2:1 - unfuckinbelievable

We have arrived in Belize after a very short – maybe 2.5 hour – plane ride from Atlanta. We have to disembark down a flight of stairs onto the tarmac and then into the terminal, through customs and over to the rental car place.

It is unconscionable that the exchange rate is 2 to 1 – that’s two Belize dollars worth one u.s. dollar. Unfuckinbelievable – and what a brilliant way to keep people oppressed and poverty-struck, and to ensure that u.s. and other people can exploit the vast riches of this beautiful land.

It is foreigners like myself and all other tourists that can afford to pay much more than twice as much as Belizean people pay. First the Mayan and Black people of this country are enslaved and colonized by England for a couple hundred years not to mention cut off from their families and communities by the severing of land masses into ‘countries’ by europe and the u.s., and then, after fighting for and winning their freedom, are enslaved and colonized by tourists, ex-pats, and the economy.

We get to eat a meal for $4 that a Belizean has to pay $8 for, not that we see lots or even a few Belizeans going out to eat. We get to pay 50cents for an onion that a Belizean has to pay $1.00 for. This is somehow right and acceptable?

I think there should also be a law that if a foreigner comes to Belize, buys land, and then builds themselves a home, they should be forced to buy 3 times the land and build three identical homes for the poorest people of this nation.

I don’t know how foreigners can really enjoy themselves and have a good time, knowing they are exploiting the original people of this country – the same old fucking story that continues to happen in most countries around the world: the reeling from genocide; the continued looting of the country and people; the devastation to the environment; the exploitation of resources.