BELIZE

                 Get Away from the Main City
 

  Cruise ships have made people aware of Belize, but when I went there for the first time two decades ago people’s response was, “You’re going where?” 

When I responded, “Belize, the old British  Honduras,” then I'd get recognition.

    Belize is a small ruggedly beautiful country in Central America. The Caribbean surrounds it on the east.  Guatemala borders on the south and most of the west, and Mexico borders the northwest. Nearly one third of the country’s 200,000 inhabitants live in Belize City which is located on the northern third of the east coast.

   The country’s multi-racial diversity include: Creole of African descent; Mestizo are Spanish-Mayan; Caribs, also called Garifuna; with smaller groups of East Indian, Landino, and Spanish. Mayan Indians make up 8% of the population.

   Half of the country’s 9000 square miles is surrounded by water with numerous cays and three atolls dotting the coastline. The northern part of the country is flat rising gradually to a coastal plain running the length of the country. About one half of the mainland’s 8600 square miles (rest are atoll) is used for agriculture. To the south and west the terrain rises dramatically to 3000’ above sea level into the Mayan Mountains. This terrain is rugged with rivers running from the mountains through the plains onward to the sea. White water rapids and 1000’ waterfalls are interspersed in the rivers.

   Rain forest, Savannah, jungle, forest, and mangrove swamps all add to the land diversity. Seventy percent of the country is covered with forest. Much of the jungle is under government protection. Bladen Nature Reserve covers 92,000 acres in the Mayan Mountains. Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary is 102,000 acres.

    To the East lies the second largest reef in the world and the largest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere. The reef comprises 175 off shore cays and three atolls. Mexico has one atoll and together these four atolls are the only atolls in North America.

   The flora, fauna, and birds are as varied as the scenery. The only jaguar preserve in the world is in Belize.

The climate is sub-tropical with a high in summer of 95 with a winter low of 70s. The official language is English and all instruction in school is in English. Spanish, a strong second, is taught in the lower grades to further bilingualism. Creole is also widely spoken.

   The country’s tallest building is in the Mayan ruins at Caracol not in Belize City nor the capitol of Belmopan. The largest city, Belize City, like New Orleans, lies three feet below sea level.

In 1961 England made it clear that Belize could become independent at any time but fearful of being overrun by its neighbors Belize maintained British ties until 1963 when a new constitution provided self-government.     
   A declaration of independence was declared in 1981.

My first trip to Belize was for a research project and our home was 32 miles off shore on Turneffe atoll. This largest of the country’s three atolls, contains 4000 acres of jungle. The mosquitoes were so thick and troublesome that we turned around after a very short jaunt into the jungle. However, our resort was bug free, had a generator to produce all its electricity and reverse osmosis machinery to produce a clean water supply.

   Our group was split in half. We worked the project alternate mornings and afternoons and snorkeled on the other half of the day. The marshes and lagoons are just full of diverse marine life where 46 species of hard coral grow plus many varieties of soft corals and sponges. We snorkeled a different location each day. It was the best snorkeling I’ve ever done—and that includes two trips to  the Great Barrier Reef where I’m sure we were taken to the most popular tourist areas.

  At BlackBird Cay on the atoll I thought I had found paradise. The lush remote island paradise was surrounded by clear turquoise water. The warm Belizean sun bathed deserted sandy beaches. The serenity of the unspoiled natural beauty was awesome. Our thatched roof cabanas were   complete with bath, and a little veranda complete with chairs and hammock. The cool ocean breezes cooled all the buildings through large screened windows that had a drop down shutter for rainy or stormy days. Without the cool sea breezes it would have been very hot. The South Seas atmosphere was great fun for our couple week stay that was truly a wonderful vacation—working or not.

     It’s a shame that cruise ship passengers are in port only long enough to see Belize City which is like any other large Central or South American City. Do I need to say more!

THE BACARDI STORY

                                       A Fun Bat Story
     Facundo Bacardi Masso, a Spanish merchant, was born in Stiges, Catalonia in 1814, and with brothers emigrated to Cuba in 1830. Santiago de Cuba, a prosperous trading town at the beginning of the 19th century, attracted the four Bacardi brothers, the sons of a stonemason. Catalans had a reputation for being good tradesmen, so here they worked hard to establish a shop selling everyday goods, and they prospered.

  But in 1852, a series of earthquakes destroyed Santiago’s entire infrastructure, bringing public life and trading to a halt. Then a cholera epidemic forced the young family to temporarily return to Spain. When Facundo and his wife returned to Santiago, they left their young son, Emilio, with a trusted friend in Spain

  In the 1850s Facundo, after a failed business, turned his attention to making rum. Cuban sugar cane plantations were flourishing due to the favorable climate, and all possessed small distilleries in which produced   Aquardiente, a primitive form of rum  made from molasses, a waste product of sugar processing. Cheaply made, rum was not considered a refined drink, was used mostly medicinally and rarely sold in upscale taverns.

    Don Facundo began attempting to tame rum by isolating a proprietary strain of yeast, still used in Bacardi production, giving Bacardi rum its unique flavor. After experimenting he and a partner hit upon filtering the rum through tropical woods and broken coconut shells to remove impurities. To mellow the drink the rum was aged in white oak barrels, resulting in the world’s first clear or white rum.

  Moving from the experimental stage to a more commercial endeavor, they set up shop in 1862 in a Santiago de Cuba distillery that housed a copper and cast iron stil. Fruit bats lived in the rafters of that building. The bats were left alone to do their thing as legend said bats were good luck. When the first year of the white rum was more successful than anticipated Bacardi adapted bats as their logo. As shown the bat symbol has changed five times since 1862, the most recent change in 2012.

  Bacardi’s success influenced a whole new category of spirits, and Bacardi Limited remains the largest privately held, family-owned spirits company in the world.