Daniele Somenzi's Belize

Belize Bad luck has it raining heavily on arrival in Belize, what bad luck, the first time I come to this little English state surrounded by the Spaniards of Central America. At the port I'm immediately surrounded by drivers of minibuses and private cars who take you to visit the Maya pyramids and around the little state. I choose one of them; one's as good as another when you don't know who you're dealing with; you'll only know afterwards whether it was a good choice or not, and with hindsight, I must say yes. The guy takes me along the somewhat run-down roads for several km, where I finally see these pyramids of Xunantunich made of gigantic staircases, and he recounts in a bit of English some of the history of the kings and how they lived.

I snap photos and make films from up high and also in the adjacent jungle, where I hope to see a toucan; the guy says there are many, but not that day.

He also says that somewhere there's the black panther, but obviously seeing it is like winning the lottery; besides it's a nocturnal animal, that explains its black coat. Anyway we do see some little monkeys. There are buses full of tourists coming from the various cruise ships; indeed I even hear some Italians among them who are staying on the Costa. I, with my friends, instead, as usual, am on the biggest in the world at the time, the Voyager of the Seas of Royal Caribbean with 3500 passengers.

The rain stops and on the way back we stop for 2 photos at 2 poor gentlemen who live in a hut with a little donkey; they won't be Mary and Joseph, no? Anyway we give them some money in exchange for a few photos.

The capital is Belmopan but we don't pass through it; we stay in Belize City, where unfortunately there are no beaches; besides the high tide covers what little there is.

We see two English military trucks; probably from England they come here to the Caribbean for certain types of training in the jungle.

22 thousand 600 square km for about 600 thousand inhabitants; here, like the Grand Cayman, it's a British overseas territory even though the currency isn't the pound but the dollar.

Guatemala and Mexico are the 2 neighbouring countries. I would have liked to make a hop into Guatemala, but the time wasn't enough; I'll go another time.

The tender that takes me back onto the beautiful ship awaits me to bring me back on board.

bye