I couldn't help myself...

Once again a delay in posting here, this time because I am starting two businesses I had not expected to start. Last Wednesday, following my 5PM AA meeting, I wanted to stop someplace to eat. However, I wasn't feeling adventurous, and didn't want to go to my reliable place, Wendy's, and have the fabulous sauted fish with lime sauce. What I wanted was a menu guide. So over the next three days I created Placencia Marketing Insights to produce a menu guide, and Food to Go, a delivery service formed in partnership with a couple that own a local wine bar/restaurant. By Monday I had a mockup of the guide and am getting quotes for printing it. By this coming Monday I'll have established the prices for inclusion of menus and listings, and will start hustling it to the restaurants.

It is a much needed publication because there is no regular media restaurants can advertise in, and those out of the village, particularly, need a way to reach the tourists who pass through in the heart of the season. Expats I have talked to love the idea - some nights you don't want to cook, or go out, and to have a menu, and then have the dinner delivered, has great appeal. This is a service available all over the U.S., if it is available in Portland (Maine) it is not been promoted properly. So my time has been consumed putting that together.

Life has gone on - perhaps not the best choice of words to use in talking about the local cemetery. Our Rotary club spent Saturday cleaning and raking the cemetery, cleaning the fence etc. It is very small, but remarkably sustainable. Back in Maine, the temperature of the ground deeper than 4 feet is 54 degrees (F), but here it is much warmer. That means that bodies tend to decompose faster. In the following photograph you can see sand (the ambient soil) mounds for graves, as well as concrete coffins or covers, I'm not sure which. The small blue one you see is for a baby who was either still born or died at birth. As you can well imagine, the sand mounds have a tendency flatten over time, and because there are no plans or maps of the cemetery showing where people are buried, it is not unheard of for a grave to be dug, with pieces of bone in the diggings.

As you can see in this picture, even the concrete ones can be swallowed by the earth.

One of the Rotarians helped with a burial - they hit the water table 1-1/2 feet down, and with some difficulty dug a grave 4 feet deep. When they put the wooden coffin in, it floated, so they had to pile sand on top of it to sink it.

What I find very interesting is how death is referred to - people's birth dates and death dates are given - it is their sunrsie and sunset. So my sunrise is April 20, 1945. Unless there is some catastrophy that befalls me, it'll be a while before my sunset, and who knows where that will be.

Enough about death - or sunsets. Here's a picture of two people with interesting stories. The gentleman is Harald, the current president of our Rotary Club. She is Sandi, the immediate past President. Fifteen or so years ago she was hitchhiking around Central America, stopped in Belize, and never left. She manages a local airline terminal at the airstrip, and sells quality shrimp on the side. Harald came to Belize, or should I say British Honduras, 35 years ago. At that time

none of the roads in the country were paved, and in the rainy season it was quite possible to get trapped between rivers when rains in the mountains caused the rivers to submerge bridges. At that time there was a narrow gauge railroad that served the banana plantations. The railroad is no more, but the bridges are still in use as part of the highway - and are one lane wide, probably not much more than 8.5 feet, if that. Harald came because he wanted to be a bush pilot. That didn't happen, but somehow he ended up in Placencia, which at the time was a remote fishing village accessible by boat or a foot trail. Four wheel drive was required, and every week he would buy fish from the fishermen, truck it through the brush up the peninsula, and take it to other towns in the country and sell it. The "road" started in Maya Beach, about 10 miles north of Placencia, and he had a trailer there and would use it as well, bringing back fruit and vegetables and other goods to Placencia. He would have to unhitch the trailer in Maya Beach, and then shuttle back and forth to get the stuff to Placencia. Now he has Placencia's answer to WalMart - his store sells groceries, alcohol, hardware, lumber, appliances, furniture, housewares - and his daughter runs the pharmacy upstairs. They are good people. (Harald and Sandi are not a couple.)

A word about sleeping - For most of my life I've cuddled under a pile of quilts and blankets, warding off the cold. Exceptions in the short Maine summer, though it was only a handful of nights each summer when a sheet would do, or not. Now I go to sleep on top of the bed in my shorts, ceiling fans and a pedestal fan creating a caressing breeze. Occasionally I wake up and have to get under the sheet if it has gotten so cool that the fans are uncomfortable. This time of year I have to keep the east widows closed because thunderstorms can blow through in the night. As I write this the wind is blowing 19 knots with gusts to near 30. In a few minutes when I finish this I will go up on the roof and enjoy the wind, and watching distant flashes of lightning. Then to bed - a truly sensual experience.

