As I mentioned in my last post, I attended BVAR, an archaeology field school in San Ignacio, Belize. For information on what a field school is like, read that post. This will be more of a reflection on my experience as a whole. Soon, I’ll post about the places I traveled to on weekends.
When I first made it to this field school, I was a bit apprehensive about it. As an anthropology student, I was more focused on linguistics than on archaeology. But it was an excuse to travel, meet new people, explore a new place, and experience another country and culture for the first time. As I grew more comfortable in San Ignacio and got to know the people attending the field school with me, it became a life-changing experience.
Like I said above, this was my first time traveling to another country, so it also served as a trial run to see if I would actually enjoy the experience. Thankfully, I did.
So, here’s what was different in San Ignacio and how I got used to those differences. I’ll start with the environment, both climatically and socially, then delve into the people and my experience at the field school.
The Environment in San Ignacio
Climate
I’m from North Idaho, where it’s relatively dry. It’s also hot in the summer but cold and snowy in the winter. In Belize, it’s hot and humid year round, but dry in the winter and rainy/wet in the summer.
I arrived in Belize at the tail end of the dry season, so the first week was very hot and humid. As my time there went on, the rain picked up and became a common, almost daily occurrence. The temperature calmed down and became more bearable at the cost of rain, which isn’t a bad thing by any means.
Since I was there for three weeks, I grew accustomed to the climate fairly quickly, and by the midpoint of the 2nd week I was completely used to the humidity. By that point it just felt normal, the way it did in North Idaho before I left. In fact, by that point my roommate and I almost didn’t even notice when the air conditioning was off.
Social Environment
Around the same time, I also got used to the social environment of San Ignacio. As an American, when I think of Central America, images of cartels, crime, and immense poverty spring to mind. My experience in San Ignacio, though, changed many of these perceptions. (See this post for some cool places to visit in and around town!)
There are impoverished people, sure, but that happens in any country. Many of the buildings seemed from the outside to be ill-maintained or otherwise in a condition that is less common in the US, but inside were nice, clean, and well-kept. They were air conditioned and comfortable. Now, obviously, Belize is not as economically powerful or capable as a country like the United States, but it is also a small country, and seems to do well for what it has.
If you travel to San Ignacio, you will quickly notice all the animals walking around. I hesitate to call them strays, but many of them don’t have owners. The reason I hesitate to call them strays is that they are well taken care of by the locals. The locals often feed them and the animals are generally friendly and approach you looking only for food or affection. It’s up to you if you want to pet them, though, because you never know if one could be carrying a disease.
In Summary
I only witnessed a small part of San Ignacio, namely the areas frequented by tourists, but in my experience it was very safe. I quickly grew used to the fact that I didn’t need to be on constant guard.
In summary, the climate takes some getting used to but will become more comfortable the longer you are outside. The social environment is very safe and clean, and you can generally find the things you need there. Of course, it’s always important to be mindful of your surroundings but that’s true anywhere.
Next, I’ll talk about what the people were like, both in San Ignacio and at the field school I attended.
The People of San Ignacio and BVAR
San Ignacio
In my experience, I don’t think I encountered a single person in San Ignacio who was outwardly mean. Everyone there was polite, respectful, and friendly. One person I spoke to even said they were thankful for tourists because we bring in a lot of money which helps to make life easier for them. I would imagine there are many people who have problems with tourists, and likely many tourists who cause problems and act disrespectfully. As long as you are friendly and receptive to the people around you, you shouldn’t have any problems.
It was very common to hear people welcoming us to Belize or just giving a friendly “hello” as I passed. It all felt very welcoming and helped me to feel like the locals wanted me there. One thing I especially remember is when I was walking through town with a friend who had just tripped and skinned her knee. Locals who saw it were calling out things that could help, like using alcohol or putting aloe on it. In my experience, people don’t do that in the United States.
Jairo
There was one man in particular that I met in San Ignacio named Jairo. He ran a shop at a table on Burns Avenue (a street closed off to vehicle traffic that has a lot of shops and tour businesses). Unlike the other shops in the area, his was a temporary stand that he set up, where he displayed handmade jewelry and art for sale. He wasn’t always out there, so it was nice whenever I did see him.
