Belize Guide - Paul Glassman

Because of Belize's dismally low recognition factor, your local travel agent might be unable or unwilling to assist you with your travel plans. Booking a package to Cancun is so much easier.

Fortunately, there are a few agencies in the United States that specialize in travel to Belize. Throughout this book I mention travel agents and specialists who can tailor a trip or provide you with experiences you can't easily arrange without help (like exploring a cave filled with thousand-year-old Mayan sculptures, or finding a sailboat to charter).

And for many travellers, it's worthwhile to have everything set out in advance, in order to fully use vacation time, find like-minded companions, and obtain counsel from specialists who know the territory.

I think the best strategy is to look for an agency near your home that has some familiarity with Belize. If you can't find one, shop around among those mentioned below.

Of course, most agencies will want to set you up with a complete package of hotel, land excursions, and air ticket, in order to extract as much commission as possible. Listen, if you wish, to anything they propose, but be wary about extras that you didn’t really want (they try to slip these in, like the extra cheese at McD’s). But most Belize specialists are genuine enthusiasts of the country, and will provide just hotel reservations, or an air ticket, if you are clear and insistent about exactly what you want.

Make sure you read the fine print (some packages require payment of additional tax and service charges upon departure) and compare prices (which can vary considerably for essentially similar packages). Some of these agencies sell travel and Belizean real estate in tandem. In general, meals included with a package are no bargain.

And always compare prices. Many travel packages for Belize are outrageously overpriced, and without reason, other than that Belize has been at times an "in" destination.

Here's a basket of travel agencies and other organizations that deal in one way or another with Belize. Some represent individual hotels, some operate tours to Belize periodically or occasionally, some specialize in all aspects of travel to Belize.

Additional agencies are mentioned later, under special interests such as fishing and diving.

Great Trips, P. O. Box 1320, Detroit Lakes, MN 56501, tel. 800-552-3419 or 218-847-4441, 218-847-4442. The folks at Great Trips know as much as anyone about Belize. A strong point is that they sell Belize as it is, with no illusions about what you'll be getting. Great Trips also issues a number of comprehensive brochures and booklets with information about travel services in Belize, as well as general background.

Magnum Americas, P. O. Box 1560, Detroit Lakes, MN 56502, tel. 218-847-3012, 800-447-2931, fax 218-847-0334. Experienced agency representing several major resort properties in Belize, as well as smaller hotels.

Triton Tours/Sea & Explore, 1809 Carol Sue Ave., No. 3E, Terrytown LA 70056, tel. 800-426-0226 or 504-366 9985, seaexpl@bellsouth.net.

Belize Tradewinds, 8715 West North Avenue, Wauwatosa, WI 53226, tel. 800-451-7776 or 414-258-6687.

Best of Belize, 672 Las Gallinas Ave., San Rafael, CA 94903, tel. 800-735-9520 or 479-2378, fax 800-758-2378.

Belize and Costa Rica Travel Points, 1750 14th St, Boulder, CO 80302, tel. 303-494-7797, 800-626-3483, info@travelpoints.com.

Island Expeditions Co., 368 - 916 W. Broadway, Vancouver, B.C., Canada V5Z 1K7, tel. 604-687-2428.

Voyagers International, P. O. Box 915, Ithaca, NY 14851, tel. 607-257-3091 or 800-633-0299, fax 607-257-3699. Wildlife, eco-tourism.

Some of these agencies have space reserved at remote lodges, which are difficult to book on your own.

Victor Emmanuel Nature Tours, P. O. Box 33008, Austin, TX 78764, tel. 800-328-VENT, 512-328-5221,info@ventbird.com.

International Zoological Expeditions, 210 Washington St., Sherborn, MA 01770, tel. 508-655-1461, fax 508-655-4445.

Worldwide Adventures/Quest Nature Tours, 920 Yonge St., Toronto, Ontario, M4W 9Z9, tel. 800-387-1483, travel@worldwidequest.com. Specializes in birding trips.

Oceanic Society Expeditions, Fort Mason Center, Building E, San Francisco, CA 94123-1394, tel. 800-326, 7491. Expensive nature-oriented expeditions to the cayes and rain forest.-

You can also get in touch with travel agencies in Belize by letter, e-mail, or by phone. Most expect you to dial at the drop of a hat. Considering how much you might mis-spend, maybe it's not a bad idea to do so, if you're having problems in making arrangements. See the Belize City chapter for listings.

Can you travel in a little-known country like Belize, book your own hotels or show up unannounced, find good food and fun things to do? Can you change your plans to stay longer in a nifty place, take off with new friends, or follow your whims?

