Not quite the Woody Guthrie version. The area of northwestern Belize
in which I spent ten days this summer participating in the excavation
of Mayan ruins is interesting. The area has been occupied by a sect
of Mennonites since 1958. The story goes that this group first went
to Canada from Europe, then due to dissatisfaction with the Canadian
government, relocated to Mexico. That did not work out for them so
they headed to Belize where they signed a special agreement with the
government that exempts them from military service and certain taxes
and guarantees them complete freedom to practice their own form of
Protestantism and farm their closed communities to increase
agricultural production in Belize. They also practice their own form
of government and run their own schools and businesses. There appears
to be no typical government law enforcement in the area.

So in many respects “their” part of the country seems to be a country
within a country. The Mennonites make their own rules. It appears
that anyone who can see through a steering wheel can drive on the
roads. The interest in child safety is virtually non-existent. I
have seen as many as four children on a motorcycle, none with helmets
and the driver being maybe 10 years old and motorcyclists whose legs
don’t reach the ground while sitting on the seat when the bike is
stopped. I have seen a woman piloting a motorcycle to school with
three children on the bike while she carried goods in one had while
driving. And I have seen very young helmetless boys doing at least 80
mph on motorcycles on the highway.

This year they opened an ice cream shop that also has two internet
connections (they are considered “progressive” Mennonites). Actually
the internet cafe was very exciting for us communication deprived
archaeology volunteers. One day when we took some volunteers to get
ice cream, the parking lot was very full. Yet the inside was not that
busy. I jokingly said to someone that maybe those six twelve year old
boys eating ice cream in the corner booth each came in his own
vehicle. Ha ha! They did. When the six of them left the shop, each
got onto or into his own motorcycle or pick up truck and motored away.

Here’s the rub as most of us volunteers see it. They have no respect
for the nature of the land as it was when they arrived. So they
“pushback” the jungle. First they knock down all of the existing
vegetation by driving bulldozers through the jungle with chains
attached between the dozers. Then, after having knocked down the
forest and destroyed irreplaceable thousand year old Mayan structures,
they set it on fire to finish off what was here and then convert it to
grassland.

It is hard to photograph and show the accurate perspective, but I have
attempted it anyway.

Yes, This Land is Their Land♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪.