, too, can be arranged, and
there have been numerous perfectly contented guests who were out doing
not much at all.

Cottage Colony is a set of cute guest units with porches and cut-out trim,
built in rows close to one another. Floors are of polished wood, furniture
is wicker, the bathrooms are motel-standard with showers. Two units in
front, near the beach, are larger, with kitchens.

The arrangement of the cottages across a sandy-gritty compound affords
little breeze, and there is no cross-ventilation, but the air conditioning
cools things off. Barbecues and picnic tables are provided. There is a dive
shop on site.

Cottage Colony affords an opportunity to stay on a pleasant and little-
visited island with easy access from Belize City.

The rate is about $100 single or double, $1,000 for a week- long dive
package, $1,400 for a fishing package.  For information, contact the
Bellevue Hotel, 5 Southern Foreshore, Belize City, tel. 27-7051, fax 27-
3253.


(3)  GALLOWS POINT CAYE

Gallows Point is almost due east of Belize City, and just 7 miles away.
Even in the wide-open Bay Settlement, justice sometimes caught up with
miscreants, and Gallows Point is where that justice was meted out.

Gallows Point Resort   6 rooms with private bath. $87 single/$120
double/$50 per extra person, plus 15% service plus tax, including three
meals and transport from Belize City. Also rustic shared-bath
accommodations with bunk beds for under $15 per person. Reservations in
Belize City c/o Hotel Belcove, 9 Regent Street West, tel. 27-3054, fax 27-
7600.

Hotel rooms are all on the second floor, off a sea-view veranda, each with
cold-water shower. Activities here are snorkeling, scuba and fishing.
Anchorage available for yachts.

This resort also offers day trips to the caye from Belize City for about
$45, including a light snack; and diving trips, for about $60. Weekend
excursions, including one meal and two nights of lodging, are about $140.

(4)  SPANISH LOOKOUT CAYE

This 234-acre mangrove island is just ten miles east- southeast of Belize
City.

Spanish Bay Resort   71 North Front Street, tel. 27-2725, fax 27-2797 in
Belize City. 10 units. From $160 daily including meals, diving and tax,
from $100 daily non- diving. Credit cards with surcharge.

Spanish Bay is a divers' resort, two miles from the barrier reef, affording
easy access to a number of southern sites less frequented than those near
Ambergris and Caye and Caye Caulker, some of them uncharted. A powerful
dive barge takes groups out in short order to reef, walls, and as far as the
Turneffe Islands; and compressors, air tanks, belts and weights are
sufficient for as many divers as the lodge can sleep.

The central roundhouse bar-dining pavilion sits over the water and is
almost encircled by a deck. Inside, it's spacious and airy, hung with maps
and charts, and stocked with board games for evening amusement. Guests
stay in individual over-water cottages, each with two double beds, with
hot water, fans, and hardwood panelling. Price includes transport from
Belize City.

Only drinks at the bar are extra. And since Spanish Bay is just a jump from
Belize City, it can be a base for inland travel as well.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [BOX]

Spanish Bay and a Stack of Novels

Hold onto your false teeth! The boat to Spanish Bay Resort hesitates not
for swells or wakes. In 10 miles and 30 minutes, it chatters through
shipping channels and past police patrol skiffs and stray islands, from the
heat and hustle and hassles of Belize City, toward an enlarging tangle of
mangrove and palms, around the point of Spanish Lookout Caye, into harbor.

The entire resort settlement lies within 100 yards or so of the dock. A
central roundhouse office-bar-dining room, as at virtually every offshore
resort in Belize, is a workaday structure with no architectural distinction
or exterior adornment to face the weather, save a solidly anchored
wraparound deck.

All the character resides inside: decorations of ships' wheels, umbrella
ceiling, kerosene lamps to light board games and card games and
conversations at night, a floor fan turning constantly, propelled not by
electricity, but by a ceaseless breeze that also encourages bugs to move
on.

The masterwork of Spanish Lookout is comprised of its five double
cottages, set on stilts directly over the shallows, facing into the
prevailing easterly breeze. Forget air conditioning. When the sun pulps a
standing person into a sweat--and it can, all year, anywhere in offshore
Belize-- step inside. The wind skips off the Caribbean, cools to sea-water
temperature, slides through screening and opened louvers, and exits
toward the mangrove: all-natural cooling.

Spanish Lookout is a modified mangrove islet. The sand and shells of the
lodge grounds were deposited by dredging a channel with shovels and
wheelbarrow, and only sticks appear to hold it all together. There is no
topsoil, the beach is minimal.

But the compost of the island's vegetation -- "mangrove peat"-- blooms
with tomatoes and watermelons and radishes and carrots, bananas and
soursops and avocados and watermelons, papayas and peppers and herbs.
The same substance, with a top coating of sand, underlies the other-
worldly Air-pillo trails through the property. A channel crosses the
island, along with a plank walkway. Drinking water comes from rain
caught off the roofs of caye-standard plywood workaday outbuildings, and
a small desalination operation. Here, away from everything in the world,
the staff cottage has satellite television, powered by solar panels and the
generator that runs the compressors.

Beyond the lodge area, the island is as it was built up by colonizing plants,
and carved by winds and rains and tides and storms. Red and black and
white mangroves dominate, along with buttonwoods.

Ecology is the folklore of Belizean tourism, and every offshore resort
proposes an eco-menu: trails through mangrove inhabited by rare bird
species; swimming with dolphins in a protected lagoon; on a lucky day, a
manatee waddling-swimming just off the dock. Remoteness from the
modern world.

Spanish Bay is all this, except that remoteness is a state of mind, a
matter of where you aim your gaze. Follow the plank walkway over the
mangrove and channels to the western edge of the caye, and watch the
sunset over the mainland, and, at a quarter-turn, the lights of Belize City.
Light your torch, cross back above the black waters to your porch, and the
other world, a moonlit sea, a swell of waves, and phosphorescence.

Though scuba diving is the mission for most visitors to Spanish Bay, I was
on a non-diving visit with my wife and three children one August.

What do you do at a diving resort when you are not diving? Plenty. You take
it as you would any South Seas isle where you have the good fortune to be
marooned. You plow through the stack of novels that was piling up at home
unread, with a break when absolutely necessary to fetch a piûa colada.

The kids have the run of the island while the divers are out: they pile up
shells in mounds and more mounds, which will wait to be fetched on our
next visit.  They jump into the sea out the back door of our room, swim
around to the beach, and repeat the process in numberless iterations.

They go through all the board games. They chase teeny fiddler crabs, play
peekaboo with fish that blend into sea grass, drop bread crumbs into an
empty spot of water and watch the tarpon swarm and churn.  They imagine
perils aplenty, but there are no dangerous animals, not even deep water or
undertow or crashing surf.

Nearby is Little Offshore Belize: Sargeant's Caye, Goff's Caye, English Caye
and Rendezvous Caye, various specks of sand or mangrove on which to
make landfall and explore for ancient remains, or shells, or bottles from
afar.

One day we pulled a Robinson Crusoe. On its way to the reef, the diving
barge, skippered by Karen Pasquariello, once a church administrator in
Texas, stranded us with a hamper and cooler at Sergeant's Caye, a half-
acre, three- palm-and-sand remnant of the larger island that was blown
apart one hurricane year.

What remains of a settlement is snorkelable:  a miniature lost world of
post anchors, a concrete block, a bathtub, scattered among brain and fan
and elkhorn coral. We moved from submarine archaeology back to our South
Seas fantasy on the beach, sandwiches and fruit and drinks, touched with
specks of sand, which is not a plentiful substance in Belize.

Food is a touchy point when travelling anywhere with kids, who abhor
novelty. And it is a touchy point where last- minute shopping for finicky
tastes is not possible. It was not a touchy point at Spanish Bay, where
replenishment of the freezer from Belize City is less of a problem than
elsewhere. We all enjoyed hamburgers at lunch, and my kids amazed me by
slurping up an okra soup that initially looked yucky. But one evening, they
cringed at a platter of lobster. I could have creamed them.

But Elda Ceballos, lodge manager, cook, and accommodating hostess, had
chicken ready in minutes. The employees were lucky that evening. Rains
descend on a vulnerable island in instant rage. When blinds flapped and
papers flew up, we scurried to batten down our tempest-tossed room,
sealing shutters and securing doors, making a snug haven a-rock on stilts
in the lashing, roaring wind. But only for minutes, till the weather moved
on.

This is Spanish Bay, and to some degree, it is any lodge off the mainland
of Belize. The food will be more plentiful or less so. A longer-than-usual
rain might limit diving and muddy the view under the water. You will
almost certainly be more removed from Belize City in nautical miles, if
not in ways that matter. And when it is time to leave, you could hope for
another weather delay, or, as we did, ask the boat driver to slow down.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  - - - - -[END BOX]


(5)  MIDDLE LONG CAYE

This island, southeast of Belize City, is about 45 minutes away by boat.

Moonlight Shadows Lodge has just two thatch-roofed cabanas on the
island, going for about $50 per day. Fishing can be arranged, but there is no
diving equipment, and you'll come out here just to be away from
everything. Food can be prepared according to your preferences, or you can
do your own cooking. Call 82-3665 to discuss everything.

(6)  BLUEFIELD RANGE

These are small cayes 20 miles south of Belize City, inside the barrier
reef. A commercial fishing camp is located here; otherwise, there are no
inhabitants.

Ricardo's Beach Huts   Father and son Eterio and Ricardo Castillo have
constructed five simple, over-the-water guest cabanas at their lobster
and fishing camp in the Bluefield Range, 21 miles south of Belize City.
Visitors may bird watch, snorkel, or fish from dugout canoes. They also
have an unusual opportunity to look in on the lives of the fishermen.
There's lots of sand here -- more than at many a formal beach resort --
and unspoiled, unlittered mangrove and palms, as well as the usual aquatic
attractions.

The minimum charge for a stay at Ricardo's is about $150 for two persons
for two nights and three days. This includes meals and transportation, and
for additional days, the charge is about $30. For information, speak to
Anna Lara at the Mira Rio Hotel, 59 North Front St. (P. O. Box 55, tel. 24-
4970) in Belize City.

(7)  TURNEFFE ISLANDS

Twenty-five miles east of Belize City, the Turneffe Islands form a large
ring surrounding a shallow lagoon -- an atoll. Most of the cayes are
swampy, but a few contain enough sand to support coconut trees, and are
used as fishing camps. The main attraction for visitors is the fishing. The
flats within the island group are said to contain one of the largest
concentrations of bonefish in the world. Permit frequent the deeper
waters and, like bonefish, are present all year, while tarpon run in the
spring in large numbers. For divers, there are sharp drop offs, coral
varieties and sponges on the ocean side, while snorkeling is good in the
relatively shallow waters of the Central Lagoon and inside the reef. Bird
sightings regularly include great numbers of blackbirds, brown pelicans,
frigate birds, sandpipers, terns, and cormorants.

Turneffe Flats   6 individual cabins. About $1,800 per week of fishing,
including transfer from Belize City; $1,300 diving; $950 non-fishing. The
fishing rate includes a guide and skiff for every two fishermen. No
additional service charge. Reservations: P.O.  Box 36, Deadwood, SD 57732,
tel. [phone], fax [phone]. Open all year.

