After a great sleep I was pleasantly surprised to open my door and see the sun shining this morning. It felt so nice to stand and enjoy the sun after some of the rain and clouds we have seen. Breakfast was delicious and consisted of eggs, papaya, watermelon, and corn tortillas. We then packed up the van with our bags and left Nuuk Cheil Cottages.
Ernesto, the Mayan owner of the cottages where we stayed, gave us a tour of a local citrus farm. The local community of Maya Center planted five acres of citrus as a cash crop. All of the land was jungle and had to be cleared by hand with a machete before the citrus could be planted. The soil conditions are not the best for citrus because they are acidic and the topsoil is very shallow. Citrus trees like a pH of 6.0-7.0 in order to grow citrus the farmers must spread lime in the citrus grove in September and February every year. The shallow topsoil in the citrus grove makes it hard for the trees to grow deep roots, this makes it a problem whenever there are major wind storms as the trees are easily blown over. When citrus orchards are planted they require lots of urea to get the trees to have better growth. In about five years the trees will begin to produce fruit. As the trees continue to grow other fertilizers are applied to maintain soil fertility. An important step of maintaining the orchard is weeding and keeping the weeds mowed down. Pesticides are necessary to control tristacha virus, Mexican fruit fly, lecrosis, canker disease, and yellowing disease. These diseases and pests have caused major problems in the worldwide citrus markets. Countries that are more developed and have more resources available can manage the problems, through more diligent maintenance and pesticides to fight the diseases and insects, but some farmers in Belize don’t have the knowledge and resources available to combat them. If more management is not provided for the Belize citrus industry then it may not continue to be a viable market. The pest problems have caused the citrus production to drop from 2.6 million boxes two years ago, to 1.6 million boxes last year. This year they are hoping for 1 million boxes, this significant loss will make a huge difference to the already small incomes of many of these citrus operations. Ernesto told us that if the Belize citrus industry fails then many people will lose their only source of income. When the tour was finished and we all felt like we were citrus experts we piled into the van and headed for San Miguel.
San Miguel is a traditional Mayan village with a population of 560. It felt as if I had stepped back in time. With the exception of electricity the village could be from 100 years ago. The Mayans in this village live in the traditional way that their ancestors did with very few modern conveniences. Upon arrival we were shown our rooms for the night which had rustic wooden bunk beds, mosquito nets, and even bats hanging in some rooms! We split up into small groups and went to different houses for lunch. On the menu was corn tortillas and chicken soup, with a variety of local vegetables. We experienced the pleasure of making our own tortillas, which was not as easy as the local women made it seem. The wonderful lunch gave us lots of energy for the afternoon’s adventures.
Local farmers, the brothers that also run the guesthouse, took us on a milpa farming tour to see their fields. The first stop was a demonstration of how they made the thatched roofing that we are sleeping under tonight. Cohune Palm leaves are split down the middle and stacked in layers with the V shaped leaf opening outward, this acts as a gutter to make the rain run down the roof instead of leaking in to the house. A thatched roof made from Cohune Palm leaves will last 8-10 years before it will need to be replaced. As we were walking on the tour it began to rain, however Vincent and Marcos cut us banana leaves or creole leaves to use as umbrellas, they actually worked pretty well at keeping us dry. Once we reached the fields they showed us how mocuna beans were grown to fix nitrogen and keep the soil from eroding. It is important that these beans are grown to put nitrogen in the soil. Corn is the main food crop grown in their fields and no chemical fertilizer is used, so the beans must provide all the nitrogen for the corn. Along the path were a bunch of Annato trees, which is also called the lipstick tree, the seeds from the tree are used as food and cosmetic dye and harvested in March or April. At this point in the tour we had reached the bottom of a steep muddy hill. One of our tour guides, named Vincent, told us to follow him up the hill to his farm. Everyone was fairly out of breath as we climbed the hill but Vincent was not even winded by the climb. At the top it was possible to look down at the hill that Vincent farmed. In Canada we would not even dream of farming the land that they use. It would be impossible to ever use machinery on the steep slopes. Vincent showed us how he sharpened the end of a stick, pushed it into the ground, and dropped the seeds in. Four bean seeds or seven corn seeds are put in each hole. We were surprised to find out that they do not cover the seeds after they put them in the holes. We were all given the opportunity to try plant beans which was a lot of fun. This is currently the time of year when they plant beans so we saw a freshly planted field. Corn is fairly tall right now and we were told it would tassel in a week. The beans they plant to eat are either red beans or black beans. Corn is mainly white but yellow and black corn are also commonly grown. Vincent uses a horse to carry heavy loads to and from his fields, a vehicle would not be able to make it up the steep slope.
Vincent took us to one of his friend’s fields who has a cacao farm. His cacao trees were more accessible than Vincent’s fields, but they were still on steeper slopes than we would ever farm in Canada. The farm had 250 cacao trees which either have red or green cacao fruit. Seeds from the cacao are sold to the Macal Cacao Company which sells them in the U.K. and U.S. The seeds can be used to make chocolate, wine, or juice. When Hurricane Iris came through Belize it knocked down most of his cacao trees but fortunately they produced suckers and grew up again. Every two weeks the cacao fruit need to be harvested and the seeds are sold wet for $.85/lb. In addition to his cacao trees this farmer also had pigs in very sturdy pens as well as a chicken coop filled with chickens.
After the exciting day we again went to local houses for our dinner. Dinner at the house a few of us went to was much the same as lunch with chicken soup and tortillas, but it was followed banana cake. Banana cake in Belize is pretty much the same a banana cake in Canada. We went in groups to dinner, so some of the other groups had different meals too.
It was another busy Belizean day, surely we will have an interesting sleep tonight in our thatched-roof guest house in our mosquito nets on our bunk beds.
Written by: Aaron McQueen
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