Growing up, I lived a shelter life in the
fact that the only country I have visited outside of the United States has been
Canada – and for some reason I feel like that doesn’t count. To be completely honest, I do not know a lot
about the countries to our immediate south.
When choosing a country to write about, the one thing that popped into
my head was The Blue Hole in Belize. I
have seen dozens of pictures of this phenomena and find it intriguing, stunning
and incredibly fascinating. Based on
this fact alone, I was inspired to research the country more to see what lies
within its borders.
Belize
has a strong and interesting history.
Something that is a bit out of the ordinary is that the country was a
British colony and remains part of the British Commonwealth, which is very
unlike Belize’s surrounding Spanish neighbors.
In addition, because of the rich climate and access to the ocean and its
plentiful offerings, there was a large Mayan population throughout the country. Today there are numerous ruins throughout the
country, some of which are tourist sites that can be toured, while others
remain unfound throughout the remote jungles of the country. There are many archeological expeditions
every year in hopes of uncovering new sites. This to me is impressive and amazing in that the
Mayan culture is still very present.
The
culture throughout Belize is incredibly diverse and because of the many
different backgrounds throughout the country, is a very mulit-ethnic area. Because of where the country is located, the
people living in Belize are of backgrounds such as Mayan/European, Kriol, Spanish,
Garifuna, East Indian, Chinese, and even Middle Eastern. Due to the numerous diverse backgrounds,
Belize is said to have extremely friendly people and is to be one of the most
peaceful countries in the surrounding region.
Something
else that I found to be remarkable is the ecology of Belize. The country has everything from lush
rainforests and jungles to mangrove swamps and coral reefs, another way in which
the country is diverse. The weather is
usually very warm, tropical and humid.
Overall, Belize seems like a country
with ample amounts of culture, diversity and history. It’s amazing how you can know so little about
a country or a place within the world and one small thing can spark an interest
into learning more about that location.
Belize is definitely a place of interest and I have hopes that one day I’ll
be able to explore the country and its many attributes.
