are marked on a large board, and the chicken is thrown into this pit. It's a winner-takes-all type of jackpot.

FOOD SHOPPING: Stores are packed with overpriced imported US processed food. Goods may seem overpriced even by Belizean standards, but they reflect high import duties as well as added shipping costs. The largest store is Rock's Supermarket just down from the Coral Beach Hotel. The large food store below Milo's Hotel has space invader machines which offers audio ambiance. Sample prices here: cinnamon bread, US$1.63/loaf; 100 grams of custard creams from Britain for US$1.13; Mott's Apple Juice, 64 oz./US$5.75; can of coconut milk, US$3.70; Ivory Snow detergent, 32 oz./US$6.10; Mexican manufactured Kellogg's Corn Flakes, 200g/US$1.20; Hunt's Tomato Paste, 6 oz./US 85 cents; and Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup, US$1.15. Another store with similar prices is run by the same people who bring you MarthaŐs hotel above. Super Jenny's has cabbages (US$1.68, packages of two bell peppers (US$1.12) and two tomatoes (US$1.58), and other items.

OTHER SHOPPING: Prices are generally high. Postcards sell for 75 cents instead of the usual 50 and other prices are set accordingly. One of the more memorable shops here is Iguana Jack's Island Art which has painting, sculpture, and ceramic iguanas. Probably the best place to shop here is the National Handicraft Centre on Barrier Reef Drive.

EVENTS: The San Pedro Carnival is held from the Sunday to Tuesday preceding Ash Wednesday. Processions are held at Christmas and Easter. The Fiesta of St. Peter, the town's patron saint, takes place on June 29, and, as an added treat, the fleet is blessed the same day. The anniversary of the town's 1985 incorporation is celebrated on November 27. Another huge event (and the most recent in conception) is the Sea and Air Festival. Generally held in mid-August, it offers volleyball, windsurfing, waterskiing, volleyball, a beauty pageant, mountain biking, kiting, greasy pole climbing, cardboard bat racing, tug-of-war, "catch & release" fishing, a grand parade, and other events and competitions. Each night is customarily dedicated to a Central American nation. Because of the recent influx of Garifuna, Settlement Day is also celebrated here on November 19.

SERVICES AND INFORMATION: The small library is open from Monday- Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. Amazingly in this day and age, the library operates on the honor system: just leave your name and the name of the book at the counter. Belize Bank, a post office (open Monday-Friday 8 a.m. - noon, and 1 to 4:30 p.m.) and a pharmacy are in the same building as the Spindrift Hotel; a branch of the Atlantic Bank is next door on Barrier Reef Drive. The Belize Bank and the Atlantic Bank are the only banks which will change Canadian dollars. Hol Chan Marine Reserve Office (tel. 501-2-62420), Caribena Street, is chock full of information. An informative window into expat existence on the island, The San Pedro Sun is the informative weekly newspaper, run by Victoria and Bruce Collins. J's Laundromat, Pescador Drive, is open daily. Rosalita's Massage & Beauty Center (tel. 501-2-62242), Barrier Reef Drive near the Holiday Hotel, offers shiatsu and Swedish-style massages as well as hair care. Also try Andor's Massage (501-2-63079) near Ramon's. Rentals: With one office in Fido's and another next to the Catholic Church, Joe Miller Photography (tel. 501-2-62577, fax 501-2-62568; P.O. Box 74, San Pedro) has underwater cameras for rent and other services.

TOUR COMPANIES: Formerly Universal Travel & Tours, Travel & Tour Belize (tel. 501-2-62031/2137, fax 501-2-62185) has three offices - by the airport, in the Alijua Building, and on Barrier Reef Drive in the Spindrift Hotel lobby. They offer a wide variety of tours, diving, and excursions as far afield as Caracol, Tikal, and to Mexico's Kohunlich. Also offered is bird watching, river and deep sea fishing, and sailing and snorkeling. Located on Barrier Reef Drive (Front Street), Amigo Travel (tel. 501-2-62180/2435) has moped and bike rentals, glass bottom boat and snorkeling trips, horseback riding, and tours to the cayes and other localities. Offering snorkeling, river trips, and other excursions, Belize Visitor & Tours (tel. 501-2-62728, fax 501-2-62402; P.O. Box 74, San Pedro) is on Pescador Drive (Middle Street). Located in Fido's Courtyard, Island Rentals (tel. 501-2-62697; fax 501-2-62597) provides a variety of water sports, water taxi service, beach cookouts, night snorkeling, excursions and tours to many localities including Altun Ha, and rentals of all types of equipment ranging from golf carts to underwater cameras to kayaks to bicycles. Here and elsewhere, bicycles can be rented for around US$7.50 per day. Golf cart rentals are expensive, at up to $50 per day.