A fishing and diving camp situated on the northeast side of the island
group. Despite the remote location, the cabins are wood-panelled and
attractively furnished, and provided with private baths. The camp chef
serves up meals with seafood, of course, as well as fruit and fresh-baked
pastries. The package price includes a stay of one night in Belize City, and
a two-hour boat trip to the island on a 31-foot Ocean Master.

Turneffe Island Lodge   9 rooms. U.S. address: 11904 Hidden Hills Drive,
Jacksonville  FL 32225, tel. [phone]. One- week package $1,200
diving, $1,600 fishing, $900 relaxing, including meals and transport from
Belize City.

On 12-acre Caye Bokel, this is a village of houses on tall stilts with
screened porches, standard-issue catch-the- breeze structures. The lodge
has a new 38-foot dive boat, and the main attractions are diving where
relatively few divers go, and fishing for bonefish and permit in the flats
surrounded by the islands. Diving packages generally include three dives
daily.

Blackbird Caye Resort   P. O. Box 888, Belize City, tel. 27-7670, or 800-
537-1431 in the U.S. $1,100 weekly, or $1,350 for diving, or $1,550 for
fishing, including boat from Belize City, meals, tax and service charges.

This is a sports resort with an ecological theme, on mangrove-covered
Blackbird Caye, one of the major islands of the Turneffe group. Visitors
are invited to swim with bottlenose dolphins (the subjects of ongoing
studies) and view alligators, turtles and manatees from fairly close up.
For scientists--and maybe for you--an attraction is that local species
live largely without mainland influences, and some of the resident birds
have flourished, while becoming virtually extinct on the mainland.

Guests stay in single-room thatch-roofed cottages on stilts, each with
private bath.  No liquor is available except for what you tote along. Fishing
packages include two sorties daily. Diving packages include three dives
daily.

(8)  LIGHTHOUSE REEF

Sixty miles east of Belize City is the Lighthouse Reef Lagoon, its shallow
waters surrounded by a reef and the open sea.

Lighthouse Reef is barely populated, but not unvisited, for it is home to
some rare wildlife, and its waters hold the Blue Hole, one of the natural
wonders of Belize.

Half Moon Caye Natural Monument, near the southern end of the 30-mile-
long, 8-mile-wide lagoon, was Belize's first national park, a bird
sanctuary for the nearly extinct red- footed booby. White boobies
predominate on Half Moon Caye. Elsewhere, most adult boobies are brown.
Other species that make their home on the sandy caye include the
magnificent frigate bird, ospreys, mangrove warblers, and white-crowned
pigeons, as well as nearly a hundred others. Iguanas also live here, and
hawksbill and loggerhead turtles lay their eggs on the beaches. Vegetation
is sparse, mostly coconut palms, along with a few ziricote and wild fig
trees. The waters off Half Moon Caye are said to be among the clearest in
Belize, with visibility of 200 feet. The solar-powered lighthouse on the
island, and the one on Sandbore Caye, to the north, give the reef its name.

Camping is permitted on Half Moon Caye. Visitors should check in first at
the Audubon Society in Belize City. The Half Moon Caye drop off is rated
unbeatable by many divers, plunging from a coral ridge 25 feet under the
surface down, down, down, several thousand feet, broken by caves and
canyons, bridges and tunnels.

More than 400 feet across, the Blue Hole is a shaft that drops from the
ten-foot-deep lagoon, and opens into a series of elaborate, stalactite-
filled caverns, starting at a depth of about 90 feet, and continuing down to
400 feet. The caves were formed in another geological age by underground
rivers.In a more recent time, the ocean crashed through the ceiling of the
cavern, creating the Blue Hole. Locals say it is the lair of a sea monster.
Tilting stalactites indicate that earthquakes have shifted the formation
from its original alignment.

The tunnels and chambers of the Blue Hole system were explored
intensively by Jacques Cousteau in the early 1970s, and may be visited by
divers based on larger chartered boats, which usually anchor at Lighthouse
Reef. Long day excursions are available from most of the cayes, and
shorter excursions from the Turneffe Islands. Fish species are not
especially plentiful in the Hole, but for divers, it's a seemingly
bottomless wall.

From the air, the Blue Hole is recognized by a change in the color of
waters, from the light blue of the open sea to the darker blue of the
Lighthouse Reef Lagoon to the deep blue of the shadowy Blue Hole.

Out Island Divers, at San Pedro on Ambergris Caye (tel. 26- 2151), offers
a one-day excursion to Lighthouse Reef, with a brief dive into the Blue
Hole, followed by two wall dives and a visit to the Booby Bird Sanctuary.
Indigo Belize in San Pedro (tel. 26-2130) operates overnight diving trips
to the reef on the M/V Manta IV, including five dives.

Lighthouse Reef Resort, tel. [phone] cabins. $1100 weekly;
$1200 weekly with diving; $1500 weekly with fishing, meals and
transport included.

Convenient to the Blue Hole, this resort is a luxury getaway even without
the diving. Guest rooms are air- conditioned, and there is lots of lonely
beach. Unlike most offshore lodges, Lighthouse Reef Resort has an
airstrip, and divers on week-long packages get out here in less than a
half-hour from Belize City.

(9)  SOUTH WATER CAYE

South Water Caye is a 12-acre island east of Dangriga, with just one real
hotel, and assorted cottages and rooms for rent.

Blue Marlin Lodge, P.O. Box 21, Dangriga, tel. 52-2243 (radio patch), fax
52-2296, 800-798-1558 in U.S. 14 rooms. $110 single/$175 double with
meals, plus $125 round-trip for boat transfer, or $1,195 per person for a
one-week diving package, including meals and two daily boat dives
(Saturday arrival). Fishing, $1,650 per week, non-divers, $975 per week.
Surcharge for credit cards, travelers checks.

Blue Marlin is a private island getaway that has been expanded to take a
few guests. Diving is the main activity here. Introductory and
certification courses are available. The diving package includes day trips
to outlying sites, such as the Blue Hole and Glover's Reef. Videos are taken
on request. And, as you might guess from the name, marlin fishing is
excellent (from March through May), though only limited fishing equipment
can be provided. All rooms have attached bath, hot shower, and fans. The
lodge dining pavilion hangs out right over the water. Additional
amusements include billiards, wind-surfing, volleyball and horseshoes,
and inland trips to the jaguar reserve and along a river. In Dangriga, ask at
the Riverside Hotel for information about shorter stays.

Pelican Beach Resort on the mainland in Dangriga (P. O. Box 14, tel. 52-
2044, fax 52-2570) has two wooden vacation houses on stilts available
for rent on the caye at about $100 per day. Each sleeps six, and includes
linens and cooking facilities.

Meals can be arranged for an additional $30 per person. At Pelican Inn on
the western side of the island, five bedrooms of assorted sizes, each with
toilet and shower, are available at $55 per person daily with three meals.

(10)  TOBACCO CAYE

Southeast of Dangriga, Tobacco Caye, consisting of a few acres of sand
and coconut palms, is developing as an informal resort island. You can do
nothing here without a guilty conscience, or enjoy snorkeling--the reef is
within wading distance--or pitch in with lobstering and fishing. Tobacco
Caye is in the process of opening up, like Caye Caulker several years ago.
Costs are moderate, but for the trip out, which can run as much as $125
for a charter from Dangriga or Placencia if you can't find space on a boat
that's already going. Campsites with cooking facilities and modest rental
cabins are available. Meals can be taken in private homes.

Reef's End (P. O. Box 10, Dangriga), one of the better accommodations, is a
row of four rooms, each with private bath, going for $40 single/$65
double, and there are two cabanas, each with two double beds, at a higher
rate. The eatery-bar is positioned over the water. Call 52-2171 in
Dangriga to reserve and arrange transport.

Mr. Elwood Fairweather is a boat owner who can arrange stays on the
island. He runs regular trips from Dangriga on Tuesdays and Fridays for
about $15 each way, and has rooms with meals for about $25 per person,
as well as camping. Ask for Mr. Fairweather (and inquire about new
facilities) at the Rio Mar Inn in Dangriga.

How to Get to Tobacco Cay   To make it in one day to Tobacco Caye from
Belize City, take the 10 a.m. Z-Line bus to Dangriga. There are usually
several boat owners waiting at Riverside where the bus terminates, and
they will organize transport out for about $15 per person. Otherwise, call
52-2171 in Dangriga (the number for Reef's End) to hook up with a
scheduled departure, or hire a boat at Riverside for a special run.

(11) WIPPARI CAYE

Just eight nautical miles due east of Placencia, Wippari Caye Lodge has
four cabanas going for about $20 double, or $50 with food. For that price
you get limited facilities and great snorkeling. Scuba diving is not
available. Call 06-23130 for information, or ask around in Placencia for
George Cabral or David Dial.

(12)  GLOVER'S REEF

Seventy miles southeast of Belize City, Glover's Reef National Park is a
circular stretch of coral surrounding a lagoon, virtually duplicating a
Pacific atoll. The cayes on the southeast side of the reef were in earlier
times the base of the pirate John Glover. There are no permanent
inhabitants at the reef, though it is visited from time to time by
commercial fishermen. Pieces of old pottery indicate that the Maya of
Belize frequented the reef in pre-Columbian times.

Manta Reef Resort, Southwest Caye   U.S. reservations: 14423 S.W. 113
Terrace, Miami, FL 33186, tel. [phone], fax [phone]
cabanas. About $1,200 per person weekly, including meals, diving, and
transport out by boat, $1,500 fishing, $1,000 for R&R.

Manta Reef gives immediate access to little-explored dive sites:
Spaghetti Western, Barrel Head and Hot Fish Hollow, among others. Whale
sharks are common sights, along with the manta rays that lend their name
to the establishment. Divers of all skill levels are welcome, and everyone
begins with a check-out dive, followed by an optional review course. Two
daily boat dives and two night dives per week are included in packages,
along with beach dives. Bonefishing is available right at the resort, or
from skiffs in the flats of Glover's Reef Atoll. Accommodations are in
panelled cabanas with wicker furnishings, more attractive than usually
found offshore, and an air- conditioned house is available. Food is ample.
Add about $500 single occupancy, children under 12 half price.

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

[BOX]

Fishing seasons at Manta Reef Bonefish and permit:  All year Tarpon:
March through June, November Grouper:  December and January Billfish:
March through May Barracuda, snapper, jack, wahoo, mackerel, bonito, tuna:
All year

-----------------------------------------[END BOX]

Glover's Atoll "Resort" and Biological Field Station is an isolated yet
accessible colony of seven rustic cabins on 15- acre coconut-covered Long
Caye, directly on the reef, and nearby North East Caye. The Lomont family,
who have run things here for years, offer a Sunday trip out to Glover's
Reef at 8 a.m. from Sittee River, where they also have a modest guest
house (arrive by the 8 a.m. Saturday Z-Line Punta Gorda bus from Belize
City, connecting with truck at Sittee River junction, or taxi). The price is
right: less than $100 per person for a week, under $150 for two weeks,
including the boat ride (three to six hours, returning Saturday). And--get
this--you pay only half as much to camp.

Nobody tends to your every wish here, and some aspects are rather basic.
But you get cooking facilities (bring, buy or catch the food, or take  meals
with the caretaker), well water, porch, hammock, lanterns, outhouse, and
gravity shower, and can rent boats and canoes. Bring your own towels.

For divers, limited snorkeling and diving gear is available, along with a
compressor. You can wade out to the drop off, or rent a diesel boat for a
longer run. Bring equipment to fish for tarpon, snapper, jacks, bonefish and
barracuda.

