A trip to Spanish Lookout

I took Thursday off, and my friend Bob and I drove up to Spanish Lookout, a settlement about 2-1/2 hours north of us. I went with several objectives, the most important to get new tires for the back of my truck, and to get a kit and tank to convert my truck to burn butane instead of gasoline. My existing rear tires were 9 years old, and had developed cracks on the sidewalls and between the treads. Not too much of an issue in my local driving where I rarely go over 40 MPH, but could be a problem on trips to Dangriga or further. So I but the bullet, and went where they have a modern facility and also can balance them, which is unheard of locally. In fact, it was the most pleasant tire buying experience I’ve had – I pulled up and was waved into an open bay (they had 8). An attendant asked what I wanted, I told him the brand and type , we went and looked at the options and prices, I selected what I wanted and they went to work. Chatted for a while with the attendant, who had never seen snow. Process took about 30 minutes, went into the showroom and paid the cashier. Tires were Hankook brand, which from the internet and conversations with locals, seems to be a good brand, and the tires, balancing etc cost $262.75 ea., plus 10% GST (General Sales Tax) Those are Belize dollars – US would be half of that.


I should note before rambling on that Spanish Lookout is a Mennonite community. It is very prosperous, clean, and largely agricultural. There is one oil well in Belize, and it’s in
Spanish Lookout. We saw a few horsedrawn buckboards, so there is even diversity within the Mennonites, since we saw just as many all terrain vehicles being driven on the roads. Many women store clerks wear a black headpiece on the backs of their heads. It is probably the greatest concentration of white people in the country, although there were many Mestizos and a lesser number of Creoles mixed in.


We left there and went to a business that supplies equipment to the butane gas industry. Bought some valves for our butane distributorship, and a kit to convert my truck. Why convert? The price of gasoline here is $8.73 BZD a gallon, so the 260 mile round trip cost slightly more than $150 for gas. If I paid retail for butane, it would cost me $5.75/gal., but it actually costs me less because one of our businesses is a butane distributorship. I’ll get about 20% less miles per gallon, and the setup will allow me to burn butane or gasoline with the flip of a switch. It will be installed by the mechanic for the butane business. It’s also cleaner burning than gasoline. I also got a 30 gallon used tank, and with our company discount, the whole rig cost a little less than $1000 BZD. I’ll save that in the first year.


We then went to the local “Farmers Trading Post”, which is the best supermarket in the community. Was still a disappointment compared to Brodies in Belize City. Just the same, they had the kind of chocolate pudding that has to be cooked, so I bought 8 boxes. Had not found that kind anywhere else in the country, so it was a great find. From there we went to a health food store Bob had heard about – he takes lots of supplements. In addition to hundreds of supplements, they had maple syrup from Canada, Tom’s of Maine toothpaste, and Arrowhead Mills Rye flour. I had brought a supply of maple syrup with me, but bought the latter two. When we left I took a picture of their store:

And then took pictures of the landscape looking east

South...

And west toward the hills in Guatemala...

From there we went to lunch at the Golden Corral restaurant, which contained a microcosm of Belizean ethnic groups. Then on the Western Dairies ice cream stand. They are the supplier of dairy products in the country, and I got a 2 scoop cup of butter crunch with chocolate sauce for $3 BZD. A good deal! Met our employee Keila there, with her baby, baby sitter, and boyfriend’s mother. Then followed her back to their house, where the mother has a pet spider monkey. That’s another story.

Then we headed back home, with an errand stop in the capitol “city”, Belmopan. The drive from Belmopan south along what is called the Hummingbird Highway is really quite beautiful, although there are no turnouts to stop and take pictures. You pass through mountainous jungle country, with steep sided hills with dense growth falling down to the road

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In all, a good trip through some beautiful country. Of course, I can't end without mentioning the sky - clouds here tend to be the big cumulous clouds, and on the way north at 6:30 AM they were backlit by the rising sun. Later on an otherwise sunny day we saw a partial rainbow formed below a cloud in the distance. The late afternoon light in the mountains made them even more spectacular.

Made my first box of chocolate pudding that night.