Pat’s Wildways: Christmas in Belize

Christmas in Belize is a celebration with traditions, family and remarkably good weather, or so we heard. Nearly a year ago we booked our two-week stay in Placencia for our favorite room in our small hotel right on the beach, our third two-week-long visit there in a year. This place has become a second home to us.

My first morning there I made my dawn rounds through the village and was happily greeted by Cindy Mae who was selling her tasty meat pies on our corner, hugged by Jason, who delivers our lunch from Kendra’s Kitchen, and bumped into Mary, one of the staff at our hotel in the burrito shop. I was recognized, I was welcomed, I felt the love.  I was back!

It didn’t take long before we were gifted some special homemade Christmas fruit cake from both Cindy Mae and Jolly, our bartender at our nearby tiki bar. This cake is only baked once a year and I now had two versions, one a rich deep chocolate with pistachios soaked in stout beer, the other more traditional, having been made in November and soaked with rum every day since. These were best consumed with a nice glass of Rum Popo, the Belizean version of eggnog. Yum!

The Christmas traditions and family were like we expected, but the weather not so much. The first couple of days we were in Placencia we enjoyed the calm warm sea in front of our hotel and walked around town in perfect weather, visiting our local friends. But then came the rains. It never rains much around Christmas, we were told; hurricane and the rainy season are over in November, and the weather is wonderful.

Not true about the weather. Admittedly, no one here remembers a heavy rain over Christmastime, and climate charts do show low historic rainfall amounts here this time of year, but as we all know, the climate is changing. And rain it did on Christmas Day!

Unfortunately for us, December 25 was the only day we could rent an available golf cart to get out of the village one long-awaited day. Since we had prepaid for the golf cart with no refund possible, what could we do besides take it out anyway?

Our original idea was to drive the cart 8 miles up the peninsula through the Garifuna community of Seine Bight and up to a resort that we knew had a little patch of coral we could snorkel to from their beach. Right. Instead, we took a leisurely wet ride through parts of the village beyond our regular walking distance. And then, with a little break in the rain we headed north to the resort. By the time we got there, it was a full-fledged rain storm, thunder and lightning, the works.  We ate a leisurely lunch there, waiting for the rain to stop. But it didn’t. We had to return the golf cart and get back to the village regardless, so, off we went into the storm. At one point in our drive, with water beating on our windshield and splashing up from deep puddles on the road, Bucko leaned over to kiss me and I leaned over to meet him halfway and behind us, where we didn’t even see another car in the heavy rain, someone beeped their horn at us. They saw us! Hilarious! An elderly couple was caught kissing in a rainstorm!

It rained and rained for days here, flooding Placencia. We brought heavy-duty water shoes with us with the goal of walking in the sandy-bottomed sea in front of our hotel all the way to the beachside restaurants and tiki bars that surround us, all bathing-suit friendly. Well, that plan didn’t work out. The sea was rough with waves that we almost never see here. The wind was roaring, and the water had cooled from all the rain — forget that idea.  BUT with the village totally overflowing, the whole place turned into a lake with calf-deep water even on the sidewalks, these shoes sure came in handy, regardless.

The unexpected flooding and rain was devastating to the local businesses, residents and tourists. Shops we passed by on the sidewalks were flooded and mostly closed. Few people of any stripe were sloshing through the water to get anywhere. Beach Christmas celebrations were cancelled, restaurants were closed, and people were hunkered down inside. Bucko and I had only a few more days in Placencia so we splashed around in our water shoes to get to the only establishment that was open for dinner. We tried not to think about all the overflowing septic tanks, pit toilets and animal waste that undoubtedly added to the water composition.

For some, this trip may have been a disaster, but not for us. We love this place, the people, the setting and, yes, the occasional adventures that arise for us here. It was a Christmas to remember. And yes, another story!

Pat Foster-Turley, Ph.D., is a zoologist on Amelia Island. She welcomes your nature questions and observations. patandbucko@yahoo.com