Out at Glover's Reef, rentals and services are usually on a cash basis, to
minimize overhead, though Master Card and Visa can be accepted with
advance approval (a 10 percent surcharge will be applied). Sample charges:
$50 for half- day sailboat charter, $5 daily dugout rental, $12 for an air
tank plus equipment rental for a dive from shore. Scuba instruction and
certification are available.

North East Cay, across a channel from Long Cay, with three of the cabins,
is a reserve, and use of motorboats, and certain guest activities, are
limited, to avoid disturbing nesting turtles and other species.

If your needs are modest, call Glover's Atoll at 52-3048, fax 52-3505 to
see if there's room. To charter a boat out and arrange a taxi, try calling Mr.
Tino Tzul in Dangriga at 52-2438. For a radio patch to the island, call 92-
3310. For firm reservations send $50 by cashier's check to Gilbert Lomont,
Box 563, Belize City. Closed September through November.

(13)  LAUGHING BIRD CAYE

Laughing Bird is a faro, an atoll-like island rising steeply from the sea
floor and enclosing a central lagoon, and so unusual in Belize that it is a
protected area. Located about 20 miles east-southeast of Placencia, the
island is home to the laughing gull, as well as pelicans, green
herons,swifts, and melodious blackbirds.


(14)  RANGUANA CAYE

Cabanas with cooking facilities and shared bathrooms are available at
Ranguana Reef Resort, for $25 single/$35 double, plus $75 for the trip out.
Bring your own groceries, scuba and fishing gear. To make arrangements,
contact Eddie Leslie at Ranguana Lodge in Placencia, tel. and manual fax
06-23112.


Paul Glassman, widely recognized as a pioneer of travel journalism in
Central America, is author of Belize Guide, Costa Rica Guide, and
Guatemala Guide.   He is co-author of Honduras & Bay Islands Guide.

Belize Guide, from which this article is excerpted and adapted, with
permission, is $13.95  plus $3 shipping first book, $1 each additional book,
from Passport Press, Box 1346, Champlain, NY 12919.   The other
Glassman guides to Central America also are available from Passport
Press.





###############################################


CAYE CAULKER:

THE LATEST ON WHERE TO STAY AND EAT,

WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO GET THERE

By TOM BROSNAHAN

Belize's barrier reef, the longest in the Western Hemisphere, is the
eastern edge of the limestone shelf which underlies most of  Belize and
the Yucatan. To the west of the reef the water is very shallow -- usually
not much more than four or five yards deep -- which allows numerous
islands called cayes  (pronounced "keys") to bask in warm waters.

Of the scores of cayes, large and small, which dot the blue waters of the
Caribbean off the Belizean coast, the two most popular with travelers are
Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye. Caulker is commonly thought of as the
low-budget island, where hotels and restaurants are considerably less
expensive than on resort-conscious Ambergris.

Both islands have an appealing laid-back Belizean atmosphere. No one is in
a hurry here. Stress doesn't figure in the lives of many islanders.
Pedestrian traffic on the sandy unpaved streets moves at an easy tropical
pace. The fastest vehicle is a kid on a bicycle. Motor vehicles are few and
mostly parked.

Island residents include Creoles, mestizos, and a few transplanted North
Americans and Europeans. They run lobster and conch-fishing boats, hotels
and pensions, little eateries and a few island businesses which supply the
few things necessary in a benevolent tropical climate.

Arrival

Approaching Caye Caulker (population 800) on the boat from Belize City,
you glide along the eastern shore which is overhung with palm trees.
Dozens of wooden docks jut out from the shore to give moorings to boats.
Off to the east, a little over a mile away, the barrier reef is marked by a
thin white line of surf.

Caye Caulker (called Hicaco in Spanish, sometimes Corker in English) lies
about 20 miles north of Belize City and 14 miles south of Ambergris Caye.
The island is about four miles long north to south, and only about 650
yards wide at its widest point. Mangroves cover much of the shore,
coconut palms provide shade. The village is on the southern portion of the
island. Actually Caulker is now two islands, ever since Hurricane Hattie
cut the island in two just north of the village. The cut is called, simply,
The Cut or the Split. It has a tiny beach, swift currents running through it,
and it marks the northern limits of the settlement.

You disembark and wander ashore to find a place of sandy unpaved
"streets" which are actually more like paths. The government has carefully
placed "Go Slow" and "Stop" signs at the appropriate places, even though
there are no vehicles in sight and everyone on Caulker naturally goes slow
and stops frequently. The stops are often to get a beer -- most right hands
on this island spend much of the day wrapped around a cold one. Virtually
constant sea breezes keep the island comfortable even in Belize's sultry
heat. If the wind dies, the heat immediately becomes noticeable, as do the
sand flies and mosquitoes. Many gardens and paths on the island have
borders of conch shells, and every house has its "catchment," or large
cistern to catch rainwater for drinking. Lobster traps are piled
everywhere from mid-March to mid-July when it's illegal to catch the
beasts. By late July the piles of traps disappear back into the shallow
waters surrounding the island.

Orientation

The village has two principal streets, Front Street to the east and Back
Street to the west. The distance from The Cut in the north to Shirley's
Guest House at the southern edge of the village is a little more than half a
mile.

Getting Around

Caulker is so small that most people walk everywhere. There are a few
bicycles, and locals with things to carry use electric golf carts. Besides,
this is an island. All serious transport is done by boat.

The Belize Telecommunications telephone office is open from 8 a.m. to
noon and 1 to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, closed
Sunday.

Water Sports

The surf breaks on the barrier reef, easily visible from the eastern shore
of Caye Caulker. Don't attempt to swim out to it, however. The local
boaters speed their powerful craft through these waters and are
completely heedless of swimmers. Several foreign visitors have died from
boat propeller injuries. Swim only in protected areas. A short boat ride
takes you out to the reef to enjoy some of the world's most exciting
snorkeling, diving and fishing. Boat trips are big business on the island, so
you have many to choose from. Ask other visitors to the island about their
boating experiences, and use this information to choose a boat. Virtually
all of the island residents are trustworthy boaters, but it's still good to
discuss price, duration, areas to be visited, and the seaworthiness of the
boat. Boat and motor should be in good condition. Even sailboats should
have motors in case of emergency (the weather can change quickly here).
The cost is usually around US$10 to US$13 per person; sometimes lunch is
included.

Underwater visibility is up to 60 yards.  The variety of underwater plants,
coral and tropical fish is wonderful. Be careful not to touch the coral, both
to prevent damage to it and to yourself; coral is sharp, and some species
sting or burn their assailants.

Among the more interesting places to dive is in the underwater caves off
the western shore of the island. The cave system here is elaborate and
fascinating, but cave- diving is a special art. You should not go down
without an experienced guide and the proper equipment (strong lights,
etc.). The dive shops on the island can tell you what -- and what not -- to
do.

Dive trips to the Blue Hole can be arranged through any of several dive
shops or travel agencies, including Dolphin Bay Travel and Belize Diving
Service (tel. 22- 2143,  fax 2217). A one-day trip including three dives
costs from US$150 to US$168 per person, gear included. A three-day trip
with meals and accommodation costs from US$290 to US$308.

Beach-goers will find the water warm, clear and blue, but they won't find
much in the way of beach. Though there's lots of sand, it doesn't seem to
arrange itself in nice long, wide stretches along the shore. Most of your
sunbathing will be on docks or in deck chairs at your hotel. Caulker's
public beach, at The Cut to the north of the village, is tiny and crowded,
and nothing special.

Places to Stay

(Note:  Numbers in bold to the left of hotel or restaurant name are keyed to
the Caulker map (in the regular edition only).  When calling from outside
Belize, telephone and fax numbers shown should be prefixed by the country
code, 501.  From the U.S., dial 011-501 plus the number shown.  Calls from
within Belize should be prefixed with a 0.)

Among the comforts you pay for on Caulker are shade and pretty grounds.

Cheap, No Shade or Grounds

(1)  Lena's Hotel (tel. 22-2106) has 11 rooms in an old building right on
the water, with no grounds to speak of. Rates are fairly good for what you
get: US$12 a double in the busy winter season.

(2)  Daisy's Hotel (tel. 22-2123) has 11 rooms in several blue-and-white
buildings which get full sun most of the day. Rooms with table or floor
fans, sharing common baths, cost US$11 a double; with private shower the
rate is US$18.

(3)  Hideaway Hotel (tel. 2-2103), behind the Asambleas de Dios Church, is
a hot two-story cement-block building with six bare rooms on the ground
floor; all have table fans (ceiling fans are preferable). No beach, no shade,
no grounds, and the church rocks with up-tempo hymns some nights, but
prices are fairly good at US$11 a double in summer, US$13 a double in
winter.

(4)  Hotel Edith's is tidy and proper, with tiny rooms, each of which has a
private shower, priced at US$15 a single, US$18 a double (one bed) or
US$22 a double (two beds).

(5)  Hotel Miramar (tel. 22-2157) has rooms on two floors in a building
facing the sea. Rooms with private bath cost US$22.50.

(6)  Castaways (tel. 22-2294) has six rooms that are quite clean, and cost
a reasonable US$13 a double. There's a restaurant and bar as well.

(7)  Sylvano and Kathy Canto's Island Sun Guest House (tel. 22-2215) has
only two rooms, but both have fans and private baths, and cost US$30 or
US$40 a double. It's neat, quiet, and near the beach.

Some Shade for Sitting

(8)  Martinez Caribbean Inn (tel. 22-2113) has taken over the old Reef
Hotel at the center of the village. The two- story wood-and-masonry
building has a porch for sitting, a bar nearby (it can be noisy, but doesn't
go late at night), and rooms with private showers. You pay US$20 a single,
US$25 a double for a good location.

(9)  Hotel Marin is not on the shore but it has some trees and gardens, and
porches off the bungalows for hanging hammocks. Prices are good: US$12 a
double with common bath in summer, US$18 in winter; with private
shower prices are US$22 in summer, US$28 in winter.

(10)  Tom's Hotel (tel. 22-2102) has nice, tidy, white buildings with 20
rooms priced at US$10 a single, US$12 a double with common bathrooms.

Nice Shady Grounds

(11)  Jimenez's Cabaûas (tel. 22-2175) has little thatched huts with walls
of sticks, each with a private shower. The place is quaint, quiet, relaxing,
atmospheric, family-run, and constitutes very good value at US$18 to
US$25 a double, US$28 a triple, US$33 for four.

(12)  Tropical Paradise Hotel (tel. 22-2124, fax 2225) pretty much lives
up to its name. Choose from six tidy paneled rooms in a long wooden
building for US$25/28 a single/double with private shower and ceiling
fans; or an equal number of individual yellow cabins with ceiling fans and
private baths (some with tubs) for US$33/38. There's a nice modern
restaurant and bar, and a big dock for boats or sunning. Owner Ramùn
Reyes keeps everything in good shape.

(13)  Shirley's Guest House (tel. 22-2145,  fax 2264), along the south-
eastern shore, has nice bungalows with four rooms (two upstairs, two
down) boasting mahogany floors, good cross-ventilation and fans. Each
pair of rooms shares a bath. Rates are US$33 a single, US$36 to US$44 a
double.

(14)  The Anchorage rents its four thatched, whitewashed bungalows in
winter for US$33 a double, about half-price in summer. Each bungalow has
a cold-water shower -- but how cold is the water here? Its location at
the southern end of town is quiet.

