Caving Belize, ATM cave, Actun Tunichil Muknal cave, spelunking, etc.

This is a complete whole pot found inside the ATM cave a mile away from the entrance. Actun Tunichil Cave trip. Twin Town tour operators, about four are licensed to do this trip into XIBALBA, a sacrificial site a mile underground and entrance to the Mayan underworld mythology.
We usually have PACZ TOURS pick up our ATM expedition all day guests at the Falconview Backpackers Adventure Hostel. They are the best. The all day trip runs $80 usa usually. Though in off-season it might be $5 cheaper.

http://folkmusicfl.tripod.com/actuntunichilmuknal/
http://folkmusicfl.tripod.com/adventuresinbelize/
http://westernbelizehappenings.blogspot.com ( news and photos of interest on Western Belize )

BASE CAMP FOR SPELUNKERS, CAVERS AND SPELIOLOGISTS IN BELIZE

CAVERS, SPELUNKERS, SPELIOLOGISTS

The headquarters for cavers exploring Cayo District foothill and mountain caves as a base camp one, to store your gear is FALCONVIEW BACKPACKERS ADVENTURE HOSTEL. With accomodations for sixteen persons, own kitchens, living room, some garden hoses to wash down gear and so forth. Cavers can appreciate this photo of spelunking and rapplleing down an interior cliff in darkness.

http://folkmusicfl.tripod.com/adventuresinbelize/
http://westernbelizehappenings.blogspot.com News and photos of Western Belize.

Barton Creek Tourist destination.

The Barton Creek Cave trip is by canoe and while not that impressive, if you are a survivalist type, it is way back in the boonies among the old time Mennonite farms, where they do everything with horses, shun modern electronics and gasoline engines. There are even a number of survivalist farms back there into organic self sufficiency. Barton Creek locally is famous for the potato production agriculturally speaking. This cave entrance starts just beyond a creek side camp ground in an orchard, on the side of Barton Creek, where it turns against an overhead cliff and hill ridge, forming a great swimming hole, with ropes strung from trees. Backpackers like it, with their own tents. Barton Creek has a big open sided lodge type structure, on which you can sling a sleeping bag in case it rains. Sometimes they have soft drinks imported from the Twin Towns about 30 miles away. The road getting in there is very rough and the last mile access has to ford the creek, about eighteen inches deep up to your axles on a car, over a gravel creek bottom. It is expensive getting a ride into this remote area. Though the proprietors of Barton Creek Lodge go back and forth shopping to the Twin Towns usually once a day and can arrange a ride for long time campers. You have to pay for renting the canoes to go into the low cave system with a guide. They only have a few canoes, about four. There are a couple of guides working this tourist destination out of the Twin Towns Tourist Operators. Not sure if you can contact them through Pacz tours or not, but I suspect so.

ARIZONA BUSINESS PEOPLE DONATE $2 MILLION TO BELIZE

BELIZE HAS A FIRST LADY ?????? ARIZONA BUSINESS PEOPLE DONATE $2 MILLION in medical equipment TO NEEDY BELIZE.

Ministry of Finance

First Lady of Belize secures BZ$2 Million Donation.

Belmopan - 26 November, 2008
The First Lady of Belize, Ms. Kim Simplis was the Guest of Honour at Project C.U.R.E.’s 3rd Annual First Ladies’ Luncheon held in Phoenix Arizona on Friday November 14, 2008 where she secured a donation of medical equipment and supplies valued at BZ$2 million.

Project C.U.R.E. has been donating medical equipment and supplies around the world for the past ten years. It’s mission is to identify, solicit, collect, sort and deliver medical supplies and services according to the needs of the world and is currently the world’s largest distributor of donated medical supplies and equipment to developing nations.

In order to assist Belize after the major flooding experienced this year their goal was to raise enough funds to deliver the equipment and supplies to hospitals and clinics in Belize .

First Lady Simplis was accompanied by Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Peter Allen and Consul General for Belize in Los Angeles , Mr. Roland Yorke. Present at the Luncheon honouring Belize ’s First Lady were over 1,000 business leaders and influential persons from the state of Arizona . The team utilized the opportunity to meet with many of these leaders and presented investment, tourism and bilateral opportunities in Belize .

Following the First Ladies Luncheon, Project C.U.R.E has arranging for shipment of several containers of medical equipment and supplies to be sent to Belize .

Project CU.R.E’s Annual First Ladies’ Luncheon honours the First Lady of a different country each year.

BELIZE CABINET NOT IN FAVOR OF VENEZUELAN TRADE THROUGH ALBA

RENE MONTERO INFORMS ON ALBA TRADE PROSPECTS!