Belize's diversity (continued)

I’m sort of astonished that back on June 22nd I started a description about the ethnic groups that make up the wonderfully diverse population of Belize. Since then I’ve been interrupted by Honduran politics, the office flood, Lobsterfest and the failure of our wireless router. So if you missed that 6/22 post, and want a little background to what follows here, check it out. On this post I want to talk about the Garifuna, and on the other end of the spectrum, the ex-pats.
The Garifuna were brought to the “New World” from Africa on two Spanish slave ships in 1635. The ships were wrecked and the Africans were able to escape and settled on the nearby British held island of St. Vincent. Successive generations intermingled with the Black Caribs, who were themselves Arawaks and Caribs from South America. Certain elements of the African culture, such as drum based music, have carried through to the present day. In 1797 the British drove the entire population of Garifuna from St. Vincent, depositing them on what is now Honduras. From there they spread along the coast, with settlements in that country, Guatemala, and in southern British Honduras (Belize). Women are dominant in the culture, historically they were the heads of household, raising food while the men fished. The villages were only accessible by water until recent times.
The biggest Garifuna settlements are Punta Gorda in the south, Dangriga to our north, and Seine Bight, where I am located. British colonial policy had much to do with keeping the Garifuna isolated in their fishing villages, although they are now connected by road with the rest of the country and world, the culture persists.
Several years ago a musician named Andy Palacio was instrumental (no pun intended) in promoting a resurgence of the language and culture. I don’t know if I mentioned it in an earlier post, but when my step grandson Peter graduated from pre-school here at the Seine Bight school, part of the program was having the kids recite various things. They recited the days of the week in English, the official language of Belize, to modest applause, then in Spanish to cheers, and finally in Garifuna, to enthusiastic cheers. It was neat to be there.
Yesterday Bradley and Rilda had a party here at the house, and one of the participants was from the village, in part because he comes over to play volleyball. At 9:30 or 10 he disappeared, then reappeared with a friend and two drums. They were both homemade, but typical in construction. Hollowed out logs with a deerskin drum head on one end, and 3 cords across the head to give a snare effect. One drum was bigger, and was played for a drone effect, while the melody was played on the smaller one. Here’s a photo.

They sang, first in Garifuna, and later in Creol. Several of the Garifuna songs were call and response, either between the two of them, or between them and the rest of us. It was surprising how the melodies were more than coaxed out of the smaller drum. I should note that the smaller drum was played with a higher intensity than the larger one, and they traded drums from time to time.

About ex-pats...
Ambergris Caye, in the northern part of the country, is more highly developed than Placencia, and probably has the greatest concentration of ex-pats, but not having been there, I can’t speak to it. Here on the 15 mile long Placencia Peninsula, there is a growing population some who have been here for a long time, such as my step son Bradley. There are probably as many, if not more, Canadians as Americans, with many from the western prairie provinces. Bradley says I’m learning Creol (aka Kriol) with a Canadian accent. They have either retired here because of the favorable arrangements the government has, or they have come and purchased or started businesses. A young couple I’ve gotten to know have a wine bar/restaurant in Placencia village – they are from California, but will be on an annual vacation in Maine next month. At the end of our driveway is an Austrian restaurant created by a young Austrian couple – here’s her picture from last night’s party:

Their story? He is a trained Marine Biologist, she has a business management background. They were well paid but bored in Vienna, and after some research moved to Australia, where they were involved in the diving industry. However, housing costs were extremely high, and the costs of starting or acquiring a business were prohibitive. So they did more research and decided to visit Belize, which allows a non-citizen to own 100% of a business and the land it sits on, unlike other neighboring countries that limit a non-citizen’s stake to 49%. Ambergris Caye was too busy, and expensive, so they came to Placencia, which is growing fast. They were also attracted to the largest reef in the western hemisphere, just off the coast of Belize. They bought land, built a combination restaurant and home, and opened “The Danube”. So I can walk down the driveway and have “wiener schnitzel”.

