Paget's Belize Journal
The Preliminary Trip-
It Begins The Actual Stay-
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Dec 15, 1999 A Belizean Week-endI got a little more adventurous this weekend and ended up with some typically Belizean experiences, unlike my usual mode which is mostly observation. On Saturday night I finally visited a Belizean bar (a real one, not the kind at a resort) with Capt. Frank, Sgt. Alejandro and another guy. But first I almost went night-fishing, almost looked at a house to rent on the water and almost went to a party. Capt. Frank is a very dark, very dapper Garifuna man with a very proper British accent. He is the retired boatman from Pelican Beach and every bit as charming as Ishmael in his own way. He's the guy who taught Therese all her boating and water skills. Sgt. Alejandro is his nephew (maybe), in the Belize army (BDF Belize Defense Force) stationed in Belize City. Mostly what the BDF does is train in the jungle in case we have to repel a Guatemalan invasion (a pretty real possibility) and help the police force try to keep the flow of drugs and illegal aliens under control. Lots of border duty looking through cars and bags and squabbling over who gets one of the three drug dogs in the country. The other guy had no teeth and was so drunk that I couldn't understand what his name was or any other word he said. But we had a nice conversation. The evening started like this. About 7:30 Alejandro came by to take me to look at a house he owns here in Dangriga from which he just evicted the tenants. I had been put in touch with him because I've been complaining about the noise at my apartment again. Now the Asian family across the street has taken to playing that (to my ears) horrible, atonal, screechy, singsong music on the short wave until well after midnight. The only respite is loud static when they lose the station altogether or saccharine Viennese waltzes, which may be from a station nearby on the band and may actually be broadcast from the same station. I wouldn't be surprised. Then the busses at 5:15. You remember. So Alejandro said would I mind walking over to the dock first, because his friend would be there fishing and maybe we could do a little fishing too or at least help him drink his beer and then we would get a fish. But his friend wasn't there, so we waited and waited and waited because Alejandro really wanted a fish for his sister. By the time we give up, it's 9:00 and Alejandro said that one of the staff people from his unit in the army was having a party and it was on the way to the house and he really needed to drop in. So I said okay and then we walked about 3 miles, but the house was all dark and the party for sure hadn't started yet. So we walked over to the house he had for rent (maybe) which really wasn't on the way at all, but he said that it looked like the tenants were still in it so we couldn't go see it until the next day. As we were rounding back onto main street, here comes a bicycle with low-and-behold the friend who's throwing the party. He said he just was out to pick up some last minute things, but the party was starting right away. I said well, it was getting late and I wasn't up for walking back so thanks but I'd go home. Then they held a long consultation and decided that someone would get someone's brother's car and they would come back and get us so I wouldn't have to walk but I could experience a real Belizean party. And we should wait at the bar. So we went to the bar which is really a club, a lodge, and there were Mr. Frank and the toothless guy. And several other couples, etc., but they were the only ones who wanted to talk to a white foreigner. Everyone else had money, I think. Here's what you drink at this kind of a bar. Beer. Rum and coke. Brandy and "fresh milk." The beer is Belikan which is local (and pretty okay). The brandy is a French brandy, which is bottled in Belize and is quite good. The "fresh milk" is a special kind of Dutch canned milk that isn't condensed (but it still has some of that taste). So I opted for rum and coke and the others were happy to drink along with me. A round is BZ $6.00. You get a hip flask labeled Hennessey brandy, but full of Caribbean white rum, a coke, some plastic glasses and a bowl of ice. So we just sat around out in the courtyard on these rickety old wooden stools and drank rum and coke and talked about Belize's place in the world until I got tired of buying (4 rounds). I was told with great seriousness that the reason the World Bank had stabilized the Belize dollar against the US dollar (a straight 1:2 ratio as you know) was that Belize citrus is the sweetest in the world. Could be true, I guess. Nothing else makes sense except the economy is so small that nobody cares and we had them do it as a hedge against all that unrest in Central America or as a favor to the UK or something. The ride to the party never materialized, so I went home about 1:00. Over the course of the evening, we also made a plan to borrow a boat from some uncle to go to Tobacco Caye the next day to visit another uncle in Capt. Frank's capable hands. I'll tell you about that the next time. |
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