Wednesday, February 18, 2009
TOUR PRICES 2009 IN WESTERN BELIZE
Xununtanich, Clarissa Falls and Cahel Pech tour - $22 usa
Caracol pyramids interior day trip -$75—$85 usa
XIBALBA, the ATM Cave expedition to the Mayan
sacrifical underworld— all day trip- $75—$85 usa
Horse back riding Mopan River, ferry and climb to Xununtanich hilltop temple ruins by horse. - $40—$75 usa
Belize Alps foothills, Pine Ridge day trip— $40—$60—$75 usa depending on tour guide, or tour operator.
Barton Creek Outpost cave canoeing—$60 usa, or use FREE swimming hole with swinging ropes from trees.
TIKAL all day round trip $135 usa, ( all inclusive )
Ultra Light Trike flying over Belize River Valley—$$75 -$100 usa
Guanacaste National Park swimming hole—$2 usa by bus.
Blue Hole Cenote National Park Swimming Hole
Crystal Cave and Petroglyphs - $75 usa
White water kayaking Mopan River -$60—$75 usa
Canoeing pristine natural Macal River Gorge - $20 usa
Canoeing and hiking $70 usa
There are many more attractions from slate carving, music lessons, painting art lessons, archery, Mayan pottery making, wine making, zip lines, cave tubing, ETC.
FALCONVIEW BACKPACKERS ADVENTURE HOSTEL - TOUR PRICES 2009
Hillview, Green Parrot Valley, Santa Elena Town ( tel: 663 5580 )
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Young Belizean couple buying at the Macal River market in Western Belize
Young Belizean couple in the Saturday morning Macal River market of the Twin Towns out in Western Belize Agricultural and Recreational Area. January 3, 2009
Saturday, November 22, 2008
CHARCOAL COMPOSTING ELIMINATES SLASH AND BURN MAYA AGRICULTURE

CHARCOAL MAKES GOOD COMPOST!Recent archeological finds; that the central Amazon supported hundreds of millions of people BEFORE the arrival of the Spanish wiped them out with new diseases; has sparked a new interest in adding charcoal to your compost. The Amazon is interesting, because otherwise it has poor soils, or lack of soils, like found here in Belize. Here in Belize we mostly use the clays and marls and sand to hold the plants and roots and feed the plants IMPORTED FERTILIZER. This costs lots of money and does nothing for the soil quality, if that is possible? The other method uses ASHES, as in slash and burn milpa agriculture. Other people in other countries do use charcoal. The advantage to charcoal is that it uses nutrients from the charcoal in creating good loam, for growing food. The ancient Amazonian Indians supported their hundreds of millions of people, for nearly 9000 years successfully. It has been found that the scientific assumption, that such populations were not possible in the otherwise soiless Amazon, is false. The archeological findings show that Amazonian indians used beds of charcoal mixed with compost to increase the fertility of the soil. In fact, layers of this have been found nine feet deep all over the Amazon interior on shallow soils otherwise deemed impractical for supporting large populations. Above you can see a vegetable bed similar to that prepared by the Taiwanese Mission at Central Farm in the Cayo District of Belize. Notice the layering of charcoal. We do use ASHES from burnt wood in Belize, but the nutrition only lasts about two years and sometimes three years with a thinner crop; then rotational slash and burn farming must be practiced by clearing new jungle. The old milpa is then allowed to re-generate over 30 or more years or so. A very inefficient wasteful method of growing food and farming in general. When you use charcoal with your compost, the result results in a nutrient rich loam that grows plants for centuries. If one combined charcoal, with rice leavings, perhaps the offal from Tilapia fish farming as in skeletons and heads, plus ordinary compost organic food matter, the result should be equal to that proven by the Amazonian ancient knowledge of the Indians of South America.
