There is one hour left until the Game of the Century starts and there is no electricity anywhere in Livingston, Guatemala. Belgium’s national football team will play its first semi-final since I was five days old, possibly (let’s not get too entitled) the last one in my lifetime. And I’m going to miss the game because a thunderstorm has left the whole town without power?
I want to cry – this can’t be real! Continue Reading →
Imagine a handkerchief of a country, barely 350.000 souls strong, where any of the following could happen:
-A Latino speaks with a thick Caribbean accent: “Hi, my brotha! Wassup?!”
-A Maya bar owner turns on Bob Marley’s Greatest Hits, but switches after a couple of songs to old-fashioned Spanish music.
-With a backdrop of Cohune palms and banana trees, two white men with woolly beards work the field with an ox.
-In a small town shop, a young Chinese boy translates a customer’s English into Chinese for his mum, the shopkeeper.
-A black guy leans out of a bright blue church bus and shouts: “God bless you! Welcome to Belize!” Continue Reading →
My favourite moment of travelling is the moment when the road stops and the ocean starts. Waves are rushing to the coast and there is no way to continue. You have reached your destination.
My second favourite moment is swimming in front of my own private beach. I float on my back and look how the fish-hunting pelican’s wing is almost brushing my cheek. It’s so close. I have definitely reached my destination- Hopkins, Belize.
Continue Reading →You know you’ve been travelling in Belize for too long when…
1. You count your experiences in bug bites, not in days.
2. You know that there’s “no working during drinking hours” and that Belikin is “the only beer worth drinking”.
Huge abandoned houses. The terrible smell of sewage. A guy sleeps on the pavement in broad sunlight. A rusty iron bridge belongs more in some prison movie than in a tropical holiday destination. Old men shout at us from across the street. Dented, miserable-looking cars, rows and rows of closed shops. A little girl runs on the pavement full of holes. This apocalyptic atmosphere belongs to Belize City. Continue Reading →
