Independence Day

The 21st of September is Independence Day in Belize. Originally a British colony, Belize gained independence in 1981 and today has a population of just over 300,000. Belize is a small country bordering Mexico and Guatemala with a long coastline on the Caribbean Sea boasting the second longest barrier reef in the world.

The festivities for Independence Day have been going on for a while and when I arrived there was a huge party next door at the basketball court, ahem, I mean, Central Park. Last night was the fireworks and today the parade.

The island was in a party mood last night and we kicked off with a visit back to our karaoke bar where we realised we weren't as good as we thought we were. But we kept practicing.

At midnight were the fireworks. Everyone piled over to the eastern side of the island where they were set off from the end of a dock. Given the population of Caye Caulker is somewhere between 1,200 and 2,000, there was plenty of room for everyone and you could hear the oohs and ahhs from people standing a long way away, rather than someone on top of you screaming in your ear like in Sydney on NYE. The fireworks were absolutely beautiful and went for a solid fifteen minutes, about twelve minutes more than I expected. After the fireworks the "Central Park" again turned into a big nightclub type place, booming music but not much dancing. Unbelievably, every child was still there at 1.30am - no one misses out on this party.

Today was the parade which everyone was looking forward to. A local guy, Madingo, who I met at the Lazy Lizard yesterday, was making hats and costumes for some of the girls. He actually made a hat for us while we were at the bar - you'll see it and him in the video if you can bear the hectic pace of the parade - it's towards the end.

The 2pm parade kicked off just before 3pm and there was much anticipation. It travelled about 100 metres up the main street and then down one of the side streets and around the block. It's a small island so we do small versions of everything, Kevin told me. Most people get around the island with either golf carts or bicycles so there were plenty of decked out versions of both in the parade - as well as the hilarious fire engine which led the parade. As I write this, "Central Park" is again party central with very loud reggaton music and the odd nationalistic song thrown in. Everyone's having a great time - how could you not?