Letter from Boston Belize On a Shoestring By MASAKO YAMADA	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
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。

"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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