Paget's Belize Journal
The Preliminary Trip-
It Begins The Actual Stay-
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Jan 7, 00 Bits and Pieces About Life in BelizeAs my time here begins to wind down, I've been thinking about the major social characteristics and influences that I've written little or nothing about. The short list is: Lottery, Drugs & Crime, Asian Merchants, Government Indifference/Corruption and Sexuality. Well, and Death. And maybe Coca-Cola. That covers absolutely everything, doesn't it? I guess I kept thinking I would understand things better if I waited a while. But maybe impressions are as important as facts to conveying the flavor of a country. So I'll tackle a little commentary on some of these in my last few missives. The lottery is a way of life here, as it is in many places with groups of people who have so little. I suppose by world standards the standard of living here is really pretty good. It's pretty easy to keep fed and clean. Almost everyone (in the towns) has electricity, running water and indoor plumbing. Health care is reasonable and reasonably priced. (Mental health care is a different issue, but at least they acknowledge the problem and are trying). More people have television and cable than have telephones. The toys are often creative creations from the scrap heap (roadside ditch).Nothing wrong with that really. But for most people there's practically no disposable income and some people are very poor. So the lottery. The national lottery drawing is every Sunday at 10:00 am. There are lottery tables set up all up and down the main street all week-long and some permanent little booths, but most of the action is on the weekend. (I have learned that Mimi of the lullabye evening chant sells lottery tickets for a "living.") Lots of people buy their tickets right after church on Sunday. I could speculate about the spiritual implications, but I think it's just convenient because the church is right off the main street. You pay BZ $1 for a choice that gets you two two-digit numbers. Like 17 76. Almost everybody plays the reverse also. 76 17. I've only done this once, so I'm not sure I follow it, but I think they draw 3 or 4 sets of numbers. If you match the last two numbers in the same position, you get $100. You would win for 43 76, but not for 76 43. If you match all 4 numbers you get a lot, like $5,000. Of course, it depends on how many people play and so forth. Some of you familiar with playing the numbers might enlighten us on how this works. Dan? There's no central registry or computers or any of that fol-de-rol. When you pay for your numbers, the dealer gives you a piece of paper that says the amount, the date and the numbers and is initialed. That's your ticket/receipt. All the dealers have to turn in something right before the drawing, because I see them all lined up on the steps up to one guy's house(the one who listens to Viennese waltzes and Japanese opera or musical comedy or whatever sounds the same to me). I'm not sure what it is, maybe a list of how many of the number 76 they sold. Then the numbers are put upon the national scroll board announcements television station. Everyone scrapes together money to play the lottery. It doesn't look like there's an age requirement, but there might be. You're supposed to be 18 to buy any kind of liquor, but I see kids buying for their mom or dad fairly often. In addition to the national lottery, there are all kinds of church lotteries, and school raffles and so forth. For the school ones, you pay your money and write your name by a number in a little exercise book that the kids are hauling around. Haven't a clue how this is supposed to work. If I win, I guess they'll find me. I just consider it to be taxes. I'd probably win a pit bull puppy or something, this seems to be the kind of things the schools raffle off. Gotta go, I think I get to take a flying trip to Caye Caulker this weekend. One last fling. Oh, a few ps notes Sgt. Alejandro brought my T-shirt back and he is indeed posted to the Guatemalan border and is still madly in love with me, but I think his heart is wavering in the face of such cruel indifference as I have displayed. No mention of what happened to the boat trip. New Year's Eve was fun if uneventful. I spent it at the Pelican
Beach party talking to tourists and drinking bad, sweet Belizean
wine with some bad, sweet, pink champagne-like liquid to top
it off. The stars were glorious though and I had a nice talk
with the little fidgety birds on the end of the dock. Got kissed
by some drunk, but cheerful, Australian. Got flirted with by
a few handsome Belizeans (mostly other people's husband's who
had been told to be nice to me). Got a ride home with Godfrey
(the guide) and his wife. Safe and sane all around. |
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