12 - Old Belize

An Afternoon at Old Belize

After wrapping up our final micro:bit session in Belize City on Friday, May 16, we headed to Old Belize for one last adventure together. The plan was simple: enjoy a good meal, relax by the water, and soak in a little more of Belize’s culture and history before the trip came to a close.

We started with lunch in the open-air restaurant, where the breeze off the lagoon was the perfect backdrop. From our tables we could see Kukumba Beach, a massive one-million-gallon saltwater pool designed to look like a natural beach, complete with coral sand, thatched palapas, a towering waterslide, and even a Tarzan rope.

Next came the much-anticipated ride on the Baby Jaguar Express, a small train that took us through the Old Belize Museum. The exhibits brought Belize’s history vividly to life — from a model of a traditional Garifuna home, where we could imagine the rhythms of drumming and community gatherings, to an exhibit of chicleros who once tapped sapodilla trees for chicle, the natural gum used to make chewing gum, and others that highlighted industries such as sugar production and logging that shaped the country’s economy and culture.

The chicle exhibit was especially memorable. It showed a chiclero climbing high into a tree with ropes, carving zig-zag incisions in the bark with his machete to let the sap flow downward. Large dark pots at the base of the display illustrated how the sap was boiled and thickened, before being poured into molds to make heavy bricks of gum for shipment abroad. It was a vivid reminder of how labor-intensive and important this industry once was for Belize.

Between the breeze, the beach views, a stroll through the marina, and the immersive history, Old Belize offered exactly what we needed that afternoon — relaxation, culture, and a chance to reflect on the rich heritage of the country we had come to love in just a short week.