The Honourable Rene Montero, Belize Cabinet Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries gave me a phone call late Wednesday afternoon, about another personal matter and I took the opportunity to ask him about the ALBA TRADE proposals with Venezuela. He said, that the Cabinet and other officials had a number of talks with the Venezuela Ambassador, but that the Cabinet was not too enthused with the ALBA trade prospects. The major reasons Rene Montero gave, was the difficulty of transportation. He used the high cost of ocean freight between Belize and Caracas, Venezuela as an example. He did not mention the exorbitant costs of port loading fees in Belize, which has the private sector exporters outraged. Over the phone we did not get into the nitty gritty details about whether this would be a government to government thingy, or prices for goods, and methods of payments, or getting money for export entrepreneurs and food processors who would like to gear up to a solid Caribbean market flush with cash oil money. Venezuela being a socialist state, these type of countries and governments are very corrupt normally, ruled by a party elite, and it is difficult to deal from the private sector viewpoint with such corrupt governments, unless you were a similar type of state with an entrenched elite ruling party corrupt class. We would like to hear more nitty gritty details proposed by the Venezuelan Embassy, so the private sector entrepreneurs in Belize could judge for themselves. Rene did advise me there was an agriculture department show on the radio on Sundays. Never listen to the radio, as reception is not too good out our way in rural Western Belize, so disappointed in that. Told him we mostly get our government information from the port town weekly newspapers, which are mostly yellow journalism, dealing in scandals ( real and imagined ) in crime, politics and sports. We do catch the occasional television news flash in the evenings, which we find interesting.

http://folkmusicfl.tripod.com/adventuresinbelize/
http://westernbelizehappenings.blogspot.com

NEWCASTLES DISEASE HITS TURKEY FLOCK IN BELIZE

NEWCASTLES DISEASE STRIKES TURKEY FLOCK IN CAYO DISTRICT

The government is hot on destroying the flocks of birds being raised on two farms in the Mennonite area. Newcastles Disease has been confirmed as the culprit. This is not like avian influenza and there is no cross species, bird to human transmission. You can still eat the meat.

Santa Elena Town Library in Cayo District,

SANTA ELENA PUBLIC LIBRARY
This is a two story building. Some volunteers came down from the USA about six months ago and tiled the floor in the bottom of the library. There are two librarians and this one is Beatrice. The bottom floor is the childrens library and the top floor is the adult section. We just donated some books this morning, brought down by Charlie Trew from Washington, D.C. where he is a librarian for the library of Congress. This library government budget, is salaries for the two librarians ( $150 usa a week ) and a monthly budget of $35 usa per month for the library. What Beatrice wants is some computers and a bigger Belize Government budget so they can supply internet service to school kids and the public FREE. The government tried this idea nationwide a few years ago, but since the libraries have literally no operating budget funds, they are all the time scrounging paint and holding bake sales and other things to keep the library maintained. What happened; libraries had to charge a bit for the computer internet access in competition with internet cafes found in town centers in the districts. This was self defeating for boosting the economy and education. Rural parts don't get internet service in the villages. Particularly in the bottom half of the whole country. People drive, or catch a bus to the district town centers and have to pay an internet cafe to use the internet. Townies get good internet service inside their town centers, but the rural populations none. Without internet, Belize is ahead of some countries like in Africa for our district towns, but behind nearly all countries in Latin America, or the Caribbean. Development and education is hindered by lack of internet service at affordable cost. If you can donate some reading fiction books, please bring them down to Falconview Hostel, we will see the library gets them. ( I get to read them first - grin - ) Please, no gothic romances. Sci - fi, how to books, and that sort of thing are appreciated. A brand new set of the latest, WORLD BOOK Encyclopedia would be appreciated. Childrens encylopedia would be good too.

http://folkmusicfl.tripod.com/adventuresinbelize/

Building contractors ride bicycles eight miles to work in Western Belize, Cayo District

Bullet Tree workers ride bicycles to work, all of eight miles to Hillview on the side of Green Parrot Valley. They have just finished tiling the floor in my daughter Sharon's little government built house about a short block away from me. Her house is a vacation house and hurricane shelter. Sharon lives in the Redlands, Homestead of Miami Dade County where she and her husband run a landscaping business for big hotels and government properties. These two guys were just arriving, if you watch the early morning sun shadows and I gave them a key for Sharon's house, as they are going to start plastering the ceiling inside this morning. Their names are Virgilio Garcia Jr. and Eugenio Garcia, two brothers and their telephone in Bullet Tree Falls is 667 1808. They borrowed my ladder this morning as well. Labor is tight in Cayo District, when workers have to ride bicycles eight miles away and house owners need laborers and skilled craftsmen.

Hydroponic organic vegetable experiments in Belize

We were trying to an experiment for Central Farm Government Research Station in trying to grow a ball head lettuce in Belize. Nobody yet has succeeded. I've tried about 18 types of lettuce. This particular one, was either Great Lakes #18, or Lechuga Escarola. Either way, you can notice the long twisted stem in my hand, as the lettuce refuses like all the others to form a ball head. My daughter Sharon had brought the seeds for me to experiment with from Miami-Dade County where she has a nursery and landscape business called FLORA TECH LANDSCAPES. First time she has been here to Hillview in eight years or more. The guy holding the lettuce is yours truly running this blog. Ray Auxillou, age 71 years young and still busy and mentally and physically challenged within the limits of old age. We have two small nurseries of our yard at Falconview Backpackers Adventure Hostel.
http://belizehydroponics.tripod.com/
http://folkmusicfl.tripod.com/adventuresinbelize/

DUTCH STUDENTS HAVE GREAT VISIT TO CAYO WEST

Well the Dutch University students are gone this morning. They split into two groups yesterday. Four went with Pacz Tours to the ATM ( Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave sacrifial underground site ). This is a trek with 3 water crossings and about a mile underground with head lamps. They were really appreciative of the historical feeling to the terror of the old Maya mythology of XIBALBA.

