belize

i have already fallen behind.

maybe 4 days ago, i crossed over from chetumal mexico to orange walk, belize, on a noisy chicken bus. belizian buses (which are all converted school buses--thus very little leg room) seem to be in a competition to out boom each other in terms of their bus-stereos.

orange walk is not a very nice place. i arrived at night, when it had a slightly sinister feel, with lots of folks loitering about, staring menacingly at me. the two asian-american californian girls i befriended on the bus had me escort them to dinner. the woman who ran the chinese restaurant we found warned us to beware of the crack heads who loiter around the cemetery. i would have tried something with the asian-american chicks, but there was a sign in the chinese restaurant that said "no foreplay". i kid you not.

orange walk does sugar cane refinement and rum. i have tried both. the rum was just sort of a tasteless alcohol, but it was pretty smooth. orange walk also seems to do unemployment.

belize is quite the melting pot. lots of folks speaking spanish (even thought it is technically an english speaking country), many of african descent who speak creole (i think), and then odd groups like the mennonites, who i saw wandering around town running errands. the mennonite men dress like gayish cowboys and the woman dress like they are out of little house on the prairie. they are whiteys and apparently speak some kind of low german. different sects in the area have different rules regarding the use of electricity and technology and such.

oops. my time is up and belizian internet is ungodly expensive. in guatemala i will really pound the keyboard.