Letter from Boston
Belize On a Shoestring
By MASAKO YAMADA
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お金をかけない旅
2月9日号で、ボーイフレンドと一緒に南米の国ベリーズで休暇を過ごす予定だとつづってくれた雅子さん。今週はその旅のようすをレポートします。高級リゾートホテルが多く、物価も高いベリーズで、雅子さんたちは共同トイレ・浴室の安宿に泊まり、安い地元の食べ物を味わうなどして貧乏旅行を楽しみました。
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"Travel" is a word that smells of leisure: it speaks
of ample time and money. Since I am a graduate student,
I don't have paid vacation time or a huge salary. By
all accounts, I don't live a lavish life. However, I
know I lead a leisurely life, one that affords me such
treats as vacations abroad.
I have just come back from a trip to Belize for which I
took two weeks off from work, and for which I spent well
over $1,000 (¥116,000), including airfare.
I don't recall how I spent all that money. My boyfriend
and I didn't go to any museums or shows, and we didn't
have a nightlife. We didn't even buy any gifts. We
figured that the best way to cut costs was by staying
in cheap lodging. We chose to stay only in
guesthouses.
Guesthouses are simple lodges that are a cut above military-style youth hostels. The guesthouses in which
we stayed were often family-run places with perhaps six
or eight rooms. They didn't have all the amenities of
hotels, but they were not like bed and breakfasts
either, since the proprietors had no obligation to
entertain the guests.
We tried almost 10 guesthouses in Belize, and got a
pretty good idea of what they're like. We decid
ed to pay a little extra for the privacy and peace of
mind of having a private room instead of sharing a bunk
with other people. The costs ranged from $12.50 (¥1,450) to $30 (¥3,480).
Most places had shared baths, shared TVs and toilets
that wouldn't flush most of the time. The places had a
screen to keep the mosquitoes out, instead of glass
windows. A few places had no heated water. The places
that advertised heated water did not have it in good
supply.
The worst place in which we stayed had no hot water, no
TV ... and, effectively, no proprietor. This showed in
the utter lack of warmth and cheer about the place.
It was extremely dark and dreary, even during the day.
The sheets and towels were dingy, and the dusty ceiling fan looked as if it were about to fall off. The
doors were locked using padlocks. The entire house
creaked and shook everytime a truck passed by or
somebody closed a door. The elderly owner never
appeared in front of the guests. Her proxy, a man
straight from Texas, didn't know anything about Belize.
One could argue that it was worth $12.50 (¥1,450) to
stay there, but we both agreed that we would rather have
paid $10 (¥1,160) more to stay in a more pleasant
place.
We also tried to save money on food by eating standard
Belizean meals. Although Belize is not world-famous for
its food, we came to appreciate the many specialties:
fried snapper, fried plantains, rice and beans,
stewed chicken, cow's foot soup, powder buns, johnny
cakes, fry jacks, orange juice, lemon pie. I liked the
food so much that I even bought a Belizean cookbook.
We were often able to get good dinners for about $5 (
¥580), which made us feel proud of ourselves. Still, we
managed to spend almost as much in Belize as we would
have in the U.S. or in Europe.
Belize is actually not known to be a cheap travel
destination, especially since so many visitors decide to
stay at luxury resorts. However, more surprising is that
Belize isn't a cheap place in which to live. The natives
pay incredibly high prices for meat, vegetables, fuel,
clothes, phone services and other day-to-day
necessities.
Apparently, this is because the tiny country is forced
to import a lot of goods. It is no wonder that even a
relatively humble vacation — which no doubt was still
luxurious compared to the lifestyle of the average
Belizean — could cost so much.
We saw rain forests, caves, orange groves,
Mayan ruins, fish swimming in coral reefs ... and
lots of different people. The combination of English,
African, Mayan, Spanish and Asian influences was
fascinating.
Belize is still a very small, young country, and I
felt an overall sense of growth. It was fun to go down
miles and miles of bumpy, slippery dirt highways, but I
know that as the country becomes richer, many of those
highways will be paved. I look forward to visiting
Belize again. Hopefully, the cost of living for the
natives will be lower, my own traveling budget will be
higher, and the beauty of the country will still be the
same.
Shukan ST: Feb. 23, 2001
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