On the 15th of February 1952 at precisely 11 am, a seven year old stood stiffly to attention by his desk in Lenton Primary school in Nottingham as commanded by the teacher along with the rest of the class. No shuffling, no picking noses and no smiling. The King had died. The seven year old didn’t know who the King was but he did know that he was important because he was… a King. The silence felt extremely long and he assumed they were standing because the late King was going past the school in his coffin, on the way to wherever late King’s coffins go. Scary stuff! This was my introduction to the British monarchy.
Later I learned I belonged to what had once been called the British Empire and that the British had done a lot of conquering and colonizing around the world and had Kings going back centuries and that the King was the head of all the colonies. These places were sort of British and this was supposedly a good thing. Two years later at Hillcross Junior School in South London, I was sitting at my desk in Mrs. Bradshaw’s class, a strict teacher (who didn’t like the fact that I was left handed). She instructed everyone to open up the world atlas and she took us on a journey of all the “pink bits” which were not called the The Empire anymore but The Commonwealth which didn’t sound nearly as good…Canada, Australia and South Africa were easy to spot but there were lots of little ones, small islands made up of bits and pieces. “These are our colonies,” Mrs Bradshaw announced. “The new Queen is their head.” She then informed us we had to learn the names of these colonies. I did my best but I didn’t do very well on the test. Anyway, one of these small colonies was the British Honduras and this was my introduction to Belize, a small country on the Gulf Coast, bordered by Guatemala and Mexico and a long, long way away.
So, here I am, seventy years later in Belize, the only English speaking country in Central America (named after the Mayans, it means dirty river). They speak English with that beautiful, gentle and lyrical Caribbean lilt that I always associate with Bob Marley. In fact, they speak half a dozen languages and flit happily from one to the other. You just choose whatever language you feel comfortable in. In schools, however, the curriculum is in English – this was the legacy of colonialism. Belize is not so much a ongoing melting pot but an already melted pot, racially and linguistically. If you are not a mixed race and only speak one language you are odd or an American tourist. Speaking different languages is a convenient cultural bonus not a drawback. Welcome to Belize.
Marney Here…
Of course I grew up without Kings (or Queens) but over the years, I read about England, Spain and France taking over smaller countries (and a few bigger ones like India) because of the spice trade. I always thought it was so awful (and a lot of it was – the Mayans for instance suffered at the hands of the Spanish) but I’ve come to realize that some good came out of it as well like the roads, schools and yes, in this case having a forward thinking educational system and being bi-lingual.
I leave the historical aspects of our voyage to Alan – and I learn so much! For me this last week has been about coming to terms with the heat, humidity and ongoing smell of the seaweed while being amazed at how beautiful it is in the morning and how friendly the people are. From the cleaners, pool guys and waitresses to the taxi drivers. They don’t seem to resent that we come here and spend more money in a month than they make in a year. At least they don’t show it. Oh, I also have to mention the Belize chocolate and rum! The chocolate is made on the main land and we bought some – which didn’t last long. Need to make another run into the village – San Pedro. Thankfully the little store (Paradise Grocery) is close by and easy to get to if we need to re-stock the rum. Alan has invented lots of cocktails and some even taste like Margaritas. They go great with the food we sometimes bring home from the nearest restaurant or with Alan’s cooking. Yes, somehow he manages to cook some delicious meals with not much to work with. (note: the only chili they sell here is habenero which is way to hot for me but Alan’s favorite…)
As to next week – we are making plans for an outing on a Catamaran and I plan to suss out the nearest tiendas (stores) – it’s been over two weeks since I’ve been to a store except for groceries. Yikes!
Anyway, Hasta Luego
(Oh yea, studying my Spanish every day. Very proud of myself so far for sticking with it although with age it doesn’t come as easily as it use to.)
Off to the pool!
M