Of course you can. After all, flexibility and changing plans can be part of the fun and enrichment of travel. And you've picked the right book to show you exactly how to do it!

Space is available almost everywhere. Hotel occupancy rates in Belize are not particularly high. Except at the busiest times—Christmas, New Year's, Easter, and local holidays, such as Garifuna Settlement Day in Dangriga—you can almost always find a place to sleep, room on a diving boat, a seat on the bus, with no advance notice.

Just try to have an idea of a few possible hotels that suit your taste and pocketbook, in order not to be steered to a joint beneath (or above) your dignity; sketch out your itineraries, taking into account your time and available transport; and figure out how much diving and fishing you can afford.

Of course, it's always best to try to call at least a day before your intended arrival, in order to make sure that your room is clean and ready. Use toll-free numbers, when available, to contact a hotel's agent in the States, or call Belize direct, or send an e-mail. Some resorts will request a follow-up check or a credit-card authorization to hold your space when you call well in advance.

When in Belize, call ahead to the next place where you'll be stopping. (Yes, the phones work!) While you're on the line, or when you get to the front desk, ask for a discount. Many hotels will give you credit for the 20 percent that would normally go to a travel agent or wholesaler, especially during the rainy season.

You can write, as well, but Belizeans, like their Latin neighbors, push written communication to the bottom of a handy pile. They prefer to deal with a voice or a person. A fax has a better chance of being answered than a letter, especially if your arrival with dollars is imminent. The fate of an e-mail falls somewhere between that of a letter or a fax.

Some hotels, for various reasons, just do not respond to inquiries from individuals. Often, they're remote facilities that take groups only; or well-established and don't go out of their way for new business. Where you see the words "book through travel agents" as part of a hotel description in this book, you're probably wasting your time and money if you attempt to contact the hotel directly.

The record is clear. Most visitors arrive in Belize during the northern winter and spring. This is when it's best to get away from the cold, of course. But it also coincides with the driest, coolest, most pleasant times in Belize, generally from late November to April. And for divers, the waters offshore are clearest in March and April.

But there are a few good words to be said for what's known as the wet season, as well. The wet season in northern Belize runs from May or June to October, with light rains into December or January. But it never (well, hardly ever), rains all day, because weather forms in a different way from in the temperate latitudes, where a mass of clouds could stay in one place for days.

Most rains are daily revolving storms, which blow in from sea and blow away, leaving plenty of time on any day for hiking and fishing and generally being outdoors.

And since the rainy season roughly coincides with summer in the north, it's more lightly travelled. Some hotels lower their rates. The downside is that temperatures can get to be unpleasantly hot.

Some storms, of course, develop into hurricanes, and blast away at anything in their path, but the severe ones occur at intervals that are measured in decades. August brings a two-week dry period of dog days, known as the "mauger," when the hot, dense air stands still and weighs heavily on the inhabitants. Relief comes in the form of renewed rains, usually blowing in from the west. Toward November, northers blow along the coast, but it no longer rains every day. By January, the rains in the north are gone, and the plateau turns dry and dusty.

Rainfall averages about 50 inches a year (1250 mm) in the north of Belize, at Corozal, but increases sharply toward the South. At Belize City, annual rainfall is about 74 inches (1900 mm); at Cayo, in the west, about 70 inches (1800 mm); at Dangriga, 95 inches (2400 mm); at Punta Gorda, rainfall can total 160 inches (4060 mm) in the year.

The dry season in the extreme south lasts only from February to April, and is punctuated by storms.

Temperatures are highest from March to September, and the air is often uncomfortably humid on the mainland, though sea breezes provide some relief along the coast. The temperature in Belize City is usually in the 80s or 90s Fahrenheit (27 to 35 Centigrade), dropping to the 60s or 70s (18 to 24 Centigrade) at night. It's cooler from November to March, with highs in the 70s or 80s, and lows generally in the 60s (15 Centigrade). In the highlands, nighttime temperatures can even drop to near freezing. Average annual temperature at Belize City is about 80 degrees (27 Centigrade).

The warm climate and informality of Belize make packing easy. Casual clothes are the norm everywhere. On the other hand, you don't want to leave behind any essentials.

Before you pack, consider what your trip will be like. If you'll be at one hotel, take as many changes of clothes as you feel you'll need (as long as it all fits in a couple of suitcases), and do the laundry when you get home.

The other extreme is incessant travel, a single change of clothes in a carry-on bag, and laundry in the hotel sink every night.

Take lightweight all-cotton clothing, or loose-fitting, easy-care cotton blends. T-shirts are available at reasonable prices in Belize, but don't count on finding beach wear at reasonable prices in Belize. Include:

8 comfortable walking shoes. Running shoes will suffice for most purposes, even for jungle walks.