(15)  Sea Beezzz Guest House (tel. 22-2176) is a solid, two-story house on
the shore with a nice patio garden in front. Safe, secure, comfortable,
with hot water in the private showers and a dining room service for all
three meals, its only disadvantage is that it closes down for the summer.
Rates are US$35 to US$50 per room.

(16)  Rainbow Hotel (tel. 22-2123; fax 2172), just north of the boat docks
on the way to The Cut, is a two-story concrete building with plain but
clean rooms going for US$32 (ground floor) or US$36 (upper floor) a double
with clean tiled private shower, fan, and a window facing eastwards out
to sea.

(17)  Vega Inn (tel. 22-2142, fax in Belize City 23-1580), owned by the
congenial Vega family --Antonio ("Tony"), Lydia and Maria -- has several
tidy waterless rooms upstairs in a wooden house, with clean showers
down the hall; these go for US$20/24 a single/double. Other much bigger
rooms with private showers are in a concrete building and cost US$45/55.
All rooms have wall fans; there's some shady space in front of the house
for sitting. An adjoining shady camping area is just the place to pitch your
tent, for US$6 per person. The Vegas rent snorkeling equipment, little
sailboats (Sunfish), and can sign you up for snorkeling or sport-fishing
trips. For reservations, write to them at P.O. Box 701, Belize City.

House Rentals:  Heredia's House Rental (tel. 22-2132) can arrange room or
house rentals for two days or more. call or write to P.O. Box 1018, Belize
City.

Places to Eat

Though they serve such "luxury" items as lobster and conch, there are no
fancy restaurants on Caulker. Even so, prices are not dirt cheap because
much must be brought from the mainland. As for lobster, do your part to
avoid illegal fishing: don't order lobster off-season (mid-March to mid-
July), and complain if they serve you a "short" (a lobster below the legal
size for harvest).

The island's simple eateries are supplemented by little shops selling
sandwiches, snacks and baked goods. (18)  Sobre las Olas, north of the
center on the water, is a simple, tidy open-air place with a wooden dock,
bar and umbrella-topped tables, as well as an indoor dining room across
the road. Standard Belizean fare is served from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day
but Monday. Expect to pay US$5 to US$8 for a full meal. Just to the north,
the (19)  Sand Box is similar, with tasty food and decent prices.

(20)   Fisherman's Wharf Restaurant also has shady tables out by the
water, and a "breakfast nook" upstairs. Prices are low: burgers (including a
fishburger) for US$2, Belikin beer for US$1.50. This is a popular place.

(8)  Martinez Caribbean Inn features lots of sandwiches, burgers and
antojitos (garnaches, tacos, panuchos, etc.) as well as rice and beans with
chicken or lobster. For breakfast, coffee and a fruit plate costs less than
US$4. Lunch or dinner can cost US$3.50 to US$8. They concoct a tasty rum
punch that's sold by the bottle or the glass. (21)  Marin's Restaurant, a
block west of the Tropical Paradise, serves up fresh seafood in its outdoor
garden and mosquito-proof screened dining room. Try the  whole grilled
catch-of-the-day for about US$5.

Nearby is the  (22)  I & I Restaurant upstairs in a frame building with a
dining deck overlooking the street. The reggae, playing constantly, sets
the proper island mood. The food is a bit fancier than normal, and
moderate in price.

The restaurant at the  (12)  Tropical Paradise Hotel is busy all day
because it serves the island's most consistently good food in big portions
at decent prices. In the light, cheerful dining room, breakfast is served
from 8 am to noon, lunch from 11.30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and dinner from 6 to 10
p.m. You can order curried shrimp or lobster for US$10, many other things
for less.

Entertainment

After one evening on the island, you'll know what there is to do in the
evening. The Reef Bar, by the Reef Hotel, has a sand floor and tables
holding clusters of bottles (mostly beer) as semi-permanent centerpieces.
This is the gathering, sipping and talking place for the locals.

Getting There & Away

Although there is now a landing strip at Caulker, with commuter service
by Tropic Air (tel. 24-5671) and Island Air (tel. 26-2435) from Belize
City's international and municipal airports,  many travelers still arrive by
boat. Fast motor launches zoom between Belize City and Caye Caulker
frequently every day.

Preparations:  This boat trip is usually fast, windy and bumpy; it is not
particularly comfortable. You will be in an open boat with no shade for at
least 45 minutes, so provide yourself with sunscreen, a hat and/or
clothing to protect yourself from the sun and sea spray.

If you sit in the bow there's less spray, but you bang down harder when you
come over a wave. Sitting in the stern gives a smoother ride, but you may
get dampened by spray. Choosing a Boat:  Launches tie up by the service
station on North Front Street in Belize City, two blocks north-west of the
Swing Bridge. Most boats leave Belize City between 8 and 10 a.m., and stop
at Caye Chapel on the way to Caye Caulker; a few go on to San Pedro on
Ambergris Caye. After 10 a.m., outbound boats are more difficult to find.
It is preferable to take a morning boat, as these are the ones in better
condition. The few boats which wait around for passengers in the
afternoon are usually in worse condition.

 I have heard from several readers who have left on afternoon boats and
have been stranded on sand bars or in open water as night fell, after
inexperienced captains lost their way or unseaworthy boats lost power.

As you walk toward the boats, hawkers will approach to lead you to this
or that boat, swearing that it is leaving right away, and that it's the
fastest. Don't listen to them. Look the boats over and choose only a strong,
seaworthy boat in good condition with a big motor (preferably two). I
always look for one with a two-way radio as well. This may be important
as these boats carry neither emergency equipment nor life jackets. The
best boats may charge a bit more, but it's worth it for the peace of mind.
Above all, refuse to sail in an overloaded craft.

The fare for the voyage to Caye Caulker is usually US$8 to US$10 one way,
but may be a bit higher depending upon the craft, the season, the number of
people, or any of a dozen other factors. The trip against the wind takes
from 40 minutes to one hour, depending upon the speed of the boat. Ask the
price before you board the boat, and don't pay until you're safely off the
boat at your destination; legitimate boat owners won't ask you to pay
before then. Across Haulover Creek,  just west of the Swing Bridge on
Regent Street West, is the dock for the Thunderbolt Express and Libra
Express boats (tel. in San Pedro 26-2217, 2159) which make the run
between San Pedro on Ambergris Caye and Belize City, stopping at Caye
Caulker and Caye Chapel along the way. Thunderbolt leaves San Pedro each
morning at 7 a.m., reaches Belize City by 9 a.m., and departs from Belize
City for the voyage back to San Pedro at 4 p.m. (1 p.m. on Saturday). Libra
leaves San Pedro at 7.30 a.m. and returns from Belize City at 1 p.m. Fares
are US$9.50 from Belize City to Caye Caulker, US$14 to San Pedro. In San
Pedro, the Express ticket office is on Almond Street. Triple J ties up right
at the north-eastern end of the Swing Bridge. It departs Belize City at 9
a.m. for the trip to San Pedro (Ambergris), and departs San Pedro for
Belize City at 3 p.m.

Andrea I  and Andrea II  (tel. 27-4988) departs from Belize City from
Southern Foreshore by the Bellevue Hotel for San Pedro, Ambergris Caye
(tel. 26-2578), Monday to Friday at 4 p.m.(1 p.m. on Saturday, no boat on
Sunday); the return trip to Belize City leaves San Pedro at 7 a.m. Fare is
US$14 one way, US$20 round trip, and the voyage takes 1-1/4 to 1-1/2
hours.

^^^ Excerpted and adapted, with permission, from Guatemala, Belize &
Yucatçn: La Ruta Maya (2nd edition) by Tom Brosnahan, published in
October 1994 by Lonely Planet;  copyright ⌐ 1994 by Lonely Planet
Publications. Tom Brosnahan is the author of more than two dozen travel
guides including, besides  La Ruta Maya,  the Belize section of Lonely
Planet's Central America and the Lonely Planet guide to Turkey.




#################################################

HONDURAS'

UTILA ISLAND:   BARE BONES PARADISE

By JANE PRENDERGAST  The nine-passenger antique airplane rose
hesitantly above La Ceiba, Honduras,  to begin what may be, at $9,  the
cheapest flight in the world. Nine minutes later it landed gently at the
beachfront airport of Utila Island, my home for the next six weeks.

The Bay Islands of Honduras ╤ Utila, Guanaja and Roatçn ╤ are only a few
miles from each other.  The big jets from Miami stop at Roatçn,  which is
already a well-developed diving and resort destination.   Utila and
Guanaja, however, are accessible only by the small planes flown by Sosa
and Isleûa from La Ceiba or Tegucigalpa; or else by freight boat, water
taxi and dugout canoe.  This has put an effective limit on the number of
tourists.  Not everyone can afford to be marooned for a day or two by
storms that can ground the planes and keep the boats tied in the harbor.  A
truck that serves as a taxi for luggage-laden passengers is available for
the ride into town, less than a quarter mile away.  It╒s best to walk.  If
you╒re shopping for a dive school, you will find the first of eight only a
few steps from the runway.  Most people come here to dive.  PADI
certification is offered at all schools in levels ranging from Open Water
through Divemaster.  Prices are probably the lowest in the hemisphere.
Open Water, for example, costs $139, and this includes four ╥fun╙ dives ╤
non-instructional plunges along the reef taken just to see the enormous
vase sponges, the flourishing corals and the jewel-colored fish.

Also included at many schools is four nights╒ accommodation.  Some offer
specialities in underwater biology or photography.  Tuition at one school
includes a video tape of your dive.  Recommended are Cross Creek, Sea Eye,
Utila Watersports, Utila Dive Center, Gunther╒s and Underwater Vision.
All schools are within a 15-minute walk, so it is possible to shop in
person for the one that best fits your own needs and interests.

If you aren╒t diving, or don╒t wish to stay at the school, lodging is
available in Utila Town on every level from the posh Utila Lodge ($50 per
night), to the spare room at Norma and Will╒s on Blueberry Hill ($2).
Beware of roosters.  Island boys raise game cocks to fight at a festival
held each September, and the crowing begins well before dawn.  My
favorite hotel was the Blue Bayou, a 20- minute walk from town along
Sandy Beach.  The rooms are basic, as is the plumbing, but you might
choose to sleep in hammocks on the porch or under the coconut palms at
the water╒s edge.  Dugout canoes can be rented here for paddling along the
shore or down the island waterways.  In town, the Bayview Inn and Trudy╒s
are very popular.     Most of the island╒s beaches are narrow enough to
dictate the direction of your beach towel, but since 90 percent of Utila
Island is uninhabited your towel will probably be the only one on the sand.
Snorkeling is excellent from Pumpkin Hill Beach and along the Airport
Reef.   Besides diving, snorkeling and tanning, Utila offers good bird
watching.  There are no poisonous snakes on the island, so it is perfectly
safe to set off on the trails that cross the island through the thick
tropical forest.  You will see enormous ceiba trees with air roots like
flying buttresses, parrots, egrets and herons or many varieties, pelicans
and sandpipers.  Lizards of all sizes and colors scamper everywhere.  My
favorite was an iridescent blue and green.   You can make an excursion to
the island╒s caves, off the Pumpkin Hill Road.   They have explorable
passage and the usual stories of hidden treasure.       Many commercial
fishermen from Alaska and British Columbia come to Utila in order to
charter a boat and fish, what else?  They catch snook, giant barracuda (up
to 100 pounds), and nurse shark.  Boats and water taxis can also be hired
for trips to the Cays, little islands off the island with pretty beaches and
hammock camping.