The other group of five I dropped off at the foot of the Hawksworth Bridge, where they not only sell bus tickets, but also arrange canoe rentals. Apparently they were given a choice and picked the inflatable kayaks. Each of them took one. ( $21 usa each and a ride seven miles up river to start ) They were very excited about their trip for seven miles coming down the Macal River. I've never done this trip. They told me of some waterfall on the Macal river, that they ran and it had a big deep pool of water in which they were able to stop and park their kayaks and dive off the boulders on the side. At one with nature! I saw the photos and they were great. Hope they do send me some? Living in Holland and average age of 24 years, in a small country with 16 million people and the bureaucrats running their lives. They really appreciated the "wilderness" aspects of their Macal River lower gorge paddling and swimming trip. I will have to push this trip more to guests at the Falconview Backpackers Adventure Hostel, as according to the digital photos they had, it sounded like a great time for city types. They told me they pay 55% taxes in Holland and were asking about the USA, where I estimated it was about 26%

At any rate, these Hollanders were like 6 ft 6 inches and taller. I am going to have to build the next set of beds in the new annex dormitory as we expand, to 7 feet long. I think the ones I have now are 6 ft, or 6 ft - 6 inches. I fell asleep early in the evening around 7:30 p.m., but they pooled their money and sent out for a couple of cases of Beliken beer. My wife tell me the neighbors were talking about it this morning. Apparently they went up to our third floor verandah and were singing songs as a group until midnight. Sort of like Tina's Hostel crowd on Caye Caulker. In the quiet of Green Parrot Valley and half way up the slope, they could hear them singing right up on the ridge as well.

The pickup truck is a small one, with a local folkloric casita made of wood. This is our FREE hostel SHUTTLE. We got the nine Dutch giants into it, but with their weight and that of their backpacks, I think we were trying to carry a bit over a ton of extra weight, in a pickup truck designed for a quarter ton weight. Needless to say, my back rear tires were squished to about one inch in thickness. Despite the terrible pot hole roads down into the city center bus stop in this morning, we did not blow a tire and everybody got there on time. Some of those gravel street pot holes are deep and there are a lot of them.

Fighting malnutrition in Belize with habenero peppers, grown hydroponically.

MALNUTRITION AND VITAMINS IN BELIZE

by Ray Auxillou, Nov/2008

There is a fair amount of malnutrition in Belize and mostly it comes from lack of vitamins. Invariably whenever you see someone sick with the flu, a cold, or some other illness, the underlying cause is malnutrition, or in other words the diet that they are accustomed to eat.

Food grown locally are fairly cheap for the basics. What is not understood by large numbers of the population is the role of vitamins. Of all the foods grown in Belize none is probably more effective for the supply of vitamins than the HABENERO PEPPER. This pepper usually red, sometimes orange, is jam packed with multi-vitamins in mega millions of doses. The Habenero Pepper can really described as the miracle food of Belize !

The trouble with Habenero Pepper is that it is HOT! Really hot. Yet a tiny slice of a Habenero Pepper each day in your food, will boost your immune system; that eaters of this pepper will rarely get sick. Certainly any flu, or colds are very light and of short term, if you get them at all.

Forty years ago, I noted when living on Caye Caulker as a school teacher,that some children were always chronically sick. They always had ulcers and sores, particularly on their legs. It took me months to figure out what was wrong. Finally one day, as a guest in their home, I noticed that the diet being fish, rice and beans was served with optional hot pepper. The children would not eat the hot pepper, because the pepper was really very hot and burned the lips and pallet. The adults ate it and were healthy. Using a book on nutrition donated to me by the Agency of International Development out of Washington 25, D.C. on nutrition and vitamins, I started to sort through different tropical foods and was startled to find that a hot red pepper was richer in ALL the vitamins, beating out fruit like apples, or Vitamin A found in cod liver oil in Canada. The amounts of vitamin quantities were outstanding. In the multi-millions of doses. Further study revealed that almost any tropical fruit that was colored, RED, ORANGE , or YELLOW had more vitamins than anything of any other color. Many food sources that are eaten GREEN lack any vitamins, yet if you wait until they turn RED, they become rich in vitamins.

In the case of the primary school children, I reported this to the National Health Authority and they started a program of giving school children tablets of vitamins nationwide and this cured a lot of early childhood health problems.

As recently as yesterday, one of the High School boys that do odd jobs for me, was sick with a COLD and FLU. I asked him if he ate hot peppers, particularly RED HABENERO PEPPERS and he said no! They were too hot. So, I gave him a lecture on vitamins and this boy was 18 years old. I told him to eat a small slice of one pepper each day in his rice, or whatever food he ate and he would stay healthy. You do not have to eat a lot, just a little piece. There is no reason to have the flu, or a serious cold. These peppers are small to start with. I have the same problem with my wife and brother-in-law. They do not like to eat hot peppers. Yet the road to a strong immune system is any kind of RED fruit, or vegetable. I’ve proved it over and over again to my satisfaction in Belize . Yet, still today, there are too many people here in Belize that will not eat healthy. The thing is, a small habenero pepper bush will grow in your yard for two or three years, producing peppers with almost no attention at all and fabulously, if you scatter a little food scraps around the base of the bush and give it some water when it is dry. Three such habenero bushes will supply a family of five, with enough fresh peppers monthly.

