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U.S. Embassy Relocating
November 2006 |
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The U.S. Embassy in Belize City will transfer
its operations to the new Embassy in Belmopan in November, 2006. To
meet the demands of this move, the Consular Unit will be closed to the
public beginning November 13 through November 24, 2006. U.S. citizens
requiring emergency assistance during this time should call the U.S.
Embassy Belize City phone number (country code 501) 227-7161 which will
be manned 24 hours a day during the closure. Emergency phone calls will
be routed to the Duty Officer for assistance.
All consular operations will re-open on
November 27, 2006, 8:00 a.m. at the new Embassy in Belmopan which is
located on Floral Park Road. Hours of Operation will be:
American Citizen Services, including Notarials
Monday through Thursday 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., and 1:00 p.m. - 4:30
p.m. & Friday 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Non-Immigrant Visas - Monday through Thursday 8:00 a.m. - 10:00
a.m.
Immigrant Visas - Monday through Thursday 1:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
The Consular Unit of the U.S. Embassy in
Belize City has experienced computer connectivity problems and has not
been able to access computer applications since Monday, October 30. We
regret to inform the public that the U.S. Embassy will not be able to
process U.S. passports, record of birth abroad for children born in
Belize, or notary services until November 27, 2006 at the new U.S.
Embassy in Belmopan located on Floral Park Road.
All U.S. citizens may come to the U.S. Embassy in Belmopan beginning
November 27th. American Citizen Services (ACS) hours of operation will
be Monday through Thursday 8:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.
For additional information, please call 227-7161, Consular Unit of the
U.S. Embassy
Excerpt from the Ambergris Caye Chamber of Commerce Minutes Nov 2, 2006
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Garifuna Settlement Day
November 2006 |
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On November 19th the celebrations commence to mark the arrival of the
first Garifuna to Belize in 1832. The day, called Garifuna Settlement
Day, is celebrated throughout the country, but especially in Dangriga,
the cultural capital of Belize. There is traditional Garifuna and
Belizean food, live punta music, games and Jonkunu dancers. In addition
they reenact 'The Landing.'
The Garifuna are a people produced from the merging of two cultures. The
history goes that two slave ships were shipwrecked in the Caribbean near
the island of St. Vincent. The slaves escaped the sinking boat and
reached the shores of the island, where they were welcomed by the Caribs,
who offered their protection. Their intermarriage formed the Garifuna
people. The Garifuna adopted the Carib language but kept their African
musical and religious traditions.
In 1795 the Garifuna people rebelled against the British. The British
punished them for their insolence by deporting them to the island of
Roatán, off Honduras. According to legend, the Garífuna hid cassava, a
mainstay of their diet, inside their clothes, where it stayed alive
watered by the sweat of the tightly packed captives. They planted the
cassava on Roatán, where it grew abundantly. In 1832, many Garifuna left
Honduras after a civil war there and settled in Dangriga, Belize on
November 19th. Garifuna Settlement Day began to be celebrated in
Dangriga in 1941.
The matriarchal structure of Garifuna culture reflects their West
African roots. The mother is the center of her family, which in turn is
the basic unit of society. The culture's ancient wisdom is past down
through women, and it is even believed that they can communicate with
the dead. Garifuna believe the dead can directly influence the living,
and the women are periodically 'possessed' by relatives eager to talk.
This is done at a formally organized encounter called a dugu. They also
believe they can direct the forces of good and evil through spells.
Each year in Belize, the Garifuna reenact ‘The Landing’ by slipping out
to sea in boats, then riding the surf onto shore, waving palm fronds and
banana leaves to symbolize the cassava that sustained their ancestors.
This ritual is rich in music and dance.
Dining opportunities in Dangriga and the other communities including
Punta Gorda, Hopkins, Seine Bight, Barranco, & Georgetown include
Garifuna dishes with fish, chicken, pork, corn and manioc or cassava,
and wonderfully prepared coconuts. In the town, one can find original
works of art, palm crafts, Garifuna handmade dolls, calabash maracas and
drums, which their makers say last for a century.
