Beautiful Belize, An English Speaking Caribbean Country, Scene of Movie Mosquito Bay and Now The Death of a Policeman

The flag of Belize, featuring mahogany trees used in the logging industry, and the motto Sub Umbra Flores, which is Latin for under the shade I flourish. (Or I flower, but it's a metaphor, so flouish is clearer to some people.) The flag was adopted when British Honduras achieved independence in 1981.

Belize claims that Madonna's song La Isla Bonita (the beautiful island) refers to San Pedro, which is the name of a place on a Caye (which means long island or reef). Diver Jacques Cousteau spoke highly of the Blue Hole on another island off the coast of Belize, Half-Moon Caye. Belize was also the setting for the film The Mosquito Coast. (Yes, Belize has mosquitos.) The Hurricane Flood scene featured Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren.

The bad news about the death of a policeman and the arrest of his companion drew my attention to Belize. 

A grand hotel has just been built there. With Covid-19 I have no likelihood of going there, but it is no less likely a destination that most of the world, and just as easy to research. So let's take a look at what we are all missing.

Belize, formerly British Honduras, is in central America, with the Caribbean on the East, Mexico to the north and Guatemala to the south.

Attractions include ancient caves, Mayan ruins, and modern Mayan descendants of the original Mayans, more than one type.

The main language is English but the country is surrounded by Spanish speaking countries, and the locals speak Mayan or other languages so many people are trilingual or multi-lingual.

Belize City 

The largest city.  

The coastal seaside was hit by Hurricane Hattie in 1961 so the capital with its government offices was moved to a more central and inland location.

Belmopan  - the inland Capital

Some delightful names: the Hummingbird Highway, batty bus, Upside Down tours, and accommodation includes the Bullfrog Inn.

Outside the capital is the zoo.

On this map you can see the Western Highway leading west from Belize city to Belmopan.

San Ignacio

Twin town with bridge across the river to San Elena.

 Belize - Beautiful Belize Was British Honduras A Caribbean Country Where Multi-linguals speak English a, the official language, and Spanish.

Outdoor activities include snorkelling, scuba diving, tubing (floating on tubes like giant lorry wheels) through caves, and riding along zip wires.

The People

I thought the Mayans had died out centuries ago and was fascinated to read that they are still around in Belize.

Shine on Shyne

A member of the Belize Parliament is the rapper Shyne. He was born in Belize. At the age of 13 he learned he had a great grandmother who was from Ethiopia and Jewish. During his childhood, he went to live in New York with his mother. He became a renowned rapper. After a nightclub shooting, he was sent to prison and while there converted to Judaism. He was deported back to Belize, where he became a member of Parliament.

To end on a light note, I found this amusing comment in Wikitravel:

A great deal of confusion amongst travellers has resulted from Belizeans love of the phrase 'right now'. Contrary to most other English speaking countries, in Belize 'right now' does not mean 'immediately' but rather 'soon' or 'in a minute'.

Useful Websites

Alaia Belize, Autograph Collection

$417

28–29 Jun

SEA GRAPE DRIVE, San Pedro, Belize

Luxury Hotels guide offered 60 hotels on June 5th 2021 in San Pedro alone.

https://www.luxuryhotelsguides.com/?ufi=-1150308&gclid=Cj0KCQjwweyFBhDvARIsAA67M72bHIiVAGfsn_k-kAvs1R3s2fdvnBSZk4R0E9oO5WQzrY0XsiglDl8aAoOsEALw_wcB

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g291959-Activities-Belize.html

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g291970-Activities-Belmopan_Cayo.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belize

https://wikitravel.org/en/Belize

The Times, London

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/belize-murder-police-treating-lord-ashcroft-daughter-in-law-as-killer-hclh008lm

Daily Mail

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9653815/TOM-LEONARD-New-details-socialite-police-chief-drinking-buddy.html

wikivoyage

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Ignacio,_Belize

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shyne

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mosquito_Coast_(film)

https://www.ambergristoday.com/content/25-years-ago/2015/october/05/filming-mosquito-coast-san-pedro-ambergris-caye

About the Author

Angela Lansbury, is a semi-retired travel writer still researching bucket list countries and seeking out the special, unusual, people, places,  landmarks, hotels, museums and trails, fabulous foods, recipes, clothes and online souvenir shopping.

Angela Lansbury is a member of Toastmasters International.

