Posts tagged: Carnival

Belize Independence Day – Real Time Entry 9/22/09

This past weekend in Belize was full of celebration and excitement.  As you walked, drove or biked through the streets of Corozal you saw a splash of blue, red and white on businesses, houses and blowing in the wind.  The Belizeans are flying their flag proudly this month in order to celebrate the 28th anniversary of their country’s independence.  Yesterday, September 21st, was their actual independence day but there were festivities happening all weekend. 

The main events happened Sunday all day and went right into Monday to bring in the morning.  A parade was scheduled for 1pm on Sunday and we really didn’t know what to expect since this would be our first experience with this holiday.  Around 2pm my friend and I took some bikes out to ride over to the bay front and catch the parade.  It was really hot riding around on those bikes since we have had very little rain to cool anything off so I brought some water along and we had our swimsuits on to take a dip in the bay.  We got over to the water in no time and ran in to some friends who had already staked out a place under the shade of a large tree – with Belikin beer in hand they were waiting patiently for the parade to pass by.  We couldn’t hear any music at all so we guessed that they still must be quite a ways off.  It was a long parade route so our new plan was to swim for a bit in the bay and then ride to the beginning instead of waiting.  So we hopped off our bikes and jumped in the water – despite the water being warm it was a cool contrast to the sticky heat that day.  We played in the water along with everyone else who had the same idea, bobbing up and down with the waves that were coming in.  I had my bikini on but I chose to jump in with my shorts Corozal style because I thought it would keep me a little cooler after I was out too.  After the swim break we grabbed our bikes and kept on moving. 

The parade must have started a little later than planned because they weren’t very far off the starting point by the time we arrived around 3pm.  The streets were jam packed along the main road in town – the entire town must have been out there lining the roads.  The music was blaring and the colors were brilliant.  The main focus of this parade was to showcase the various dance groups who had been practicing for the last month to compete for the 1st place honor.  There were also a few floats decorated by various businesses around town (next year we’ll decorate a Scotty’s float) and each float had a massive stereo system as their main focus so there was absolutely no shortage of music to dance along to.  The overall vibe of the day was exuberance and it was hard not to have a big smile on your face.  The parade lasted for about an hour and once we got to the end we were hot, sweaty and dehydrated so we headed back to the house to get some nourishment and a cold shower. 

Later that day after the parade the festivities would move to the Civic Center which is located about a block from our house and bar so we planned on making our way over there to watch the judging and join in on the celebrations there.  We ended up over there around 6pm and it was in full swing.  Everyone in town had moved to the Civic and the dance groups were just about to start competitions to be judged.  We got to see the first couple of groups before we had to get back to the bar to close up and do payroll for the end of the week.  The fun wasn’t over though, after we closed up the bar we headed back to the Civic where activities would be taking place all night long culminating with a grand fireworks display at midnight and dance to bring in Monday. 


There was a carnival set up on the Civic Center grounds that held about 7 rides – some for the kids and some for the adults.  I ended up on one of the rides which was far less scarier than the Ferris wheel a couple weeks ago – a quick side note on that Ferris wheel though, the rumor is that it was taken down because a man had been rocking back and forth in the bucket and his safety latch gave out and he fell to his death!  I have not been able to confirm this but it’s a little disturbing to say the least.  In any case, there were no problems with the rides Sunday night.  One thing about a carnival in Belize; safety measures are not as important as in the states.  One of the spinning rides brought the ride goers’ shoes flying about 10 feet from the overhanging power lines.  Next the wait for midnight began – I wanted to see the fireworks but there was still about three hours to kill before they would begin.  There was entertainment happening outside the Civic Center so I ended up watching that to pass time. 

Around 11:30 there was an official ceremony that included speeches from various political figures in town, followed by a 21 gun salute by the Belize Defense Force and then the show started.  They had really gone all out with this display of fireworks – it was about a 30 minute show and it was brilliant.  Again, safety not the main concern as the fireworks were shot off in a small field next to houses, parked cars and another field full of people.  I have never been so close to the lighting point of a major fireworks show like that.  The show ended with an uninterrupted onslaught of colorful explosions that overwhelmed the senses and left the audience agape.

After the show I opted out of the dance that would follow and continue in to the morning.  I headed back to the house in a mass of traffic (probably the closest thing to a traffic jam that Corozal will see).  It was definitely time for my bed. 

When I woke up later that morning on Monday there were still events happening around town.  An official parade would take place that afternoon but the day began with rain and grey skies so I stayed in the house and planned on going out later if the rain cleared up.  I was still pretty exhausted from the night before (next year I’ll have to train for this nonstop weekend).  Later that night there was another dance in one of the public parks along the bay.  The rain had seemed to let up so we headed out around 8:30 to check it out.  It was the place to be, the music was loud, and vendors were out on the street, people were dancing, laughing and drinking – it was a party.  We stayed out there enjoying the people for a few hours and then headed back to the house with one quick stop at the Cactus Plaza for some late night tacos.  It was a fun couple of days and really a fantastic experience to get to celebrate with the people of Belize. 

categories September - Real Time | admin | September 22, 2009 | comments Comments (0)

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Carnival rides and fishing – Real time entry 8/26

It’s been a crazy few days for me here in Belize for multiple reasons.  It’s been a very telling week as far as the state of my divorce – I recently received a very nasty email from Will and I know his intention was to hurt me with his words but instead it gave me reassurance that our relationship was not right.  I was so tempted to post his email on my blog as some weird therapeutic thing but I have decided against it because I’m not so sure what that would actually accomplish.  That being said it is a sad thing to realize how much hate he has for me right now considering our history together.  All I can do at this point is to live my life so that’s what I’ll continue to do – and there has been a lot to do in the last few days.