The ex-pats tend to be the drivers of the local economy – the ones who have the combination of creative ideas and the courage, capital and business acumen to convert them into reality. I was quite surprised at a semi-annual meeting of the local tourism organization that white people represented at least 80 percent of the (50?) people there.
Although there is poverty here, it is not so pervasive or dominant that it has led to micro-financing NGOs establishing programs to lift people out of poverty. One of the things that drives Bradley is the desire to start businesses that will employee local people and pay them as generously as possible.

That’s it for this post – for more information about the Garifuna, Google the term. To learn more about ex-pats, move to Belize and you’ll be one! It is a land of opportunity for entrepreneurs!

I'm back!

Took a while to get internet connectivity back here at home, but at last I'm back on line. My normal routine is to read the New York Times on line when I have my morning coffee, and I've missed it. It's been so busy at work I haven't really had the time to post from there. In spite of the busy-ness, I took last Friday off and, with a friend from my local Rotary Club, drove to Belize City to do a little shopping. It's a 2 to 3-1/2 hr drive, so not something you do too often with gasoline costing $9.50 BZD/gal - which is $4.25 USD. Got a salad spinner, a new rolling pin, some real charcoal, and foods I can't get locally, like all beef hot dogs, peanut oil, white tuna in water, alfredo sauce, blue cheese salad dressing, seedless grapes and egg noodles. The biggest "supermarket" in Belize, Brodies, was originally established in the 1880's, and is true to its history of featuring foods from "away", because they are supposedly better. I took note that a large box of Kelloggs Corn Flakes was from the US, and cost $14 BZD, while I buy the same product and size, but made in Guatemala, costs me $8.60 BZD in Placencia. It was no longer possible to buy that large size in Portland (Me), before I left. I was also able to buy a copy of "Home Cooking in the Global Village - Belizean Food from Buccaneers to Ecotourists" at the publisher's bookstore. It is a wonderful book - I recently read a borrowed copy and wanted my own, in part because it includes a very good history of Belize, and by extension, the British Empire.
The sky continues to be quite wonderful. Although we are in the rainy season, today was sunny, but tonight some rain squalls have passed through. Many nights I've gone up on the roof before going to bed, and watched the heat lightning jump between the puffy clouds in the night sky, with patches of stars as well. Really quite wonderful.
That's it for tonight, more to come!

Quick post from office

Have to be brief this morning - I'm posting from work because our wireless router at home died, and getting a functional replacement is a challenge. Most interesting thing from the last couple of days is that we're in the rainy season, and yesterday morning woke up to overcast skies and a drizzle rain. I've been here almost four months, and that was a first! By afternoon the sun was out again. Very windy thunderstorms last night gave way to clear skies this morning, so clear it was easy to see the Maya Mountains in the west, and the mountains of Honduras in the south.

One unusual impact of the recent rain has been in our office. There was no sill on our doorway, which leads from an exterior roofed hallway that is exposed on the east side. All the floors are tile. For two nights in a row the rain blew into the hallway, flowed under our door, with the result being a half inch of water in the far end of our office. Here's a picture of the space:

The landlord installed a sill yesterday, and drilled a hole in the wall in the exterior hallway so water would drain off instead of building up. The whole issue goes back to the earthquake - the whole building tilted slightly, about 3" from front to back, not enough to notice, until water flows under the door!

That's it for now - hopefully we'll be up and running at home again soon so I can do a longer post.

Honduras

I am quite aware that the U.S. press gives a limited version of events, especially international. Honduras is a neighbor of Belize, and also much bigger, with 7.2 million people vs Belize's 275,000. The recent coup there has been in our papers as well, but I thought the following perspective was the most comprehensive I've read. It comes from a newsletter of the Adelante Foundation (adelantefoundation.org/), which is a microfinance agency operating in Honduras. If you are not familiar with microfinance, check out their website, and/or google the term.


With all the civil wars and role of the military in our neighbors, Belize, as a member of the British Commonwealth, has remained a island (figuratively) of stability in the region. The army, known as the Belize Defense Force, has a facility next to the international airport, but I don't recall ever seeing them anywhere else. Police presence is barely adequate. The contrast between Mexico and Guatemala, and Belize, is quite striking. All that said, here is a piece about Honduras that tells a little more about what is going on than you have probably heard about. I've had trouble posting the title and author of this piece, so here it is in the body of this paragraph: What's Going On - An Insider's Account of the Recent Events in Honduras, by Sophia Anderson.

