Crooked Tree

This morning we returned from our “drop offs.” My friend, Laura, and I went to Crooked Tree, in the northern part of the Belize district. We had a great time! The people were so friendly and welcoming. Crooked Tree is a Wildlife Sanctuary, but also a village of 886 people. The incomes largely come from cashew farming, cattle ranching, and fishing. Tourism is not as profitable; there are 4 places to stay.

We spoke with just about everyone in the village! They were all so excited to tell their story about growing up and living in Crooked Tree, especially to an outsider. I considered writing about our experiences with all the different people we met, but I decided against that, so here is a brief synopsis. We visited a couple stores, the school, and 3 of the 4 hotels and spoke with whoever would sit and talk to us. We ate at the best restaurant in town, at the Bird’s Eye View Hotel, and had a four course meal for $8BZ each! That is $4US! We learned a lot about cashews. Did you know they are a fruit and a nut? And apparently you can make just about anything from the plant, including, but obviously not limited to, cashew butter, cashew wine, cashew jam, stewed cashews, preserved cashews, and cashew syrup. Most products are made from the fruit because the process to extract the nut involves a tedious method of roasting and baking the nut, because the layer between the nut and the shell is toxic and can stain your skin. There is a huge Cashew Festival every year in Crooked Tree which even includes a Cashew Queen.

Whey de go on?

As part of our assignment, we had to learn some Creole phrases or proverbs. Here are some of my favorites (they are pronounced phonetically):

Whey de go on? = What’s happening?

When fowl never lay egg yet an dee shit white, day tink that egg. = Said when one good thing happens to a person and that person becomes arrogant.

Every Junco tink day pick knee white. = Even ugly babies are beautiful in their parent’s eyes.

Do so don’t like do so. = People who do bad things don’t like when bad things happen to them, like the “Golden Rule.”