CULTURE
Belize
Bountiful
Exploring the rich culture, ancient temples, toucans and tasty traditional cuisine of this Central American country with so much to offer By Vanessa Dewson
A
t first, I thought it was a monkey stealing chunks of fruit left out for the birds at the crack of dawn, but as I got closer, I saw it was a coati – a relative of the raccoon with reddish-brown fur and a much longer tail and pointier snout than its cousin. As soon as it sensed my presence, it jumped onto the closest palm tree and scurried down the trunk. The fruit left out every morning at 6 am next to the openair restaurant of my hotel in western Belize attracted not just coati but also toucans, motmots and other beautiful tropical birds. Later, when my group finally gathered for breakfast, the coati returned and we quickly realized it was quite the picky eater, digging around and eating only bits of watermelon. On the other hand, my travel companions and I quickly fell in love with all the Belizean cuisine we tried wherever we went. We were never disappointed. It all started with Belizean breakfast, which can have some variety but typically includes eggs, stewed chicken, fried beans and fry jacks (circles of dough cut into quarters and fried until they puff 32 • Vacations ® • Fall 2022
GARIFUNA PEOPLE, AN AFRO-INDIGENOUS CULTURE