About the Author Angela Lansbury

The Author - Quick Quotations

Angela Lansbury B A Hons  is the author of ten books by regular publishers plus another ten self-published books. 

About Angela The Speaker & Trainer

Angela Lansbury is a teacher of English and other languages to Toastmasters clubs and businesses.

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Vice President  Public Relations, Immediate Past President. VPPR

Former Area Director S3. Club Coach for Nee Soon South Toastmasters Club.

Also Member of: TCA Toastmasters Club; Singapore Online Dynamic; Harrovians UK

Past meetings have included Garen Tee on using story telling in business, on bha.learncool.sg . 

Recent meetings of BHA included an educational session on using Powerpoint for posters.

Next BHA meetings, always first Wednesday evening, 7 pm Singapore time. Next meeting is  the third Saturday afternoon, June 19th 2pm Singapore time.  Inauguration of the new committee by the incoming Director of S, plus a lively speech on teamwork.

 

Angela The Blogger 

Angela has several blogs speeches, comedy and song writing and organizing, writing intermittently, but writes almost daily on these three:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

See next post on sculptor Tom Harvey.

Please share links to your favourite posts. 

Singapore Airlines beds, Economy's saved music playlists, free airport butterfly garden, bus stour, and stopover packages

Singapore Airlines 380 with their familiar flying bird logo. Photo from Singapore Airlines.

Problem
The new A380 plane rolls out Dec 18. How do I get to see the new seats in business class? They are not scheduled until Dec 18 2017. I was thinking of waiting until Dec 18 to mention them, but then I thought, if you were considering booking a seat on the 17th, and you could have delayed until the 18th, you'd be really glad to have received the information. Then you could enjoy the status and novelty of being one of the first to try the new seats, as well as enjoying the upgrade.

The seats can be separated, not just the length of your elbow, like in Economy class, but all the way down, for 'privacy'. My first thought was, who needs privacy? If I wanted to be alone I'd have stayed home!

Madonna was just photographed travelling in Economy and she is worth millions. The whole point of travel is to go to new places and meet new people.

 I just received a promotional video from Judy Carter, saying she'd done thousands of pounds of business by networking with somebody she sat next to on a plane. If you are in business class, you should be meeting people who are successful and entrepreneurial and worth meeting.

Then I re-read the email from Singapore Airlines. (I was just about to send it to family overseas who are about to take or book flights when they sent it to me.)

It says you can divide a bed the whole length. Now that's handy. If one of you wants to sleep, but the other one wants to read or watch films.

New Suites - a private cabin. It's a hotel in the air.

In First class you can operate the window shades at the touch of a button.

Economy
How about the majority of us? Flying in economy.

The one thing which doesn't seem any better is those hard armrests, so narrow they seem designed for whichever person gets their arm on first.

However, everything else seems designed with the customer in mind. You can save your favourite play lists. (I would save my play list, if I could decipher the system which seems to require a degree in electronics. It sometimes baffles even the crew, who you would think would be experts. I spend the first hour of any flight trying to find the film I want. First you plus in your headphone, right side of your seat or left, horizontal or vertical. Adjust the headpiece. I forgot to find or buy noise cancelling headphones which give you the music without a dreadful background hiss.

But, hey, if I can master the system, they will save my music playlist, and re-start the film I half saw when I get on the next flight.

You can already book a stopover holiday. Depending on your package (3 levels, like airline seats) you can get accommodation, free transfer back to the airport in a minibus,  hop on and hop off bus, and the premium level gets you free breakfast and return to the airport in a car.

If you can't sty the night in Singapore, but have a few hours to spare, you can get a free tour of the city.

Free Airport Butterly Garden
If you have an hour or two, but not enough time to get to the city, tour it, and come back, a free novelty is the two-level butterfly garden. The tropical conservatory has giant butterflies and information panels, within the airport.

Gardens By The Bay Tickets
If you have a day in Singapore, the top attraction is the Gardens By the Bay. You need to book. It has two areas, one with a multi-storey waterfall and paths and slopes up the different levels. The other is a series of gardens from around the world, again with information panels and selfie points.

Free Waterfront Walk
 If it's too busy, or your time is too short to make it worthwhile to invest in the expensive tickets. a very pleasant and education time can be spent walking around the free outside paths on the waterfront, where plaques tell you stories and myths about the trees and plants from various lands.

Handy Websites
www.singaporeair.com
https://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.