Exploring the Country

“The Ranch Wagon’s here,” Bucher exclaimed when he returned to the Fort George for lunch one noon about ten days after we reached Belize.

Our car had been left behind us in Florida, to follow by freighter. Bucher and I got along quite nicely using our feet through the friendly streets of Belize, but the children, who never had lived anywhere near a city street or sidewalk, felt crippled in a carless family.

Bucher took the car to the Police Station to have it licensed. He returned with a broad smile and a three-digit number on his new plates. British Honduras had fewer than 1,000 cars in the entire country.

We set out to explore British Honduras. Two roads led from the city of Belize to the various parts of the country: one north through Orange Walk to Corozal and on to the Mexican border; one west to Cayo, Succotz, Benque Viejo, and the Guatemalan border. A third highway branched to the south from the western road about fifty miles from Belize. It wound through the Maya Mountains to the town of Stann Creek [now Dangriga] about a hundred miles down the coast. It would be years before the road would continue to the southernmost district of Toledo and the town of Punta Gorda.

Once we had explored as far as surfaced roads permitted, we held our excursions to briefer runs. The roads were rough; gas was expensive; car repair services were rudimentary.

About that time our Century inboard boat arrived and we turned toward the blue waters, glowing reefs, and uninhabited cayes that captivated us all forever.