Excalibur Tours (tel. 501-2-62051/2604) offers fishing, snorkeling, diving, waterskiing, and other activities. Run by dive master Changa Paz, the Amigos Del Mar (tel. 501-2-62706 and fax 501-2-62648; P.O. Box 53, San Pedro) has diving, instruction, rentals, and excursions including trips to the Turneffes, the Blue Hole, and a night dive at Hol Chan. Ramon's Reef Resort (tel. 501-2-62439) operates the Sailing Fantasy catamaran. The Hideaway Sports Lodge (tel. 501-2-62141, fax 501-2-62269) does a variety of snorkeling, fishing, and diving packages. Fido Badillo (tel. 501-2-62286) operates day trips to Altun Ha, fishing trips, and beach BBQs. Heritage Navigation (tel. 501-2-62394) runs its 66-ft. Winnie Estelle on day trips to Caye Caulker for around US$45 per person. They depart from the Paradise Hotel dock at 9 a.m. The Nicola (tel. 501-2-62255) offers river trips to Altun Ha, Caye Caulker excursions, fishing, diving, and other excursions. Also try Hustler's Tours (tel. 501-2- 62279/2538/2075). Finally, Bill Henkes will take you out on his yacht The Yanira for US$25 per person. Write him c/o General Delivery, San Pedro.

Dive boats: Several of the nation's live aboard dive boats are based in San Pedro, although they generally must be booked well in advance. The Manta IV (tel. 501-2-62371) has a shark cage, caging you not the shark, which will make Jaws come to life bloodlessly. Bottom Time Dive Shop (tel. 501-2-62348) offers day trips to the Turneffes. With offices on Front Street (Barrier Reef Drive), Out Island Divers (tel. 501-2-62151, P.O. Box 7, San Pedro) provides one- to three-day trips to Lighthouse Reef and The Blue Hole as well as specialty charters to Glovers Reef and the Turneffes. They have a tent camp on Long Caye on Lighthouse Reef; their Reef Roamer II is stationed here as well, as is the "Tooth Fairy," a private yacht. In the US, call 800-BLUE-HOLE or 303-586-6020, fax 303-586-6134, or write P.O. Box 3443, Estes Park, CO 80517.

Note: Dive trips are frequently canceled at short or no notice when the requisite minimum of divers doesn't show up. You pay an insurance fee and this entitles you to free use of the recompression chamber near the airport should you need it. Fantasea Watersports (tel. 501-2-62576) runs out of Victoria House and offers scuba instruction, fishing, and other excursions and rentals.

LEAVING: The Andrea (tel. 501-2-62578, 501-2-74988) departs Monday - Friday at 7 p.m. for Belize City and on Saturday at 8 p.m from the Texaco wharf near LilyŐs Hotel. The Triple J (tel. 501-2-44375) generally departs at 3 p.m. It stops at Caye Chapel and Caye Caulker. Leaving at the Lagoon Side Marina (a white house near the soccer field, the Thunderbolt Express (tel. 501-2- 62217) leaves from Monday to Saturday San Pedro to Caye Caulker to Caye Chapel to Belize City at 7 a.m. and 2 p.m., returning at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. You may also be able to hitch a ride with a yacht. Be sure to reconfirm departure times with any of these three as they may be subject to change. Any boat with "C.C." prefacing its serial number on its side is from Caye Caulker. They arrive in early afternoon, docking beside the Tackle Box. If they take you, expect to pay around US$10. One expensive trip (US$120-$150) is to charter a boat to make the 26-mile run to Xcalak, Mexico. Unfortunately, there isn't much to do there save stock up on groceries or, perhaps, stay in the one budget-priced hotel.

^^^ Harry S. Pariser is a world traveler and author of many guidebooks. He has roamed most of Africa, Europe, Asia, Central America and the Caribbean by tramp steamer, train, bus and by thumb. Pariser is the author of Adventure Guide to Belize, from which this article is excerpted, with permission. Other books by Harry S. Pariser, all from Hunter Publishing, include guides to Jamaica, Costa Rica, and Barbados.

ALEX BRADBURY ON DIVING, SNORKELING, FISHING AND TOURING AMBERGRIS ... RESPONSIBLY

By ALEX BRADBURY

Ambergris Caye extends like a 24-mile-long finger from the southernmost tip of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Only a narrow channel separates Belize from Mexico at Ambergris' northern extremity, a channel that the ancient Maya apparently dredged to make navigation easier. Although the largest and most-visited of the Belizean cayes, much of Ambergris remains undisturbed mangrove swamp, sourgrass savanna, freshwater lagoon, and broadleaf forest. Virtually all of Ambergris Caye's residents live in San Pedro, near the southern end of the island.