8 at least one lightweight, long-sleeved top and slacks, in case you overexpose yourself to the sun, and for evenings, when mosquitoes might lurk.

8 a light sweater or jacket for cool mornings and evenings, though a heavier one or a jacket will do if you're going into the Maya Mountains in the dry season.

8 a raincoat or umbrella if you travel during the rainy months (late spring through fall in the north).

Businessmen may take a light suit or jacket, though a guayabera—a light shirt worn outside the pants, and without a tie—is the more usual "formal" attire in the tropics.

Fishing and diving equipment are available, but the selection is sometimes limited, so you're often better off with your own gear. If you have them, take

Take equipment for other sports that you practice, as it is unlikely to be found easily in the country.

8 a day bag for carrying purchases, sunscreen, whatever. I prefer a see-through mesh bag—it shows that you have nothing worth stealing. Fanny packs are insecure and undesirable in towns, but fine for the countryside.

8 your favorite personal kit of aspirin or substitute, sunscreen, sunburn cream, malaria pills, spare prescription glasses, mosquito repellent (most convenient in stick form), etc.

8 camping equipment and flashlights (but note that camping is illegal in public places)

8 snacks. If you're going to be staying in one place, consider taking a suitcase full of snacks and convenience foods. These are available in Belize City and on Ambergris Caye, but prices are high and selection is limited. The owners of the Caribbean Villas in San Pedro suggest pancake mix, and cold cuts, crackers and peanut butter.

Keep your luggage as light as practical, tag your bags inside and out, and pack your indispensable items in your carry-on. And remember that if you don't take it, you might not find it, or you might not want to pay the price.

Belize's currency, the dollar, is worth about 50 cents in U.S. funds. Prices for tourists are sometimes quoted in American dollars, so always make sure which currency you're talking about.

Belizean paper currency comes in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 dollars, coins in units of 1, 5, 10, 25 ("shilling") and 50 cents, and one dollar.

U.S. dollars in cash are accepted everywhere in Belize, though, technically, you are supposed to change all foreign money at banks. U.S.-dollar travellers checks are accepted at most hotels, often with no commission deducted (banks make a small charge). Canadian dollars and sterling may be exchanged at banks. Other currencies will be turned down. Normal banking hours are generally from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays, with afternoon hours on Friday, and some variation from bank to bank.

Personal checks are not accepted by hotels, except from repeat visitors. However, you may send a personal check as a deposit when reserving a room.

CREDIT CARDS—American Express, Visa and Master Card—are now widely accepted at hotels and shops, though a surcharge of at least five percent will be added to your bill at smaller hotels and most shops and restaurants. The issuing company's exchange rate costs you another one or two percent.

The service agency for both Visa and Master Card is Credomatic, Hutson St. at Eyre St., Belize City, tel. 223-2911, fax 223-2912.

CASH ADVANCES are available from the Credomatic office in Belize City, with a service charge deducted from the proceeds, in addition to the charge imposed by your bank.

ATM (cashpoint) withdrawals on credit cards and bank cards are not yet widely available.

Make sure to re-convert your Belizean money to U.S. dollars before leaving the country. The airport bank will exchange Belizean currency to U.S. dollars, with a tax of 2 percent on anything over U.S. $50.

All visitors need a passport and onward or round-trip ticket in order to enter Belize.

No visa is required for visitors from the United States, Canada or the United Kingdom, nor for citizens of most countries of Western Europe, the Commonwealth, Central and South America, and U.S. dependencies.

A visa is required to be issued before arrival for citizens of China, Colombia, Cuba, India, Libya, Pakistan, Peru, South Africa, and Taiwan. Contact the Immigration and Nationality Service, Belmopan, Belize, for issuance.

If in doubt, contact one of the consulates or embassies listed at the end of this chapter, or a British consulate in countries where Belize is not represented.

A visitor's permit will be stamped into your passport at your point of entry. Permits are usually valid for thirty days. However, if your funds are short, or if your appearance is unsavory, you could be allowed a shorter stay, or turned away altogether. Be prepared to show about $50 for each day you plan to stay in Belize, if asked. And try to look presentable, even if it's not your normal style.

For an extension of your permit to stay in Belize, apply at a police station in one of the major towns, or to the immigration department in Belize City, 115 Barrack Rd, and pay the fee of about $15.

Land borders are open around the clock. The exit tax is $12 at the airport (about $2 for children).