Information found at
www.worldstogethertravel.com/fest-belize-garifuna.htm
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Delicious Garifuna Recipes
November 2006 |
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Thanksgiving Around the World
November 2006 |
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Thanking God for a
bountiful harvest is not unknown in other parts of the world. Apart from
America, there are a number of religions and countries that celebrate
Thanksgiving Day in their own various forms during the harvest season.
The festivals are dedicated to thank the Lord for his blessings and the
abundance and prosperity that he bestowed upon us are their underlying
themes. We discuss here some of the similar festivals from ancient
Greece, Rome, China and Egypt and all the other places:
In Ancient Greece:An autumn festival held for three days known as
Thesmosphoria was celebrated by the Greeks to honor Goddess Demeter, the
deity of food grains. The interesting festival was related with
fertility and thus, fertile married women used to build a home for the
Goddess to stay on the first day and equipped it with all the comforts.
They purified their souls and body on the second day by keeping a fast
in her honor and then prepared a grand feast on the third day. Since, it
came around harvest season, the specialties of the table included first
fruits of the season, plump pigs, seed corn delicacies and yummy cakes.
In Rome: The Roman festival known as Cerelia was celebrated annually on
the 4th of October to honor Ceres, the Goddess of Corn and the offerings
made to her included first fruits of the harvest and pigs. Other
highlights of its celebration was a grand feast, music, parades, games
and sports.
In China: The festival similar to the Thanksgiving Day in China is known
as 'Chung Ch'ui.' It is a three-day long harvest festival celebrated on
the full moon day of the 8th Chinese month and was believed to be the
birthday of the moon. The specialty of the festival was its round and
yellow 'moon cakes' with an image of rabbit on them. Their feast
featured roasted pigs and first fruits of the harvest. A legend says
that anyone who sees flowers falling from the moon on this day is
blessed with a good fortune. An interesting anecdote to these moon cakes
narrates that at the times when Chinese were surrounded by enemies,
their women used these moon cakes to deliver secret messages in the name
of their rituals and thus, helped the men to win back their liberty.
Sukkoth: The harvest festival of Jews is known as 'Sukkoth.' For more
than 3000 years, the autumn festival also known by the names of 'Hag ha
Succot' or 'The Feast of the Tabernacles' and 'Hag ha Asif' or 'The
Feast of Ingathering.' This eight-day long festival is to remind the
people of the hardships and sufferings of Moses and his follower
Israelites while they were wandering in the desert for forty years.
Succots were actually the makeshift huts or tents used by them that were
built up of branches resembling the tabernacles of their ancestors. They
used to hang fruits from the roof of these huts such as apples, grapes,
corn, and pomegranates.
In Egypt: The Spring harvest festival of Egypt was dedicated to Min, the
deity of vegetation and fertility. Its highlights were a parade headed
by the Pharaoh, a gala feast, music, dance and sports. The most
interesting and unique feature of the festival was the mass grief,
weeping and howling by the farmers to trick the spirit of corn into
thinking that they were grieved to cut the corn and thus, prevent it
from taking revenge.
Thanksgiving In Canada: Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving Day similar to
their neighboring Americans on the second Monday of October since 1879.
In 2007 Thanksgiving Day in Canada will be celebrated on 10th of
October.
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PRESS RELEASE..."Hurricane Hattie"
November 2006 |
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 October
31, 2006 marks the 45th anniversary of Hurricane Hattie’s fatal landfall
over the central coast of Belize, formerly British Honduras. “Hattie”
was one of the most devastating hurricanes in the annals of Belize,
although the death toll was very much less that that resulting from the
impact of Hurricane Janet of September 1955, during which over 2000
persons died. The final death toll in Belize resulting from hurricane
Hattie was 307 persons. The Governor at the time reported that the
comparatively lower death toll was due primarily to the advanced warning
received from local and neighboring radio broadcasts.