You can eat Honduran street food:  tamales, burros, or pasteles de yuca for
a few cents per meal.  If you want to sit down and dine at a table, try one
of the restaurants in town.  They will cook you a dinner of lobster, shrimp,
or fish with fresh vegetables (when these are available on the island) for
three or four dollars.  One of the best is the Island Cafe, where dinner is
served on the balcony of an old Victorian house.  The Mermaid╒s Table
makes good pizza, spaghetti with meat or meatless sauces and vegetable
lasagna.   Residents and tourists party Friday and Saturday nights at the
island ╥nightclubs,╙ the Casino and Bucket of Blood.

Breakfast at the Seaside Inn on the west side of town near Gunther╒s Dive
School is a great start to a day of diving.  Less than two dollars provides a
generous combination of warm tortillas, coffee, eggs, cheese, refried
beans and sausage.   The divemasters gather at six for breakfast at the
Bakery, run by five generations of the Thompson family whose accents
range from British to Utilan.  The Thompsons also operate a lending library
of paperbacks at the Bakery, and show videos in the afternoons, a good
thing to know on rainy days.  Other activities at the bakery include
aerobics classes, bicycle rental, and arranging picnic trips to the Cays.
Honduras is not yet as clean as Costa Rica.  There is a fair amount of
garbage littering the streets of town, otherwise charming with ornate
woodwork in pastel colors.  There is a problem with sand-flies, especially
during the rainy season in late fall.  If you go,  bring repellent and no-see-
um netting.

Despite those two negatives, the Bat Islands and the port city of La Ceiba
have become the focus of a small-scale feeding frenzy by American and
Canadian investors who hope to duplicate the success of Costa Rican
ventures.  The paperwork can be formidable.  One developer is planning a
tract of 50 houses on the mainland beach, aimed at the American
retirement market. He told me he had more than 40 trips from California
to Honduras before getting all of the green lights he needed.  Land and
labor  prices are rock- bottom, however, and he anticipates a profit worth
the wait. Whether as investment or vacation, Utila Island has much to
offer the adventurous.

^^^ Jane Prendergast is a free-lance writer who lives in New Jersey.


----UTILA PRACTICALITIES

Geography:  Utila is a little over 8 miles long and 3 miles wide, a low-
lying atoll with a mangrove swamp in the middle Population:  1,500,
mostly fair-skinned islanders originally from the Cayman Islands

Language:  English, with a Bay Island twist;  Spanish and Spanglish also
spoken

Weather:  Like paradise ╤ an average of about 81 degrees F. year-round,
with August being the hottest month and January the coolest.   About half
the annual rainfall comes in October, November and sometimes December;
the least rain is in March, April and May.  Cooling breezes off the water
are common (but when they go down, the no-see-ums come out.)

Getting There:  TACA now has most of defunct Sahsa╒s international
routes, including those to La Ceiba and Roatçn.   American and TACA fly to
Tegucigalpa, and Continental, American, LACSA, TACA, Aero Costa Rica
and other carriers go into San Pedro Sula.  Commuters Isleûa  and Sosa
connect with the Bay Islands.

Diving:  Cheapest diving in the Caribbean and Central America;  excellent
wall, wreck and shore diving; nearest decompression chamber is on
Roatçn;  water clarity is best from February to September;  water temps
are warm, from 80 to 84 degrees F.;  coral reefs are alive and well. For
More Information:  An excellent guide to Honduras is Honduras & Bay
Islands Guide, by Glassman, Panel and Hart.



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DELICIOUS MEXICO NEW CUISINES, OLD TASTES

Where Even the Corn Smut is Muy Bueno

By KIT SNEDAKER

Not so long ago the only place to get good Mexican food was in a Mexican
home in Mexico or a Mexican eatery in the states.  Restaurants in Mexico
served Continental stuff, beef Wellington,  or surf and turf, generic food.

Today Mexico has an established cuisine, indeed several of them.  Chefs in
big hotels and restaurants along the Caribbean Coast and all over the
country not only cook what was once street food -- tamales, tacos -- they
turn the spotlight on regional specialties as well.  It is these specialties
that subtly mark each of Mexico's different regions.  Habanero chilies, for
example, appear as you travel south.  Poblano and seranos are found mostly
in the north.

During a recent trip to Mexico City's Intercontinental Presidente Hotel,  I
tasted tiny tacos of shredded chicken and cheese and little potatoes
stuffed with chicken and topped with tomatoes and onions as hors
d'oeuvres.  From Pueblo, the chef told me. Huachinango (red snapper)
stuffed with mashed beans was sauced with huitlacoche or corn smut.
This fungus, a universal delicacy, is found from Mexico south into Middle
or Mesoamerica, wherever there's a cornfield.  Huitlacoche turns corn
kernels into large grayish green bubbles.   It may look and sound off-
putting, but in a sauce or soup, the fungus adds a deep, mushroom flavor
with just a hint of after-burn, exotic and delicious.

As I left Mexico City behind and headed south, the food began to change,
became more spicy.  Corn soon almost completely replaced wheat, and
epazote, which grows wild all over the United States, showed up in many
dishes. The filling for a Mexican sandwich or torta up north, beans,
tomato, avocado and onion (served up there on an unbuttered hard roll), is
tucked into a soft corn tortilla here. For Mexicans, this is where
Mesoamerica begins.

It is also the point where the habanero chile comes into its own. Called
Scotch bonnet in the Caribbean, this small, lantern-shaped chile is one of
the hottest.  Should you chew one by mistake, do not reach for water to
put out this fire. Instead, take a teaspoon of sugar and let it dissolve in
your mouth.  Bread will appease the burn, too, but much more slowly.  So
will rice and, some say, beer, but I can only testify to the sugar cure.

The beans mashed and stuffed into my huachinango in Mexico City were
pintos. Farther south they are black.  From here to Cuba black beans are
eaten alone or paired with white rice.  Flavorings make the difference.
Some cooks add garlic, others epazote, which has the sharp flavor of
cilantro.  Lobster is often seasoned with epazote, garlic and chilies.  In
the Yucatçn,  black beans are sieved and cooked in lard with onion, epazote
and a habanero chile, or done with mint, onion and the hot habanero.

Without these black beans, the national dish of Campeche, pan de cazon,
would not be authentic.  For this tortillas are layered with cazon, meat of
the dog shark cooked and shredded, and frijoles seasoned with epazote.

This is also the region of the tamalito or little tamale.  Filled with ground
pumpkin seeds and rolled in a chaya leaf (which tastes like spinach),
tamalitos are basted with a chiltomate sauce of tomatoes, garlic,
epazote, onion and habaneros as the tamales cook.

Black beans with pork, cerdo con frijoles or frijoles con puerco, is one of
those gaudy, composite regional dishes found from the Yucatçn all the way
down to Brazil. When it's all put together, the beans, meat and rice are
black, brightly garnished with chopped radishes, coriander leaves and
tomato sauce.  Lime wedges and avocado slices accompany each serving.
Pork for this dish means not only hocks and spareribs, but crunchy ears as
well.

In the north dishes are seasoned with one ingredient at a time.  In
southern Mexico, however, cooks regularly buy blocks of seasoning called
recados.  Much like the garam masalas of India, recados are ground herb
and spice mixtures, and are meant to be rubbed into meat before cooking.

Achiote, the most common Yucatçn recado, is ground red annatto seeds
mixed with other flavorings and shaped into bars.

Achiote recado seasons and colors the pit-roasted or pibil cooked meat,
usually pork. First the pork or chicken is rubbed with the recado and then
the meat is wrapped in banana leaves and buried in a pit which has been
heated with hot stones. If you think this sounds like an Hawaiian luau,
you're right. The difference is the seasoning.  Pibil cooking is spicy hot;
Hawaiian pit-cooking has a bad case of the blands.

Down south grilling has been a constant for thousands of years.  Mayas
cooked fish marinated with annatto seeds over an open fire.  Seasoned
with allspice, garlic, oregano, cumin, cloves and cinnamon, as tikin xic
pescado, the dish is still on menus today.

So is escabeche.  Once a Spanish marinade for fish, escabeche in southern
Mexico has become a side dish or topping for fish or in  used to pickle
vegetables or onions.  Fish done this way is grilled, the escabeche
assembled, cooked and served as a topping.  Vegetables or onions are
heated in escabeche to pickle them. Then they are stored in a cool place
for at least two hours before being served at room temperature.

Venison and wild turkey are both frequently pickled or served as
escabeche in the south.

Native to all regions throughout Mexico are two delicate desserts, flan and
rice pudding.  Flan is made with condensed milk or with both condensed
and evaporated milk.  Eggs and sugar are added and the whole thing is
poured into a mold that has been covered with sugar melted to a lovely
light brown.

Rice pudding is comfortingly familiar.  It's the kind mothers from India to
Indiana make with rice and a custard.  In Mexico the custard is canned
milk, but this only gives it a new twist.  Rice pudding and flan are the
comfort food of many countries from Scandinavia to Greece.

Comfort or peasant food is what Mexican cooking is all about.  Dishes in
the south, however, carry the strong implant of Maya heritage.  The
cooking of this region has Spanish-Indian-French grammar with a hot,
spicy Mexican vocabulary.  It's some of the best eating in the Western
Hemisphere.

^^^ Kit Snedaker, formerly the food/travel editor of the Los Angeles Herald
Examiner, now writes a weekly column, Healthy Gourmet, syndicated by
Copley News Service, which also syndicates many of her travel stories.




###################################################

NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN

JUNGLE HIDEAWAYS:

The Rain Forest on a Budget

By LIN SUTHERLAND

In the jungle, nature╒s dance of cooperation and competition is obvious
everywhere.  Keel-billed toucans drop crumbs of seedy breakfast from
high green their perches to the paca foraging the leafy floor below.  A
strangler fig attaches itself to a ceiba tree and thrives by stealing its
host╒s place in the sun.

You have to be patient and observant in the jungle.  You tease its secrets
out;  they don╒t leap at you.  One reason is that rain forest of the kind
Belize has -- subtropical broadleaf -- is 99.9 percent biomass.  It is
plants and plants and plants.  This makes the animals hard to see.

But it is worth it to be patient, to sit on the thatched porch of a jungle
lodge and take a quiet, measured look at the mottled foliage , to see
emerge an ocellated turkey, parading around in feathers of purple, blue and
gold, or one of the 11 species of hummingbirds hovering over crimson
hibiscus blossoms the size of dinner plates, or a tapir, the piggish
national animal of Belize, rooting and snorting amongst the vines and
shrubs.

There is no place better to do this than Belize, which has retained 80
percent of its rain forests (as compared with only 2 percent in similar-
sized El Salvador).  Rain forests have a richer animal and plant life than
any other type of forest and contain the planet╒s most complex eco-
system.  In Belize  you can look out your bedroom window at this eco-
system every morning of your trip.

The area of the best jungle lodges is in and near the western district
called Cayo.  Here the jungle stretches up to 2,600 feet to the Mountain
Pine Ridge.

