Belize

Visited: August 2015

Duration of visit: 4 days

Capital city: Belmopan

Population: 375.000 (2015)

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

• Unimpressive ex-capital Belize City, which looks as it hasn’t recovered from the Hurricane Hattie in 1961.
• Snorkeling around small limestone coral island Caye Caulker.
• View over the rainforest from El Castillo, the second largest Mayan pyramid in the country at Xunantunich.

Belize was one of two countries which I didn’t visit during my Big Tour around Americas in 1997, which started in New York and finished in Buenos Aires 15 months late. It didn’t call my attention at that time, since it was off the main route and so different from the rest of Central American countries; historically and culturally.

Previously called British Honduras, it was granted independence from Britain in 1964, renamed to Belize in 1973 and achieved complete independence in 1981. With only 375,000 people living in an area of 22,966 kilometers, Belize has the lowest population density in Central America, an average of 15 per square kilometer.

Being such a small country in size and population, tourism has a big impact on its economy. Approximately one million tourists visit Belize on a yearly basis, vast majority from USA. It is curious that there is no McDonalds, Burger King, Starbucks or KFC in the entire country of Belize!

I entered Belize overland from Guatemala. Migration control was pretty straightforward. First a short ride to San Ignacio and then an exciting journey on Bluebird bus took me right to the old capital Belize City. We were stopping so often that we needed more than 3 hours for a trip that would normally take a little bit over two hours.

Usually, capital cities in third world countries are places where most of the capital, infrastructure, business and culture is concentrated. Hurricane Hattie in 1961 destroyed approximately 75% of Belize City and the government decided to move the capital to the interior of the country, to Belmopan. With just over 12,000 inhabitants, Belmopan is the smallest capital city in the World!

It seems that Belize City has not recovered from the hurricane and, since the government administration was moved to Belmopan, also investments were split between these two (only) cities in the country. For me, Belize City was only a bypass to Tobago Cays.

In the few hours that I spent there, I couldn’t highlight any particularly interesting monuments, attraction or activity that would be worth visiting. A simple lunch in a restaurant, a short walk around downtown, a central market, a church and I was ready for a boat ride to the Caribbean Sea, where almost all main attractions of Belize are located.

A water taxi ride to Caye Caulker was smooth and straightforward. I didn`t book accommodation in advance and arriving in the evening made it quite difficult to find a decent guesthouse. I just walked along the main sandy street where most of guesthouses, hotels, bars and restaurants are. It didn’t take long to find a decent, though expensive, room for three nights. Bicycles and golf carts are the only transport available on the island. Relaxed atmosphere with Rastafari influence and total focus on tourism, together with watersports, fantastic diving and snorkeling, are trademark of this small limestone coral island.

I took a snorkeling trip every day during the time when I was based at Caye Caulker. One of the most interesting animals you can see underwater, while snorkeling, is probably manatee.  They are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals, sometimes known as sea cows.

They spend much of their time feeding on water plants and resting on the shallow bottom or on the surface of the water. The easiest area to spot them is the Swallow Caye Reserve dedicated to the manatee. I was also lucky to spot them in other areas, but they were not as common and easy to find. Sometimes you have to be patient and really focus the eye, since they can easily be camouflaged by the light sandy bottom of the sea.

There are many excellent diving spots along the coast of Belize; Half Moon Caye Wall, Great Blue Hole, Glover’s Reef Marine Reserve and more. Most dives are boat dives that leave either Caye Caulker, Ambergris Caye or Placencia heading for the local barrier reef.

The Belize Barrier Reef is composed of an impressive variety of corals stretching along 300 kilometers off the coast of Belize. As the world’s largest living barrier reef, it was designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996 and it is truly a wonder.

Belize became the first country in the world to completely ban bottom trawling in December 2010. In December 2015, Belize banned offshore oil drilling within 1 kilometer of the Barrier Reef. Despite these protective measures, the reef remains under threat from oceanic pollution, mass-bleaching events, hurricanes, global warming, uncontrolled tourism, shipping and fishing.

On the way back to Guatemala, I visited Xunantunich, one of the most impressive Mayan sites in Belize. There are over 900 Mayan sites in Belize, however most of them are in ruins and/or with very difficult access in the jungle. The site is composed of three major ceremonial plazas surrounded by numerous temples, palaces and house mounds.

The tallest building, El Castillo, is the second largest pyramid in the country, rising 41 meters above the courtyard. Xunantunich is set within a tropical forest and climbing on the top of El Castillo opens beautiful views above the jungle. Besides being one of the most impressive Mayan ruins in Belize, Xunantunich is also reasonably easy to visit comparing to most of the other pre-Columbian remains in the country.

I took a bus from San Ignacio and the last part, after a ferry across Mopan River, I walked uphill to the entrance of the archeological zone. I was alone when exploring the archeological zone. Well, the renovation process is not finished yet, some workers were active transporting the remains of sand from one pile to another with wheelbarrows. “Hola amigo, como estas? Bienvenido!”, was a warm welcome that I received from them.

Writing this line after visiting Belize, I came to an interesting conclusion. I usually prepare for a trip trying to get as much information as possible about a country, people, history, habits, politics and sightseeing. I did the same homework before visiting Belize as well, but since it was rather a short trip and combined with a business meeting in Guatemala, I took it as a fact that Belize City is still the capital of Belize.

Only later, when I sat down in front of my laptop and started writing about my experience during the journey, I realized, that the capital city since 1961 was moved from Belize City to Belmopan. I never visited Belmopan and so there might be a reason to go back to Belize one day, because this is the only not visited capital city of any country that I have explored so far.