BELIZE BACK IN THE DAY

(the list was compiled with info from several similar emails received and some new I added. I think its fun to have the memories, reading them certainly took me back to another time & place in Belize)
Reminisce, Close your eyes and go back, before the Internet or the MAC,
before semi-automatics, grenade and crack,
before Hattieville Ramada, and all the problems with Guatemala, before Crips & Blood & Wifi;
before Musa plunge us into the dark ages;
before SEGA or Super Nintendo when life was simple and air conditioning was your open window.
Go way, way back to about 25 years ago.
  • I'm talking 'bout playing hide and seek at dusk
  • sitting on the veranda,
  • eating hot Creole bread and butter and nothing tasted better.
  • Seferino, Eustace Usher and Everall Waight on Radio Belize.
  • When it took 5 mins for the transistor radio to warm up then you listened to championship fights with Cassius Clay not Mohamed Ali.
  • Ramsay hauling freight in his mule & cart.
  • Playing caparuche or gamma in the neighbour's yard,
  • Hopscotch,
  • marbles,
  • ludo,
  • snake and ladder,
  • Jacks, cricket,
  • Mother May I, Say, Say, Say
  • Ring around the Roses.
  • Hula Hoops
  • racing bicycle rims
  • playing sling-shot with rubber bands and orange peel to sting maclala
  • playing cowboys & indians
  • Playing cops & robbers
  • Playing House
  • climbing trees gathering berries, grapes & mango
  • sliding down the rail of the steps catching a splinter in your ass
  • jumping on the bed (if you had one) and pillow fights
  • lime & spoon and sack race;
  • greasey pole
  • boys whistling on the fence as girls pass by
  • when you would reach into a stinkin' drain for a penny
  • a nude dip at barracks
  • walking home late at night without fear of being mugged
  • Scared of Policeman Tablada
  • Laugh with Shirly & Rudy Belize's first drag queens at the Bellevue Hotel;
  • Sunday morning matinee after church
  • catching needle cases (real name for bug?) off the clothesline
  • Ghost stories at bed time, being scared of tataduende
  • laughing until your stomach hurt
  • girls neither dated or kiss until late high school
  • Bradley's lemonade (all flavors were lemonade)
  • 2 panades for 5 cents
  • Dit's meat pies (1 for 5)
  • H.L's Burger on King St
  • Happy Hour's cowfoot soup (only 35)
  • Eating KLIM with sugar, Kawsham too
  • a burger & coke from Shawmas store on Queen Street
  • an ice cream cone from Malick, tutti-frutti, craboo, soursap, sugar-corn
  • not Sugar Corn, the famous hooker
  • lobster & fish plentyful
  • Salidvar bread on Baymen went up 2 cents and everybody talked about it for weeks
  • You got brawta from the grocery store regardless of how much you bought
  • Black shoe polish on mustaches to get into Eden, Majestic, or Palace,
  • The smell of the sun and lickin' salty lips
  • making your own kites with kite paper from Angelus Press and flour paste for Baron Bliss regatta. Making sure roaches wouldn't eat your kite by putting kerosene in the paste.
  • Remember when walking from New Road to New Market seemed far away?
  • Going downtown on Albert Street seemed like going somewhere
  • A million mosquito bites, flit, fish (for mosquitoes) and sleeping under nets.
  • Kerosene lamps, gas lamps and candles. Etnas (one-holed kerosene stoves);
  • chamber pots and the good old white bucket;
  • Sneakers at Bata for girls and boys were called puss. And you were ashamed to wear them at school cause they only cost a dollar;
  • Nearly everyone's Mom was at home when the kids got the there;
  • Every kid owned some type of dog.And how you cried when they poisoned yours ;
  • Five cents was a decent allowance, and 10 cents a miracle ;
  • You lined up outside Jail at 5:00 AM for hot jail bread;
  • Girls wore Guendolen to church every Sunday;
  • Your clothes were always clean and pressed, even though you didn't have many;
  • And 12 cents American cheese and a pack bread fed a family of 8;
  • Laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box;
  • Any parent could whap any kid and nobody, not even the kid, gave it any thought;
  • Being sent to the principal's office and lashed with a ruler was nothing compared to the fate that awaited you at home;
  • You wore two or more pairs of short pants under your long pants to ease the sting from that sash corn or tambran whip from one of your male teachers;
  • We were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of drive by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc;
  • When our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat;
  • You didn't dare talk back to your parents, at least not to their face
  • DO YOU REMEMBER????

Comments

david santos said…
Great posting. I love it! Congratulations!!!
Anonymous said…
I enjoyed the Belizean version of "Remember when"! I've received several of those including this one (look for the differences and similarities!)
http://www.link4u.com/dare.htm
Anonymous said…
Thanks for sharing Cuz! Wish we could bring back those days again when things were soooo innocent. As the years of passed us by, we have seen many more changes around our beloved jewel.
Cheers, Liz