PCV: Paid Caribbean Vacation

I was lucky enough to spend the weekend with my good friend Emily in her village of Hummingbird Highway Community. I went because I had the Yoga Mala to go to which was close to Belmopan on Saturday. Instead of going back to Yo Creek only to return 36 hours later, I decided to go spend a few nights in a new place and check out all that HHC had to offer.
I met Emily in Belmopan and we were lucky enough to get a ride to her village from one of the yoga instructors that ran an organic farm on Mile 21 of the Hummingbird Highway. Emily lives on mile 25 and unlike many villages that are more of a neighborhood kind of setup, this is strictly along the highway. Houses usually don’t go back more than 100 feet from the road and the village stretches for miles along the highway. Hence the Hummingbird Highway community name.
This place is covered with jungle and is considered in the valley. Belize is one of those places where anyone can grow anything but this place might be more of a paradise for anyone that cant grow things back home. Its so green and lush for as far as the eye can see.
We began my visit with a walk along the road. The reason? To let people talk. They are going to do it anyway, so instead of hanging out in her house, we might as well walk along the road and let everyone get a gander at the white bwai that Ms. Emily just brought home. She knew everyone in the village, but most of them wouldn’t recognize her other than her name. I was told later this was because I was there and people were nervous. Men wouldn’t even speak to her. I guess I was the great white hope that had come to steal away their only chance of marrying the white gyal.
After walking about 10 minutes in one direction, we agreed that it was enough because it was much of the same for miles on end. She showed me the church and the computer lab that she helps to run. The shed, which is a make shift bus stop, where her women’s group sells BBQ on the weekends. Simple life, nothing too crazy. Just like any other town. Not so much.
Before long, the characters of the village began to show themselves. Pedro is her right hand man. He lives across the street and is more progressive than most Belizeans that I have met. He believes in things like social friends regardless of gender and how it is not wrong to leave the village for something better if the opportunity comes. His wife is an amazing cook so we made the agreement to come back for dinner and then have a few drinks afterward.
Before leaving, I was fortunate enough to have Mike Scott pay us a visit. He is the white man who lives up on the hill with a massive house and has WOOFers stay at his organic farm. He invited us the next day for banana bread and coffee. After the 2 minutes of conversation, there was no way we could turn down this invitation.
We went back to Em’s house and had a beer while talking about what I had seen thus far. While sitting there, we had a neighbor of hers from a Mennonite family bring us fry jacks for no particular reason. They were delicious and it was only slight awkward to be caught drinking a beer by a Mennonite child.
Upon walking back across the street to Pedro’s house for dinner, I noticed that church seemed like it was about to begin. I asked if she went and she said no, but no one else does either. They only stand around outside and look in. We walked past and sure enough, there were about 3 people inside of a building that would easily hold 50 and then about 10 people were congregating outside the main door and the windows talking. I always believe that showing up is half the effort but maybe here it’s all you need. Emily says she constantly gets asked why she doesn’t go to church when she knows that they didn’t go either. They may have been present, but being there and being in the church are two entirely different things that her friends didn’t seem to understand.
Dinner at Pedro’s was amazing. Some of the best rice and beans I’ve had in this country so far. Pedro was busy putting on music and was inquiring into our music tastes. This is a normal occurrence here but this was a bit more animated. At one point he stopped looking through his CDs and asked, “You like Elton John? I like him.” Simply writing those words doesn’t show the amount of absolute happiness he had on his face by the sound of the words Elton John. While neither of us would admit to liking Elton John, we also wouldn’t say we dislike him. And so, for the next few hours, we were serenaded by Elton John while Pedro usually covered up all sound with is incessant singing and smiles. He was a happy man.
As you may guess, the ounces of liquid libations began to be consumed and the night was only beginning. It was obvious that music was the most important thing going on and we sat around the tv to listen. Of course, these weren’t just CDs, they were DVDs with music videos. This basically turned into a bout of singing between Pedro, Emily, and I. Some of the highlights were Michael Bolton, TLC, Meatloaf, Mariah Carey, Garth Brooks, and Warren G. I apparently need to start buying these DVDs in town because the whole NOW That’s What I Call Music 184 would rapidly go out of business if anyone from the States got their hands on some of these mixes. Never mind the fact that none of them probably have permission from the artists. Come on, this is Belize.