Nobody is making charcoal yet in Belize that I know of, but it is easy to make. You can make it in your back yard. You simply make a furnace, like using a rusty 55 gallon drum, with a fire heart in the bottom and some blocks, or rocks to hold a grill. Inside the drum on top of the grill and fire heart, you place a smaller 5 or 16 gallon container, in which you place air dried lumber, which you can pick up in the Mountain Pine Ridge for free, eaten by the pine beetles. In the bottom of this small metal container ( called a retort ) you bore a few small holes and then set the fire heart going. The holes are in the bottom of the retort can. The fire heart burns wood like any fire, but the heat does not set fire to the wood stuffing the retort can, which simply dries out even more into charcoal. It takes about 3 hours to produce charcoal in your backyard this way and you lose shrinkage of about a third. You can also bar-b-que with this charcoal.
There is certainly a charcoal producing industry market in Belize for this. Young entrepreneurs anyone? Will Extension Officers and the Agricultural College teach this ancient method of making good loam soil in Belize? We certainly need it.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Charlie Trew drops in for visit from Washington D.C.
CHARLIE TREW a friend from our Belize Culture listserve, that has been on the internet about 17 years. Charlie was visiting myself Ray at Falconview Backpackers Adventure Hostel. That is the hostel community kitchen area in the background. Charlie is drinking Beliken beer, the only beer available in Belize. Sorry the photo got blurred, but since that is all I have? Charlie comes down a couple of times a year, from his job in Washington, D.C. where he works in the Library of Congress as a classified documents person. Charlie also has a vacation home in San Jose Succotz, a small town about 8 miles away from our Green Parrot Valley in Santa Elena Town. This small town of Succotz is at the foot of the hilltop temple Mayan ruins of Xununtanich across the Mopan River by a small barge, hand cranked ferry, then a mile up the hill. Every time Charlie comes, I ask for books for donating to the Santa Elena Town Public Library. I get to read them first. He can get discards from his libraries up there and usually packs a bag for the check in airplane baggage with a dozen or so. Sometimes his taste is gawd awful in reading material. You can't argue with a FREE thing though and our library needs donations badly. Everybody is grateful for his gifts and thoughtfulness. The one thing about this area and Succotz in particular, people have been living around here for the past 14,000 years that we know of. Must be good living hey? I would say so and Charlie says so too!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Western Belize most common languages!
By Ray Auxillou, Nov. 2008
Languages spoken in
Common also are the languages of Arabic, Hindu, French, Romanian, and Italian. These are usually restaurant owners and business people from the merchant class. Very common these days are both Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese, which while having the same writing, have different languages is my understanding. Cantonese speakers come from the industrial areas of mainland China and the Mandarin speakers usually come from Taiwan, an island off the coast of mainland China. There are a couple thousand Chinese speakers.
To get along in
Monday, November 17, 2008
LAND USAGE DISPUTE BETWEEN INDIGENOUS MAYA AND INTELLECTUAL PORT TOWNIES.
By Ray Auxillou, Nov., 2008
The argument between the communal village system of land exploitation of the dozen villages that represent the historical Maya control of land in
There are parallels in modern
The power class of our political aristocracy making their living off taxes in the government control business, mostly from the port town of Belize City, a city centered bunch of service orientated intellectual academics, who wish the lands of Belize to produce more in crops and in turn the tax increases, that would ensue for their gratification and life styles, a larger share of monies earned from modern agriculture. The port town folk require larger and ever larger amounts of money to satisfy their material lifestyles based on service industries, or taxation. The Maya though extol the virtues of country rural life, living marginally, but with great freedom of TIME and leisure, to enjoy life in harmony with nature. The upshot of the clash between the intellectual new aristocratic elite of mostly the port Belize City, who are reluctant to allow the Maya to waste the land resources, which even at best are of low productivity, using ancient agricultural techniques of rotating forest clearing. The clash revolves around money as most things do. In this case in
Historically, using European and Russian history, we know and it has been confirmed in