Visitors are allowed to bring anything they will reasonably need, including fishing and diving equipment. Twenty imperial ounces of liquor (57 cl), 200 cigarettes, and one bottle of perfume may be entered duty-free. Don't bring any firearms for hunting unless you've arranged for clearance in advance.

Pets can be brought to Belize only with written permission obtained in advance from the Ministry of Agriculture. Proof of inoculation against rabies, and a veterinarian's certification of good health, are required. For information, call 224-5230 in Belize City.

Citizens' band radios will be held by customs until a license is obtained from the Belize Telecommunications Authority.

U.S. customs allows an exemption of $400 in goods for each U.S. resident, including one quart of liquor and 200 cigarettes.

Canadian residents may use their once-yearly $300 exemption, or their $100 quarterly exemption for goods brought home, with a limit of 1.1 liter for liquor, and 200 cigarettes.

Whatever you take home, don't include pre-Columbian articles; coral; fish; or shells, including anything made from turtles. These could be confiscated on your way out of Belize or into your home country and/or land you in jail or delayed with a court case.

Lower your sights. The food in Belize is usually none too elegant and none too cheap, the service is none too good. An expanding hospitality industry is sorely pressed to come up with the kind of food visitors appreciate. The few notably good cooks are hired away every few months.

Some of the makings of memorable eating experiences are available in Belize. Fish, lobster, shrimp and many other forms of seafood are fresh, abundant, and relatively cheap. Beef is plentiful, and a number of tropical fruits and vegetables are available. But preparation and presentation can be down at the heels, or at least inconsistent. In one of the better restaurants in Belize City, a succulent, inch-thick steak might be served with greasy fried potatoes, and nothing else. A delicious boiled lobster may be married to lukewarm spinach fresh from the can, and paper-textured white bread.

One problem is that Belizeans themselves have no tradition of dining out for pleasure. Belize's ethnic groups have a variety of staple foods and cuisines, but they enjoy them at home. Eating out is a relatively recent phenomenon. The demand for creative cooking comes almost exclusively from visitors, foreign residents, and from the small but growing class of bourgeois Belizeans.

This doesn't mean you can't eat well in Belize. Some marvelous food is available, if you look for it.

Creole cuisine dominates, of course. The most typically Belizean dish is rice and beans, a holdover from the times when these foods, in dry form, were carried to logging camps in the interior. Rice and beans can be prepared with vegetables, coconut milk, and spices, with lobster, chicken or beef, ending up as a tasty melding of flavors. But in a small-town eatery, they might be nothing more than what the name says. Ask before you order.

Game meat—gibnut (paca), armadillo and brocket deer—is traditionally stewed in pots over open fires. You can occasionally find game meat on the menu at hotels in Belize City, to please curious visitors, and at country lodges. But most Belizeans no longer hunt their own food, and what gets distributed commercially is beef, chicken, and imported ham. On small-town menus, you'll generally find fried chicken and steak (a thin, somewhat tough piece of meat), usually served with rice, sometimes with French fries, almost never with a green vegetable. This isn't typically Creole, it's just what is served to hungry stomachs until they can get home.

More traditional is "stew chicken" and "stew beans," exactly what they sound like, slow-cooked in dark sauce, and tasty. Conch fritters, meat pies, cow foot soup, and fruit pastries are also Creole staples that are available in some Belize City eateries.

For breakfast, you may find fry jacks (corn cakes), Johnny cakes (biscuits), and, in genuinely Belizean homes, fried fish and Creole bread.

A hamburger is often the best choice on the menu in Belize, if you're not familiar with an eatery—it's likely to be large and tasty. But specify what you want on it—you'll sometime find the most unpredictable dressings pre-applied.

If you want something other than a bottled soft drink or beer to go with your meal, you're generally out of luck. Canned fruit juices and fruit drinks from Mexico, of all places, are sometimes available. Places with good taste offer fresh-squeezed orange juice, or limeade ("lime water").

Other cuisines carry better to restaurants. Hispanic food—tamales, salbutes (something like the tostadas of central and northern Mexico), beef seared over the coals or cooked in sauces, and eggs with tortillas and beans are served in restaurants everywhere in Belize, and not just to Hispanics. Where else but in Belize would you find Gilhooly's tortilla factory?

Most noticeable, though, are Belize's Chinese restaurants, many founded in the last ten years by new immigrants. In a small town where not long ago you couldn't find a place to eat, there are now two or three Chinese diners.

But even if you like Chinese food, be warned that the version in Belize is not haute cuisine, and you could overdose quickly. Almost all Chinese restaurants have the same menu: chow mein, chop suey, egg foo young, and one or two house specialties, along with rice and beans, steak, and sandwiches. You can usually have a meal for $6 or less, though sometimes the tab is surprisingly high. Decor is limited or non-existent, you get a paper napkin, your special house chicken comes on big pieces of bone, and the sweet-and-sour sauce is mostly sugar. A couple of hotels and restaurants in Belize City serve something more elegantly Chinese.

