san ignacio, belize

san ignacio is some 2.5 hours drive west of belize city along roads of variable and sometimes dubious quality. along the way: cows, horses, slash and burn, the capital (belmopan), and a whole lot of nothing. very nearly missed a bus because of a miscommunication cum fubar, jumping on in the nick of time only to find that the only remaining seat was a spare tyre right at the back of the vehicle. the only real consolation was chalking it up to cultural experience, and we suffered sore asses for about half the journey before finally procuring a seat and polishing off an L.A. times sunday crossword in record time (SOCLE: a plain square block higher than a plinth, serving as a pedestal for sculpture, a vase, or a column).

while belize city was sleepy and half-deserted, san ignacio seems to have quite a bit more life; in its center, a cluster of hotels and hostels, some restaurants and mini-marts, a few agencies selling tours to the ruins and caves, and, mysteriously, a large branch of Courts, just in case you feel like buying an ottoman to take home as a souvenir. i have complained before about tijuana; this is nothing at all like that. it feels like a small town trying to be something more. it feels like a community dealing with the fact that progress inevitably marches in only one direction, and instead of either fighting it or embracing it, has tried to deal with it entirely on its own terms. i will have something more to say on ecotourism when i write about going to the caves, but i'll foreshadow that discussion a little bit by saying that the people of san ignacio are trying -- successfully, it seems -- to accept that they are a tourist destination without purposively trying to be one. there's internet access but no souvenir shop. you can't always get what you want, and no, the customer is not always right because you're not a consumer, you're a visitor. and surprisingly, it's a very refreshing role to play, a role both humbling and ennobling.

The town

we checked into marta's guest house -- v. comfy rooms, and then took a rather bumpy cab ride out to the botanical gardens for a little hike. pictures!





next up: the economics of banditry, and the brother and i both give our takes on some mayan ruins we visited, so don't forget to hit that link for another (probably funnier) perspective.