Some of the new and lesser-known budget lodges in the foothills of these
mountains:

Caves Branch Adventure Camp   A jungle river camp with cabanas and
bunkhouse built at the edge of the Pine Ridge mountains.  It's on a private
estate and surrounded by waterfalls, tropical flora and fauna, and rain
forest with more than 160 species of orchids and bromeliads.

But the real attraction of Caves Branch is -- you guessed it -- the caves.
There are three underground river systems that allow guests to inner tube
through miles of river caves, floating past magnificent crystal
stalagmites sparkling like diamonds as they rise up from below the river╒s
surface.  Many of the caves explored still hold Mayan ceremonial sites,
artifacts, altars and wall carvings.  Ruins and burial mounds can also be
found on the grounds of the estate.  Wildlife and bird watching is
abundant, with early morning and evening sightings of spider monkey,
peccary, warrie, kinkajou, gibnut, agouti.  Four different blue holes for
swimming.

Cost:  Cabana, double, US$35 night.  Bunkhouse, US$10 night per person.
Tubing cave expedition is US$45 per person and US$95 (overnight on the
river).  Baboon jungle walk and river float tour, US$60.  All
accommodations are raised three feet off the ground, screened and
thatched in traditional Mayan style.

Rustic is the word here.  All bathing is done in the jungle river waters and
the only lighting is kerosene lamps (no electricity).  Meals are prepared
over open hearth by local village cooks who provide ethnic dishes.  Lunch
is US$7, dinner US$10.  Caves Branch is located 14 miles south of
Belmopan, the capital city, on the Hummingbird Highway.  Tel.  501-2-
33903, fax [phone].  Box 322, Belize City, Belize.

Five Blue Lakes National Park B & B Association  Committed to promoting
international exchange and eco-tourism, and owned and run by locals, Five
Blue Lakes is actually a cooperative of 20 village women,  from St.
Margaret╒s Village in the park,  each of whom set aside a guest dwelling in
or near their home.  The park, 4,200 acres of pristine rain forest, is so
named for its five deep blue lagoons (one 200-feet deep), used as  cenotes
(sacrificial wells) by the Mayans.  There are thousands of limestone caves,
with hiking, birding, and overnight jungle trips with certified guides.  As
an additional educational offering, Spanish classes are given for academic
credit.  Cost is US$5 night with very reasonably priced home-cooked
meals.  Located 45 miles south of Belmopan on the Hummingbird Highway.
Friends of Five Blues, Box 111, Belmopan, Belize.  Radio tel.  501-81-
2005.

Crystal Paradise Resort  Owned by Victor and Teresa Tut (local residents
of Belizean/Mayan heritage) and their 10 children, this thatched cabana
complex on the Macal River is a delight.  White marl cottages with
thatched roofs and a large open air dining room overlook the surrounding
jungle and gardens.  Mornings the mist rises over the river and
encompasses the cohune palms around the cottages.  Teresa╒s home
cooking is unsurpassed.  Son Jeronie Tut is a top guide for birding, jungle
river trips in their motorized dug-out (for giant iguana spotting),
horseback riding and nearby archeological sites and caves.  Cost:  Thatched
cabana: US$95 per day, double, including breakfast and dinner for two.
Room: US$75 per day, double, including two meals.  With private baths in
both.  All rooms have ceiling fans.  Tel.  [phone], fax [phone].

Parrot Nest Lodge   Two cabanas and two tree houses nestled in an setting
of native plants on the Mopan River near the Guatemalan border.  Unique
owner-built structures with thatched roofs that naturally blend into the
surroundings.  Very quiet; meals served on porch of owner Fred Prost╒s
house.  Meals are excellent with fresh vegetables.  Great for nature walks,
birding, swimming and river rafting.  Nearby Xunantunich is a Mayan site
well worth seeing.   Cost:  US$18 per night, double or single.  Shared baths.
Dinner, US$5.  Located 4 miles west of San Ignacio, the main town in Cayo.
Tel.  [phone].  Jungle Drift Lodge   Located in the Baboon Sanctuary
at Bermudian Landing, a small village that locally operates the sanctuary
(which is actually for black howler monkeys, but Belizeans call them
baboons).  Little screened cabins near the Belize River offer a place in the
sanctuary for you to explore and observe the noisy howlers, swim, canoe,
kayak, hike or go birding.  Good meals at reasonable rates.  Cost:  Cabins
with fans are US$20 double.  Tel:  [phone],  fax  [phone].

^^^ Lin Sutherland is a travel and outdoors writer who has been visiting
Belize for two decades.

 ##############################################

HOTEL UPDATE

The latest word, good and bad, on lodges, inns, hotels and resorts in
Belize, plus tidbits on related matters such as good guides and bad rip-
offs, from BELIZE FIRST readers and friends.  BELIZE FIRST will send a
pound of delicious, fresh-roasted Central American coffee  (roasted by
Mountain City Coffee in Asheville, N.C., a gourmet coffee roaster owned by
the brother of  the BELIZE FIRST publisher and editor)  to each reader
providing a hotel update.

@@Cayo District

I just returned from six great days in Belize. Flew TACA, and the food was
great. Stayed at Blancaneaux Lodge  (Mountain Pine Ridge, tel. or fax, 501-
92-3878), and loved every minute of it.  The food and staff were the best I
have ever experienced. When the staff asked me in the morning "How did
you sleep?" they really meant it.   Went to Caracol, Xunantunich,  Cahal
Pech, ate at Eva's, stopped to try to see the curando Panti (but only talked
to his grandson), took a boat ride on the Macal River, stopped by Ix Cheh
and did the Panti Trail, went horse back riding with Jim Bevis at M.E.T.,
went to Tikal, did the fabulous night club scene in San Ignacio (wanted to
experience Punta for myself) and was lucky enough to go to a wedding
reception in Christo Rey (small Maya village)!

The managers at Blancaneaux, Colin and Ann,  are some of the nicest, most
competent people I have had the pleasure to meet. The staff was friendly,
with just the right amount of formality, and couldn't do enough for me,
from the minute I arrived at the airport to the second I left. The managers
have put together a staff that represents the diversity of Belizean
cultures - Ramon and his brother Bernardo (part-Maya farmers), Francis
the bartender (Garifuna from Punta Gorda), Javier the driver (mestizo).
All lead me to love the blend of cultures that make up their country. It
was interesting to see that they all considered themselves to be Belizeans
first and still be proud of their individual heritage.

The Lodge property is like paradise, set among the pines, on the side of a
mountain. Paths lead through the exotic blend of plants (so many air plants
and orchids) to they creek below with a waterfall. Due to the schedule of
places I wanted to see, I had to wake early each morning. With my wake up
call, came a fresh pot of coffee, which I drank in the screened in porch at
the cabana, the birds making noise and flying close by. Food at Blancaneaux
was better than expected, most of the vegetables being grown on the
property.   All in all, the BEST vacation of my life.    George Rohrbach,
October 1994

Venus Hotel  (Burns Avenue, San Ignacio, tel.  [phone]):     We paid
US$20.00 double + 6% tax (with A/C, color cable TV, private bath).  Prices
25% higher November- March.  Up a steep flight of stairs above a store and
pharmacy are about 35 rooms with fans.  The rooms vary a lot in
amenities.  Ask to see a room first and then discuss the price.  Bob Jones
at Eva's  (down the street at 22 Burns Avenue) can get you a discounted
rate and better rooms than you might otherwise find.  The hotel caters to
tourists heading to or from the Cayo District and the Mayan ruins at Tikal.
Central downtown location within walking distance of restaurants,
stores, the central park, football stadium, Macal River, city hall and
library.

This hotel was the best lodging value we found in Belize.  Other
accommodations are either much more rustic or cost from US$50 to
US$150 per night.  The central location close to Eva's gave us easy access
to travel information and day trips. We appreciated the 24 hour friendly
desk clerk service and clean accommodations.  A balcony off of the lobby
lets you watch anything of interest in the street below.

Hot water is provided by an electric Italian-made hot water
heater/shower head which heats up the water as you use it.  Live
electrical wires are exposed directly above your head in some of the
showers presenting a hazard.   Chuck and Jeanne Thistlethwaite, October
1994

Maya Mountain Lodge (Cristo Rey Road, Cayo, tel.  [phone], fax 92-
2029) is truly a jungle lodge type of setting.  Bart Mickler is the co-owner
along with his wife Suzie.  They are Americans with Belizean citizenship.
The food is really top-notch.  You must tell them whether or not you will
be eating there so they can go get food just for those that are eating.
There is no A/C in the cottages or the Big House ( a large structure with
individual rooms and common bath and open air lounge area).  I would
recommend one of the cottages with porch and hammocks.  Very relaxing.
We had great weather, absolutely no rain.  It was a bit hot though,
reaching into the 90s.

A little-known Maya site, Che Chem Ha,  was disclosed to us by Bart.  The
cave is a ceremonial Mayan cave active from 1000 BC to 500 AD.  The
museum in Belmopan took seven pots from the cave to display.  There are
many, many pieces of Mayan Pottery in there and the cave is great, dry and
untouched.

To get there requires about a 45-minute drive out of San Ignacio toward
the hydroelectric dam they are building and then a mile or so on a road
requiring 4WD and then a hike up a steep mountain of about 2 miles.
Flashlights are required, or head lamps.   The trip is for those willing to
make the effort and those who have some agility.  Ask Bart at Maya
Mountain for more information.  Paul K., August 1994

Bull Frog Inn (25 Half Moon Avenue, tel. [phone], fax 82-3155):
Modern, classy hotel/restaurant complex,  25  rooms with A/C and cable
TV.  Caters (as do most hotels in Belmopan) to government and business
clients.  Compared to our normal selections, this place was quite  elegant;
it even had a bath!  Within easy (about 1/2 mile) walking distance to bus
terminal, post office, and government buildings.  Restaurant looked (we
did not have a meal there) first rate.  We would go back.   Mike Smith and
Dana von Bargen, December 1993

More on the Bull Frog Inn:   We liked the friendly,  efficient staff, clean
rooms, and good food in a relaxing atmosphere.  The dining area opens out
into a fenced courtyard with pretty landscaping.  We didn't like the
weekend noise.  We stayed on a Saturday night.  Belmopan is inhabited
mostly by government employees who labor weekdays and who really let
loose on Saturday nights.  The inn is located directly across the street
from Belmopan's most- popular nightclub.  Music, dancing and laughter can
be heard from the street side rooms.  Unfortunately, the weekend crowd
continues to party in the streets from closing time (3 a.m.) until almost
sun up (5 a.m.).  Bring earplugs or stay in a courtyard room.  Chuck and
Jeanne Thistlethwaite, October 1994

@@Belize City

Long a rest point for budget travelers beginning or ending an adventure in
Belize, the Seaside Guest House  (3 Prince Street, tel. [phone])  is a
rustic two-story wooden building with five rooms and a bunkhouse.  Fans
are provided, no A/C, no TV or radio.  Three rooms face the ocean and are
the most desirable because of  the ocean breezes.  US$10 bunkhouse,
US$20 double, US$30 triple plus tax.  By Belize City standards this hotel
is a good value in a (relatively) safe part town.  New owners have obtained
permits to serve meals and sell beer for on-site consumption, but none of
this was available when we visited.  Future plans are for remodeling and
expansion of the rooms.   The establishment now is run down and borders
on being unacceptable.  The rooms are quite small and the walls are
plywood partitions.    We would probably not go back to the Seaside Guest
House.  Chuck and Jeanne Thistlethwaite, October 1994


@@Caye Caulker

We just got back from three weeks on Caye Caulker.  The Castaways (tel.
501-22-2295) has no hot water,  bath down the hall and is US$11 a night,
but it's clean.  The restaurant downstairs has good food,  too.   The area at
"The Split" (or "The Cut") has been bought by some Americans.   They have
improved the dock and back-filled with clean sand, did a real good job.
There are cabins there, with A/C, hot and cold water,  private bath,  US$50
a night.  When the wind dies,  the sand flies are murder.    Harry Potter,
August 1994

@@Other Cayes

Blue Marlin (P.O. Box 21, Dangriga, tel. [phone] [radio patch], fax 52-
2296, 800-798-1558 in U.S.) is a small resort about 12 miles by water
from the town of Dangriga, which is about 80 miles south of Belize City.
The lodge as part of the package will fly a guest from Belize Airport to
Dangriga, and then transport them to South Water Caye by boat.  The resort
will hold at the maximum 30 guests, but I have never in six visits had
more than 12 divers.