The photo up top is hydroponic grown habenero peppers.

FLOOD VICTIMS GET GIFTS FROM THE GOVERNMENT

NATIONAL EMERGENCY MANAGING ORGANIZATION PROVIDES NEW HOUSEHOLD GOODS TO DISTRESSED FLOOD VICTIMS

For the first time in the history of Belize, household goods have been supplied to distressed victims of the October flood. In the Cayo District of Western Belize, 25 families of Calla Creek and 9 families of Bullet Tree Falls were given new household items. Houses that were submerged and the contents destroyed were the main focus. Butane cooking stoves, the butane tanks themselves, mattresses, sofa sets and refrigerators were distributed to help people get back on their feet. In the past, going back to Hurricane Hattie in 1961, zinc roofing and tools were usually the items of donation by any incumbent government of Belize, to victims of natural disasters. Household goods are a departure, as is also this huge flood that came down river from Guatemala. There have been floods before, usually longer lasting, but this time, due to the de-forestation of the jungles of the Peten and converting them to cattle ranches; there were no tree roots to hold back the torrential rain water and feed the water out slowly. The October flood of 2008, was bigger, faster and much higher than any known before down river.

While such relief was appropriate for this first ever rushing big flood, in the future, riverside homeowners should be required to build their homes fourteen feet off the ground on posts, and carry flood and hurricane insurance in future years. The taxpayers have helped out this time, but as population grows, people MUST take responsibility for themselves and their assets.

TAIWAN DONATES SUPPLIES TO FARMERS VICTIMS OF THE FLOOD

TAIWAN donates to Cayo West. Mr. Cheng Hsuing Lin, Director of the Taiwanese Technical Mission at Central Farm Agricultural research station and also on behalf of Mr. Blanco, of Animal Health OIRSA, donated to the local area representative and Cabinet Minister of Agriculture, contributions valued at $84,000 and $4,400 respectively. The form of the donations to flood farmer victims, came as vegetable seeds, corn seeds and fertilizers.

Dutch University Fraternity student backpacker group stay at budget dormitory Falconview Adventure Hostel

Nine DUTCH University Student fraternity backpackers arrive at Falconview Hostel, booked by Hostelbookers.com, UK. They are from somewhere near Rotterdam, Holland.
They got in midday and in a rush we tried to accomodate them with a courtesy afternoon trip to the two Mayan ruins of Xununtanich and Cahel Pech. Today, four of them are off with Pacz Tours to the ATM ( Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave system). This is the XIBALBA, or one of the ancient entrances and sacrificial sites to the underworld planes of existance of the Maya spiritual mythology. About a mile underground using head lamps with a guide, they will arrive at the sacrifical site, where the archeology department of Belize have left skeletons and pottery as it was found. Tourists must walk carefully in stocking feet around the remains. This is an all day trip and you must traverse three underground rivers in the cave system to get here. Have no idea of how terrified captives must have felt back centuries ago. The other five on a cheaper budget were going to share some canoes and paddle the Macal River Gorge exotic jungle scenery. Tomorrow these nine will be off to Caye Caulker by bus for $6 Bz and water taxi for $30 Bz round trip to this fabulous Great Barrier Reef small island, surrounded by sheltered emerald green waters of the inner lagoon, protected by the reef itself. ( exchange rate is $2 bz for $1 us dollar )
These Dutch kids were TALL. Six feet six inches at least. Must be all that milk drinking in Holland? Made my five feet, 11 inches feel like a midget.
http://folkmusicfl.tripod.com/actuntunichilmuknal/
http://folkmusicfl.tripod.com/adventuresinbelize/

Best Internet Cafe in the twin towns until now!

In the last month another second internet cafe has opened up in Santa Elena Town side of the river Macal. They claim they are charging $3 an hour, haven't tried them yet. I've been going to this one on the San Ignacio Town side of the Macal River for a few years now and kind of feel at home there. It is air conditioned, got fast DSL speeds when the place is not packed, that is! Greg Aguirre is the proprietor sitting behind the counter. For prices he is the lowest in San Ignacio at $3 Bz per hour, rounded out to the nearest quarter, or shilling as we call it here in Belize. Greg has done a fair amount of repair work on my two old computers as well. Though I'm hoping my daughter Tina will bring a new E MACHINE back from Houston, as my other daughter Wendy in Houston said yesterday they were on sale at WalMart. I really need a new one, as these I have, are constantly breaking down now. This internet cafe for Greg is in the Del Rio Mall, which is on the next street over from Burns Avenue, the main street in San Ignacio. The street is called West Street and as I sit here in this internet cafe, I can hear some kid practising on the Cornet, next door in the Chinese owned music teaching shop. Next door to here is a Hindu restaurant where I normally eat a very cheap lunch of Somosa and Ginger flavored Lime Juice, Hindu style.
The BTL monopoly have been promising us internet service in our section of Hillview, a suburb of Santa Elena Town, for about 14 years, but they lie every year about it and never do it. They only want the icing on the cake and serving only town centers where the land is flat and easily reached by either land line, or cell phone towers. We can't even get their cell phone signal in Hillview, as we are behind a ridge and they will not put in repeaters around the South Side of the Twin towns for the growing population and suburbs. Too many hills they say! At any rate we cannot get internet service of any kind where I live, so I have to drive the two miles once or twice a day, to do e-mail and tend to my business interests. This is the place I must come to communicate with our tourist guests who are making enquiries for our budget Falconview Hostel Adventure selling place.

