Day 3--Museum of Belize City

Let me just say that the Accu Weather app is calling for rain, rain, rain in Belize until the day we leave for home.

That said, our first two days were NOT rainy, so, hoping for the best, we booked our driver to take us to Crooked Tree Bird Sanctuary, leaving at 7 am Friday. It rained buckets overnight, with lightning and thunder—and we awoke to a dark grey day with the sea shrouded in fog. We decided to put off Crooked Tree until Saturday.

So, instead, though we had to walk along the sea wall in heavy rain, we went to the museum—once home to the prison here—and had a very informative afternoon. Maybe all of you know that Belize was once British Hondura. It is part of the British Commonwealth but, strangely, they drive on the right side of the road like we do. (Non-sequiteur, sorry). English is the spoken language here though many speak Creole. The Creole people are descendants of British or Scottish slave owners and their African slaves who were brought over here to log the mahogany and later, for sugar cane production.

Aside from Belizian history, the museum also has Mayan artifacts on display. Belize’s prize possession is the famous Jade Head, discovered in 1968 by an archeologist from Toronto’s own Royal Ontario Museum.

After the museum, we sloshed over to Tourist Village (a bunch of little shops and eateries under a roof at the point where cruise ships dock) to find some lunch. We had the Local Dish (rice and beans with stewed or baked chicken) in a little cafe with VERY reasonable prices. The prices are in Belize dollars and two BD equal one US dollar.


Then it was home through the rain to a nap.

Honestly, we could have taken a cab, and plenty of cabs stopped to offer, but we were in rain gear and wanted the exercise - and believe me, warm rain is not unpleasant.

By late afternoon, we were out walking again - or should I say wading - on our way to get two buns for dinner and more water (well, ok, beer). It had rained hard all day, so the streets were giant puddles and the entrances to our little shops were ankle deep.


The great thing about having a movie theatre in your lobby is that you can buy popcorn to flesh out your dinner of leftover fruit, veggies and the bun, of course.

Hoping for Crooked Tree tomorrow.

Hansi


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