Belize is the only country in Central America whose official language is English. Belize’s surface area is 22,965 km2 and its population is 320 thousand people. It’s a very small country. The literacy rate in the country is 98%. There is compulsory education until the age of fourteen. Our first stop in Belize is Altun Ha. We tasted local wine on the way to Altun Ha. These wines are not made from grapes. All four of the four varieties are made from different flowers or fruits. Keju and golden strawberry wines were quite delicious. We bought these wines to drink at dinner. We had lunch at a small local restaurant. It was an unpretentious but clean family business. For lunch, we ate a type of vegetarian mouse-like animal called “Cibnat”. Our guide said this dish was Belize’s favorite dish. I’ve come across this dish before in Mexico, but I didn’t have the courage to try it. However, in Belize, I learned that this mouse was a vegetarian. The animal seen at the bottom of the picture. The dish made with the meat of the animal they call Paca is Cibnat. Even though I was very hesitant, Ms. Banu in our group decidedly wanted to eat this dish, so I tasted it. It wasn’t bad at all. In terms of taste, it is between liver and red meat. According to our local guide, when the Queen of England came to visit Belize, they served Cibnat and the Queen liked this taste very much. Then the price of this meal suddenly increased. Another dish we eat here is cow foot soup, which they call “cow foot soup”. This was delicious, it looks like our trotters. It’s just much more yellow in color. After dinner, we went to Altun Ha, the best-preserved Mayan ruins in Belize. Altun Ha, an ancient Mayan settlement, covers an area of ​​8 square kilometers. The region, which contains thirteen temples, 2 squares and many houses, was an important trade center at the time. In previous years, I also visited the Mayan ancient cities in Mexico. After Mexico, the ruins here were not very attractive. Then we went to Belize City, the former capital of Belize during the British Honduran period. We started the Belize City city tour. When we went, it was slowly getting dark, but since the city was quite small, we visited every part of it before it got dark. The urban population, including surrounding settlements, is 80,000 people. It was founded where the Belize River flows into the Caribbean. After the Hatie hurricane that occurred on October 31, 1961, almost the entire city was destroyed. For this reason, the capital was moved to Belmopan in 1970. The most notable points in the city are the Swing bridge, which was opened by human power, the Anglican church and the Baron Bliss Lighthouse. Baron Bliss is a nobleman who donated large amounts of money to Belize for its development. For this reason, the people of Belize showed great respect to Baron Bliss and built this lighthouse in his memory. As for the swing bridge, its most important feature is that it is the only bridge in the world that can be opened and closed by human power. And St. John Cathedral… The manager of Belize City wanted to divorce his wife. However, when he was not allowed to divorce religiously, he determinedly had this Anglican church built by slaves brought here from Africa. The church, where red bricks are used extensively, is the largest church in the city. Our hotel in Belize City was quite nice. For dinner, we had onion and cheese pizza and drank the fruit wine we bought on the road during the day. The one with Blackberry was quite nice. We left Kejulu wine for the next evening. The next day, after having an early breakfast at the hotel, we went to San Pedro in the Ambergris Caye region of Belize. This place is depicted as an island by most people. The region has no borders with the Belize mainland. However, it has a short border with Mexico in the north. In fact, this is a long peninsula belonging to Belize, which borders Mexico. We flew to San Pedro with a 13-passenger plane belonging to Tropic Air. The view was very interesting during this flight, which lasted approximately 20 minutes. We flew over acidic brown ponds, savannahs and greenery and recorded these views on our cameras. We got off our tiny planes in San Pedro and settled into a tropical hotel with golf carts. We immediately put on our swimsuits and set out to sea by boat. We started exploring the seabed by putting on our snorkels and flippers. What we experienced here was like a dream. We entered the sea with a local guide and explored the seabed by following him. The seabed is full of shrimps and snails. It is forbidden to touch them. Sharks are not very used to humans and they avoid humans. However, stingrays are fully human creatures. It is an amazing feeling to swim with the stingrays and touch them here. We had a pleasant time with the stingrays and got back on our boat. After going a little further, we came to the area where sea turtles live. Fishermen in this region feed sea turtles. The