Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Books
The Belize Audubon Society (see p.250) offers a mail-order service for
environmental titles, while Cubola Productions is Belize's pre-eminent
publisher, with a wide range of specialist topics; see
W
cubola.com. Angelus
Press in Belize City also offers a mail-order service; see
W
angeluspress.com.
Many topics are published only in Belize but are usually available online, at
the mega retailers such as
W
amazon.com and
W
barnesandnoble.com.
TRAVEL, LITERATURE, SOCIETY AND ENVIRONMENT
Rosita Arvigo with Nadia Epstein
Sastun: My
Apprenticeship with a Maya Healer
. A rare glimpse into the
indigenous wisdom of Maya
curandero
Elijio Panti, which
ensures the survival of generations of healing knowledge.
Rainforest Remedies: One Hundred Healing Herbs of Belize
was co-authored with Michael Balick of the New York
Botanical Garden.
Ì
Bruce Barcott
The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw:
One Woman's Fight to Save the World's Most Beautiful Bird
.
Chronicles the fierce and inspiring crusade by
environmentalist Sharon Matola, founder of the Belize Zoo,
to save the scarlet macaw.
Les Beletsky
Belize and Northern Guatemala - The
Ecotraveller's Wildlife Guide
. A reasonably comprehensive
single-volume guide to mammals, birds, reptiles,
amphibians and marine life, with illustrations.
Zee Edgell
Beka Lamb
. A girl's account of growing up in
1950s Belize alongside the problems of the independence
movement. Explores everyday life, matriarchal society and
the influence of the Catholic Church. Edgell's
In Times Like
These
is an autobiographical account of the intrigues
leading up to independence.
Byron Foster
Heart Drum
and
Spirit Possession in the
Garifuna Community of Belize
. Two slim volumes focusing
on Garifuna spirituality and the experience of spirit
possession, as described to Foster, an anthropologist.
Foster's
The Baymen's Legacy: A Portrait of Belize City
is
approachable and interesting, while
Warlords and Maize
Men - A Guide to the Maya Sites of Belize
is an excellent
handbook to fifteen of the country's most accessible
archeological sites.
Ì
Tim Hagerthy and Mary Gomez Parham (eds)
If
Di Pin Neva Ben: Folktales and Legends of Belize
. A vibrant
collection of traditional Belizean folklore, capturing a rich
society that fluidly blends its different ethnic cultures.
Other Cubola anthologies include
Snapshots of Belize
and
Ping Wing Juk Me
, six short plays which revive the Kriol
theatrical tradition.
H. Lee Jones
Birds of Belize
. Comprehensive guide to all
574 species so far recorded in Belize. Highly praised by the
experts, this excellent book is written by a resident
biologist. It includes 234 range maps and superb colour
illustrations by Dana Gardner.
Ì
Emory King
Belize 1798, The Road to Glory
. Rip-
roaring historical novel on the Battle of St George's Caye,
King's (see p.51) enthusiasm is supported by meticulous
research. Also by the author:
Hey Dad, This Is Belize
, a
hilarious account of family life;
I Spent It All In Belize
, an
anthology of satirical articles on the pomposity of
o
cialdom; and
The Great Story of Belize
, four slim volumes
full of larger-than-life characters and presenting a vivid
account of Belize's history.
Nancy R. Koerner
Belize Survivor: Darker Side of Paradise
.
Gripping novel, based on a true story, of a young
countercultural woman who arrives in Belize in the 1970s
and discovers untamed nature, wild adventure - and the
darker side of human nature.
Carlos Ledson Miller
Belize - A Novel
. Fast-paced
historical saga of a Central American father and his
two sons - one American and one Belizean. From the
eve of Hurricane Hattie in 1961, the reader is transported
forty years through colonial unrest to present-day
turbulence.
Jeremy Paxman
Through the Volcanoes
. A political travel
account investigating the turmoil of Central America and
finding solace in the calm of Costa Rica. Takes in seven
countries including Belize, and offers a good overview of
the region's politics and history in the mid-1980s.
Alan Rabinowitz
Jaguar
. A personal account of studying
jaguars for the New York Zoological Society in the 1980s,
living with a Maya family at Cockscomb. Rabinowitz
was instrumental in the establishment of the Jaguar
Reserve in 1984.
John Lloyd Stephens
Incidents of Travel in Central
America, Chiapas, and Yucatán
. A classic nineteenth-
century traveller, Stephens was American ambassador to
Central America: while republics fought it out he was
wading through the jungle stumbling across ancient cities.
Written with superb Victorian pomposity and great
illustrations of Maya sites.
