9/29/22: Belize's Slave History

After a relaxing day visiting Belize's much ballyhooed Caye Caulker, Steven and I explored the meager sights in Belize City. Also difficult to find were any food options close to where we had stayed for a couple of nights. This local takeout worked okay for breakfast.

Views along the seawall walking into town en route to the Museum of Belize:

The Museum of Belize was formerly known as the Belize Prison in 1857 but was substantially enlarged in 1887 with the addition of more cells for men and women. The prison was moved a century later to Haiteville where we had seen it the previous day. The building didn't become the Museum of Belize until early 2001.

The museum focused on the country's history of slavery. 'Imported' African labor was the basis for developing and expanding the timber industry when they arrived in the settlement in 1724. Until the 1770s, there was a high demand in the European market for Belize logwood, a species of flowering tree that was primarily used as a natural source of dye. 

'Forestocrats' were affluent white landowners who rose to complete dominance in the settlement by increasing slave ownership for cheap labor to generate extra income in the timber industry. Once logwood became less desirable, it was replaced by mahogany, a hard reddish-brown timber of the tropical hardwood family that was dominant in Belize. It became the country's valuable export in the mid-19th century.

The timeline for slavery in what came to be known as Belize after slaves arrived in 1724: 1773 marked the largest slave revolt along the Belize River.

The British slave trade was abolished in 1807.

The Proclamation for the Abolition of Slavery in the British Colonies was passed in 1834.

But it took until 1838 until slaves in Belize and throughout the British Empire were emancipated. 

Slaves in Belize were given two suits of working clothes, normally made of plain weaved flax, that would be saved for special occasions like Christmas celebrations at the end of the logging season or going into Belize Town. While working in the forests, they wore long pants with the ends rolled up.

Allownaces of flour or plantain and Irish pork were provided to the slaves. Those skimpy rations were supplemented by the slaves cultivating small plots of land with a variety of vegetables. I hadn't known that the slaves' strenuous logging work required greater dietary intake. That was why they hunted wild game, selling the excess at local markets to boost the family's income.

Former cells:

Slave Auctions: As we had read about in the US and other countries, newly arrived slaves were prepared to be sold like livestock at Slave Markets. To increase their sale price, they were washed, shaved, and covered with coconut oil or tar to have them appear in the best of health. Slaves were weighed, examined, measured, and actually prodded by prospective buyers. Other slaves were just grabbed by buyers who wished to purchase them in what was called a 'scramble.'

Like cattle, the slaves were branded and assigned new names after being purchased at public auctions. After they arrived at a master's property, a previously bought slave was responsible for the new slave's 'seasoning.' That was the process of discovering about life in their new surroundings and carrying out the master's wishes. Most slaves sold in Belize came from Jamaica and had been somewhat seasoned.

The slave journey from Africa: The term, Middle Passage, is applied to the two-to-three-month journey from the West African coast across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. The human cargo aka captured slaves were stripped naked, chained, and stuffed into ships called 'Slavers.' Though licensing stipulated the ships were never to exceed 350 slaves, it wasn't unusual for almost 800 captured African men, women, and children to be stowed below deck lying in their own waste and vomit. During the Middle Passage, malnutrition and communicable diseases like dysentery, smallpox, and cholera, led to many deaths.

The Brookes had to be among the worst of the slavers. The Regulation Act of 1788 permitted the ship to carry 454 slaves by allowing a space of 6' by 1'4" for each man, 5'10" by 1'4" for each woman, and a smaller space for each boy. Even after the Regulation Act, so 'much' space was seldom allowed. Slave merchants confessed that before the act the Brookes had once carried as many as 609 slaves by removing the slaves' irons and locking them spoon-wise so they were stowed one within the distended legs of another.

Through our extensive travels in the American South year after year, Steven and I had purposely learned much about the horrific trans-Atlantic slave trade here in the US. However, this was the first time I read that the experiences of the slave trade to the markets in Jamaica and Bermuda were some of the worst in human history.

The museum showcased this Belize flag that had been discovered in the rubble after the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. It was salvaged by the New York City Fire Department.

Though we only had had time to see a few sights in Belize, Steven and I caught a small tour bus early that afternoon for the long drive to Flores, Guatemala, our next destination in our tour of Central America. I smiled when I saw the Ontario signs as I'm from the province of the same name in Canada!