“Hattie” formed in the southwestern Caribbean north of the Panama Canal
Zone in the vicinity of San Andres Island on October 26, 1961, and was
classified as a tropical storm by the afternoon of October 27, 1961. It
intensified rapidly and reached hurricane intensity by midnight. It
continued northward through the western Caribbean and intensified
further on the 28th and 29th, posing a serious threat to Jamaica, Grand
Cayman and western Cuba. Late on the day of the 29th “Hattie” began
turning toward the left in response to a major shift in the upper air
circulation pattern to the north of the hurricane. The center passed
between Grand Cayman and Swan Island and by the early afternoon of
October 30, was turning on a west-southwesterly course in a direction
directly for Belize and the southern Yucatan Peninsula. Hattie’s
intensity had increase further. The highest, sustained winds near the
center were estimated at 150 mph, with gusts of around 200 mph as it
approached the coast of Belize. The central pressure was down to 923 mb
or 27.26 inches of mercury. The center crossed the coast just south of
Belize City from just after midnight through the wee hours of the
morning on October 31, 1961, accompanied by destructive winds, a very
high storm surge, and torrential rainfall.
Like hurricane Carla that struck the SW Texas coast earlier that season,
“Hattie” has also been posthumously classified as a Category 5
hurricane. “Hattie” held Category 5 intensity on October 30 and October
31, 1961.
The strong winds and flood waters associated with hurricane “Hattie”
destroyed all weather instruments and records. Storm tides of 10 to 11
feet were observed along the Belize City waterfront, and waves deposited
mud on the third floor of some buildings that remained standing. Storm
tides of 12 and 14 feet were reported at other points in the Belize City
area.
The devastation was appalling. Almost every building in Belize City was
damaged, and about 40% were totally destroyed. Property losses in Belize
were estimated at US $60 million. A large part of this represented
damaged in Belize City and Dangriga, but there were unknown millions
lost in fruits and timber. “Hattie changed the course of history in
Belize. The devastation of Belize City was so complete that plans were
made to relocate the country’s capital city to a much safer location
inland. Do you know that hurricane “Hattie” is the only storm that may
have had three names?
Belize has come a long way since 1961. The devastation wreaked by
hurricane “Hattie” remains burned in the psyche of the Belizean people.
Hurricane forecasting and technology has improved dramatically, and
Belize now boast of a proactive and efficient National Emergency
Management Organization, which involves all government ministries,
government ministers and area representatives, public officers and the
private sector, including some NGOs. Much has been accomplished in the
area of emergency preparedness, and the Belizean public has been
sensitized, especially to the hazards related to extreme
hydrometeorological events. However, as a people, we must remain
vigilant, plan ahead, and avoid indiscriminate development and
settlements in highly vulnerable areas, prone to the devastating winds
and flood waters that accompany the ferocious hurricanes of the western
Caribbean.
The trajectory of Hurricane Hattie (Oct. 1961) over the Western
Caribbean and the Pacific
Storm Surge in Belize City during hurricane Hattie, October 31, 1961
Contributed by - Ramón Frutos
Acting Chief Meteorologist
Chairman National Pro Tempore Water Commission
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Embassy of the Republic of Cuba,
BELIZE
November 2006 |
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 Phone
501- 2235345 ~ Email: Embacuba@btl.net
Cuba to present a resolution against US Blockade at UN. Belize City,
November 2, 2006. Next November 8th, on the fifteenth consecutive
occasion, Cuba will submit to the consideration of the United Nations
General Assembly a draft resolution, called: “Need to put an end to the
financial, commercial and economic blockade imposed by the United States
against Cuba”.
Last year, a record number of 182 United Nations member States,
including Belize, voted in favor of a similar resolution, but the Bush
Administration ignored this overwhelming claim and reinforced the
blockade against Cuba.