There is the problem, or clash of increased agriculture productivity desires and thus taxes, to support the more material lifestyle of the port
While the Maya of Toledo are judged by the port city intellectuals to be obtuse, secretive, stubborn and ignorant, the arguments of the benefits of different land use and agriculture productivity represent more a clash of cultures of life styles and expectations. The Maya are not stupid and many have migrated seasonally to other parts of
The Agriculture Department and Ministry of Natural Resources is in a between position concerning the small farmer. The need of politics requires modernizing agriculture for more taxes, whereas the current large land availability, versus small population levels dictate that the small farmer and the Maya doing casual subsistant farming is still dominant and in the drivers seat. This period of Belizean history is in a transition and will change as population grows exponentially.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
BELIZE GOVERNMENT FLUBS ALBA TRADE EXPORT OPPORTUNITIES

ALBA TRADE WITH VENEZUELA STILL STAGNANT BECAUSE OF BELIZE GOVERNMENT LACK OF INTEREST
I'm still waiting for the Minister of Agriculture, Rene Montero, ( photo to left ) to call a seminar, or conference with the Venezuelan Embassador, the Chief of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, BELTRAIDE head, Reimer of Spanish Lookout or other interested parties including myself, Port Authority and Marketing Board head. Plus media reps to observe. To discuss opening this government to government ALBA TRADE with Venezuela. If I wanted to ship 10,000 bottles of Marie Sharps Hot Sauce for instance, who pays and how and when? How do the mechanics of a barter system for oil work? How does the private sector build up processed goods for export to ALBA and get the money up front, to grease the wheels of transportation and bureacracy?
Nobody in the UDP CABINET seem to have a clue how to organize this thing. I would put my money on Edmund Castro to be the most leadership and innovative cabinet person for this. But he lacks the organizational smarts, to crack the bullwhip and get the bureaucratic system organized and working. Rightfully it is Rene Montero's job to do this, but obviously he is not going to do anything as he lacks the ambition and drive.
--- On Fri, 11/14/08, Wendy Auxillou <wendy_auxillou@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: Wendy Auxillou
Subject: Bz-Culture: FW: Release-Mexico-Belize meeting to enhance agricultural trade
To: bz-culture@psg.com, belize@lists.belizeculture.com
Date: Friday, November 14, 2008, 12:51 PM
EMBAJADA DE MÉXICO EN BELICE
P R E S S R E L E A S E
No. 50
MEXICO-BELIZE MEETING
TO ENHANCE AGRICULTURAL TRADE
Belmopan, 13 November 2008.- The Embassy of Mexico informs that on 12 November 2008, a meeting was held in Chetumal, Mexico, between Belizean officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and the Belize Livestock Producers Association, as well as Mexican officials of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food of Mexico (SAGARPA) and the Embassy of Mexico to Belize.
The purpose of the event was to explain in detail the sanitary and phytosanitary procedure and regulations that need to be met for the entry of animal, vegetable and fish products into Mexico. The Mexican requirements on imports are the same as those established by international organizations and which Mexican products need to comply with in order to export to other countries.
Mexican officials highlighted that Belizean livestock and other agricultural products have high probabilities of being exported to the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico, where most of the local demand is supplied by products from Northern Mexico and from third countries. In this regard, exports of Belizean products to Mexico should fulfill two basic requirements. The first is that Mexican and Belizean agricultural health authorities need to be recognized by each other. The second one is to set a risk map which would allow a reciprocal recognition of disease-free areas.
The Government of Belize agreed to formally submit a request before SAGARPA in order to register BAHA as the official agricultural health authority of Belize. Both countries also agreed to meeting again in Belize on February 2009.
The meeting was led by Mr. Arturo Bolaños, SAGARPA’s representative to Quintana Roo, Mexico, and from Belize, Dr. Victor Gongora, Animal Health officer of the Belize Agricultural Health Authority (BAHA). Participants at the meeting included Ambassador of Mexico to Belize, Luis Manuel Lopez-Moreno, and Ambassador Adalbert Tucker, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Belize.
________________________
EMBAJADA DE MÉXICO EN BELICE
C O M U N I C A D O D E P R E N S A
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
WESTERN BELIZE CAYO DISTRICT TOURIST BOOKINGS PICKING UP.
