The Garifuna Settlement Day celebration returned after its absence due to Covid 19. On November 18, 2022 an enthusiastic crowd estimated to be in the thousands eagerly awaited the boats to float into the Dangriga bay marking the official reenactment of Yurumein. It was an incredible sight to be there in person. Due to limited funds we chose to enter Belize from Chetumal (the Mexican border at the north point of Belize) and head to the Stann Creek district into the Dangriga community. On the 18th Belize VIP rental was outstanding as they had our taxi driver waiting at the ADO bus terminal in Chetumal who whisked us through both Mexico and Belize customs to their office in Corozal. We were handed the keys to our jeep and after stopping by Corozal Blues who happened to feature some of the best sere I have tasted, we made the four hour trek to Hopkins so that on the 19th we only needed a ½ drive to be at the bay for the 6:30AM start time.
The crowd was festive with an impressive number of youth and young adults. These are a few pictures of our journey.
DANGRIGA
HOPKINS/BELIZE CITY
We’ve been to Dangriga several times but had only been to Hopkins once so we decided to spend the weekend there. Wendy Miller of Tiny homes by Wendy was outstanding as our cabana was perfect. We also met Marlon owner of GariMaya gift shop who was simply a blessing to help us to navigate where Miller was located. The Hopkins community takes full ownership of their Garifuna heritage and that made our stay special.
COROZAL
Our journey started in Corozal and ended there. After experiencing the key Garifuna Settlement Day activities on the 20th we headed back from Hopkins. We split the four hour drive and did a stop-over in Belize City with the goal to try and limit being on the road at night traveling back to Corozal. The roads are not for the weak or feeble but unlike going where all four hours were at night – ouch!!!!! we were able to limit it to about one hour and 20 minutes. Corozal is a Mayan community but there is a small contingent of creoles. Here are some of our pics.
