I.II.III.IV – Caye Caulker (Again): Day Four
CAYE CAULKER (AGAIN)
I.II.III.IV – DAY FOUR
21/09/22
Fully rested and recovered, I wiped the crust off my eyes as I remembered this would be my last day in Caye Caulker. Sullenly, I got off my bed and headed downstairs.
Right in front of Roy’s resort was a rum paunch stand where we’d be hanging out during the morning festivities. By that point, the parade was already in full swing. At the very front was a fire engine, blasting its siren out loud. This was followed by a crowd of people, all clad in colourful costumes – much like you would expect at Mardi Gras in Rio de Janeiro. Behind them, floats and golfcarts covered in Belizean flags. Then followed more crowds, more golf carts, and so on and so forth. We stood there, just taking it all in and handing cups of rum punch to anyone passing by.
A bit about Belize
The crowd was meant to go on all the way to The Split and then come back, at which point we’d all join them – or at least that was the plan. Whilst chugging one rum paunch after the other, I was introduced to Ishmael, a VIP who works directly with the Prime Minister of Belize. He compared his job to Chandler’s on Friends – which means no one’s exactly sure what he does.
To make it simple, his job involves working within the public sector to improve the private one so they can work hand in hand and grow together, as in the case of digitising certain infrastructures like healthcare. This, he said, means he gets to travel quite a lot in order to discuss strategies with other countries in order to follow their lead. Our conversation was quite tangential to say the least. One minute he’s talking politics, the second sports. What caught my interest the most, of course, was the former.
He told me all about how the Belizean government is currently in court with the Guatemalan one over the ownership of Belizean territory. To make an ultra-long story short, the whole deal started way back during the Spanish Conquest. With the Spanish Conquest came the unifications of various countries in Mesoamerica which included Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica – with the territory of present-day Belize being, at the time, split between Mexico and Guatemala. After major conflicts with the Brits, the Spanish and British government came to the agreement that whilst Belize was to be ruled by Spain, the Brits could use the land for importation and exportation, being such an important trading route.
When the Spanish’s hold on the land fell, the land of Belize was handed over to the British and was named British Honduras. Jumping from one hand to the other, the original ownership of the land could not be proven, and, with the Guatemalan government saying that it inherited Spain’s sovereign rights over the land, the dispute is still ongoing. “Can you imagine being born Belizean and identifying as such, only to be suddenly told you’re now Guatemalan?” Ishmael asked me, allowing me some time to reflect on it.
This led us to the topic of culture loss. I mentioned how during my short lifespan, I’ve seen such a dramatic change in my very own country. Take languages, for example. Back when I was a kid, most of us used to watch Italian TV for free. That’s how most of us learnt it. We’d speak Maltese and English at home and like that, we’d grow up knowing at least three languages before even going to school. Now? Now kids watch Netflix in English, and some parents choose to forego teaching Maltese to their kids cause it’s practically useless outside of our tiny island. A pity not only because of cultural loss, but for many other reasons. Growing up bilingual confers a plethora of advantages, from helping one to learn other languages more efficiently to aiding brain development in general.
Whilst Westernisation might be the case for us Maltese, he added that the same thing can be seen with Belize’s local indigenous Mayans and Garifuna, who nowadays can be seen sporting American casual clothes instead of their traditional attires; perhaps providing more comfort, and, surely, being cheaper and easier to manufacture. He ended this subject with a phrase that has since been stuck in my head “Everyone deserves development!”. We might find it bizarre that the Mayans are eating burgers instead of corn, that the Garifuna are eating pizza instead of hudut, and that they’re losing their culture, but really and truly, why shouldn’t they? Their culture isn’t entertainment for the masses, and if they want to join the wave of progress, who are we to judge?
The fun continues...
All lost in the conversation, it took us a couple of minutes to notice that the parade had already passed us by. We joined the rest of the gang at the spot the concert was held the day before. There, we were met with an explosion of colours as people threw bagfuls of red and blue powder up in the air – kinda like what you’d expect in a Holi festival. It was simply incredible being there. Seeing how strongly Belizeans feel about their country, their culture.
In between worrying about whether the powder would actually stain my clothes – the very same ones I had to make do with for eight months, and trying to find the Bloodclaat Gang, I found myself covered in soap and bubbles at Sports Bar’s very own foam party. There I found Becca sprawled on the ground whilst being wiped clean by some random kids. I joined her without a second thought, with them jumping at the opportunity of having another person to cover in foam and wipe. It’s definitely one of my most cherished memories – they were so cute! And, to top it off, one of the girls was the daughter of the nicest couple we had met on the North Island when we did the hike. We had met them at their street stall and promised we’d come back for lunch – only our hike had lasted a couple of hours more than we expected. Anyone else would’ve left, but they actually waited for us. The food was so, so good! Seeing them again was heart-warming to say the least.
Whilst the festivities continued late into the evening, we had different plans in mind. The 21st also marked my last night on the island. Being all outpartied and exhausted, we opted to spend our last night together at the resort, having a couple of drinks and a couple of laughs.
