Around the World with K & M: Belize

Farming in Belize?!

Belize - December 31, 2006 - Jan. 5, 2007

(Cont'd from previous post) When we finally reached Belize City after leaving Caye Caulker, it was sunny and warm. We were, however, soaking wet. But we hopped into a cab, spent $3.50 US for a 5 minute ride, and just missed the 11am bus to Orange Walk. We caught the 12:30pm bus, which was a rickety old school bus, and spent the next 2 hours trying to catch the breeze from the opened windows to dry our still-wet butts.

We reached Orange Walk and David Varro found us almost immediately. He whisked us off in his Ford pick-up, and we got to Blue Creek about an hour-and-a-half later, even though it was only a 57 mile drive. It was a bumpy ride of dust and pot-holes and big ditches. The reason for this mess is cause the Belizean government awarded the contract to pave the road to the Blue Creek Mennonites, but then offered them no money to do it. Quick! Who wants to do the job?!

The road within Blue Creek was like driving on butter. The town residents had pitched in money to do the job, and they did it well. We arrived at the local general store, where David worked, and picked up some delicious soft-serve ice creams. The best part was the weird deja-vu feeling that we were somewhere in Manitoba. The landscape was northern-Manitobian, and the people dressed and spoke CANADIAN! Jah?

Here's a blurb from www.toucantrail.com about Blue Creek village: "Like all Mennonite settlements, Blue Creek still retains its highly religious roots. Groups of families originally came from Canada and Mexico in 1960. The Old Colony Church monopolized the religious activity of the community until 1966, when it disbanded and its devotees scattered throughout Central and South America. Over half of the community's 400 residents now belong to the Evangelical Mennonite Missionary Church, while the remainder has joined the more conservative Kleine Gemeinde."

David & Mar Varro live on a gorgeous farm in the last village of Blue Creek. They used to live in Taiwan as missionary kids, so they both speak Mandarin. I was friends with their daughter, Maria, at ORTV, also in Taiwan. They moved here about 12 years ago, lived in Belize City for awhile, moved around a bit more, and now live in Blue Creek. David has a degree in International Business, but he now works at the store, and raises, of all things, tropical sheep!

These sheep are awesome - both to watch and to eat! David sure takes good care of them, and they seem to love him too, despite many of them having futures of being on dinner plates. He had named all the sheep that were rams, pets, or females - there were over 80 sheep, I think! There was Morty, the new ram, Harvey, the old ram, Timmy, the pet sheep who liked to drink coffee, Minnie, his sister, and many others. I learned so much about sheep during the two days we were there - how to tell a male from a female by the shape of their face, how to tell if a sheep was going to have twins... I think Kris learned even more.

Mar cooked amazing meals for us - from lamb curry to Chinese noodles and tea-boiled eggs to BBQ lamb chops. She also does a great job raising kids. She raised 3 of her own, and adopted 9 more - now there are five left at home. There's Leah, who's 4, Di, who's 6, Portia (spelling?), who's also 6, Nicki, who's 8, and Daniel, who's 10. They are lovely children, who loved playing Risk with Kris.

Blue Creek is made up mostly of Mennonites who originally came from Russia/U.S.S.R. areas, then to Canada, then to Mexico, and finally settled in Belize. The village the Varros live in is the most conservative, and most families there only speak low German. I wish Anita had been there!

The area is hard to get to, but it was beautiful. There were valleys and hills, green and lush, and David even took us to a little lake hidden among the jungles. What a great place to live!

We had a great time in that part of Belize, and it was really due to the Varro's hospitality and generosity at taking complete strangers into their home.

Thank you!!