fishing boats here are responsible for ensuring the continuation of natural life. Boats coming to the region are obliged to tip the fishermen. Fishermen are also supported by the state. The seabed is full of shellfish, there is not the slightest gap. It’s like a colony of shellfish. You can never, ever buy a shellfish from here. The region is protected by UNESCO. Fishermen feed the turtles here with oysters and throw their shells into the sea. That’s why the seabed is full of gigantic oyster and snail shells covered with algae. When you consider that the selling price of these shells in Turkey is around 15-20 TL each, it is not difficult to guess that there is a treasure lying on the seabed. Of course, you can never buy even a single crust from here. Completely protected. The giant sea turtles here are so used to humans that they approach you with their mouths open. At times you were even afraid that he might bite you. In fact, when Ms. Banu in our group opened her mouth and hit a turtle while running away from her, the local guide immediately warned her, thinking she had hit the turtle. In short, it is forbidden to hit a turtle. After these pleasant moments, we get on our boat again and come to the place where we will do our third dive. This is the feeding channel of fish coming from the open sea. We start swimming with the current in the channel. There are all kinds of huge coral reefs in the channel. Even though we had a hard time seeing various fish feeding among these reefs and swimming against the current, it was worth every minute. This was a dream day. One of the unforgettable moments of the Belize tour. We crowned the day with a delicious meal. We ate oysters and taco-like snacks, which are the specialty of the island, accompanied by Beliken beer, unique to the region. After dinner, we enjoyed the sea and the sun. The next day, we flew from San Pedro to Dangriga with a connection at Belize City international airport, again with a small 13-seater plane. There were only five of us on the 13-passenger plane between San Pedro and Belize City. Mavimore rented a plane for us 🙂 As soon as we arrived in Dangriga, we checked into the Pelikan Beach hotel located on the seaside. Meanwhile, the rainbow appearing in the sky seemed to welcome us. Here, we jumped into the sea and enjoyed swimming in the winter. We were very cold in New York. We tried to store the sun inside us, because our return will be via New York again. We wanted to enjoy the hammocks in front of all the rooms of the hotel and on the wooden pier extending to the sea, but the hammocks here were not very comfortable. He was constantly shifting sideways. However, I must admit that even if we could not use the hammocks for sleeping, we used them as clotheslines 🙂 Because we have to wash our clothes frequently during this 40-day Central America trip. Our suitcases are small and there is a 12 kg limit on one of our flights in Panama near the end of the trip. For this reason, we went on the trip with very limited belongings. We had our dinner at the hotel restaurant facing the sea. After the meal consisting of fish, rice with beans, mashed potatoes and salad, we ate our coconut cake. It was also my daughter Tuğçe’s birthday tonight, Türkiye time, and we celebrated her birthday here. We ended the night beautifully by giving him the gift we received from NASA on our way from New York. However, we could not find a patisserie during the trip and buy cakes and candles. We will have another celebration in the first city where we find a cake. We couldn’t find a cake, but we bought a bottle of wine from Belize City. Even though there was no cake, we had wine. The next morning we visited Dangriga. Our guide Laselle is very cute, she is about 70 years old, but she is very vigorous, clean and very polite. Dangriga is a settlement where people of African origin predominantly live. People of African descent are called Garifuna. In Dangriga, we first visited the gallery and studio of a painter and musician. This is actually a family home. The lady of the house is German and her husband Pen is African. The family first came here for travel purposes. After a few comings and goings, they decided to settle down. They came to Germany for a while for their children’s education, and then again to Dangriga, where they established a world intertwined with art. African wife paints and markets. He is also involved in music. They have CDs. Their daughters write children’s books. There were also some very interesting objects in this art house. For example, musical instruments made of turtle shells, masks made of various wires, etc. Even the toilet of the house was very different. Everywhere was painted with vibrant colours. The gardens were very enjoyable and creative. We bonded with this lovely family. This is the best part of being a traveler. It is very nice to chat and communicate with people who are free from all kinds of complexes, regardless