September 21st – Belize’s 28th birthday was today. What a privilege to happen to be here for their independence day. Essentially, the commercial sector of the country shuts down to take off the holiday. Luckily, the buses were still running so I could get back to Santa Elena okay. I woke up to a huge storm this morning. It was raining like crazy! It didn’t look like there was any end in sight to all the rain so it kind of ruined my plans for today – no kayaking. I decided to just leave as soon as I could. I considered heading into Belize City downtown to see what was going on for the Independence Day. I decided not to though because I was worried about getting a bus back to the hospital. I’m glad I didn’t because I heard on the radio that they had canceled the parade. The rain was just too bad. It was flooding some of the streets as I was walking to the bus station and I had to slosh through 6 inch deep water at times.
The bus ride took forever like usual; 2 ½ hours to go about 60 miles. I was lucky to come back when I did though because I got to see the big parade in San Ignacio. I got home and headed right into to town to get a bite to eat. About half way there people started lining up and down the street. It was looking like a pretty big event. Once the floats started coming I decided to stop to watch the parade, which lasted for about an hour. Wow, Belizeans really know how to throw a party! The parade was really up beat with lots of island style music and dancing. About each float would be pulled by a truck that had a huge stack of speakers on it blasting music. Everyone was having a really good time and it was really cool to see this aspect of their culture. They really have a lot of pride in their country and their slogan for the parade was “Diverse Origins, Common Aspiration, Together We Celebrate as Belizeans.” I got a lot of pictures and video of the parade too, but unfortunately I can’t video on here.
After the parade I headed to Eva’s for dinner. I love that place. I ordered the most expensive thing on the menu – the steak dinner. It cost a whopping $7.50! Then I was able to lounge as long as I wanted and use their wireless internet. I love Eva’s. Tomorrow I start another week of work. Hopefully, this week will be as good as last week, but I don’t have my hopes up. Later.
The bus ride took forever like usual; 2 ½ hours to go about 60 miles. I was lucky to come back when I did though because I got to see the big parade in San Ignacio. I got home and headed right into to town to get a bite to eat. About half way there people started lining up and down the street. It was looking like a pretty big event. Once the floats started coming I decided to stop to watch the parade, which lasted for about an hour. Wow, Belizeans really know how to throw a party! The parade was really up beat with lots of island style music and dancing. About each float would be pulled by a truck that had a huge stack of speakers on it blasting music. Everyone was having a really good time and it was really cool to see this aspect of their culture. They really have a lot of pride in their country and their slogan for the parade was “Diverse Origins, Common Aspiration, Together We Celebrate as Belizeans.” I got a lot of pictures and video of the parade too, but unfortunately I can’t video on here.
After the parade I headed to Eva’s for dinner. I love that place. I ordered the most expensive thing on the menu – the steak dinner. It cost a whopping $7.50! Then I was able to lounge as long as I wanted and use their wireless internet. I love Eva’s. Tomorrow I start another week of work. Hopefully, this week will be as good as last week, but I don’t have my hopes up. Later.
I hope you get atleast a few photos of yourself without the dorky hiking hat while you're there! looks like fun, half way!
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