After a 6.5 hr. journey, we were happy to see this lovely view from our hotel balcony in Flores. We'd planned to stay there for a couple of nights before flying to Guatemala City and then exploring more of the country and then El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica over the course of the next seven weeks. As you will read in the next post, the plans of mice and men have a way of changing sometimes.

Next post: The marvelous Mayan ruins in Tikal and Humpty Dumpty falls!

Posted on June 30th, 2023, from waterlogged Denver. Since this is our first summer at home in about 15 years, we're hoping to feel the sun's intense rays really soon after hail and constant rain have made this Denver's wettest June ever! Peace and wellness to you and your loved ones.

9/27/22: Onto Belize, Central America!

I know I had planned on continuing to write about Alaska, our latest trip but I decided to go back to last fall's much abbreviated trip to Central America for reasons that will become clear in the next post or two. I hope you will bear with me so I can tie in the loose ends.

Since so many friends and travel bloggers had long waxed eloquently about their trips to many parts of Central America, Steven and I planned a 7-week trip to the region, beginning in Belize at the end of September last year and ending in Costa Rica. I must admit to being far more gungho about the trip than Steven. Perhaps he had a sixth sense of how the trip would come to an abrupt end within just days. I am getting ahead of myself, however.

On arrival at the airport in Belize City, we got picked up by Cynthia, who spoke of how she, a single parent, was tasked with looking after her sister's four children and was living hand to mouth as a driver. Gas was 18 Belizean dollars or a staggering $9. She called everyone 'sweetheart' or 'baby.' Cynthia couldn't have been a kinder soul.

She explained that many homes were elevated because of the concern about hurricanes. Belize has been on the path of many hurricanes but the last hurricane to hit the country was in 2016. Luckily, the then-current threat, Hurricane Fiona, was not due to hit the island when we visited. She said Belize had been colonized by England so English was spoken to foreigners but Creole was the language used at home.

Though our destination was the Belize Zoo, we asked if we could make a detour to the Belize Central Prison. Cynthia laughingly commented that was the first time any tourist had asked to go there!

Though most people would consider the prison to be a decidedly odd spot to visit, a guidebook spoke highly of its gift shop. While some of the inmate-made items were interesting, they were far too large for most tourists to bring home.

I think the Belize Zoo management got their bases covered with these signs! When we arrived at 2, we were just the fifth and sixth visitors of the day - the zoo didn't seem like it was another tourist hotspot!

The tapir or mountain cow was Belize's national animal. The sign specified they are not related to anteaters but to horses and rhinos.

I was pretty impressed at how natural the zoo looked as there weren't a lot of conspicuous fences and it felt like we were walking through a rainforest for the most part.

We haven't been to a lot of zoos but this was the first time we could recall seeing the skeleton of a former zoo animal. Have you seen a skeleton at the zoo before?

A kinkajou:

 A sign welcomed us to Tropical America where over 50% of all biodiversity plants and animals were found here in Belize.

Wouldn't a 'stare chair' be a great idea for all zoos.

A Keel-billed toucan, the national bird of Belize:

White-lipped peccaries or warees communicate via their scents.

Brown pelicans were native to the country's coast.

Oops, I forgot to write what this was. 

We've seen lots of animal crossing signs before but never an Ant Crossing one before this in the Belize Zoo. We sure had to mind where we stepped!

Also new to us was a tayra or bushdog.

Jabirus range from Central America to Venezuela and northern Argentina. They seldom migrate to Mexico any longer because of habitat loss. The storks can stand up to 5 ft tall and have a wingspan of 8 ft!

We were glad the mammoth crocodile with its thorny tail was there and we were peering at him from several safe feet away.

One of 800 jaguars in Belize: The rosette pattern is different for every jaguar, similar to a human's fingerprint. They have the largest brains per body size and the most powerful jaws of all the big cats with a biting force of over 900 pounds per square inch of tooth. I think that's short for "Don't get too close!"

The young gamekeeper was glad to share his love and knowledge of the animals in the zoo with us. He told us Martin the jaguar was the largest cat in Central America and the third largest in the world. At 13 years old, he was fully grown and could live up to 20 years in captivity. Martin was found in a chicken coop before being brought to the zoo. As he'd lost his canines, he couldn't be released into the wild again. The jaguar cooperated right on cue when he played roll over, roll over! The jaguar was an expensive investment for the zoo as he eats 5 pounds of meat a day. Martin lost one ear when it was bitten off by a younger jaguar.

Steven and I remember seeing coatimundis by Iguazu Falls, Argentina several years ago.

