|
Finally, we arrived in lovely Placencia.
Located at the bottom of
a peninsula that's something like 100 yards wide by 5 miles long, it's
a perfect location to launch expeditions into the cays.
Hurricane Iris had charged through here on October 8th of 2001,
overturning houses, smashing cement walkways, uprooting trees, and
pretty much making a big mess of the town. Fortunately there was
sufficient warning and most people evacuated to the mainland. There
were no deaths on land.
Ron was apprehensive, as he hadn't seen the
place since before the hurricane, but they've been rebuilding fairly
quickly, and most of the businesses were operating. We heard numerous
horror stories about upside down houses and people who lost nearly
everything. The Belizian government and foreign aid came to help and
things seem to be getting back on track.
Here's a shot of the last section of the peninsula from our hotel. Most of the trees along the end are uprooted.
A local squeezes fresh lime juice next to a demolished home.
There were dogs everywhere. It seemed like most families had one, and
without fences they cavorted all over the place. Most of the females
seemed like they either were pregnant or were lactating. They didn't
seem to be cared for as rigorously as American pets, and we saw a few
with open wounds and nearly all of them were infested with some sort
of obnoxious flying bugs.
A gilla monster soaks up rays atop a ruined cinderblock structure.
| 
