The population of Belmopan, which has been the capital of Belize since 1970, is approximately 22,500 people. On October 31, 1961, 70% of the houses in the coastal area of ​​Belize City, which used to be the capital, were destroyed in the Hatie hurricane, which was blowing at a speed of 300 km per hour, and when the city was so devastated, the capital was moved to Belmopan. With this feature, we can call Belmopan the capital city born after the disaster. Belmopan; It is in a more sheltered location, as it is located away from the seaside, in a more inland area and at an altitude of 76 meters above sea level. Belmopan is located in the Belize River valley at the foot of Pine Ridge Mountain. The negativities caused by this hurricane, which was especially effective in Belize City in 1961, revealed the necessity of changing the capital. While Belmopan was a very small settlement at that time, construction to become the capital started in 1967 and was completed in 1970. In the money of that time, it cost 40 million Belize dollars, or 20 million American dollars, to build Belmopan as a capital. When we reached this city, it gave me a feeling of abandonment. There is almost no one around. They tried to make their national assemblies resemble Mayan temples. It was a very simple and unpretentious building. The door of the Parliament building is made of the Mahagoni tree, the national tree of Belize. The color is generally gray. There is a large parking area in front of the national assembly, that is, the parliament building. Gray colored ministry buildings overlook this park area. It was purposely made gray and neglected to give all these buildings a faded and old appearance. Interesting thought, but it seemed very cold to me. From here we see some buildings belonging to the state again. Since this city is the center of the administration, there are also very well-kept and luxurious houses belonging to the administrators. In addition, the abundance of churches here caught my attention. Each of them was built quite simply and modernly. Schools were built next to them. Churches and schools are already closely intertwined throughout the country. In Belize, education is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 14. Everyone is obliged to study between the ages of 6-14, but there are very few secondary school students. Belize City and Corozal are the ideal options for those who want to pursue higher education. There are several weekly newspapers in the country, where the literacy rate is 93%. Daily newspapers are not printed. Additionally, there is only one television channel in the country. But they receive broadcasts from other countries. Belmopan is in the middle of nowhere in terms of location. Located close to everywhere. Belize City is located 48 km southwest of Belmopan. 22 km east of San Inpacio and 57 km northwest of Dangriga on the Caribbean coast. Belmopan is also located very close to natural beauties. For example, Guanacaste Park, spread over 50 acres of land, is worth seeing. This park takes its name from the giant Guanacaste tree. In this area, which was declared a national park in 1990, trees unique to the region and different bird species can be seen. The hotel we stayed in and its surroundings impressed me more than the city itself in Belmopan. Banana Bank Lodge is a family business that also includes a large horse farm. As you approach the hotel, horses start appearing from left and right. Of course, the only feature of the hotel is not the fact that it has a horse farm. Part of the hotel is like a zoo. There is a leopard in a large cage and a toucan bird in another cage. Both the leopard and the toucan bird are also symbols of Belize. Many parrots can also be seen around. Our hotel is very beautiful, it looks like a very elegant castle in nature. This building, of course, was left over from the Spanish. It was very enjoyable to swim in the pool here before dinner, amidst the sounds of birds. I would like to stay a few more days in this delightful hotel. But now it’s time to move on to our next stop. After leaving the hotel, we stopped at a store to buy some souvenirs before leaving Belize. Among the souvenirs you can buy, handmade paintings or decorative materials crafted from local trees have a big place. Blue Hole National Park & ​​St. About an hour after leaving Herman’s Cave Dangriga, we come to a point called Magnet Hill. Here, Laselle turns off the ignition of the car, but the car still continues to go uphill. It was quite interesting. There was also a similar place in the Caribbean. Along the way, we passed through banana, orange and grapefruit gardens. These three products are Belize’s most produced agricultural products and have an important place in its economy. After a pleasant journey, we reached Blue Hole National Park. This park opens at 08.00 every day and closes at 16.30. This is a large park in a forested area. You can visit caves in the park, walk in the forest, and participate in bird watching activities. We start our tour in the park with a forest walk. Luckily, it rained heavily for 10 minutes before we got out of the car. There is no rain right now, but since the ground is soil, everywhere has become muddy due to the rain. We continue our walk, drowning in mud. Meanwhile, Laselle constantly explains to us important plants along the way. The most interesting was the Manilkara Zapota tree. The gum of this tree was used in the manufacture of chewing gum. Another interesting tree is the Bakkam tree, which is also used in textile dyeing. These two trees also have an important place among Belize’s export products; Other export products are timber, sugar cane and sugar. We continue walking through the rainforest. According to our guide, bats played a big role in the formation of the rainforest. At the end of our walk, St. We reach Herman’s Cave. Just before entering this cave, Laselle opens her bag and gives each of us a headlamp. We wear these flashlights on our heads. This cave was completely under the ocean until many years ago. There are no artificial elements, lighting, or illuminated walking paths for tourists inside the cave. You are in a completely natural environment. There is only a rope stretched to hold on while walking. It ends when you go deeper into the cave. As we walk a little further, Laselle shows us a kind of spider. These spiders, a blood-sucking species, lived in caves. When it bites, a poisonous substance mixes with your blood and slowly poisons you to death within 7 years. That’s why we walk without touching the cave walls or anything like that. The length of the cave is approximately 1.3 kilometers. When we walk further inside, there is no light coming from outside anymore. We even stop at one point and Laselle tells us to turn off our flashlights at the same time. It was completely pitch black for a minute when we turned off the flashlights. So it’s scary. Indeed, if a person enters here with his flashlight and his battery runs out, he cannot go out. There are also many stalactites and stalagmites inside the cave. When we proceed to the very end, we come to an underground river. After traveling underground for a certain period of time, this river emerges back to the surface near the Blue Hole. The river passing through the cave was also quite impressive. My father even took a few stones from there as a souvenir 🙂 Then we went on our way back and left this cave, leaving it to the bats. According to Laselle, thousands of bats fly out of this cave at the same time at sunset. However, since our time was limited, we could not wait for this moment. We went to a small family business located among the orange trees in this area to have lunch. The interesting thing is that there are so many orange trees, but there is no orange juice in the restaurant. But if you want, you can go to the garden and pick them and they will squeeze the oranges you picked yourself. Of course, we immediately ran to the garden. These oranges I ate were definitely the most delicious oranges I’ve ever eaten in my life. It is sweeter and less acidic. For dinner we ate rice with beans, coleslaw and chicken; And plenty of Marie Sharp’s hot sauce on the side. This sauce called Marie Sharp, which is a mixture of hot pepper (Habanero) with carrots and onions, is a must in the kitchen. From here we continue towards Blue Hole. This region is also a paradise for bird watchers. Especially the Hummingbird species can be seen very frequently in this region. After another short walk in the forest, we come to the area called Blue Hole. When viewed from above, this place looks like a deep blue hole. Its deepest point is 75 feet. As a result of the earthquakes, there was a large depression in the region, and when this depression was filled with water over time, it was called the Blue Hole. Scuba diving was also done in this hole. But we didn’t try. In fact, when “Blue Hole” is mentioned, the first thing that comes to people’s mind is the point in the middle of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean and 60 km away from Belize City. This is a vertical cave in the sea with a depth of 125 meters and a width (diameter) of 305 meters. There are stalactite corals in this blue hole, and when you dive in this area, you are likely to see sharks and hammerhead fish. However, we did not go here because there was no one in our group who was scuba diving. Those who plan to go pay $40 for a diving permit. After the swimming hours here, we go to the location of our vehicle by walking through the forest. Mavimore Turizm is a travel agency registered with TÜRSAB. Document number: A-8307