I've just put some more of the little video clips I took on my trip up on YouTube, though YouTube seems to have done me the favour of reducing the image quality of them all, but never mind. You can see the videos I've uploaded here if you're interested.
I've also been sorting through some of my photos since I've arrived home, and here's a few I took in Belize, of Garifuna drumming and dancing that required some photo shopping to become visible, still not brilliant, but the results have some interesting effects.
Oops, I guess I should finish this blog thing off on the off chance anyone still reads it.
So I landed back in Mexico from my month in Cuba a bit thinner, a bit more tanned, a lighter rucksack, and to be honest, getting tired of being on the road, and being in Latin America and being with Latin Americans.
I had the opportunity to do some volunteer work teaching software engineering in a charity in Nicaragua, which would have added another 6 weeks minimum onto the end of trip. It was something I really wanted to do; volunteer work had been high on the priority list for my trip, and the work involved would even have been good enough to make it on to the CV. But my self-imposed 6 month (ish) time limit on the trip had been and gone, and my thoughts had already turned strongly to heading back home. I could leave saving the world to a later date I thought. So heading home it was to be. It was then just the issue of finding the cheapest one way ticket(s) back home - which turned out to be a flight up to California, then a reasonably priced ticket from LA to London.
Belize
I had a week to kill before taking a flight from the south of Mexico up to San Diego. Now I don't class myself as a passport-stamp-junky, but Belize was the only country left which I hadn't been to, it was close, it had a Afro-Caribbean-English culture, and another stamp would fill up the back page of my passport quite nicely. Belize is here by the way.
I knew nothing of Belize when I crossed its northern border from Mexico (and I still know only a little more), I'd heard rumours some form of English was spoken here, and they listen to Reggae. I was tired of being on the move all the time, so I was determined to spend my week in Belize staying in the same place, in the same room...and of course that didn't happen.
My first stop was Belize city, the biggest place in Belize, which I thought would surely be adequate for my weeks stay. Its not really on the tourist map as a place to stay, but that didn't bother me; I was fed up of being a tourist anyway. I had visions of hanging out in local bars every night, drinking the local ale and loosing at pool with the locals.
Typical house in Belize City
You probably didn't know it, but Belize was one of ours until recently - it got its own independence from the British in the early 80's, though is still in the Commonwealth and has Her Majesty as the head of state. The official language is actually English - though five minutes on a bus or walking down any street will leave you confused - the radio stations are broadcast in the Caribbean equivalent of the 'Queen's English', the Creole's speak Belizean Creole English (which might as well be Arabic for all that an English speaker can understand), the Mestizos are speaking their Spanish, the Garifuna are speaking their own mystical Garifuna language, and the Mayans choosing from one of their 25 languages (English gets you around here, with Spanish proving an infrequently useful tool). And to add to the mix (and the variety of restaurants), there is a large number of Indian and Chinese immigrants. All this makes for a refreshing and interesting cultural smack in the face.
Belize was a bit of a shock at first, having just come from Cuba; one of, if not the most strictly enforced communist states in the world, where literally everybody is equal in terms of wealth and quality of life (all be it an incredibly low quality - in my opinion), to Belize; a highly corrupt capitalist country where inequality is the name of the game. In Belize City at least as in the rest of Latin America, there is a huge difference in wealth and numbers of the rich and poor. The few rich dodge the extremely poor on the pot-holed roads in their 4x4's as they commute between their large homes and office jobs.
After four days in Belize City I'd had enough, I'd never been in a town with so many apparent homeless people, each with their own unique story of addiction, betrayal, bad luck and bad choices. My best friends consisted of Prince; an ex-cocaine and gambling addict hustling the rich and the visiting for money and food, Edwin; an ex-convict selling hand made jewellery on the streets, and Harry; an elderly, polite though unintelligible tramp with less than a few teeth left. Apparently, Harry used 'to be up' when he was younger (meaning he was successful with some money and a business), though now he lived on the streets begging, and no-one remembered the story of how he ended up their.