FALCONVIEW HOSTEL REVIEW by travel writer.

We got a nice review sent to us from an overnight guest and photographer/writer. We mostly deal with overnighters between Guatemala and Belize and adventurers taking local tours and expeditions on a budget. We get mostly girls as they like the safety aspects of our place.

Santa Elena Town, Cayo District, Belize: Falcon View Hostel

Last night I stayed at the Falcon View Hostel in Santa Elena Town, Cayo District, Belize. Overall it was a pleasant stay with good conversation. The Falcon View Hostel is located a bit off the beaten path in a small community about 3/4 mile down a gravel road. It was quite and safe. I paid $11.000 USD plus tax. The total was just under $12.00 USD altogether.

This is a tiny little eight bed hostel has a community kitchen, dining, and living area, and community bath and showers. The kitchen is fully furnished with small separate dinner tables to accomodate separate parties, two burner stove, and refrigerator. The kitchen was kept very clean. I don’t think they serve any meals here on a regular basis so you are on your own. A cab ride into town can cure that problem.

The wash room has two sinks, four toilets, and four showers. The showers are small and there is no hot water. However, cold water is not cold here in Belize at least in my opinion. There is not much privacy in this room but once again very clean. I was given a clean bath towel, blanket, and wash cloth when checking in. Bring your own shampoo and soap.

The domitory is small and simple but once again clean. There are four bunkbeds each one having a mosquito net over it, very handy. The beds are small but firm covered with linens, sheets, and a pillow. I’m 5′8″ tall and I had enough room but if you’re over 6′ tall you might be a bit cramped. On a side note, I do remember seeing small keyed lockers for your valuables.

The living area had a couple of hammocks with a couple of chairs and a small table. It’s sparsely furnished but does have a TV with cable and DVD player. There are board games and plenty of interesting books available. Ray and Silva have authored several of the books. One book of particular interest to me was titled “An Early History of Belize” published in 1996 by the owners. Overall, this is a great place to stay with a very very comfortable atmosphere. Tours are available for the area on a daily basis.

Regards,

Benedict Kim

www.esotericvision.com

wibelize.com

Good Travelogue reports of Western Belize Adventures

http://wibelize.com

Has good travelogue reports on tourist adventures in Western Belize.

ERWIN CONTRERAS, ECONOMIC MINISTER A NO SHOW!

ERWIN CONTRERAS Cabinet Minister for Economic Development and Commerce and Industry in Belize.

The main Cabinet Minister responsible for organizing research and ACTION and informing us public of how to take advantage of ALBA TRADE with Venezuela, which the Venezuelan Embassy is promoting in Belize. We have heard NOTHING! ZILCH! NADA over the last few months! We the public in Western Belize would like to know if this is something that is possible, or not possible under the terms of ALBA trade organization.
The impression is the UDP Cabinet do not want trade with Venezuela, whereas PRODUCERS in Western Belize and the Heartland of Belize do want a ready market, anywhere. The Cabinet should be informing us through press conferences of the possibilities, or no possibilities of trade with Venezuela. Why are they not? Do they know something we do not? What could it be?

Other Cabinet Ministers of the UDP government concerned with this are; Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Trade, Gabriel Martinez of Rural Development and Rene Montero the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries and also our Cayo Central area representative on the Cabinet. When will these Ministers concern themselves with informing us in the Heartland of Belize, the investigation and results of trade with the ALBA trade organization of Venezuela?

Using U Tube for videos of hostels in Belize as a tool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn-TUCwlUm8&feature=related


This is a panaromic view inside and outside of my daughter Tina Auxillou's Hostel, on Caye Caulker right on the beach. I'm going to have to do something like that. This is on U Tube, whatever that is? Guess I'm going to have to get back up to speed with the gadgets and gilhickies of internet again. Seems like I'm cutting edge for a while and then I get behind, like now.

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.

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!

Western Belize most common languages!

WESTERN BELIZE LANGUAGES

By Ray Auxillou, Nov. 2008

Western Belize has a multitude of languages. About 75% of the Western Belize population, around 125,000 people are fairly new immigrants over the past 30 to 50 years.

The main language for school and government is ENGLISH. This enables everybody to talk together and communicate with the outside world. SPANISH is the next dominant language. There are many lesser languages. Of the 22 Mayan languages in Central America, both Yucatec and Mopan Maya are spoken in some of the older peoples homes here in Belize. Most people speak two languages and often three. Many are versatile in four or five languages.

