Responses to comments..

I receive the comments people post on this blog as e-mails, but if they are not sent to me directly by the senders, I can’t reply, except through the blog. That’s what I’m doing here, in part because the responses to the comments or questions will probably be of interest to other readers as well. I should note that I am truly impressed with those that have written and said they have read the entire blog – perhaps I should say honored, because that’s a lot of reading and I am glad it has been interesting enough to read through.

Yesterday I posted detailed information I had gathered about bus transportation from Cancun to Belize. Gary from British Columbia is coming to Belize via Cancun, but I thought the information could be helpful to others as well.

A while back Val wrote, if I can paraphrase, that it must be difficult living in an environment surrounded by poverty. I think poverty can be expressed as a relative state of existence as well as a state of mind, and third world poverty is not as jarring as first world poverty. In Portland, Maine, a fairly affluent city where I moved from, there was a significant homeless population, some of whom spent the night in shelters in the city, and others who camped out in the woods where they could hide or find privacy. We would most often cross paths at the supermarket, where they would bring bottles to return for cash. People here in Belize don’t freeze to death, and I’m not aware of a homeless population, but on the other hand, there is a dramatic discrepancy in the housing stock. I give rides to guys who pick up bottles for cash, and take them home.


If the ex-pats weren’t here, building homes and businesses, there would be less work available, and less money to purchase necessities in this country with a minimal manufacturing base. At least here on the Placencia Peninsula, I don’t sense resentment as much as a sense of acceptance that that is the way things are. Seine Bight is a village where there is a poverty of existence, but not of mind. I used to live on the edge of it, and when I picked up residents who did not know me, they would sometimes ask me if I was from Maya Beach. Maya Beach is an area that was subdivided many years ago, with canals dug, roads built, land filled. Then the developer failed, but what was left was a pattern of land use and ownership dominated by small resorts on the ocean side and ex-pat homes on the lagoon side. There is not an historical Creole, Garifuna or Mestizo village. Now that I live in Maya Beach, at least for the time being, I am a bit embarrassed to admit to those who ask that I do live here. The best strategies for intellectually and/or emotionally dealing with the pervasive poverty of existence are either to build businesses that can then employ locals, or to mentor kids in school and help them learn to read. The educational system teaches people to be employees, and there is not the entrepreneurial dna, or ambition, that exists in the US or Canada. Belizeans who have that dna have moved to the US.


Yesterday I took the fabric I bought in Belize City to a woman in Seine Bight who does sewing. She was an older woman, and her son and granddaughter and a grandson were there, and I’m not sure how many lived in the house, which had no windows, but did have shutters. My focus was on explaining the way I wanted my curtains made, and not on assessing the condition of the house, but it was standard I don’t think I could live at. They did have a TV. What is most important to this discussion is that it was fairly typical housing in the community, although there are homes that are better and worse in the mix. This is because within each ethnic group there are folks at all socio-economic levels. Proportions vary by group, and resentments, or envy, may be directed more toward those higher on the economic ladder than on those of a particular ethnic group. I say “may”, because I don’t see or hear it. People who don’t accept and value people for who they are, and treat others with kindness, don’t get along. But where isn’t that true?

A following question from Bob related to the availability of rental housing such as the place I’m living in. Right now, it would be hard to find places like mine, especially from a distance. When I walk down the beach, I see second homes that are not occupied, and wonder if the owners would rent if they had a local agent who could market and oversee the property. This may change as condominiums get built, and investors seek a return through rentals. The problem will be dealing with the desire of the owners to get maximum short term return with weekly rentals, or if they would be satisfied with longer, more modest return from a single tenant. Before I arranged my current rental, which is a house our company built, which costs me $400 USD per month, I had tentatively been offered a condo for the same price. The deal fell through when they were offered $1200 USD /month for the same place. I’m glad it fell through, because I like my new setup. There are many smaller cabanas and units available for rent, but second homes are rare. You can find lots of accommodations on the Placencia Tourism office website.

Sandy and her husband are building a house here in Maya Beach, but I haven’t noticed any tattooed ladies at the little market. I have a big mustache, so perhaps we will connect! I shop at the new Chinese mini-mart.

Jamie expressed appreciation for the cultural anthropological bent of some of my postings, which I appreciate. It’s one of the elements about Belize that I really like. I have a step-daughter who graduated from U Penn with a degree in Cultural Anthropology, so it is a subject close to my heart, as she is. I should also not that I work for my step-son (from a different marriage), who graduated from UNH with a double major in outdoor recreation and cultural anthropology. His thesis project was a proposal to create an eco-tourism business in Belize. After graduation he came here to see if he could do it. That didn’t work out, but he now employs 19 Belizeans plus me in two enterprises, and that number will grow. I was very fortunate because I knew what skill Bradley needed (as well as the larger community), and I reinvented myself with that skill before coming here. Belize is an entrepreneurs playground – but it is best to be here for a while to determine what skill, service or product is needed in sufficient quantity to generate a living. Cost of living here is less than in the states or provinces, in part because there aren’t many places to spend money. I recall someone asking if they could live on $2000 USD/month. That would work if they had a moderately priced rent. I’m living on a little more than half that.


A final question related to my ability to maintain my spiritual side. In Portland, an urban environment, I met my spiritual needs through my involvement with my local Unitarian-Universalist Church (www.firstparishportland.org) , and through a 22 year membership in my Double Dozen group of AA. There isn’t a church here with a theology anything like mine, and while the AA here isn’t as spiritually sustaining as my old group, it does in a pinch. I do have things I read, particularly the sermons of the inspired late minister of my church in Portland, which he posted on line. Spending a few minutes on the veranda morning and evening looking out over the lagoon at sunrise and sunset are certainly good for my soul. I’m grateful to be in the environment I’m in.