Harry - a lover of diet coke
He survives by offering to guess the capital city of a country of your choice in exchange for a few dollars. Not being one for just handing out money, I offered to buy him food instead. Over the course of the next 3 days, Harry ate whatever I was eating, and after 3 days I think I was starting to ruin his image; he could hardly beg on the streets claiming hunger, whilst sporting a large carrier bag full of packets of coconut cream biscuits, a modest collection of tropical fruits and a healthy supply of cheese and ham sandwiches (with mayonnaise I might add).
The food in Belize is unsurprisingly poor, with the ever predictable rice and beans forming the basis, if not the entirety of each meal of the day for local people. An amusing item of Belizean cuisine is the difference between 'rice and beans' and 'beans and rice', the difference being the way in which the beans are prepar... oh it's really not worth the effort of explaining.
I had about 4 days left to spend in Belize, and after a near-violent encounter with a beggar, I decided my time in Belize City should come to an end, and headed for Hopkins, a village further south on the Belizean coast. Hopkins is populated by the Garifuna people, an intriguing 'Amerindian and African' race of people populating the Caribbean coast of Central America (Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua) and nearby islands, upholding their own language, lifestyle and music and dance traditions.
Local kids playing on Hopkins beach
Typical house in Hopkins
Those living in Hopkins, a small village not yet reached by paved roads, lived in a different world from those driving their all terrain vehicles dressed in suites in down town Belize City. The Garifuna are master fishermen and harvesters of the Caribbean coast; snorkeling and spear-gunning a stingray, then filleting it on an upturned canoe at the back of the beach ready for the evening meal was second nature, and an everyday occurrence. What they eat depends on what they catch each day, which in turn depends on the conditions at sea; a storm out in the Caribbean means choppier waters on shore, when fish are less likely to bite so crab and lobster are on the menu. In the morning you might be diving for sharks, in the afternoon out harvesting in the banana plantations, cutting crops with your machete or putting up a thatched roof on the community temple. There was also a strong tradition of arts and crafts in the village; wood carvings and paintings; the expert thatcher was also a dab hand at painting the local wildlife.
They were paid for the work they did, though they didn't treat money in the same way we in the west might; if you had money in your pocket, then it was used to buy the beers that evening, ensuring everyone at the bar got one, anything left at the end of the evening would be handed out at random on your drunken stagger home.
At first glance you could say this was a complete lack of responsibility towards you and your family's future, an illogical waste of time, an ignorant disregard for improving your situation and quality of life; a behaviour close to insanity (not to mention the unhealthy past time of alcoholism). Or you could admire them for their apparent complete freedom from materialism.
A night of drumming, dancing, singing and drinking in the local bar in Hopkins. Ok, so its too dark and you can't see much, but you get the sound.
Californication
It was then to California for a week, staying with friends near San Diego. I met Al while studying Spanish at the start of my trip in Venezuela; he was a fellow student, though one with a difference. After what sounded like a distinguished career as a psychologist, he had decided on a career change to I.T. via a return to university; and finished the last 10 years of his working life as a consultant for one of the most prestigious technology companies in the world. That's not to mention the enthusiastic pursuit of other interests from playing sports, film making, acting, Spanish, international politics, oh and raising a bunch of successful kids as well.
My weeks at Spanish school in Venezuela were spent in cafes talking and listening in English to Al trying to take in and learn as much about the world and life as I could - my Spanish could wait. I was left with an open invitation to visit Al and his wife at their home just north of San Diego, and a stones throw from the Californian coast. With the financial benefits of flying home from L.A., I saw my opportunity to take up this invitation for a week.
I was nothing but impressed with southern California; if I was to live in the States, that's were it would be. I couldn't see the logic of not living there. Perfect weather 362.75 days of the year, miles and miles of great beaches with the sea temperature at an acceptable level, spectacular mountain ranges in striking distance, and a healthy helping of friendly, polite and interesting people.
The highlight of the week was a 15 mile hike with Al's wife Kathy up and down Mt. San Jacinto, you can view my photos to see how beautiful the scenery was. And here's a little movie from the summit:
So that just about covers the end of my travels, of course there's tons more that I never wrote about, but I will probably do another post or two in the next few days, so watch out.
