In San Ignacio – part 1

Allgemein
Breakfast at Martha’s Kitchen.
Another remnant from the British era although now it only handles traffic in one direction.
The rivers in Belize are very clean although the same cannot be said for those who use the banks as recreation areas and do not take their litter home. San Ignacio is a place we take an instant liking to because its friendly hilltop location is completely different to the country we have visited so far, mainly on the coast. It is able to function both as a working town for the residents and as a visitor location for the many tourists. Ambergris Caye it is not and there are no golf carts – not that they would be able to navigate the hills.
The wooden clapper board houses from the colonial times are everywhere – some are better preserved than others.
The local Police Formation, not Police Station – this means it can only arrest, prosecute, try, and convict those in the township of San Ignacio township.
David is asking the policeman what O.C and S.I. stand for on the place names in the car park. Since you ask, its ‘Officer in Charge’ of the Police and Magistrate for ‘San Ignacio’. The building is opposite where we stay so we should be safe here.
The Prison Van has clearly seen better days although we find it hard to imagine they have criminals hereabouts such is the kind, friendly, helpful nature of the people. We later discover, sadly, there is a major drug and drink problem and also that many people lost their jobs and/or businesses during the Covid period.
We decide to take a cycle ride in the real countryside since it is so rural in this part of the country. The dirt roads are just about rideable without the luggage we normally carry, however, with our bags this route would not be possible.
This suspension bridge brings back memories of the many river crossings we did in Asia although this bridge only has one plank of wood missing.
This area, the Cayo district, is the bread basket for the country and is known for its dairy, meat, poultry and arable produce.
We had seen this off grid community advertised and thought we would take a look. We were expecting houses with solar panels, water butts, plots of land covered with fruit trees and vegetable plots. We discovered a very nice pleasant remote expat community of mainly Americans living a quiet life just like they would have experienced as children in the 1950’s with their gardens arranged neatly and their food likely to be provided by supermarkets in nearby San Ignacio.
You can relax, dear reader. David does not intend to become a tour guide.
It is not only his clothes that are becoming a bit ragged around the edges!
One of the few reasonably priced restaurants in town we were able to discover. This country generally is not very cheap to live in both for the visitors and more so for the Belizeans, however, if you are prepared to eat like the locals it can be more affordable.
Spikes protruding from the top of the wall is not something we usually associate with church boundaries.
Its not every day we see a horse taking a swim with its rider. They were in no hurry to leave the river – it was 36c today – and they had no difficulty swimming upstream.
A colony of at least 7 Iguanas we saw living under a pile of abandoned concrete posts at the riverside.
This picture tries to emphasise the nature of the hills in this area.
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