In Belize City, the food scene is generally better than elsewhere in the country, though there are still rough spots. The curried shrimp surrounded by condiments, attractively served, turns out to be mushy. Nevertheless, it's obvious that people are making an effort. In hotels here and there, on the cayes, in Placencia, and around Cayo, there are some pleasant surprises, and standards are getting higher. If you limit your expectations, ask about what you're getting, and choose carefully, you won't be disappointed. Just don't trust that the food is good unless some reliable recent visitor has reported it to be so. And even then, the cook could well have gone off.

The fact that so much food is imported to Belize in dry or preserved form makes it easy for backpackers and budget travelers to picnic. Even in the smallest settlements, stores offer tinned powdered milk, Australian butter, and Dutch cheese, all at reasonable prices. (There are also cans of peas and carrots for $3, but you can pass these up.) Don't forget your can opener. Fresh oranges and grapefruits as well as tomatoes, onions, and a few other vegetables are available everywhere on the mainland.

Belize produces a number of brands of rum, all of them quite good, as well as Belikin and Crown beers, which come in a small bottle, and may or may not agree with your tastes. Dutch, German and American brands of beer are also widely available, at about double the price of domestic brew, hence the Belikin slogan, "the only beer worth drinking." A premium version of Belikin tastes something like American beer, comes in a larger bottle, and carries an American price. There is also Belikin stout, which I prefer to all of the above. Wines made from cashew fruit and berries are a traditional product of Belize, though they're getting hard to find, as American and French wines take over the market.

For Central America, Belize is expensive, but for the Caribbean, it is not. High import duties, a limited local market and lack of competition make many items more pricey in Belize than in the United States and Canada. This doesn't mean, however, that a vacation in Belize will carry a high price tag. Here are a few specifics:

Hotels are not cheap, but some provide very good value. A resort hotel in or near San Pedro, on Ambergris Caye, charges about $150 to $250 double. This includes a basic to comfortable room, all meals, and a seaside location. There are no extras except drinks, tax, service charges in some cases, and rental of diving or fishing equipment. Costs can be reduced considerably if you eat in the village. The rate can be higher—as much as $550 double at times in one small luxury hotel north of the village. A more modest hotel in San Pedro, still comfortable but without a seaside location, charges $40 to $60 a night double, without meals.

In Belize City, hotels give you less for your money. A good hotel will cost $100 to $200 double without meals (though heavily discounted out of season), while a room for two in the medium range might cost $80 or more with air conditioning, often in unattractive surroundings. There are a few—a very few—budget places that give you better value.

Elsewhere in the countryside on the mainland, and on Caye Caulker, hotel prices are generally lower, though, with the growing popularity of Belize, the middle range is being squeezed out. Pleasant hotels in or near Corozal charge about $70 double. Prices are higher at most country lodges in the western Cayo district. But there are still a number of clean budget hotels in Corozal, San Ignacio, and on Caye Caulker that charge $25 double, or less.

A small fishing boat with outboard motor rents for about $200 for a full day at one of the larger hotels on Ambergris Caye, with a guide included. Large deep-sea fishing boats rent for $450 per day or more. Lower prices may be negotiated at smaller hotels or with private boat owners on Caye Caulker and in Placencia, especially during the slow season, from May to October.

Diving costs per person range from $45 for a one-tank dive to as much as $150 for a full day, depending on where you're diving and the number of tanks of air.

In general, anything that's pre-packaged or manufactured and imported will carry a high price in Belize—usually double the American price at least. This includes many food items (e.g., $1.25 for a 10-ounce can of juice), American cigarettes, and foreign liquors. Exceptions are subsidized European cheeses and powdered milk. Fruits and vegetables in season are lower-priced than similar produce at home, at least on the mainland.

Costs for public transport and a number of other services are reasonable. The bus fare from Belize City to the Mexican border is under $10. Taxi fares within a town, fixed by the local taxi association, can be more than you might expect. In Belize City, expect to pay several dollars for a short trip in the central area. But a taxi hired for a day-long outing will cost at least $100. And if you rent a car, you might pay well over $100 for the day.

Meals eaten in restaurants on the mainland cost about $5 as a minimum for the simplest food, such as a piece of fried chicken with rice and beans. On the cayes, prices can be double. Drinking follows a two-tier price system. Belizean beer and rum are inexpensive in bars and hotels with a local clientele, while imported beer and drinks cost at least twice as much. But even local brands are expensive in tony places, or where there is no competition.