===================================
Hi Jay;
We have a furnished apartment for $45 usa + tax, a night. Otherwise only dormitory bunk beds at $11 usa + tax. for the dates you mention. November is a slow month though. Some Flemish Belgians were just here, passing through, doing a slightly different version of the Gringo Trail. I expect you can just phone us when in country and tell us when you will arrive.
Phone number is 663 5580
websites: http://folkmusicfl.tripod.com/adventuresinbelize
http://westernbelizehappenings.blogspot.com for latest news on what is going on around here.
Lots of photos on these sites. Apartment photos are at:
http://stellapinzon.tripod.com/apartmentwesternbelize/
There are eight hostels throughout Belize. Our family run two of them. One on the beachfront of Caye Caulker, ( Tina's Backpackers Hostel ) just inside the Great barrier reef and this one out West here. On hostels and low budget around Belize, the web page is:
http://folkmusicfl.tripod.com/hostelsandhotelsinbelize/
Ray Auxillou, Green Parrot Valley, Falconview Backpackers Adventure Hostel
--- On Tue, 11/11/08, Auxillou Beach Suites - Reservations <reservations@auxilloubeachsuites.com> wrote:
From: Auxillou Beach Suites - Reservations
Subject: Falconview Information Request
To: hillviewhacienda@yahoo.com
Cc: Jay@discmo.com
Date: Tuesday, November 11, 2008, 6:18 AM
Hi Jay:
Thanks for your email of inquiry below. Your request has been forwarded to
Falconview Hostel for their direct response to
you.
FalconviewName = Jay Gibson
FALCONVIEWEmail = Jay@discmo.com
Number in Party = 1
Arrival Date = Nov 26th, 2008
Departure Date = Nov 29th, 2008
Comments = Hi there, I hear great things about your Hostel. My preference
is a Private room. My dates are a little flexible,. Do you have a private
room available?
Thanks,
Jay
Monday, November 10, 2008
Lonely Planet Forum on Belize and TROTTERS GUIDEBOOK in Dutch
WESTERN BELIZE RECREATIONAL AREA tourism OPENED with a BANG! ( October 7th, 2008 )
We got a phone call from 3 Flemish Tourists, doing a reverse direction GRINGO TRAIL tour yesterday and picked them up downtown for an overnight at our FALCONVIEW BACKPACKERS ADVENTURE HOSTEL. They were enroute to Placentia and via Punta Gorda, and soon this week back to Guatemala; where they were working in a remote Mountain village Hospital. We sort of get the odd tourist backpacker in our off season at our HOSTEL for travelers. They found us through TROTTERS GUIDEBOOK in DUTCH. They were Veerle, a 26 year old nurse, Steven the 31 year old boyfriend working at the remote mountainous hospital in the village of Yalanhuitz, and his sister Kristel age 35 years, visiting for a month from Belgium. Normally September, October and November, are our dead off season for tourists, though in November we do pick up the odd one passing through. Our FALCONVIEW BACKPACKERS ADVENTURE HOSTEL, is usually going through re-painting and repairs at this time. I had just told my wife yesterday morning, that I expected we would start to get a trickle of GRINGO TRAIL travelers this month. Lo and behold, a few hours later we got three. Their story is interesting. They come from Antwerp and hooked up with a long term volunteer organization www.vivirenamor.be running a village hospital serving many remote high Guatemalan villages. Apparently they had just finished an 8 month stint of volunteering and were seeing the surrounding Central American countries. The job paid their air flights from Belgium and they lived in a small wooden shack in the village, with a bedroom big enough for the bed, but no toilet available. Steven worked as the hospital administrator and Veerle worked as the nurse. The villages in the mountainous area are mostly Lan Chuj Maya indians and Q'anjobal Mayan indians. The Maya have 22 distinct different languages through the old Mayan Empire. The oldest Mayan temple can be found in San Salvador around 7000 years old. A lot older than any Egyptian pyramids. In Belize, our temple pyramids go back about 4000 years.