HISTORY

The early Maya favoured Ambergris as a strategically-located coastal trading center. Recent evidence from Marco Gonzalez, Ambergris' best-studied ruin site, suggests strong trade and cultural links with the great inland city of Lamanai. Later, English and French pirates capitalized on the caye's strategic location, making it a coastal stopover. But the basis of today's population arrived in 1848 as refugees from the bloody Caste War in the Mexican Yucatan.

The caye traces its name to early whaling days, when ambergris, a waxy musk-like substance, was extracted from the intestines of sperm whales for use as a fixative in the perfume trade. Whalers occasionally found lumps of the stuff weighing more than 200 pounds, and one such lump sold in 1910 for US$30,000. Other fisheries, particularly for spiny lobster, soon replaced whaling, and Ambergris Caye still remains dependent to some degree on its rich fishing grounds.

In late October 1990, the Belize government bought from private interests most of the northern two-thirds of Ambergris Caye. Known formerly as the Pinkerton Estate, this 22,000-acre chunk of land does not include most of the eastern shoreline, which is already in private hands. Still, the purchase gives the government the opportunity to swap lagoon frontage on the western side of the caye for beach frontage. The buy-out does not mean that the entire area will remain greenbelt. A controversial development plan for the area ran into opposition, and a newer study is under consideration by the government. A recent development is that the former owners have said they will take back the tract, in lieu of payment of US$17 million, what they say the land is worth including interest and fees. Nevertheless, the recent government conservation record is very encouraging, and any development is likely to be well-planned and environmentally sound.

At the northern end of the island, Belizeans have been participating in a voluntary sea turtle conservation project for the last several years. Biology teachers from throughout the country bring their classes to a beach near Basil Jones, about 11 miles north of San Pedro, where loggerhead turtles (and a few green turtles) lay their eggs. They patrol the beach mainly to prevent egg poaching, which has decreased almost 40-fold since the program began. They also tag the nests to estimate hatching date, and return to help the young turtles make their way safely from beach to water. These week-long forays have been jointly financed by the Hol Chan Marine Reserve and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. For more information, contact the Hol Chan Marine Reserve office in San Pedro.

For an excellent overview of Ambergris history, shipwrecks, Maya ruins, botany, biology, and beachcomber tips, try to find a copy of The Field Guide to Ambergris Caye by Richard L. Woods, S.T. Reid, and A.M. Reid, available in San Pedro.

SAN PEDRO

For the time being, San Pedro remains the single most popular destination for travelers to Belize. SCUBA divers began flocking to San Pedro in the mid-1960s, and although they deserve credit as the pioneers of Belize tourism, few of them ever saw anything else of the country. Then as now, the attraction was the barrier reef, clearly visible from town as a broken line of frothy white breakers about three-quarters of a mile east. Divers still make up the lion's share of San Pedro visitors, but windsurfers, snorkelers, sport anglers, and people simply looking for a water and beach vacation are increasingly showing up.

As a result of this influx, San Pedro is no longer the sleepy one- hotel paradise that it was only a couple of decades ago. But neither has it become a Cancun or even Cozumel. The tallest building stands three stories. The streets are unpaved, with lengths of ship mooring line laid down as speed bumps - what Belizeans call a "sleeping policeman." Perhaps most importantly, San Pedranos themselves mirror the town's informality and friendliness. Most are descendants of Mexico's Caste War exodus, and you'll hear Spanish spoken at every street corner.

Everything is easy to reach in San Pedro. There are only ten streets in town (all recently renamed - Front Street, for example, has become Barrier Reef Drive), and you can walk from the ocean side to the lagoon side in less than a minute. Golf carts are a favorite local vehicle, although more cars and trucks are making their way onto the island, a subject of considerable controversy.

You may wonder, in fact, how anyone could make a living driving cab in San Pedro (a few of the pricier hotels outside town provide the passengers, it turns out). The barrier reef is visible offshore, a mere 10-minute ride in a slow boat. But despite its location, San Pedro doesn't have much of a beach; it's more a thin strip of sand between buildings and docks.

Restaurants in San Pedro, like hotels, tend toward the pricey, but at least you've got a wider selection of foods than the usual chicken, rice, and beans. The quality of most restaurant meals in San Pedro is also generally higher than in the rest of Belize, making the bill somewhat easier to accept. Seafood, not surprisingly, is the mainstay of San Pedro restaurants, and just about the only item that doesnŐt have to be flown or boated into town from the mainland. A fish dinner will generally cost US$7- US$13. Lobster dinners are almost twice the price here compared to Caye Caulker. Even beer is slightly more expensive in San Pedro.

The lobster season throughout Belize runs July 15-March 15. Insist that your lobster be of legal size, and don't eat either lobster or conch out of season. Please don't eat sea turtle or turtle eggs, both of which are sometimes offered by unscrupulous locals.

WHAT TO SEE

Conch hatchery Visitors and students are welcome at Belize's only conch hatchery, financed by the USAID and under the supervision of the Belize Fisheries Department.

