My First Taste of Belize

This journey from Alaska (subarctic) to Belize (equator) has been more fulfilled by words than these photos. I met so many people today and received many lessons. It's started from the second I turned off my computer next while sitting next to that giant grizzly at the airport. Some girl about my age grabbed the phone behind me and called the police. She said something, I wasn't paying attention, hung the phone up, looked at me and goes, "so... hi, what's up?" I just said I'm heading to the northern terminal to catch my flight to Belize. She starts to tell me her story and the cops walk up. They open a door near the phone, they talk awhile, then give her a suitcase and a court summons document. She sits back down next to me and tells me her situation... just got evicted from an apartment in Anchorage, cops found narcs in her suitcase but they aren't hers, trying to Fairbanks but missed her flight because there was a hold up once they found the stuff in her bags, and she has no cash. I gave her 20 bucks for a taxi and we split. At 2AM I borded and at 8 AM I reached Phoenix, Arizona.

Phoenix to Houston... The new suburban microchip by Microsoft.

Flying is the ultimate means to view Earth's big blue picture. At 35,000 FASL you are flying above 95% of atmospheric mass. The view is a beautiful blue. Air travel is tedious and tiresome but if you have a window seat you can get a birds eye view of the world we live in. I would love to go into space. Think outside the box. Dream outside the blue ball.

Hello Belize Belize City in the distance. No big buildings, thank goodness. I was amazed at how much land is undeveloped. I could see subdivisions being constructed alongside watersheds in the mainland. At the bus terminal a dude came up to me and we started chatting. I told him about my job here and he said he's taking eco-tourism classes at school. He said it was neat to learn about the sky and the water, and how humans interact with it. That is really the underlying principle of geography. Later we got on the subject of climate change and Mayans. He told me how the Mayan civilization was like contemporary urbanization and population growth. Mayans used too many natural resources and grew so big that they eventually choked their environment and civlizaiton. We both agreed that what you do onto others comes on to you. Disrespect the Earth and she'll clean herself of such filth. I just said 2012. He goes, it's not about a certain date it's already happening. Word.

Palm trees!

Customs!

Taxi to the bus station. Just when I thought it wa sover I find out I still have to get 3 hours south of the airport to Dangriga by autobus.

Palm trees! Palm trees!Palm trees!Soldiers. Hey a bike... More bikes... I think there are more bicycles on the streets than cars and the bikes will just pull right out in front of cars, I like that enthusiasm for green transportation.

Exercise is good, can't get a sweat going while driving a car now can ya?

The sun begins to set and the communities just seem to be hanging in the streets. Most speak English fluent and I've heard almost no Spanish. I'm the only one speaking Spanish it seems like. Most have a Jamaican dialect and dreds are common. There's totally a rasta vibe to this country. Yet, the further south I got the more different the dialects changed. It turned from a Carribean-Rasta English accent to a Mayan-Spanish accent. I can understand some words they speak, but some speak so deep, so unique, so intersting that I just have to pick up their vibe to figure out what they trying to say. Night came and we headed south the the bus to several small towns and finally to Dangriga.Full moon in 2 days. I always transition on full moons.

The markets closed down everywhere we came to.

But, thankfully I got to my hotel in Dangriga and found a bite to eat.

I picked up some temales and empenadas? at a local street vendor. Both taste like corn flour, chicken a hint of curry.

Many strangers helped me today along my way through Belize, they rock. All I have met so far are very chill and positive. It's a great attitude to just be happy with what you got. There's a collective conscientious incentive to take care of the envrionment and I was glad to hear the one student at the bus station telling me about his eco-tourism courses. On the bus I heard other young students talking about how bad one of the oil mining sites was as we passed it on our way south. The hotel I'm at now has pictures of conservation programs and signs promoting Belize's environment conservation and awareness. Should be sunny tomorrow. I have to meet the team in the morning, buy groceries for the menu, and then we're off to the island. Feels like 24 hours of non-stop traveling because it has been, good nighty.