Driving up the mountain passes of the scenic Hummingbird Highway of Belize sometimes reminds me of the time I vacationed driving through the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, except for Tennessee’s considerable lack of palm and coconut trees. Still, I have these Belizean moments when I feel like I’m back in some place like Tennesseee, or Arkansas, or Georgia (come see Mountain Pine Ridge and you’ll understand what I mean, Georgians), or even the holy ground where I grew up around Grimes and Washington Counties in Texas with their rolling, pastoral pastures and hills. As terribly foreign as Belize can start to feel to me sometimes–I have these occasional moments of deja vu where I feel I’ve been taken back to some beautiful part of America I passed through once on some summer vacation or going mobile in a rental car on some newspaper assignment.
The Hummingbird Highay, one of the more scenic and smooth rides in all of mainland Belize.
Way more than just hummingbird birds up in the bush off the Hummingbird; take a pair of binoculars and your camera early in the morning or just as the sun sets and you’ll cross a lot of birds off your bird-watching list.
Another of the many little pink houses on the Hummingbird trail
The Hummingbird dead-ends in the coastal town of Dangriga, where the horse is as common a mode of transportation as a four-wheel or two-wheel vehicle.
When in Dangriga call a horse cab
Or judging from those wheels, DON’T call for a horse cab.
It does look like an area of the Smokies called “Cades Cove.” I’ve been there twice and the deer are so tame that they graze like cattle.
I am from East Tennessee and just moved to Belize. I said the VERY same thing driving down Hummingbird Highway. I understand this for sure.
Cool! Welcome to Belice!