As in other countries with limited infrastructure and public services, if you hurry from place to place in Belize, or stray from what is easily available, you can bleed, money-wise. Scenarios: You're disappointed with the beds at your country lodge near Cayo, and look for a room elsewhere. Extra taxi cost: $75. You miss the scheduled flight or boat from one of the cayes, or the last bus from an inland town, charter an air taxi to make your flight home, and are out of pocket for several hundred dollars. You innocently order a glass of California wine, which comes in at $10. Always inquire about the price of goods or services, and plan carefully if you're on a tight budget.

Public health standards in Belize are generally higher than elsewhere in the region. If you're travelling to the cayes to sun, swim, fish and dive, there are few health precautions to take. Your food will be safe to eat, you'll have bottled beverages or treated water to drink, and your accommodations will probably be screened to keep out troublesome mosquitoes and other insects. Your biggest problem could be overexposure to the sun. Take it in small doses at first. And remember to wear a shirt when you go snorkeling, so your back doesn't get fried.

Good sense, of course, will tell you to get your health affairs in order before you travel. Catch up on immunizations, such as those for tetanus and polio, and consult your doctor if any condition or suspected condition, such as an ear infection, might trouble you during air travel or when diving. Take along the medicines that you use regularly, and an extra pair of prescription glasses.

For extensive travel in mainland Belize, a malaria preventative, such as Aralen, is advisable. Adult dosage of Aralen is two tablets per week, preferably starting two weeks before leaving home. If you exercise normal cautions about what you eat and drink, no other special shots are needed. But if you're really roughing it, say, on an archaeological dig, your local health department or tropical disease clinic might advise a course of protection against hepatitis, and a typhoid booster. Also, watch what you eat when you're off the beaten track, and try to avoid spreading your own germs to rustic eateries when you're ill.

Despite the well-promoted image of Belize as the "Adventure Coast," resist the urge to carry or use hunting knives, harpoons, spears, and other pointed objects. Wounds heal slowly in the topics, and if you do yourself in in some remote location, you might find medication unavailable.

Public water supplies in the major towns are generally chlorinated. In some rural areas, water for domestic use is runoff from roofs, stored in cisterns, or "catchments." It's not always safe to drink. An easy treatment is to add a couple of drops of laundry bleach (easily carried in a dropper bottle) to a quart of water. Shake and let stand a half-hour.

Listed here, in alphabetical order by topic, are practical information and recommendations for your trip to Belize.

Most stores are open from 8 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 4 p.m. Many stores are open during morning hours only on Wednesday and Saturday. Some businesses open from 7 to 9 p.m. as well. Banks generally open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. with afternoon hours on Friday.

Electricity is supplied at 110 volts, alternating current. American and Canadian appliances should work without any adapters, but ask about the voltage in your hotel before you plug anything in. Some hotels at remote locations have electricity furnished by generators at 12 volts.

Belize's stamps, with their exquisite depictions of the nation's tropical flora and fauna, are among the most beautiful of any country's. Send plenty of cards and letters, even to friends who are not philatelists.

Post offices are located in all towns, and most hotels will accept letters. Hours are 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. The air mail rate for a post card or half-ounce letter to the United States or Canada is 60 cents Belizean.

Letters may be received at the post office in Belize City or other towns if addressed to your name in care of General Delivery; or you may have your mail sent to your hotel. Documents of value should be sent by registered mail. Gifts should not be sent, except books, which pass duty-free. The Belizean mails are generally quick and reliable.

Radio Belize operates with English and Spanish programming at 834 cycles on the A.M. dial. A cheap transistor radio is handy for listening to local broadcasts, which are a melange of reggae and rock music, religious programming, official announcements, ads, police reports, weather, local news, and relays of the B.B.C. news from London. It all makes for an interesting window on Belizean life.

Your hotel bill for room and meals is subject to an 8-percent tax. The departure tax at the international airport is $12, $2 for children.. There are no local add-on sales taxes, which mitigates somewhat the impact of high prices for imported goods.

A modern, automatic telephone system serves Belize City and the major towns. In fact, BTL (Belize Telecommunications Ltd.) is very much like any phone company in North America or Europe, which makes it much the exception in this part of the world.

From the United States, dial 011-501, followed by the seven-digit Belizean number. There are no area codes to concern you. Check the rate with your carrier first! Rates for low-traffic countries, such as Belize, can be surprisingly high, $1 a minute, or more, even with a discount carrier.

Call 800-235-1154 to place a collect call to Belize from the United States (800-578-1154 from US Sprint phones). From Canada, the number is 1-800-463-1154.