Languages spoken in Western Belize are German, found in a small way in the commercial sector and among the Mennonites where it is widely spoken. About 35,000 people speak German in the industrial and agricultural HEARTLAND of Belize, either as a home language, or a second language. All of these people in turn usually can communicate in Creole, a version of bastardized English favored in the port town and along the coastal villages and towns to the East. These German speakers also speak good English as well as Creole and often Spanish. Our Creole has more to do with the Jamaican dialect, but has widespread uses among the lower class of clerks in the civil service. At one time, Creole was the main language of Belize during the Colonial times. It is a Caribbean hangover from 50 years ago. Since the media are concentrated in the port town, a bastion of Creole speaking coastal citizens, you will find Creole dominates in the civil service and unfortunately all over the country in the primary schools, on radio and television stations. Creole speakers from the coastal communities often take jobs as teachers, nurses, civil servants and policemen. This is really confusing to children in rural primary school. Often people in Western Belize cannot understand broad thick Creole speakers from the coast, who have a heavy Caribbean dialect. Pretty much like a city person from London, England trying to understand a fellow Englishman farmer from York. Or a high German speaker in Germany trying to understand a low German speaker from Austria. Or somebody from Rome, Italy trying to understand a villager from the mountainous interior of the Southern part of Italy.

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 Western Belize, you need both English and Spanish. You will find also a need sometimes to interpret Creole into English. Nearly all Spanish speakers in Western Belize can switch to English easily mid conversation. This is not always true for English speakers trying to switch to Spanish. All the other language speakers can switch easily to English and sometimes fairly into poor Spanish.

LAND USAGE DISPUTE BETWEEN INDIGENOUS MAYA AND INTELLECTUAL PORT TOWNIES.

TOLEDO DISTRICT MAYA ARGUE THEIR RIGHTS

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 Toledo during British Colonial times, continues to this day. The weekend newspapers again talk about Supreme court cases the Maya are bringing against the government to give them large tracts of land in the historical communal manner. The Maya rotating milpa system worked in a SERF/slavery type feudal aristocracy during the two Mayan Empires we know about over ten thousand years. The Maya were actually slaves owned by their aristocratic feudal lords and ladies. No different than that of Russia under the Tsar aristocracy.

There are parallels in modern Belize, to do with land ownership and usage with that of Russia, or the Dark Ages of European feudalism. The crux of the matter is that the land in Belize is for the most part unfertile and poor. In order to be productive on a modern scale, the agriculture has to be converted by scientific research and methods to something more productive. The new agricultural techniques are known nowadays, or can be found on the internet, though not in rural village areas, but the Maya of Toledo wish to continue their own communal land ownership system, using rotational forest clearing milpa; which while it works on the small scale, is in comparison, unproductive in volumes, compared to that of modern technological methods.

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 Belize, the city folks and politicians want more money out of the land. This cannot be done under the wasteful rotational milpa method of ancient times. As population of Belize grows, the land usage question becomes ever more urgent. The Maya do not use the poor lands of Belize efficiently.

Historically, using European and Russian history, we know and it has been confirmed in Belize, that modern agriculture methods increase productivity and the life styles improve materially of bureaucrats and politicians through increased taxation on that productivity. Agriculture productivity also dictates that larger land ownership is necessary to get larger productivity gains and more taxes. Agriculture Department have through the statistical office more up to date statistics these days, on yields per acre over the years. Communal land ownership while inefficient, led to a nice rural peasant life style, based on a communal village system, devoid for the most part in greed for more material things. The conflict is between the intellectuals and service workers of the port Belize City and our growing population in Belize, from higher birth rates that are exponential, against the world of the rural Maya who having rid themselves of their own feudal aristocracy more than nine hundred years ago, do not wish to go back to a serfdom, or slavery system of working under our new aristocracy.

There is the problem, or clash of increased agriculture productivity desires and thus taxes, to support the more material lifestyle of the port Belize City intellectuals, who control the strings of political and government regulatory power and the natural increase of population in Belize, which is already in some areas, seeing agriculture plots decrease in size due to inheritance factors. Yet the conflict between agriculture productivity comes with the ambition and energy of fewer inspired people, accumulating and owning larger consolidated tracts of lands, required of more efficient modern agricultural technological practices or more productivity. The intellectuals of Belize want more productivity, while the Maya want a comfortable rural lifestyle of olden days.

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 Belize, in cities and towns for day labor, or seasonal work in the service industries liked by the port town intellectuals. At root, is the life style, or culture and money and taxation needs of the port town intellectuals who wish merely to see the Maya relegated to a subservient role as slave, or serf labor, or replaced by more dynamic progressive individuals driven by riches and the challenges, while they the intellectuals of Belize City, assume the mantel of the by-gone feudal lords of the ancient Mayan Empires, in a new bureaucratic governing apparatus. The Maya resist enslavement through the court system now, in attempting to protect their large inefficient land requirements of poor soil conditions based on the ancient communal milpa system of land usage, versus the intellectuals of our port city who control the government apparatus who wish to modernize agriculture and land usage to get more taxes. The end result will be the displacement of large numbers of growing Mayan population into a city atmosphere, seeking jobs, in a small nation with no middle level manufacturing and export capacity to support them. The clash is only starting and will get worse as population and shinking land sources available, become more scarce and the arguments become more violent.