Jairo was extremely friendly and personable. I returned to his stand several times to check out what he had, and he always remembered me and the others I showed up with by name. He made everything by hand using materials he found himself. He made wooden statues, jewelry with Jade and other gems, wooden staves (like the one I’m holding below), and even drums. I bought several things from him with what I think were fair prices given the effort that went in to making them.
Language
Part of the focus of my blog is language, so I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about it.
The official language of Belize is English. While this generally means that you should be able to understand everyone if you speak it, there are still a few things to consider:
- A noticeable portion of the population (about 50%) speaks Spanish, and some of these people only speak Spanish. It will be hard to talk to them if you don’t know it.
- Many people in Belize speak a creole (a mix of languages) between English and Spanish with some Mayan mixed in.
- As is the case when traveling to any area that isn’t your own, people have a particular accent that could be difficult to understand. Make sure you’re listening carefully.
That said, in tourism-heavy areas, people avoid using these creoles and slang that tourists might not understand, so I didn’t experience much difficulty understanding anyone. If you want to know more about the diverse languages in Belize, check out this post that delves into more detail!
BVAR
The people attending BVAR alongside me were an interesting lot. Coming from all over the United States and Canada, we all have different cultural, political, and social backgrounds despite being from the same country. There were a few people I knew ahead of time who attended the same university as me, but the majority of the student group was entirely unfamiliar. By the end of the trip, though, it felt like we knew each other for years. Everyone got along pretty well (considering we were around each other constantly for 3 weeks).
The staff, though I didn’t get to meet all of them, were very friendly too. They all did a great job handling the logistics of the field school and teaching us the proper procedures for Mayan archaeology.
The Field School Experience
I talked at length about the field school in my previous post. I won’t rehash those details here, but if you’re curious, make sure to read it. Here, I’m going to talk more generally about my overall experience and what we were able to accomplish.
To begin with, I am amazed by the amount of work we finished as a group. Whether it was the morale boost we had from getting closer as friends, or the drive to uncover everything hidden under the dirt, we got a lot done.
Every weekday, we had breakfast, lunch, and dinner as a group. During fieldwork, the students at the school were split between a few locations, so we weren’t all together at lunch. Even so, having roommates and spending that much time around other people, especially in a new place, has a way of bringing everyone together quickly in a very unique way.
Every single day, people were going out on the town to bars, restaurants, and shops. Sometimes they just hung out at the places where we were staying.
Baking Pot
My group worked at a site called Baking Pot, where we worked to excavate some stairs in an attempt to find the edges of the stairs. From there, we could find their center and start a trench going up. A giant tree at the top of the hill blocked us from putting a trench all the way up so we had to go around it.
Here’s how it looked when we started:
And here’s how it looked on our last day:
It took a lot of meticulous digging, a lot of effort, and many, many buckets of dirt. But by the end we managed to excavate a sizeable portion of the stairs and started the upward trench. It’s so cool to think that this could one day be an archaeological reserve or tourist site that I could return to. Seeing it fully excavated and knowing that I took part in the process would be amazing.
Overall Conclusions
So, let’s return to the quote I have in my About page and see how it pertains to this trip:
“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time”
-T.S. Eliot
This quote can mean a lot of things. The place “where we started” can be a physical location. It could also be our own worldview or mental state.
So how did this exploration help me to know these places for the first time? Well, let’s look at the first option: physical location.
Spending 3 weeks in San Ignacio taught me that we could stand to be a lot more outgoing in the US. We spend too much time focused on ourselves and not enough time on the people around us. If we saw someone walking on the street with an injury, we would look at them weird or ignore it. People in San Ignacio try to provide solutions and help someone when they are down. As another example of this, the same person that skinned her knee was short about $6 Belize at a store. One of the locals in the shop paid the remaining difference. This doesn’t happen in the US as much as it likely used to.
Finally, let’s talk about my own worldview and mental state. In San Ignacio I learned to be a lot more outgoing and social. I spent part of the first week holed up in my room after dinner, not interacting with anyone. I enjoyed the experience a lot more once I stopped doing that and started talking with other BVAR students more. When I allowed myself to be less suspicious of locals (because that’s how I’m used to being in the US), I felt more comfortable there. Most people are nice and don’t wish any ill will on others, but we sometimes forget that when all we see on the news is bad things happening around us.
With travel, as with most things, you’ll get out what you put in. If you take the time to talk to locals and explore your surroundings you will leave with a much better experience than if you just go to tourist sites and interact only with people you know.