words from the world

Following the example of the Asterix's Gallic village, a little bit of Anglo-Saxon-cultured land resists in Central America. The only country in this part of the world where English is the official language since Guatemala accepted to give up this land to the British crown. In return, the latter had promised to build a road between the Caribbean and Pacific coasts. The road was never built up and Belize got its independence a little bit more than 20 years ago. It's a sparsely populated country which is however packed with a striking cultural and ethnic diversity. Mayas and mestizos constitute the largest ethnic group to such an extent that, in the street, the Spanish speakers outnumber the English ones. Beside this group, more than 10% of the population is Mennonite; the Garifuna culture spreads over the coast and the islands of the country; and a great number of Chinese and Indians took over the shops. With hardly 300 000 inhabitants, Belize is an example of integration and tolerance.
However, a long time before the modern man draws arbitrary borders, the Mayan people lived in all over Belize and a lot of remains and old cities can be visited. Lamanai is one of them and has the special feature of being accessible by boat. A 2-hour trip on a greenery-flanked cloudy-watered river. Despite our noisy ride, several animals come and see us such as green iguanas, crocodiles, and spider-monkeys. The cruise finally turns out to be pretty short and we carry on with the visit of the archaeological site. A small park where the main buildings offer a gorgeous view over the canopy and the river. We finish our stroll at the end of the afternoon and sail back to the city of Orange Walk.