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.

Western Belize is not in recession, but the Nation may be?

BELIZE OFFICIALLY IN RECESSION?

With declining GDP rate for two quarters or more, by US standards, Belize is now in RECESSION. In the past, GDP percentage has been artificially boosted by the last government borrowing and spending. The new UDP government this year has been borrowing but we haven't seen any spending yet? GDP rate is about 1.5 % of which 1.2 % is productive private sector exports. To stay even with population growth, the country of Belize requires a GDP rate of 3.2 %.
A hurricane last year doing crop damages. A once in a life time FLOOD this year doing more crop damages, though not as much as expected. The loss of the Williamson sewing factory, much wasted expenditure of time on fighting with the Opposition PUP by the incumbent UDP, poor sugar crops in which markets go unfilled, declining sugar prices by a double crossing European Union open trading deal just signed. All these things have contributed to a shrinking economy. UDP fiscal mismanagement have also played a part, as their new government obviously do not understand strong conservative fiscal management policies. A good third of the UDP CABINET are giving the impression they are concentrating on using the government for self enrichment and to HELL with the country. Will the recession turn into a depression? Will inflation now at 9% go even higher? Will the nation of Belize default on it's debts, particularly since we have new ones by the new government? All serious questions for serious people.

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

TINAS HOSTEL IN BELIZE the TOP WORLD PARTY PLACE FOR BACKPACKERS !

NEWS RELEASE!


Hostel world travelers have rated my daughter "Tina's Backpackers Hostel" on the beach front at Caye Caulker, just inside the Great Coral Barrier Reef of Belize, as one of the TOP Party places in the whole world. Beating out many even in Thailand.

Here are some links on the internet.
http://tinashostel.blogspot.com
http://lifeinabananarepublic.blogspot.com
http://falconview0.tripod.com/tinasbackpackershostel/

Germans are a particularly rowdy party crowd. With 32 beds, she crams them in somehow.

Dad's hostel is not so busy in the party sense. We deal more in adventures each day. This is home base for adventures in Western Belize, at "Falconview Backpackers Adventure Hostel". As we get more crowded and expand, I presume we will get to partying as well. We are just entering our third season and just in the guidebooks this year. All our ratings are 4 and 5 star so far.

http://folkmusicfl.tripod.com/adventuresinbelize/ ( main website )
http://westernbelizehappenings.blogspot.com ( news of life out here in Western Belize )

Belize Marketing Board hindering economic development.

BELIZE MARKETING BOARD HINDERING DEVELOPMENT BECAUSE OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST IN AGRICULTURE.

The same thing happens with potatoes. I agree! The Marketing Board is in a conflict of interest situation with the private producers. Not sure if they are required to be fiscally self sufficient, but if so, then they should be closed down. They are no longer helping the local economy, but obstructing, or destroying it. THINK I'LL PUT THIS ONE ON OUR INTERNATIONAL READERSHIP NEWS BLOG. http://westernbelizehappenings.blogspot.com

--- On Thu, 11/13/08, Wendy Auxillou wrote:
From: Wendy Auxillou
Subject: Bz-Culture: Blue Creek rice farmers to get chanced again...
To: bz-culture@psg.com, belize@lists.belizeculture.com
Date: Thursday, November 13, 2008, 12:05 PM

Edward Reimer,
“There is a high level ambition always with unfortunately the Marketing Board is part of agriculture and their income level is directly affected when local production is sufficient they can’t import and that affects their income level and so their ambition is to always try and import and it is really a conflict of interest because they have the responsibility to run the Marketing Board and to run some kind of support system that will help producers produce more rice and you can’t do both."

Channel 7 New quote by Edward Reimer when it was announced that the Marketing Board would be importing rice, even though the Blue Creek farmers produce enough locally to meet demand.

www.amazingbelize.com
www.auxilloubeachsuites.com
www.cayecaulkerchronicles.com

Nazarene school children at lunch in San Ignacio Town, Cayo West

Nazarene school boys, eat lunch at the Hindu Restaurant in San Ignacio Town of Western Belize. You will notice a mix of ethnic races. There are Maya, Mestizo and Creole in this group of boys. My wife and I usually eat lunch at this Hindu restaurant, as I am in town to use the internet café, in the next door Del Mar Plaza, a very small one building, shopping center, which has a very small movie theater, a music store for lessons, a clothing store, the internet café and a jewelry store. The Hindu restaurant is convenient as it is on the side of the building. The second floor has recently been converted to expensive hotel rooms. The building is owned by an immigrant Mexican lady who is now Belizean. Between her and the bank loans, she keeps trying to make money from rents and pay her loans.