For telephone numbers not listed in this book, ask your local operator to connect you with directory assistance in Belize, at a charge, or try BTL’s online directory at www.btl.net.

Public telephones are available in most towns, identifiable by green booths and lineups. They accept 25-cent coins.

Calls can also be made from BTL offices. In Belize City, the telephone office at 1 Church St. is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. At offices in the major towns of each district, hours are 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m., mornings only on Saturday. Services also include telegrams (20 cents per word to the States) and telex and fax transmission and reception.

Within Belize, dial the full seven-digit number from any phone. But be careful! There are no area codes, so you could be dialing long-distance without knowing it.

The first digit always indicates the district of Belize that you’re calling: 2 for Belize City, 3 for Orange Walk, 4 for Corozal, 5 for Stann Creek, 7 for Toledo, 8 for Cayo.

Long-distance calls cost from 15 to 60 cents U.S. per minute during the day. Rates drop by 50% between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Hotels impose hefty surcharges on phone calls. Local calls in Belize City can cost well over $1 each, even if nobody answers. In-country long-distance cost as much as $5 if placed from a hotel, against 50 cents from a pay phone. Look for a pay phone, when convenient, or place your call from the BTL office. From a hotel, verify charges first. It will usually be cheaper to call home collect or charge the call to a telephone credit card.

Television came with a whack to Belize a few years ago. Local broadcasting did not exist. Then, suddenly, dish antennas made it possible to receive and re-broadcast satellite signals, and a whole new world opened. Belizeans became Chicago Cubs fans, watched the news from Atlanta, and followed soap operas from Venezuela. As elsewhere in the remote tropics, television changed small-town ways. People stayed glued to the tube, instead of chatting on the street or patronizing bars. Life suddenly seemed dull, compared to what took place on the screen.

Regulation and some order have come to televisionland in Belize. Local operators are allowed to re-broadcast signals on only two channels. In practice, they switch back and forth at will between available programs. The baseball announcer promises news after the game, but you're cut into the middle of the late-night movie from Detroit. A few locally produced Belizean news features are even allowed to interrupt American programs. Where else can you watch Knowlton Nash and the news from Toronto, fading into the reggae sound track of an ad?

The debate continues to rage over whether television is good for Belize, by opening new worlds, or bad, by bringing unrealistic and unsuitable aspirations. Overheard at a bus shelter: "I come to Dangriga, the television tower is looking down on everyone. People are watching the soaps all day, they start acting like the people in the soaps. They want $90 tennis shoes. They're making Belize into a young America. You don't got to go to New York."

Most hotels, even the most modest ones, have a television, and many have their own satellite dishes.

Belize is on Central Standard Time, equivalent to Greenwich Mean Time less six hours.

Well-trained service personnel are thinly stretched in Belize, so rewards for good service can be rather a moot point. Did I tell you about the time it took seven round-trips to get a room-service order straight? This was in one of Belize City's best hotels.

There is no language problem, but there is a cultural gap. Many Belizeans are well aware of a history of servitude, and it doesn't sit quite right to be waiting on outsiders. This can come across as brusqueness or an I-don't-care attitude, but it's nothing personal. On the other hand, Belizeans have no tradition of extorting baksheesh for every service and non-service, and usually won't hold out their hands, nor will they be excessively servile or ingratiating.

In Belize, if somebody waits on you with a smile and gives you exactly what you want or explains something in detail or extends a special kindness, by all means, express your satisfaction, and not only with a tip. Tell the waiter you appreciate his service. Shake his hand. Thank the woman who cleans your room and brings you towels. You don't have to jump up and perform a jig (although you may well feel like doing so), but let Belizeans know that you are dealing with them as equals.

In general, the smaller the hotel or restaurant, the better the service is likely to be.

"Service charges" of up to fifteen percent are added to room as well as meal charges at many establishments. This is an unsubtle way to under-quote the real rate (when was the last time you tipped the chambermaid fifteen percent?) but at least it relieves you of any additional obligation.

In hotel restaurants, a ten- to fifteen-percent tip is adequate for good service. In small, family-run diners, tipping is optional, but something extra is always welcome. Give the doorman or porter at your hotel a dollar or two (Belizean) for carrying your bags.

Diving and fishing guides should be rewarded with a few dollars (Belizean) by each person in a group. Be more generous if your guide has led you to a good haul of underwater scenery or fish.

Taxi fares are standardized within towns, and no tip is required unless the driver handles your luggage. In that case, tip as you would a porter. For day trips by taxi, you'll have to negotiate the rate.