Honduran President, Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales, known as "Mel" to most Hondurans, was ousted from power this past Sunday, June 28. In the early hours of the morning, he was woken up by military officers, forcibly taken from his home in pajamas, and placed on a plane headed for San Jose, Costa Rica, where he was placed in exile. Later that morning, the Honduran Congress held an emergency session in which they read and approved a letter of resignation written by Zelaya (although he categorically denies having written it). In the afternoon, according to the succession of power outlined in the Constitution, the President of Congress, Roberto Micheletti, was appointed as interim president until the next election is held in November.

In order to fully understand what is being presented by much of the international press as a gross violation of democracy, one must examine the events leading up to Sunday. Honduras' Constitution currently states a presidential limit of one term. Zelaya has been trying for months to gain support of a referendum vote to modify the Constitution. The desired outcome of this modification includes a re-election and potential indefinite presidential stay in power - similar to dictators such as Hugo Chavez, Zelaya's close political ally, and Fidel Castro.

Furthermore, Zelaya has been widely criticized for his blatant abuse of power and obsession with winning the upcoming referendum vote at the expense of his other responsibilities. Without an approved federal budget in place, Zelaya has been spending government funds at will. Most notably, government workers who had not received a salary in several months due to supposed lack of funds were paid 300-500 Lempiras ($15-25) in exchange for marching in a pro-referendum demonstration. Meanwhile, hundreds of Hondurans severely affected by the May 28 earthquake and thousands more in subsequent danger of flooding from destroyed levees of Ulúa River were completely ignored.

In the weeks before the referendum vote, it became clear that Zelaya did not have legal grounds to hold an election. Although the Constitution can be modified, the Supreme Court declared Zelaya's referendum illegal because the President does not have authority to propose such modifications and, even if he did, it must be approved by Congress. In addition, the Attorney General supported the Supreme Court's decision and declared that he would prosecute anyone involved in carrying out the illegal vote.

Just a few days before the referendum vote, the Head of the Armed Forces, Romeo Vasquez, declared that he would not participate in the logistics of making an illegal election take place (a role traditionally carried out by the military). Zelaya responded by firing him and refused to reinstate Vasquez on the Supreme Court's order. Shortly thereafter, the Defense Minister and Heads of the Navy and Air Force also resigned.

On Friday, June 26, in a desperate attempt to carry out his illegal referendum vote despite widespread opposition, Zelaya led a crowd of supporters to a military compound near the airport in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa. They successfully took possession of the country's ballot boxes and distributed them, along with thousands of illegal ballots that had been sent from Venezuela by Hugo Chavez, throughout Honduras for Sunday's illegal vote.
The international community, including the Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union, has been quick to condemn what they are calling a military coup, while the new administration insists it was not a coup because Zelaya was clearly warned beforehand about the potential consequences if he carried out his illegal referendum vote. Furthermore, the military is not ruling the country. Rather, an interim president has been appointed to govern until the next election in November. The OAS has called for Zelaya to be returned to the Presidency and will hold a meeting in Washington D.C. to discuss the crisis.

The United States, while condemning Sunday's actions as illegal, has stopped short of officially declaring a coup, which would require the U.S. to cut off millions of dollars of aid to Honduras, where over half the population lives in extreme poverty. The U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, indicated U.S. reluctance to returning Zelaya to the Presidency when she said, "We haven't laid out any demands that we're insisting on, because we're working with others on behalf of our ultimate objectives." President of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington D.C., Peter Hakim, summarized the international community's predicament by saying that Zelaya had been "fighting with all institutions in the country" and that "he's in no condition to really govern. At the same time to stand by and allow him to be pushed out by the military reverses a course of 20 years."

In Honduras, there is a sense of tense anticipation over what is to come. Monday, while Micheletti was naming his new cabinet, an estimated 1,500 pro-Zelaya demonstrators were sprayed with tear gas by soldiers attempting to control the protests outside the Presidential Palace in Tegucigalpa. A nationwide 48-hour curfew was imposed from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. starting Sunday evening and is likely to be extended. Meanwhile citizens throughout the country have been lining up at grocery stores and gas stations to stock up on fuel and supplies as they wait to see what will happen next. As these events unfold, Adelante will continue to support our clients and work to improve the standard of living of the extreme poor.