Dueling coatimundis:

The yellow-headed parrot was so quiet but its neighboring white-fronted parrots were screechers. 

Seeing the ants crawling up the tree reminded me of the old lyric "The ants go marching one by one" except it should have been ten by ten!

The following day we took a small ferry over to Caye Caulker, a nearby island.

I couldn't imagine a more peaceful interlude than strolling the almost deserted sandy streets, accompanied by the swaying palms, and the warm ocean breezes. 

The name of the cafe had hit the nail on the head just right as this place felt just like paradise would be!

After chatting with a few tour operators up and down the narrow sand strip, we made arrangements for a half-day tour with Caveman Tours. Stops included in the tour were throwing sardines to the manatees, a coral garden reef, swimming with sharks in the shark alley, and a guided tour of a channel. That all sounded plenty exciting to us!

Barges carried heavy loads in just a few inches of water.

The Split was an island made of volcanic stone.

Because the seawall was built on the south side of the island, the only way to get across was by the Split to Split Island Ferry.

Steven and I fed sardines to tarpons after receiving instructions on exactly how to do so ahead of time!

No tarpons could be fished here, just catch and release. It was important to keep the hand flat while holding the sardine as the captain said he's never seen a tarpon take the whole hand!

We'd never have suspected there was a giant cave system under our boat, one by The Spit and another one called Snowy Cone. It was an important site for archaeologists as Mayan artifacts had been found there by the mangroves.

The first trash recycling plant was built on the opposite shore of the island 8 years ago because locals were used to burning their trash.

Crews were dredging sand to make roads but in the process were damaging the mangroves.

Our captain Alwen expressed a lot of frustration that this part of the island had been sold to a Mexican developer who was planning to build an 18-hole golf course.

He pointed out the zinc roofs on top of lobster traps but he didn't spy any manatees. He thought we'd reach the Coaral Garden in 5 minutes but that was Belize time which meant we'd get there later!

Alwen, his assistant, and we four passengers were all on the search next for manatees as it was mating season. They can sleep for up to 45 minutes underwater before coming up to breathe and are regarded as the first mermaids of the Caribbean!

Tradewinds made for amazing sailing here according to Alwen. There were a lot more mangroves and forest reserves in the northern part of the island which made for ideal conditions for snorkelers and kayakers.

Christian from Germany and Zane from Australia were our much, much younger boating companions that day while we motored toward the South Channel. Alwen said we might be lucky enough to see nurse sharks. He was sure right as we saw manatees by the hundreds all around our small boat! The manatees were so plentiful, we could hardly see the water.

I was eternally grateful that Steven, God love him, was much happier being the photographer while the other guys and I cavorted with the manatees, stingrays, and nurse sharks! I thought this trip couldn't get any better.

A play on the word Belize was a common sign in the country!

After our thrilling tour sadly came to an end, we walked the equivalent of a couple of city blocks to the west side of the island to look for the Seahorse Reserve. It was reputedly home to hundreds of seahorses amid a tangle of seagrasses and coral. The walk over to the other side of the island took us past blissful views that just screamed, "Come, relax and sit apiece."

What a bust the 'sanctuary' was as all we found was a pretty ugly area and trash in the water. Or was it because they were so tiny or they had moved that we couldn't catch a glimpse of any? A sanctuary sounded far more grandiose than the reality. 

These people were having fun on their swings and evidently paid no attention to the sign by the sanctuary that said, "Yes, stingrays can hurt you."

I hope Caye Caulker Island's wish list is heeded by all who visit this slice of paradise.

On our way back to the pier, we approached the ritzy, glam area of Caye Chapel Golf Course which was located on a private island and a sign said the area was patrolled via private security. Ok - no stop for us obviously! 

Back in Belize City, we made sure to walk across the much-ballyhooed Grande Belize Bridge but the swing bridge was really not so grand!

The Holy Redeemer Cathedral dated from 1858.

I was surprised there was a significant Chinese population in the capital.

Next post (really!): A shorter trip than we hoped to Guatemala with consequences still 9 months later for Steven and myself.

Posted on June 25th, 2022, from our home in Denver's western suburb of Littleton. How very blessed we are that we weren't in the path of a tornado that cut a 6-mile swath through a neighboring suburb just a couple of days ago. We experienced lots of hail dancing on the grass and sidewalks but nothing like the tennis ball-sized hail that wreaked havoc on trees and vehicles a few miles east. 

Please take care of yourself and your loved ones.