Eugenio Martinez, Cuban Ambassador to Belize informed that “since the
approval of a last year similar resolution, the White House set up
specific inter-agencies Tasks Forces for the persecution of any Cuban
nickel transactions and other popular Cuban commodities, as well as
reinforced the already existing Group for the Persecution of Cuban
Assets to make stronger the ban on the sell of medical equipments to
Cuba. Some of those equipments were allocated to be used in cooperation
programs such as the eye surgery implemented with success in Belize and
25 other Latin American countries. “
During 2006 more severe regulations were put into force to prosecuted US
religious organizations that send humanitarian donations to their Cuban
counterparts as well as more fines where imposed upon travellers to
Cuba, reducing in 50 % the number of Cuban Americans that were able to
return to their country of birth,.
According to Cuba’s researchers the US blockade has caused great damages
to the economic of the Island, estimated in the last 45 years in excess
of $86 billion US dollars.
Ambassador Martínez expressed that “taking these facts into account, the
Cuban people, once more hopes to have the international community’s
support, in its legitimate claim to put an end to the financial,
commercial and economic blockade imposed by the US Government against
Cuba.”
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Belizean Hotel Choose Sustainability
November 2006 |
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Belize City, Belize. November 1st, 2006. A group of
42 tourism businesses located throughout the country celebrated the
International Day of Tourism, their commitment to sustainability and
contribution to the development of local communities and conserving the
nature around them.
These businesses are participants of the Best Management Practices
program of the international conservation organization the Rainforest
Alliance, whose objective is to promote sustainable tourism and
independent certification as ways to give a competitive edge to small
and medium sized businesses while guaranteeing the well-being of local
populations and the protection of the surrounding area.
Here in Belize, the Rainforest Alliance works alongside local partner
Programme for Belize. Both entities collaborate in offering best
management practices training workshops in coordination with tour
agencies or local chambers of tourism.
After training concludes, those businesses that would like to transform
their practices sign an agreement with the Rainforest Alliance.
Businesses receive an evaluation specifying the areas where they need to
make improvements in order to eventually seek certification. In the case
of Belize, 12 businesses have already been evaluated and are in the
process of applying these changes to become more sustainable.
Additionally, participating businesses receive marketing support. The
Rainforest Alliance has created agreements with international tour
operators who agree to include Belizean businesses committed to
sustainability in their vacation packages. Additionally, the Rainforest
Alliance develops promotional materials to be distributed in the
international fairs and conferences that it regularly attends.
The mission of the Rainforest Alliance is to protect ecosystems and the
people and wildlife that depend on them by transforming land-use
practices, business practices and consumer behavior. Companies,
cooperatives and landowners that participate in our programs meet
rigorous standards that conserve biodiversity and provide sustainable
livelihoods
Contacts:
Herbert Haylock, Belize. (501) 227-5616,
pfbel@btl.net
Milagro Espinoza, Costa Rica. (506) 234-8916,
sustainabletourism@ra.org
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Another Kind of Jewel ~ Speckled
Racer
November 2006 |
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 One
of the most beautiful snakes found in Belize is the Speckled Racer (Drymobius
margaritiferus), so called for the complex color pattern of its scales.
In parts of USA this same snake is known locally as the jeweled racer,
in Belize its common local name is Guinea hen snake. This snake is not
poisonous; belonging to the family COLUBRIDAE, Colubrid snakes are
sometimes referred to as "typical snakes". They comprise the largest
family by far with over 2000 species worldwide. Most are medium sized
snakes, and all lack a pelvic girdle and have no vestigial hind limbs
and whose left lung is either absent or greatly reduced.
Found countrywide in Belize, in both northern and Southern hardwood
forests. Speckled racers are especially common near ponds, rivers,
lagoons and streams. The speckled racer does not have fangs and has
round pupils, the colored scales are uniform and outlined in black, and
these snakes do not exceed three feet in length. Their saliva contains
an anti-coagulant, which weakens their chosen prey after they have been
swallowed. Some of their favorite prey include of lizards, frogs and
small mammals. Speckled racers tend to be nervous snakes, which flee
very quickly at the sight of humans, hence the name racer. These snakes
are often sighted basking in early morning on trails. The females are
oviparous meaning they are egg-laying snakes.
Information regarding this article sourced from “A field guide to the
snakes of Belize and the internet.
Photo by Muzamanzie Photographs -
Speckled Racer
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