On my trip to our twin town market this morning, I noticed a string of tourist backpackers on the street in the central bus and restaurant area of our twin towns of Santa Elena Town and San Ignacio Town, and in the local TOUR OPERATORS offices, saw them fairly full of tourists, going out on daily local tours and site trips. I stopped by my friend BOB the Englishman, at PACZ TOURS and asked him about the off season and mentioned the tourists around, in what should still be our OFF DEAD season. He said, it picked up a day ago and they are coming in like crazy from all over. I sort of wasn't expecting this to happen for another month. Nice though for business! Guess I will have to miss my own vacation? The OCTOBER flood we experienced from a torrential TROPICAL STORM # 16, has now gone down, in the Macal and Mopan Rivers around Western Belize Cayo District. Cold weather has been around for two weeks and maybe it is a lot colder in North America and in Europe?
We have a news blog, maintained this year, a few times weekly, with photographs and news of the "Western Belize Recreational Area" of the CAYO DISTRICT of Belize. If you are interested try: http://westernbelizehappenings.blogspot.com
Ray Auxillou
Hillviewhacienda
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
POLITICIANS AND THE SMALL ECONOMY WE HAVE IN BELIZE!
"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public
debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and
controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest
Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living
on public assistance."
Cicero - 55 BC
> You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
> You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
> You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
> You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
> You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
> You cannot build character and courage by taking away men's initiative and
> independence.
> You cannot help men permanently by doing for them, what they could and
> should do
> for themselves.
> --Abraham Lincoln
Around the Post Office steps in San Ignacio Town in 2008, the gossip and rumors went like this.
Some UDP Cabinet Minister is refusing Western Belizeans EXPORT PERMITS, unless they raise their price on export items by 35% and give him 30% baksheesh. They are still complaining about Certificates of Origin costs and delays.
The Mennonite producers in the HEARTLAND of BELIZE have the only good roads in the nation of Belize. They maintain and build them themselves.
Don't even talk about the ripoff in port of Belize City container loading charges, they are so ridiculous as to be worse than rip off. Houston, such fees are $65 usa and down in our port they are rumored to be $500 usa paid in usa currency, which it is illegal to own here. Very difficult if not near impossible to get such currency. How to export goods? Can't do it by container and ships, so how?
GREAT WAY OUR UDP GOVERNMENT IS ENCOURAGING EXPORTS AND THE ECONOMY HEY? Of course, the Post Office corner is a well noted complainers corner anyway.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Cheap airfares to Belize from the USA FALL off season
USA - BELIZE ROUND TRIP AIRFARES FROM AND TO DESTINATIONS IN THE USA FOR OFF SEASON - OCT 30TH, 2008
Cincinnati, OH $234 RT Includes all taxes (American)
Seattle, WA $380 RT Includes all taxes (Continental)
Dallas, TX $246 RT Includes all taxes (Delta)
Houston IAH, TX $306 RT Includes all taxes (Delta)
Newark, NJ $351 RT Nonstop flights, Includes all taxes (Continental)
Chicago O'Hare, IL $458 RT Includes all taxes (Delta, US Airways)
Atlanta, GA $223 RT Includes all taxes (Delta)
Boston, MA $380 RT Includes all taxes (Delta, US Airways)
Orlando, FL $366 RT Includes all taxes (Delta, US Airways)
Washington National, DC $340 RT Includes all taxes (Continental)
Washington Dulles, DC $346 RT Includes all taxes (Continental, Delta, US Airways)
Philadelphia, PA $326 RT Includes all taxes (Delta, US Airways)
Charlotte, NC $338 RT Includes all taxes (Delta)
Detroit, MI $349 RT Includes all taxes (Continental)
Denver, CO $360 RT Includes all taxes (Continental)
Tampa, FL $366 RT Includes all taxes (Delta, US Airways)
Salt Lake City, UT $245 RT Includes all taxes (American)
St Louis, MO $249 RT Includes all taxes (Delta)
Cleveland, OH $355 RT Includes all taxes (US Airways)