Learning About Belizean Culture
Sunday, July 28, 2024
We’re getting a great immersion into Belizean culture. Our host, Eliu, is a native of this part of Cayo District, the equivalent of a U.S. state, and his ancestors are mostly Maya. San Ignacio is only a few miles from Guatemala, on the main road that connects with the Maya ceremonial site of Tikal, about two hours west in the Guatemala forest. (Remember the original Star Wars?)
One of our first conversations, driving from the airport last Friday, was what type of food would interest our team. “Belizean” was the overwhelming response, as opposed to U.S. staples of spaghetti or hamburgers. So far, we’ve had typical local meals of rice & beans, Relleno Negro (a black-bean type soup with chicken, hard-boiled egg and a variety of spices), Escabeche (chicken, potato and onions in broth), fried plantains, and plenty of refried black beans. Tortillas with every meal, instead of bread. Unfortunately for our waistlines, the hotel cook makes excellent desserts. 😓😒 We’re not going hungry on this trip!
A locally made hot sauce is “Marie Sharp’s,” so we all loaded up on various degrees of tongue-scorching bottles at the supermarket Sunday. We’re enjoying a couple brands of Belizean chocolate, too.
One question about our trip concerns the water we have available to drink. We always purchase filtered water in large containers (we have a battery pump) for refilling our personal bottles. The ice is also from filtered sources. We discuss how to avoid brushing teeth in tap water, since it can be unreliable. Our hotel, the Log Cab-Inn, has been very generous to always provide ice water at meals and in dispensers around the hotel.
Because our church service will be this evening, we spent the morning learning about Belize from our host. One fascinating aspect here is the polyglot population. English is the official language of business and government (Belize was “British Honduras” until 1973), and all school-children learn English, but the many different populations here include Maya, Mestizo, Creole, Mennonite, and English. In any conversation in western Belize, “Spanglish” is common, with conversations of mixed Spanish and English. When we’re closer to the coast, we’ll hear more Creole mixed with English. The Mennonites speak German with other local languages.
Singing from the projected screen during praise time. We sang the songs first in Spanish, then in English. The sermon was given in Spanish and then translated into English. Very Belizean! ❤
Tonight, Sunday, our service began at 6:00 with one half-hour of praise time. Then Pastor Byron, originally of Guatemala, preached from Mark 4, where Jesus calms the storm and reassures the disciples. He spoke of the importance of showing love to each other and inviting Jesus into our tumultuous lives. He told us we need Jesus in the boat with us for an effective, eternal life. There have been a few personal traumas on our team recently, so his message was especially helpful for us.
And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But (Jesus) was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Mark 4:37-39 (NIV)
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