This year I’ll be spending Christmas (and the week after) in Belize with my brother and sister. It all started a few months ago when my sister called me and asked if I wanted to go to Belize. “Sure,” I said, quickly Googling Belize, “I’d love to go to that great …. Central American country under Mexico.”
So, maybe you’d like to learn about Belize too? Here’s what I learned:
* Slightly larger than Massachusetts
* Belize (formerly British Honduras until the name of the country was changed in 1973)
* Bounded on the north and part of the west by Mexico, and on the south and the remainder of the west by Guatemala
* National Bird: The Keel Billed Toucan
* National Animal: The Tapir or Mountain Cow
* belize2.jpgMore than 500 Mayan ruins dot the country
* Caracol is the largest of Belize’s Mayan ruins. One pyramid is one hundred and forty feet high, the tallest man-made structure in Belize
* Belize also consists of over 200 cayes (islands)
* English is the official language and is widely spoken, as is Spanish. Other languages include Creole, German, Mayan and Garifuna
* Some tourists prefer to fly into Cancun as air fares are cheap. Then from Cancun catch the ADO air conditioned buses to Belize - about a 4 hour ride
* The 2nd smallest country in Central America
* The capital is Belmopan, 35 miles inland from Belize City
* About 1/3 of the country’s population lives in Belize City
* Member of British Commonwealth
* Approximately 30% of all Belizeans live outside the country
* Belize became a British Colony in 1862
* Most (60%) of Belizeans are bilingual (mostly English/Spanish)
* Creole: make up the majority population (60%); generally the offspring of the original English & Scottish settlers who married freed African slaves
* Mestizos: (Latinos): a mixture of Amerindians (often Maya) with Spanish (Mexican) blood; mostly mixed-race slaves who entered from the Yucatan during the War of the Races (ca. 1847-48); approx. 20% of the population
* Garifuna: blacks of mixed African & Carib Indian ancestry; many were forcibly expelled from the West Indes in 1797; approx. 20% of the population
* 70% of Belize is still covered by forest
* Belize has the 2nd largest coastal barrier reef in the world, which runs 10-40 miles offshore along the entire 185-mile length of Belize’s coast
* The region receives over 150 inches of rain/year
* Population of approximately 239,000
