Wassup Taliban!

Hey all. This is the greeting most often heard on the streets of San Ignacio, Belize. I asked people if they ever got offended being called the name of a repressive fundementalist cult and they looked at me like I was insane and said 'it's just a joke'.

I've been told that my blog was too short last time. I was just tired. I'll give you all more detail today. So over the weekend I decided to stay in San Ignacio and see some of inland Belize. THis was mainly because I'd forgotten that Belize doesn't have any ATM's and since it was the weekend I couldn't get any money out of the bank so I was virtually penniless. I found a nice health food, coffee, internet and tour place that takes visa card though so I did some souvenier shopping, webbing, and booked a tour all on my visa.

This was on Saturday night. I hung around the shop till it nearly closed and then went out looking for something to eat. I'd decided on Chinese and was heading to the resturant when I heard someone call my name (a very rare event when you're travelling on your own). It was Miriam and Eff from the health food shop. Turns out they were also heading for the same Chinese restaurant and they invited me to join them. Miriam is originally Dutch and has moved out here with her whole family - sister, husband and parents. They own the shop and a real estate business in town (anyone want to buy their own island, you can have a slice of Belize on the Carribean for only $250, 000 US). Eff is 17 and originally from El Salvador. He's a lot of fun. After dinner they were going to the movies. The movie theatre is one of only 2 in the country. Actually it's more like a bare concrete room with folding chairs and a big screen TV. It's boiling hot in there and so there's about 5 fans going at full blast so you can hardly hear the film. We watched Antwone Fisher, which unfortunately is very talk heavy, but it was fun. Not even the mouse scuttering around on the floor was a problem.

Then went to a bar called the Culture Club for a drink. Listened to reggae music and avoided the rastafarian hustlers looking to sell dope. It was a really nice night out. Miriam and Eff were so friendly.

Yesterday, I went on a tour of the countryside with a nice Canadian couple from Saskatoon (on the Prairies) and Gonzo, the very knowlegable guide.

Belize is really beautiful but like most majority world countries it is being eaten alive by private companies and unscrupulous dealing. Gonzo was telling us that everything is privatised, even the caves and stuff like the marine terminal, so that when the cruise ships dock they pay a corporations and the country gets nothing. He was also telling us that much of the land we were passing through (rainforest) is going to be flooded for a huge (and obviously unneccesary) dam project. Grr.

On the way to the Bartons Creek cave we passed an Amish community. Apparently there's lots of Amish and Mennonites in Belize, tehy moved here in the 1950's. It was fascinating to see all these people and the simpler life they lead (although the differences in orthodoxies was interesting - the Mechanised Mennonites will use motorised vehicles like tractors but will often put iron wheels on them, whilst the Amish eschew motors and use horse and buggy, but put rubber tractor tires on them!).

It was sunday so when we passed through they were all at Church. The churched has a hat rack outside and all their straw hats were lined up in rows. They don't like their picture being taken (understandable) and they ask that people passing their land dress 'appropriately' but they were also very curious about us, at the church door as we passed were 20 or so blond, germanic faces watching us go.

The cave was beautiful, we paddled in on inflatable kayaks. Sometimes the roof is 100 metres over head and sometimes you have to crouch right down to get through. The stalatites and other formations were just spetacular, you can't imagine that rock could be so fragile. There were also some Mayan relics in the cave including pots and a skull. It was really incredible.

After this we had lunch at a really fancy resort called the five sisters and then went to a waterfall called big rock falls for a swim. I was really nice. On the way back we passed the resort owned by Francis Ford Copala (of 'Godfather' fame) and its private airstrip. It looks like it's pretty spectacular. Would have been more so I've sure before a bug-born disease killed most of the huge pine trees in the forest. THe hills look pretty bare now. I wonder what Copala thinks of that.

Lots of big stars come to Belizze apparently. Everyone has stories of seeing Camran Diaz on the street or taking Robin Williams on jungle treks.

So now I'm back in the health food shop. Have got some money out of the bank so I feel liquid again. Have to go back to the hostel and pack my things for the beach.