Of the school boys during the lunch hour, only three of nine boys actually had the money to buy lunch. One fat boy had his own bowl of soup and two other boys had bought the big plate of French Fries each. Everybody sort of shared the French fries, which cost $2 Bz a heaping plate. During school lunch hour, a half a dozen Nazarene schoolboys usually gather at this Hindu restaurant to watch cartoons on the television behind the counter. The Hindu immigrant owner has two children of his own. His wife and he cook here. There are four tables, with chairs and a bar type counter with stools; and expatriates of both European, South American and North American residence, from rural areas around the Western Cayo district, eat here during the lunch hour. Mostly because they are using the internet café, which is air conditioned, has the fastest DSL speeds in town and the lowest prices at $3 Bz ( $1.50 usa per hour ). Restaurant patrons live in rural areas of the twin towns, or other villages and towns, which do not have internet service available. So a shopping trip to these twin towns, the center of the Western Cayo District, usually includes an hour at the internet café to keep touch with the outside world. This is a daily, two mile trip for us, from Green Parrot Valley, a suburb of Santa Elena Town across the Macal river bridge, to check “ Falconview Backpackers Adventure Hostel” bookings on the email. We look forward to chatting with gringo expatriats from the USA, England, Rumania and Colombia, we have come to know as friends, here at the Hindu restaurant. Most of who live; either in Bullet Tree Falls ( five miles away ), or Cristo Rey, ( five to eight miles away ) or San Antonio Town ( 16 miles away ), or even far distant Barton Creek ( 16 rugged bad roads away ), this latter a survivalist type remote area in the Appalachian type tropical hills, favored by Mennonite farmers who live the no modern electronic frills life style. They grow most of the potatoes in Belize, with horse labor and transportation. Expatriat immigrants, or residents in Western Belize, usually run a wide range of fiscal capabilities. From enormously rich multi-millionaires, to poor young people into self sufficiency type organic agriculture. Most enjoy the agriculture, or tourist service, life style.

On this particular day, it was my 71 st birthday, so I splurged and treated myself to the more expensive, $5 Bz ( $2.50 usa ) lunch; which included a thick bowl of vegetable soup, hot, spicey with seasoning and curry flavor and a bowl of steamed white rice. A very filling meal. Normally, we eat a Somoza, which costs $1.25 Bz and is a pastry type filled container full of vegetables, along with a Ginger flavored glass of lime juice, fresh made Hindu style. Sometimes we have $1 Bz panades, which is three small, hot fried pastries with a little ground meat inside it. We normally have these for lunch to try and stay on a diet and lose weight. You can eat and drink for lunch, for a total of $2.50 Bz, or $1.25 usa. The ginger lime juice, a Hindu specialty is a sharp and biting cold drink on a hot day. Many expatriates have various types of milk shakes. There are an assortment of Hindu dishes with fluffy and really light foods, I find peculiar for my palet.

Not all school children eat even one meal a day in Belize. This is mostly found in town areas for illiterate parents who rely on day labor, or low paid jobs, at about $125 Bz a week ( $62.50 usa ). Inflation has made it extremely hard on the majority poor laborers. These are usually children of immigrant parents in this school, who in turn have no skills. Corn tortillas, with Red Kidney beans stewed overnight over a wood fire place, and rice are the norm for a meal for a child of the poor classes. Vegetables are cheap enough. You can buy 10 bananas for $1 bz., or 4 oranges for a $1 any day of the year. The poorest people though, do not have steady incomes, or work and so often lack even the dollar to buy anything. Belize primary schools are mostly CHURCH/STATE schools. There are many religious schools. Though no Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, or Tao schools that I know of. Most schools are of variations on different Christian professing cults. The government pays most of the salary for school teachers in church/state schools, so any aspiring demagogue or charismatic preacher, can start his own religion and school and end up with a government salary of sorts. The catch is; you must first build your school and run it for three years, before you qualify to get a teachers salary subsidy for your school. These Nazarene religious school boys in the photograph, they have uniforms and most religious cult schools have identifying colored standard uniform requirements for children. This itself is an enormous financial burden on the lower classes. Not having shoes is more of the norm for rural and poor class people as well. If an immigrant can get a piece of land to build his own house, even a shack and grow a bit of corn and vegetables, you can usually with very little work, have something to eat almost all the time. Most schools are severely overcrowded. Producing babies is something Belizeans and immigrants do very well.

WESTERN BELIZE CAYO DISTRICT TOURIST BOOKINGS PICKING UP.

WINTER BOOKINGS ARE STARTING TO COME INTO HOTELS, LODGES AND RESORTS IN CAYO WEST.
===================================

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

Miss Belize 2008 at South African Miss World contest

Miss Belize at the Miss World contest, in South Africa I think? She has a photo site up on the web if you want to see other photos. The black, Creole part of our population are 1/3 of the population in Belize and found mostly in the coastal communities. In the hinterland, we are mixed of many ethnic groups. Mestizos, mixed Spanish and Gringo European with Mayan Indian are the most common. This young lady of Belize, is why so many Gringos marry Belizean girls. Beautiful hey? Eat your heart out ( grin! ). 2008

http://folkmusicfl.tripod.com/adventuresinbelize/

http://westernbelizehappenings.blogspot.com ( for news about Western Belize Recreational Area of the Cayo District )

Lonely Planet Forum on Belize and TROTTERS GUIDEBOOK in Dutch

entry for LONELY PLANET FORUM


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