You'll find the English system of pounds, ounces, inches, yards and miles in use in Belize, though gasoline is sold by the American gallon. And since so much of what Belizeans use is imported, packages are often labeled in the metric system.

Contact the Belize Tourist Board for exquisite brochures, and a Vacation Planner with listings of hotels and services. For specific information about prices, tours, etc., you'll have to contact the travel agency or hotel directly.

They’ll send a packet of information on request, but will not respond to specific inquiries.

Belize First is listed here first, as the singular U.S.-published magazine with late non-commercial coverage of everything Belizean, including facilities for visitors, retirement, and current political and economic conditions. This is Belize Boosterism with a fair dose of reality. For subscription information, contact Equator Travel Publications, 287 Beaverdam Road, Candler, NC 28715, BZEFIRST@aol.com. The Web edition is available at www.belizefirst.com.

An excellent book covering the history, geography and economy of the country is Formerly British Honduras: A Profile of the New Nation of Belize, by William D. Setzekorn. Order it from Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701. Older British publications on various aspects of Belize may sometimes be found in the larger public and university libraries.

The best magazine piece I have seen about Belize is "Wild and Weird in Central America," by Ronald Wright, which appeared in the Summer 1987 edition of Destinations, the travel magazine of the Toronto Globe and Mail. Another article, about Lamanai, ran in the November-December 1985 edition of Equinox, another Canadian magazine. Mr. Wright's Time Among the Maya, published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson (Penguin in Canada) has several chapters describing parts of Belize.

For a highly entertaining fictionalized account of life and things Belizean, read High Adventure, a novel by Donald Westlake, published by the Mysterious Press. For more realistic adventure, Alan Rabinowitz' Jaguar: Struggle and Triumph in the Jungle of Belize tells about the establishment of the world's first jaguar reserve.

For additional copies of Belize Guide, send $16.99 to Passport Press, Box 1346, Champlain, New York 12919 (additional $2 per copy for first-class mail, or shipment to an address outside the United States). Belize Guide is also available at travel bookstores.

Belize Review, an environmentally conscientious magazine that covers tourism developments, is available on newsstands in Belize, or for $36 per year from Box 1234, Belize City.

Within Belize, Cubola Productions publishes an assortment of titles ranging from history to archaeology to geography to fiction. Among current titles are The Sinner's Bossanova, by Glenn Godfrey, an adventure novel set in Belize and New Orleans; A History of Belize; Heart Drum: Spirit Possession in the Garifuna Communities of Belize; Atlas of Belize; and Warlords and Maize Men: A Guide to the Mayan Sites of Belize. All volumes are attractively produced, and will be found on sale at major hotels in Belize City, among other places. Or, write for an order form and catalogue to Cubola Productions, 35B Elizabeth Street, Benque Viejo del Carmen, Belize, or call 823-2083, fax 823-2240.

Belize Adventure, a fast-moving fifteen-minute video travelogue covering virtually every type of attraction in the country, is available from Great Belize Productions, Box 679, Belize City. And out in the dumpster behind your video store, you might find a copy of Caribe (S C Entertainment Corp.), a forgettable 1989 adventure film with stunning exteriors shot in Belize. Mosquito Coast, though filmed in Belize, tells as much about the country as a spaghetti Western does about Italy.

Skin Diver magazine publishes classified ads for hotels and travel services in Belize.

For detailed topographical maps, write to the Lands and Surveys Department, Ministry of Natural Resources, Belmopan, Belize. There are two maps, one covering the north of the country, one the south. Each costs $7 by mail, including postage. Send a money order. In Belize City, maps are available above the main post office.

Chief Information Officer, Government Information Service, Belmopan, Belize. This office distributes a free monthly publication, Belize Today, which covers official activities and, to a certain extent, events and places of interest to tourists.

Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 63 Regent St., Belize City, tel. 227-3148 (tel. 227-5108 for the chamber's Export and Investment Promotion Unit).

Central Bank of Belize, Treasury Building, Belmopan (or P._O. Box 852, tel. 227-7216, Belize City);

Chief Education Officer, West Block, Belmopan; Belize Newspaper Association, P. O. Box 707, Belize City; Principal Immigration Officer, East Block, Belmopan; and Investment Promotion Office, Investment Centre, Belmopan.

It's annoying to find that businesses are closed down when you were planning to change money, go shopping, and arrange for your flight home. Take a quick look at the list of public holidays below. If any occur while you'll be in Belize, don't plan on getting anything done on that day except relaxing.

Note also that Sunday is still observed quite seriously as a day of rest in Belize. Bus and air service are curtailed. No businesses are open. The churches are full, the bars are empty. Go back to the beach.