Corozal Carnival

Corozal Carnival

There is a carnival happening in Corozal this week – well, it started last week and is continuing through this week.  It’s a big deal that there is a huge Ferris wheel in the back drop of the town so despite my absolute fear of Ferris wheels I knew I had to ride this one.  In the spirit of stepping outside my comfort zone I convinced my mother to walk over there with me after we closed the bar on Sunday night.  I couldn’t think about it too much otherwise I would have chickened out so we got over there and I wanted to get on right away before my brain convinced me otherwise.  My mom wasn’t feeling it though so she tried to persuade me to watch it first and then go on – I knew if I did this I would lose my riding partner and possibly my own nerve so I drug her in line.  We got our seats in bucket number 6 and they locked the bar over our laps – now there was no going back.  My heart was racing a bit – I know how ridiculous it sounds to be afraid of such a silly thing and I really can’t explain it because I love all other amusement park rides, there’s just something about this one.  We slowly moved up as the attendants let people out and replaced them along the wheel – soon enough we were at the top and still at a snail’s pace waiting for the ride to reload.  I have to say the view of Corozal was pretty – there are not many places to get that kind of view around town so I was trying to appreciate it.  Then it happened – the wheel started to move faster and faster and my whole body involuntarily turned cold.

 It had been years since I had been on one of these things and I don’t know if I just couldn’t remember how fast they go or if they actually go faster in Belize but, wow, we were moving.  My hands were drenched and my stomach was doing little flips.  I was trying really hard to have fun though because my mom was freaking out next to me.  She was looking over at me with absolute dread in her eyes as we accelerated – I had to keep telling her that we were already on and it would all be over soon.  Suddenly she felt a drop of something on the top of her head – she looked over at me again in horror told me something wet had hit her head.  Then it happened – a stream of pink vomit plopped right in the middle of her lap and I’m pretty sure she almost cried in disgust.  I absolutely cannot blame her, my stomach was already turning and I’m sure if I had been puked on it would have been a chain reaction that you only see in those really stupid, potty humor movies.  To make matters so much worse, the Ferris wheel started to slow and move backwards – I honestly thought mom was going to jump out of the thing – she looked at me again with daggers shooting from her eyes, and told me that I needed to stop the ride.  I kept repeating to her how sorry I was for dragging her on the ride but that they were not going to stop it until they were finished.  So every time we went passed the attendant she tried to yell at him to stop the ride but it was no use – they weren’t listening to her.  Eventually, thankfully, she started to see the absolute humor in the whole situation and we both spent the rest of the ride cracking up laughing.  At last the ride ended and we were on solid ground once again.  We moved over to the closest food booth to try and get some napkins to clean up mom’s lap and as I had expected, a teenage boy was also at the booth cleaning up the vomit that had landed on his shoulder.  It was a case of riding the Ferris wheel too soon after too much cotton candy but it sure does make a great story.  We laughed all the way back to the house and once we got home she couldn’t get to the shower fast enough.  I doubt we will ever forget our first, and possibly last, carnival in Corozal. 

The next day we had a two day fishing excursion planned off the coast of San Pedro, outside of the reef.  So we woke up early to get to San Pedro via boat.  It was a beautiful day with beautiful turquoise waters all along the way and we arrived in town about 10am.  We got settled in and it was back on the boat to try to catch dinner for that night.  We were only out about 8 miles off the reef outside of San Pedro and we started to see loads of birds – as you know from my last fishing trip that is our signal that fish are below.  So Capt. J got the lines in the water and guessed that we were going for tuna.  I drove the boat most of that day – just chasing around birds while the Capt. tried to get the fish in the boat.  The tuna weren’t really biting too much but we sure could see them jumping around in the water and at one point we had a fantastic example of the food chain at its best.  Our lines were in the water and a black fin tuna was caught on one of our hooks but just as the Capt. was reeling it in a shark came up and snatched the tuna off the line and got caught itself.  We could see as the shark’s fins crested the top of the ocean – we were living shark week.  We ended up with about four black fin tuna for dinner so we were happy.  The Capt. cleaned up the fish when we got back to the dock while my mom and I cleaned up the boat.  That night we all enjoyed seared tuna at Elvie’s Kitchen. 

The second day of fishing didn’t actually result in any fish – we went out late morning but there were no birds in sight so instead of just putting the lines in and trolling we went out to Turneffe to do some snorkeling while Capt. J tried to do some spear fishing.  We hadn’t been out there more than 30 minutes when the Belize Port Authority boat pulled up alongside his to do some checking.  They simply wanted to see the registration and captain’s license which Capt. J gladly handed over.  Everything checked out so we waved to them and they sped off while we went back to looking at coral.  After a bit mom and I decided to relax on the boat, in the sun, while Capt. J went out with his spear gun to see what he could find for dinner.  He came back with lobster – so we would feast that night.  It turned out that we wouldn’t catch any fish that day despite trying.  So we headed back in to San Pedro and ate a lobster dinner at Elvie’s Kitchen. 

The ride back to Corozal this morning was magnificent.  The water was calm and blue and the sun was shining.  We had to open up the bar for business today and start a new workweek, but I will say that it was the best work commute I’ve ever experienced.

 

categories August - real time | admin | August 26, 2009 | comments Comments (2)

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