Belize - Good Friday?

April 3

Hello everyone!

After a lovely few days, Hannah and I were leaving Honduras. We were heading north to the one Central American country I was yet to visit: one that's a little bit different from the rest…

View from the Swing Bridge, Belize City

Altun Ha

Welcome to Belize, Central America's outlier. The main reason is that this little patch of land - I say little, still bigger than El Salvador - has ties to Great Britain. Little need to practise my Spanish here!

Belize is very similar in size to Wales, but
only half a million people live there

Only 3 countries have gained independence from the UK since Belize

Belize is a relatively new country, only becoming independent in 1981. Before that, and since 1862, it had been a British colony, latterly known as British Honduras. 

Belize is often said to the be the national
flag with the most colours: over 12

Britain used the land as a strategic logging base for harvesting wood

Belize is Central American. It is also very much Caribbean. Cycling around its former capital and largest city, Belize City, gave me vibes closer to the Bahamas than Guatemala, for example. I know there are other places on the isthmus, like Puerto Limon in Costa Rica, that ooze Caribbean culture; it just seems to me that more of Belize is more Caribbean.

Some buildings, like this one, are less Latin American in style

Lots of palm trees around Belize City

Our first view of Belize was spectacular, coming from one of the smaller planes that does international flights. You can't normally read off the pilot's radar screen. It was a mixture of feeling privileged, as if being on a private jet, and mild trepidation when any gust of wind pushed the side of the plane.

There were 7 passengers on our plane

Belize has over 400 islands, known as Cayes

We arrived on Good Friday. I didn't initially realise this, which caused a problem as I was supposed to be immediately going to the Honduras embassy to get a second visa in order to travel back through the country next week to get to El Salvador. Long story, frustrating story, and one that won't happen now, partly because there was no way of getting a visa in Belize on time if the embassy was closed.

It wasn't just embassies that were closed until Tuesday...

Some houses had Easter decorations in their windows

It was closed. Turns out almost everything was closed. Not an exaggeration, this. Good Friday is an enormous deal in Belize. The big city felt like a ghost town.

What was the question, though?

Almost every restaurant was closed

Most people stock up in advance of the day. Obviously, that was difficult for us to do as we arrived on that day. We borrowed bikes from the place where we were staying that night to explore, and try to find food. 

One positive about it being a holiday was that we had less traffic to negotiate.
Good thing as the way to brake on these bikes is to pedal backwards...

The ferry terminal area

This proved challenging. Eventually, near the city’s Swing Bridge, we found a pop-up selling something called a ‘boil-up’: fish and a ton of starches. Exactly what was needed after a rain-specked cycle.

It is pronounced 'bile-up' - there are
varieties of language here, such as Creole

The big lump is a dumpling, known as 'boiled cake'

A couple of supermarkets - intriguingly, all with Chinese names - were open on the way back, giving us an opportunity to stock up on food for later. We also bought some beers. The lady at the checkout told me to hide the beers in my bag, as they weren't supposed to be selling them. When visiting a different supermarket later in the day to buy milk, a local man was refused when trying to buy beer, being told that they “weren't selling beer today”. Good Friday - enormous deal.

We did manage to find a fruit stand on the way back - watermelon,
along with instant noodles and plastic cheese, was our dinner.

The national beer is called Belikin

Another Good Friday superstition here is that you shouldn't swim in rivers or the sea on that day, for fear of being turned into…a mermaid. I thought those kind of beliefs belonged to a different era…

The Temple of the Masonry Altars

The site is 50 km north of Belize City 

This is Altun Ha, found about an hour's drive from Belize City. The land of modern-day Belize, like its neighbouring countries, was part of Mundo Maya: the Mayan World.

You're allowed to climb the ruins here, which leads to impressive views

Many areas are yet to be fully excavated

Altun Ha was a medium-sized Mayan settlement, with up to 10,000 citizens living there at its peak between 500 and 600 CE. There were hundreds of structures, with some of them visible today. One of the prominent temples is the Temple of the Masonry Altars. If you've ever been to Belize, it's the picture on the national beer bottle.

There are also other residential buildings and a ball court

Within this, archaeologists have found a tomb of an elderly priest

The name translates as ‘stone water’. The name is derived from the pond found nearby. Archaeologists became aware of the settlement in 1963, and believe that it was a key trading link between the Caribbean Coast and central Mayan strongholds such as Caracol and Tikal.

The name is from the Yucatec Maya language

The earliest evidence of life here dates back to 200 BCE 

Though not particularly large or grand, Altun Ha was quite a rich settlement. This is because of its use of a particular mineral: jade. It was at Altun Ha that the largest carved jade structure in Mesoamerica was found. Worth between 5 and 10 million dollars, the head, which depicts the Sun God called Kinich Ahau, it is kept in the country's Central Bank. They have a replica at Altun Ha, seen below.

The head is 15 cm tall and weighs almost 5 kg

It adorns stamps and other things in the country

Like the main city in Belize, Altun Ha was very quiet - we had the site to ourselves for a while. It really does seem that a Good Friday and Easter weekend in Belize is one on which not a lot happens!

Eerily quiet Belize City

Eerily quiet Altun Ha

Kinich Ahau, the Sun God

Love you all,

Matt