Queen conch (Strombus gigas), prized for their tasty meat, gorgeous pink shells and pearls, were once fished in shallow waters throughout the Caribbean with long rakes. Snorkel gear and then SCUBA replaced the older fishing methods, gradually depleting the once-plentiful shallow populations. Commercial fisheries have recently collapsed in many areas, including Mexico, Barbados, Bermuda, and Florida (where the season has been closed indefinitely). Belize's population remains in somewhat better shape for the time being, perhaps due to the banning of SCUBA for commercial fishing, a minimum size limit, and a closure during the summer breeding season. Even so, export volumes are now declining, and most biologists agree that Belize's conch stocks are headed for collapse if nothing is done.

In response to this dismal prediction, the USAID/FUL (Fisheries Unit Laboratory) Conch Research Project was born in 1985. The project originally involved American graduate students doing genetic research on Belizean conch stocks to determine how closely related they were to other populations in the Caribbean. That research has been completed - Belize's queen conch are genetically very similar to other Caribbean queen conch - and the project is now staffed by a manager and two technicians, all Belizeans. Manager Mauro Gongora explains that the project has three goals: to track population levels of conch and gather baseline biological data; to educate Belizean fishermen on the need to conserve conch, especially the smaller conch which haven't spawned yet (some biologists estimate that the present minimum size limit allows 94 percent of the population to be fished before spawning age, and are working with the Department of Fisheries to change the legal size); and finally, to determine the feasibility of mass-producing small conch in a hatchery for "seeding" in local waters.

Belize's conch hatchery is one of only a few in the Caribbean (Puerto Rico, Florida, and the Turks and Caicos Islands also raise small conch). Visitors can see juvenile conch and the cultures of microscopic algae that they are fed in the hatchery. The hatchery is still in its fledgling stages, but growing conch to the preferred seeding size isn't the problem; a single female conch, after all, can produce six million larvae in a year. The major hurdle will be avoiding the hordes of hungry predators waiting for the hatchery conch when they're placed underwater in the "real world." As it turns out, nearly everything dines on baby conch, particularly hermit crabs. Rather than set the table for these predators, biologists are experimenting with underwater nets that protect the conch until they've grown a bit and buried themselves safely beneath the sand. Project manager Gongora and his staff have already had some success with these protective nets in the Hol Chan Marine Reserve.

The hatchery and project office is located just north of town on the grounds of the San Pedro High School. Visitors are welcome, but try to call at least a week in advance (phone 501-2-62283) so that the staff can give you a good tour. [Editor's Note: This is no longer open.]

Marco Gonzalez Maya site: This small Maya ruin lies on 16 acres of mangrove swamp at the southwestern tip of Ambergris Caye. Named for the island boy who first led archaeologists to the site in 1984, Marco Gonzalez was excavated beginning in 1986 by Elizabeth Graham and David Pendergast of the Royal Ontario Museum. They concluded that the site was founded as early as 300 B.C. (probably a temporary fishing camp at first) and was still occupied when the Spanish arrived in A.D. 1544. The locale was apparently used for salt-manufacturing during the Late Classic. Forty-nine structures have been identified, all low platforms made of coral blocks, ground coral and seashells. Graham and Pendergast also uncovered traces of 11 human burials, some interred with the sting ray spines reserved for Maya elite. The ancient Maya apparently used Marco Gonzalez as a link in the coastal trade route, as evidenced by finds of grey obsidian (from the Guatemalan highlands), green obsidian (from central Mexico), slate ware (from the northern Yucatan), and jade, granite, and mainland limestone, none of which are found on Ambergris Caye.

The most striking finds at Marco Gonzalez, however, were pottery remains which suggest a trade and cultural link with Lamanai, the largest ancient Maya city in present-day Orange Walk District. Lamanai prospered long after the collapse of lowland Maya civilization, and Marco Gonzalez may have been its primary trading port.

As with many smaller Maya sites, there isn't a great deal here to interest the non-archaeologist. Although accessible via a trail through the mangroves from San Pedro, the site is difficult to find without a guide, and boat access is actually the preferred way to visit Marco Gonzalez. See the folks at Travel & Tour Belize (tel. 501-2-62031/2137, fax 501-2-62185) to arrange a day trip.

EXCURSIONS

Near town For SCUBA divers and snorkelers, San Pedro serves both as debarkation point for boats headed to the atolls far offshore, and as a base for exploring the nearby barrier reef. The section below describes only the diving and snorkeling possibilities near San Pedro itself.

The coral of the barrier reef close to San Pedro grows at such shallow depths that boats can only reach the seaward side via seven narrow openings, or "cuts." And it is here, on the outside of the reef near the cuts, where you'll find the best diving in the San Pedro area. Most experienced divers, however, probably won't want to spend more than a few days here. This is because the underwater topography is fairly uniform from dive site to dive

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