I stayed in San Ignacio Belize for a month, whilst making a documentary about the Maya food forest and medicinal plants. For the first week I stayed in an airbnb that had this lovely enterance.
A rainbow of recyled plastic greets you at the front gate, as you come and go
The location was a good 20/30 minute walk from the market, sometimes I grab a taxi on the main road, but I also like to walk to get some exercise, and get the taxi on the way home, once I have brought everything.
Its nice to pass by peoples front yards here because they grow so much, from a banana orchard, to pumpkins and zucchinis growing on the fencing, or covering other crops, like corn or beans.
The Maya food forest is not a thing of the past but still very much alive, aswell as for the Garifuna people, many of which also keep a productive garden. Not everybody but most people in Belize grow something.
On the way to the market I walk through the park, its so hot on the road, the temperatures are 35c, so walking through a green space is refreshing and these huge Guanacaste trees provide a lot of shade.
a stark difference to walking on the road, often there is no side walk, so you are walking on tarmac, its hot, and you have to dodge the traffic and try to avoid inhaling too much exhaust fumes, so I often continued to wear my mask, this was also back in 2020 when it was compulsory to wear the mask everywhere in public, in Belize and if you did not, you would be fined. I was once stopped when the mask was hanging low by police in Belize, they let me off that day.
Finally I made it to the market, and Im looking especially for organic food, I know that these local Maya woman has grown everything naturally, she assures me, I believe her because I have seen for myself first hand how they grow everything, in harmony with nature. I have even brought directly from these growers but I need more food and im specifically looking for some more fruits.
There are many stalls, flowers, food, clothes and even the Mennonites sell here but I wouldn't touch anything they sell since they use alot of pesticides and artificial fertilizer, which I again saw first hand from Spanish Lookout, this is an area totally deforestation and taken over by the Mennonites.
There was also a lovely little boutique advertising the botanical gardens, selling plants, some organic dry goods, and organic cosmetics as well as these huge jack-fruits.
Getting home I laid out all the fruit on the table, we got mangoes, avocados, plantain,
baby bananas, soursop - my new absolute favourite fruit, as the same suggests, its a little sour but still sweet, so refreshing and super super healthy, a cancer curer!
Lets not forget the starfruit, another favorite of mine, sometimes a little sour but again another super crazy healthy fruit and so hydrating!, I also got these lovely pumpkins.
Reminiscing about the bountiful healthy and organic food is making me wish to return to beautiful Belize, I felt mostly quite healthy because of the humid weather and healthy food. But sometimes it was difficult to get exercise, walking around wasnt easy and not always that safe.