The cost for a pair of divers for 8 days/7 nights is $1,195 each from Oct.
1 to May 31.  In the summer the rate is $995.  All the diving is from small
skiffs and is drift diving,  i.e., the boat follows the bubbles.  You do not
have to find an anchor or limit your diving to the fastest breather.  The
resort is right on the reef so the longest trip to a dive site is 10-15
minutes.  South Water caye is far enough south so there is no diving
pressure. The reef is part of a restricted area so the life is fantastic. You
name it and it is there.

The resort is owned by a third-generation family who used the island as a
family retreat until late in 1980s. There is no TV, no night life other than
a pool table and yakking with the guests and staff, and quaffing a few
beers.  The facilities are very clean, well-maintained and comfortable.
There is a small sandy beach about 400 yards from the resort. But you
cannot just step off into the water because you are indeed on the reef.  All
in all for the dedicated diver it is a great place.  For a non-diver that likes
to fish it is also great.  For a TV watcher it leaves something to be
desired (namely a TV).   Don Sutherland, October 1994 and previously

Glovers Reef Resort, Long Caye, Glovers Atoll.  (P.O. Box 563, Belize City,
tel.  [phone].)  Rates:  US$95/person/week (double occupancy) +
US$3.30 tax.  Two weeks US$150/person/week (double occupancy) + tax.
Camping US$70/person/week.

Did you ever dream of spending a week on a lush tropical 15-acre island in
the middle of the Caribbean surrounded by an 80-square mile pristine
coral reef?  Ever want to unwind with absolutely no pressure in an
environment full of  land, bird and aquatic life that makes you feel part of
a National Geographic documentary (and all for less than one hundred
bucks a person including transportation by boat)?   This is the place.  For
my wife and me,  this was the adventure of a lifetime.

The "resort" has eight rustic elevated cabaûas (beach cabins),  each with
two double beds, candles, hammocks and porch overlooking the Caribbean
Sea.  Each cabin sleeps from one to four people; linen, but not towels,
provided.  Cooking area with pots, pans, utensils and kerosene stove in
each cabin.  Outdoor shower and laundry area provided next to brackish
well.  Most cabaûas have private outhouses.  Cabin No. 4 has a bamboo
interior with decorations and an attached bath (sink, shower area and
toilet all in a six square foot area!) connected to a septic tank.  The trade-
off is that you get to haul sea water for the toilet from the Caribbean
which is literally at your feet.

No electricity, A/C, fans, running water, TV, radio or phones (emergencies
excepted), but that would defeat the purpose of going.

We loved the white sand beaches; snorkeling in a marine environment with
hundreds of species of tropical fish and colorful coral (great for
beginners); the tall palms, lush vegetation and wildlife; coconut husk
campfires and BBQ fish dinners under the stars.  Sunrise over the
Caribbean and sunsets behind the distant shores of Belize, Honduras and
Guatemala were better than any television show.  It is a great place to get
in tune with yourself, the environment and the friends/family who are
with you.  For me, it was the perfect antidote to an acute case of
civilization.  You could spend thousands of dollars more for a similar
experience, but why?

Keep in mind that the 40-mile trip to or from the island can be a rough
wet voyage in the small open boat with rough weather (it is a good idea to
pack important stuff in double zip-lock type bags).  Water from the
brackish well is non-potable (salt and microorganisms) and should be
treated with a capful of bleach per five gallon bucket (let sit 20 minutes)
before washing your body, hair, or cooking and eating utensils.  The
kerosene stoves may serve well for more than a billion Chinese, but I
found them difficult to use and potentially dangerous.

Long Caye is the largest of four unspoiled islands owned by the Lomont-
Cabral family (North Caye is separately rented or leased for part of the
year).  We shared the island with only one other couple, fished, snorkeled,
read and relaxed.  This would be a great place for a family if you can
overcome the obstacles of getting there.  Call at least a week in advance
to ensure a cabana and place on the boat over to the caye will be available
for you and your party.  The resort is also used as a biological field
station (and no wonder) for oceanographic and marine biology students
from all over.

Glovers Reef is a marine preserve so diving or spearfishing is prohibited.
Boats, windsurfing, snorkeling and fishing equipment rentals available.
NAUI/PADI diving certification course available, US$295/person.  Be
prepared to be self sufficient, although Gilbert and Marsha-Jo Lomont are
always available if the need arises.  Bring your own food (yes, almost
anyone can catch his or her dinner) from Belize City, Belmopan, Punta
Gorda or Dangriga.  In fact, it is a good idea to make a list of everything
you would want to bring if you were stranded on a tropic isle (you will be)
and make sure it fits in a backpack or duffel bag. Becky Cabral and her
husband can provide limited supplies, fresh vegetables and bread.  Drinking
water is imported to the island at US$1/gallon. You will need at least one
gallon/person/day.  Bring a hat and plenty of SPF 15+ sunscreen if you are
at all fair skinned.  Bring water socks or sandals as coral and sea shells
can cut up your feet.  Wear shoes at night as the island is home to large
land and hermit crabs.  Any cut or scrape should be promptly cleansed and
disinfected due to the humid tropical climate.    Chuck and Jeanne
Thistlethwaite, October 1994


Other Reports:

Nabitunich in the Cayo near San Ignacio is under new management, and
rates have been increased to US$95 a day including two meals.

Ignacio's Cottages on Caulker reportedly had some water problems this
summer.  As a result, at least one BELIZE FIRST reader moved to another
hotel.

Tamandua Jungle Experience is a new lodge near Five Blue Lakes.  Address:
P.O.  Box 306, Belmopan.

Captain Nicolas Sanchez of BLAST Tours (Belize Land Air Sea Tours) has
been recommended as a first-rate guide.  Contact him at 58 King Street,
Belize City Belize, tel./fax: [phone].   Another guide
recommended by Belize travelers is Maurice Bernard, who reportedly has
an excellent knowledge of flora and fauna as well as local and Mayan
history.  Contact Maurice Bernard, 7 1/2 Mile Western Hwy., Belize City,
Belize, tel.  [phone] or 011- 501-27-1696.




 ################################################

RECOMMENDED HOTELS

AND RESTAURANTS

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 complete, 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.

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

CAYO DISTRICT (600 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 (900 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:  (140 hotel rooms):  #Rum Point Inn, A;  #Kitty╒s Place, B;
#Turtle Inn, B;  Singing Sands, B; Ran╒s, C;  #Nautical Inn, B

COCKSCOMB NATURE RESERVE:  #Dormitory Cabins, C.

DANGRIGA:  Pelican Beach Resort, B.

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

NORTH OF BELIZE CITY:  #Maruba Resort, near Altun Ha, A;  #Chan Chich
Lodge, Chan Chich, A;  #Chau Hiix Lodge, Crooked Tree, A;  Crooked Tree
Resort, Crooked Tree, B;  #Lamanai Outpost, Lamanai, B;  Adventure Inn,
Consejo Shores, B;  Hotel Los Cocos, Chetumal, B;  Blue Heron Cove,
Sarteneja, C.

Restaurants

One doesn't come to Belize for gourmet dining, and prices are higher for
meals here than most other places in Central America, as Belize imports
much of its food.  The following restaurants offer good food and in many
cases in attractive settings.  Only those generally open to the public, and
not just to lodge or resort guests, are included.  Note that a good cook can
move on without notice, so double-check locally.

Belize City:  Four Fort Street Guest House:  Chateau Caribbean;  Radisson
Fort George;  Mom's;  Macy's.

Ambergris Caye:  Elvi's Kitchen;  Estelle's;  Mary Ellen's;  Pizza Place;
Lily's;  Jade Garden; Celi's; Ambergris Delight;  Barrier Reef Hotel.

Caye Caulker:  Tropical Paradise;  Sand Box;  Fisherman's Wharf;  Marin's
Restaurant;  Martinez Caribbean Inn;  I & I

Placencia:  Tentacles;  Kitty's;  Jene's;  Rum Point Inn

Punta Gorda:  Traveller's Inn.

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CARIBBEAN COAST     BOOKS, MAPS AND OTHER INFORMATION

How to Travel, Live or Retire in Belize, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico &
elsewhere on the Caribbean Coast

@@BEST MAPS WE╒VE SEEN

TRAVELLER╒S REFERENCE MAPS published by ITMP in Vancouver, Canada,
are the best maps we╒ve found to the region.  M-1  Belize Map, 1:350,000
scale    $6.95

M-2  Costa Rica Map, 1:500,000 scale   $6.95 M-3  Guatemala/Salvador
Map, 1:500,000 scale  $8.95

M-4  Yucatan Peninsula Map, 1:1,000,000 scale  $6.95

M-5  Central America Map, 1:1,800,000 scale  $7.95

Other Maps

M-6  Ambergris Caye, OS, 1:50,000 scale, $10.95

M-7  Honduras & Centro America, Texaco, 1:600,000, $7.95

M-8  Playas Caribe (Beaches) Cancun area, 1:150,000, $6.95

****M-9  Driver╒s Guide to Belize, by Emory King, mile-by- mile guide,
with maps, to all the main roads in Belize.  New.  A MUST for do-it-your-
self trips in Belize. 60 pp.,  $12****

#############

@@GREAT GUIDEBOOKS

Of the scores of guides available, these are our No. 1 picks.   G-1  New Key
to Costa Rica, by Beatrice Blake and Anne Becher, Ulysses Press, 1994,
189 pp.   Lots of local perspective, improved and refined over many
editions, superb!  $14.95

G-2  Central America by Chicken Bus, by Vivien Lougheed, Prince George,
1993, 500 pp.  Covers budget travel in all of Central America. Published in
Canada, not widely available in U.S. $15.95

G-3  Belize Guide, by Paul Glassman, Open Road Publishing, 1994, 318 pp.
Completely revamped and revised new edition.  Take this baby with you!
Good maps, excellent research.   $13.95  G-4  Belize Handbook, by Chicki
Mallan, Moon Publications, 1993, 264 pp.  Like all of the Moon Handbooks,
this one is of high quality,dependable, with good maps and information.
$13.95

G-5  Belize,  A Natural Destination, by Richard Mahler and Steele Wotkyns,
John Muir Publications, 1993, 310 pp.  The best ecoguide to Belize.  $16.95

G-6  The Rough Guide to Guatemala & Belize, by Mark Whatmore and Peter
Eltringham, Rough Guides, 1993, 485 pp.  The favorite of guidebook
authors!  $14.95