of language, religion or race. After taking our photos with the family and exchanging cards, we said goodbye and continued to visit Dangriga. Then we came to a very simple church. The thing that attracted our most attention in the church here was the bicycles that entered the church. Garifuna people of African origin living in Dangriga are trying to continue their local life here. The music they make is Punta Rock. The black orchid is the symbol of the country, it is not actually black but dark purple. However, it is not seen very often. The Belize flag is the only flag in the world with a human image on it. In the middle of the flag is the Mahagony, their national tree, and next to the tree are two human figures, one black and one white. The symbol under the Mahagony tree represents freedom. The 50 leaves around the tree represent the year 1950, when liberation began. The unity of black and white people expresses solidarity. The blue ground and red lines represent freedom. Houses in Dangriga are generally built on poles. The reason for this is that it is a precaution against floods coming from the Caribbean Sea. It is also a precaution against insects and pests. Our next route from here is Blue Hole National Park. Orange and grapefruit gardens along the way. As we continue to Blue Hole National Park, we come to Magnet Hill. At this point, Laselle turns off the car’s ignition. But in a very interesting way, we continue to go uphill. There is a similar one in the Caribbean. We are walking through the rainforest in Blue Hole National Park. The tree leaves in this forest are channeled and downward. The rain that falls here does not fall directly to the ground. It floats from leaf to leaf and lands on the ground. According to our guide, bats played a huge role in the formation of the rainforest. Just as bees carry pollen, bats are also important in the rainforest. We continue our walk in the rainforest, taking medication to protect ourselves from mosquitoes. After about 40 minutes of walking in this forest, St. We reach Herman’s Cave. Years ago, this cave was completely under the ocean. We enter this very dark cave by wearing a flashlight on our heads. The length of the cave is around 1 mile. Bloodsucking spiders also live in this cave. When this deadly spider bites a person, it poisons the person’s blood over time and causes that person to die within 7 years. On our way back to the cave, we have lunch among the orange groves. We drank the juice of the oranges we picked ourselves. When I asked for orange juice during the meal, they said, “Go pick your oranges, we will squeeze the juice and serve it.” The oranges we ate and drank the juice here were excellent. The teeth of the lady working in the restaurant were very interesting. It is an ancient Mayan tradition to embed jade in the front teeth and surround it with gold. Embedding jade in the front teeth was a practice in the ancient Mayans, we saw this in the museum as well. Today’s Mayan people have gold and silver frames made around jade. This is a source of prestige for them. After dinner, we come to Blue Hole with our local guide and driver, dear Laselle. The deepest place here is 75 feet. Scuba diving was done in this hole. This is actually an underground river. This river continues inside the cave we just saw. As a result of the earthquakes, a large depression occurred in this region and the Blue Hole was formed. After here we came to the capital Belmopan. We saw the Parliament building and its surroundings in Belmopan city center. It was very mediocre. Its door is made of the Mahogony tree, the special tree of this place. Step logic was used to make the Parliament building and the ministry buildings around it resemble Mayan temples. The buildings are painted in pale gray colors to give them an old appearance. More than beautiful, it was a little depressing. After completing the city tour here, we came to Banana Bank Lodge. This is an impressive facility spread over a very large area, including a horse farm. The facility also includes a horse farm, a leopard and a toucan bird in a cage. Leopard and Toucan are symbols of Belize. We took photos for minutes in front of the cages of leopard and toucan birds in the hotel garden. Our hotel is very beautiful, a very elegant colonial building in nature. The furniture inside is original and most of it is antique. The person who runs the hotel is an American. We had a very warm conversation with him. He made all the paintings hanging on the walls of the restaurant and hotel himself. At the same time, the stained glass in certain areas of the hotel belongs to his daughter. She was a very elegant and modest lady. After staying one night in Belmopan, Laselle picked us up from our hotel the next morning and took us to the Guatemala border. We said goodbye to him and Belize here and continued on our way. Mavimore Turizm is a travel agency registered with TÜRSAB. Document number: A-8307