My time in Belize is up.

Well, just as the Mayan calendar came to an end, so did my time in Belize. Its been a really hectic trip; but an exciting one too. I would love to come back again and spend more time exploring this wonderful country. One of the things I brought back is this stone carving of the Mayan Calendar. It is beautifully handcrafted by Edwin Camal, a carver I met in San Jose Succoltz.

Final Workshop

I've just completed the final workshop of my assignment. There were 14 participants at the Belmopan Civic Centre including the deputy Mayor, City Administrator and several department heads. The space was a 3,000 square foot gymnasium with 20 foot ceiling and 12 fans spinning overhead to keep things semi-cool but noisy. We overcame the terrible acoustics and the participants were fantastic - they stayed engaged all day as I challenged them to expand their way of thinking. I really enjoyed working with them for the past 4 days.

Taxi drivers

In every country I've visited, the taxi system is great, and most of the taxi drivers are great too. Belize is no exception. All I have to do is stand at (or near) the side of the road and within minutes a taxi will appear and give a little honk. If I turn and nod, he will stop and even if there are other fares, I will get in. This guy was a great character in San Ignacio who squeezed a couple of people over so that I didn't have to walk up the steep hill to my hotel. The car may not have been in great condition - cracked windshield, no springs in the seat; but the service was great and the price was like $1.50 plus a nice tip because he let me take his picture.

Breakfast

 I have just discovered the Belizean breakfast!It was a public Holday in Belize today for Garifuna Day and not much was open. I went down to the market and met Terrasita who operates a food stall. She made me the most delicious breakfast of eggs, refried beans, plantain and fried jacks - the big puffy fried bread in the photo.
After breakfast, it started to rain and rained through past midnight. I had hoped to go to the Belize Zoo - famous for its jaguars; but stayed at my hotel instead and prepared for my Friday workshop.

City of Belmopan

Belmopan is the capital city of Belize. It is a new city created after the 1961 hurricane destroyed much of Belize City, which is built on low-lying land on the coast.Geographically it makes a lot of sense. It is in a safe area in the centre of the country with lots of available land. However it lacks many of the character element of an exciting capital city. Tourist do not come here much and even many of the civil servants who work here actually commute from Belize City or San Ignacio. However the people are friendly and its safe to walk around at night.

Revenue Generation Workshop

Today is the revenue generation workshop at the Welcome Centre with Town Council and department heads. The staff from CARILED are supporting the revenue generation initiative to tie in with their program to support Local Economic development with Micro Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. Showing that LED bring revenue into the town is an important part of the model.

Racing horses in the river.

Two days ago, I posted that I had seen people washing their horses in the Mopan River. Today I went for a walk in that area and saw what they were actually doing was racing the horses. Young boys were having a wonderful timeracing their horses through the water. I managed to get several good shots.

Blissfully Belizean

 After the Mayan ruins, we went for lunch and had a hrd earned local beer. Made by the local
Beliken brewing company the brew was blissful, just as it says on the bottle.

Xunantunich

Melonie and Kelsie took me to see the Mayan ruins in Xunantunich. It only about 15 minutes away and is an incredible site. Hard to believe that just 1200 years ago there were hundreds of thousands of people living here with a civilization much more advanced than Europe. He climbed the highest "Pyramid" and could see for miles across to Guatemala.

Washing Horses

I am now in San Ignacio, in the hills, just a few miles from the Guatemalan border. The Macal river runs right through the centre of town and is used daily by the residents for all sorts of activities, including boating, swimming and washing horses.

"Rice and Beans" or "Beans with Rice"

I have been in Belize two days now and had two of the important dishes here. Rice and beans is when the two are cooked together as shown here served with stewed chicken. Yesterday, I had beans with rice, where the two are cooked and served separately, that time with a meat stew. These are lunch time staples; there are lots of other great dishes too - red snapper, mayan steak, that I have tried for dinner.

Meeting the Mayor

Had a great meeting with the Mayor of Belize City today. Scheduled for one hour; but lasted nearly two. He is leading the way on revenue collection within Belize and the information he gave me will be very useful in working with the other municipalities on the rest of my trip. He is very progressive in his thinking about service provision and interested in my experiences with user fees and full cost accounting.

Arrived in Belize City

long day of travel through Dallas; but arrived safely at about 4pm. Staying at Radisson right out at Fort George Point where the cruise ships come in. Just one night here and then into the interior

Leaving Victoria today for Belize

My trip starts here. It is not actually possible to get to Belize City from Victoria in one day unless I travel overnight, so I am taking the afternoon flight to Seattle, staying over and getting a 5:55 am flight in the morning.

The CARILED program

From 2012 to 2018, the Caribbean Local Economic Development Project (CARILED) will support nearly 50 local governments and agencies as they work to foster sustainable local economic development in their communities. More than 500 small and medium size enterprises throughout the Caribbean will reap the benefits of this six-year project.

CARILED is implemented by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), in partnership with the Caribbean Forum of Local Government Ministers (CFLGM), the Caribbean Association of Local Government Authorities (CALGA) and the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF), with funds provided by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD).

Where is Belize

Belize is a small country on the east coast of Central America bordering with Guatemala in the South and west and Mexico in the north. Many of you from my generation will remember that it used to be called British Honduras.