G-7  Honduras Guide,  by Paul Glassman, J.-P. Panet & Leah Hart.  Open
Road Publishing, 1994.  The best guide to Honduras and the Bay Islands.
$13.95

G-8  The People╒s Guide to Mexico, by Carl Franz,  John Muir Publications,
1992, 588 pp.  More than a guide book -- it╒s a classic.  Fun to read,
invaluable in helping you understand and enjoy Mexico.  $18.95

G-9  Guatemala, Belize & the Yucatçn La Ruta Maya, by Tom Brosnahan,
Lonely Planet, 2nd ed., 1994, 568 pp.  A must for anyone with an interest
in Maya sites.  $16.95

G-10  Adventure Guide to Belize, by Harry Pariser, Hunter, new 3rd edition.
Superb, up-to-date.  $14.95

G-11  Costa Rica Handbook, by Christopher Baker, Moon Publications, 1994,
576 pp.  The most-comprehensive and up- to-date guide to the country.
$17.95

##########

@@RETIREMENT GUIDES

R-1  Choose Costa Rica by John Howells, Gateway Books, new edition
1994, 252 pp.  What you need to know to retire or live in wonderful Costa
Rica.  Also covers Guatemala.  $13.95

R-2  Choose Mexico by John Howells, Gateway Books, 1994, 252 pp.  How
to live well on $800 a month -- more than 160,000 copies sold.  $11.95

R-3 Belize Retirement Guide by Bill and Claire Gray, Preview Publishing,
1994, 170 pp.  New edition of this guide to ╥living in a tropical paradise
for $350 a month.╙  Color and B&W photos.  $19.95  (Note:  Publication of
this new edition has been delayed several times and is now expected out
in early 1995.)

R-4  Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica by Christopher
Howard and Lambert James, C.R. Books, 1994, 168 pp. Much-improved new
edition with helpful local information.    $13.95

##############

@@BACK ISSUES OF BELIZE FIRST

B-1  Back issue of Belize First magazine, Vol.  I,  No. 2. Features on
Ambergris Caye, the Cayo District, real estate listings & more. Collector╒s
item.  64 pp. $8

B-2  Back issue of Belize First magazine, Vol. 2,  No. 1.  Features on Mayan
ruins of Caracol, Lamanai, Xunantunich and Altun Ha, vignette of old
British Honduras, real estate listings, Quik Guide to Belize & more. 64 pp.
$7

B-3  Back issue of Belize First magazine, Vol. 2, No. 2.  Can you retire to
Belize on $800 a month?  Packed with information on living in Belize.  64
pp.  $7

B-4  One-year subscription to Belize First (5 issues), plus free color road
map of Belize.  $29 in the U.S., Canada, Belize and Mexico, $39 elsewhere.

NOTE:  These hard-to-get maps, books and other publications are available
from several sources, including Equator Travel Publications' mail order
division.  For more information, please contact Lan Sluder:  74763,2254 on
CompuServe, [e-mail] on the Internet, or fax 704-
667-1717.


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= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

                QUIK GUIDE TO BELIZE

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =


POPULATION: 240,000+ (including refugees from Salvador, Honduras and
Guatemala) -- note that the population of the entire country is about the
same as a small city in the U.S.

LARGEST CITY: Belize City, population 60,000+

LAND AREA:  8,866 square miles, about the size of the state of New
Hampshire  NUMBER OF INTERNATIONAL VISITORS:  225,000 annually,  of
which about 110,000 are from the U.S., Canada and Europe, most of the
rest being border crossings from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras

MAIN VISITOR DESTINATIONS:  More than one-half of international visitors
go to the cayes (pronounced keys), primarily Ambergris.   The other typical
visitor destination is the Cayo District, with its jungle lodges and Mayan
ruins.  Tour operators often refer to these two destinations as "Surf and
Turf."  Other areas which get significant numbers of international visitors
are Placencia and Belize City.  Less-touristed areas of Belize include the
Toledo District around Punta Gorda, north around Corozol and some of the
200 little known islands off the Belize coast.

TOP THINGS TO SEE:  The Mayan ruins at Caracol, Lamanai, Altun Ha,
Xunantunich, Cahal Pech and elsewhere.   Among nature preserves and
parks, Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Preserve, Community Baboon Sanctuary,
Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, Belize Zoo, Shipstern Nature Preserve,
Rio Bravo Conservation area, Mountain Pine Ridge, Blue Hole National Park,
Hol Chan Marine Preserve and the barrier reef and atolls in the Caribbean
Sea are exceptional.

Belize will NOT appeal much to those who are interested in shopping, golf,
gourmet cuisine, sophisticated nightlife, or the social whirl.

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE:  English, but with increasing legal and illegal
immigration from other Central America countries, Spanish is becoming a
first language in several areas.   Some Belizeans use a Creole patois which
is not easy for outsiders to understand. Mayan dialects and Garifuna also
are spoken.

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


TIME:  Same as US Central Standard Time (Greenwich Mean Time minus 6).
Daylight Savings Time is not observed.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:  Valid passport required for everyone.  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, with
extensions up to a total of six months possible.

TELEPHONE:  The Belize telephone system is one of the best in the region.
International calls are expensive -- about US$1.60 per minute for direct
dialed calls to North America.  To call Belize from the U.S. or Canada, dial
011- 501 and the local number.  You should drop the first 0 in the local
number.

ELECTRICITY:  Same as in the U.S. and Canada, 110 volts AC.  You can plug
in your U.S.-made appliances in most areas with no problem.   Some hotels
not on a power grid generate their own power, which is DC.

CURRENCY:  Belizean dollar, fixed at 2 Belize dollars to 1 U.S. dollar.
Belizean dollars are usually abbreviated BZE$ or BZ$.  You can exchange
money at banks, and a bank currency exchange office is located the
international airport in Belize City.  The U.S. dollar is widely accepted,
and many U.S. travelers do not exchange money.

WEATHER:  Belize has a mostly sub-tropical climate, somewhat similar in
temperature to that of Central and South Florida.  Temperatures
nationwide are typically in the high 60s to mid-90s F, cooler in the
mountains.

There is a "wet season" and a "dry season," the exact periods of which vary
depending on the part of the country.  In the north, the most rain is from
September to November.   In the extreme south, it is wet much of the year,
from April to December or January,  and 150 inches of rain a year is not
uncommon.  In most cases, rain storms are intense but brief, and you can
enjoy outdoors Belize even in the rainy season. Hurricanes are a potential
threat from July to November.  Severe hurricanes have hit Belize about
once every two decades.   Late spring through mid summer are the times
when the water has the highest visibility for diving and snorkeling  MEDIA:
Until a few years ago, Belize was one of the few countries on earth
without local TV.  Now there are two Belize TV stations, with mostly U.S.
rebroadcast.  U.S. and Mexican TV is available via cable or  satellite.
Belize operates two government-sponsored radio stations, Radio One on
FM, AM and shortwave, and Friends FM at 88.9 FM.  KREM is a privately
owned station. Some programs are in English, some in Spanish.
Newspapers in Belize are lively but don╒t always follow the journalistic
approaches you may be familiar with.  The Reporter is the best-looking
paper,  moderate, independent and generally informative.  Visitors to
Ambergris will enjoy the San Pedro Sun.  The People's Pulse is the official
organ of the United Democratic Party, and the Belize Times is the official
paper of the People's United Party.   Advocacy in these papers is not
limited to just the editorial page.  Amandala has something of a left-
wing/pro-Creole slant and claims to have the highest circulation of any
Belize paper.   All of these are weeklies, as Belize does not have a daily
newspaper.

In addition to Belize First, several other magazines are published about
Belize, most directed to a foreign audience, and mostly struggling to
survive,  including Belize Magazine, with lots of pretty pictures.   The
Miami Herald  and a few other foreign publications are available in Belize
City and San Pedro at high prices.  (Note:  When coming to Belize, don't
throw away the papers and magazines you were reading on the plane --
these will be appreciated at your hotel, since foreign publications are
expensive and hard to get.)

INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES SERVING BELIZE:  American, Continental and
TACA and all fly to Belize from the U.S., with gateways including Miami,
New Orleans, Houston, Washington,  San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
Lowest fares range from around $300 to $700 round-trip, depending on
gateway and time of year.  Aviateca, Aerovias, Taesa and AreoBelize
provide service to and from Guatemala and Mexico.  Charters fly from
Toronto and several large U.S. cities, especially in the winter.  Several
small airlines including Island Air, Tropic Air and Maya Airways provide
internal service.

FORM OF GOVERNMENT:  Belize, until 1973 known as British Honduras,  is a
parliamentary democracy  and, like Canada, 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 fairly moderate, with the UDP being
considered somewhat more conservative and pro-U.S.

HEALTH:  The water is safe to drink in most areas, and the standard of
health care and hygiene is among the highest in the region, though not up
to U.S. standards.  Malaria, dengue fever, cholera and other diseases are
present in some parts of Belize, as they are in most of the tropical and
sub-tropical world.   AIDS is not yet as widespread in Belize as it is in the
United States and in some other countries, but it could become so, through
IV drug use and unprotected sex.

No inoculations are required for entry to Belize.  Anti- malarial treatment
is advised if you are spending time in the jungle, especially in the south.
Mefloquine (trade name Larium) is often prescribed.  Hepatitis A and B
inoculations are also sometimes advised for long-term stays.  Tetanus,
diphtheria, typhoid, and polio immunizations may also be advisable.  Ask
your health professional.

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 are supposed to protect investments in Belize from either
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.  The track record of companies
established under these new laws is not yet established.

The legal system of Belize, like that of the U.S, derives from English
common law, where innocence is presumed.

PURCHASING PROPERTY:  Non-Belizeans CAN buy property in Belize.
Purchases of 10 acres or less outside cities or one-half acre or less
within cities requires 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.   There are NO capital gains taxes in Belize.  Income is taxed only
if derived in Belize.  You should work with a knowledgeable attorney or
other adviser in Belize to assure that title and other papers are sound.

REQUIREMENTS FOR RESIDENCY:   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
evidence of good character through police reports for all places of
residence since age 16, and show evidence that funds are available to
finance the proposed undertaking.  Foreign nationals wanting only to open
a shop, store or restaurant are not likely to be approved.  Some ex-pats
avoid red tape by living in Belize as tourists for up to six months, then
leaving briefly and returning for another six months.

COST OF LIVING:  Belize can be surprisingly expensive, especially if you
try to live in a U.S. or European 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
McDonalds in Belize!  Labor is cheap (a day's wages for a housekeeper
might be US$7) but many of the most-skilled workers have left Belize for
higher-paying jobs in the U.S. or Britain.   Still, if you live closer to the
Belizean style, the country can be affordable, especially outside of
Ambergris Caye and Belize City.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:  For tourism information, contact the Belize
Tourist Board at 421 Seventh Ave. S.W. 701, New York, NY 10001, tel. 212-
563-6011 or 800-624-0686 , fax [phone].  Or, in Belize City at 83
North Front Street, P.O. Box 325, Belize City, Belize, Central America, tel.
501-2-77213, fax [phone].  For information on residency and
investment, contact the Belize Embassy, 2535 Massachusetts Ave. NW,
Washington, DC  20008, tel. [phone], fax [phone].
Subscribers to BELIZE FIRST may contact the magazine for expert advice.



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