Anybody who describes San Ignacio Belize as a “sleepily little town”, I dare to say, has never actually tried to sleep here.
You may get this impression if you rolled into town during a midweek siesta. But once you spend a night here your perspective will most likely change.
In these parts of Belize, San Ignacio ( also known as Cayo) is the big smoke. The Western Highway runs right through San Ignacio. This two lane road connects Belize city to Guatemala, which is just 9 miles away from San Ignacio.
The narrow streets are lined with wooden shiplap buildings with rusty tins roofs making this place look like a set out of a Western movie. Together San Ignacio with its sister town Santa Elena, across the Macal river, forms Belize’s second largest urban area. There is a combined diverse population of about 20,000 living here. San Ignacio’ s residents are laid back, friendly, and very, very welcoming. But don’t confuse laid back and friendly with quiet.
After spending 2 weeks here I have come to the conclusion that this town is actually quieter during the day. I am not sure if the blazing tropical suns thins out the air, hence muffling the sound during the day. Or maybe its residents are conserving their energy. During daytime hours San Ignacio has a groovy beat with a fair bit of traffic ( both foot and vehicle) cruising the main drag. When evening sets in and the night air thickens up, the noise starts to travel. It gets loud around here, especially when you are attempting to sleep.
Just as your head hits the pillow there is the baritone roar of busses cutting through town. The sound of bus air horns slap the night air like a stockyard paddle smacking a steers ass. Big transportation rigs with their engine brakes racing, belching diesel fumes, don’t care if it is 2 PM or 2 AM.
The dense evening air carries street side conversations into your boudoir as if they were “yelling” you a bedtime story.
The resident San Ignacio roosters are a rather confused lot. They start crowing at about midnight and Tom Robbins would probably describe them as sounding like spastic adolescents trying to imitate Tarzan.
On the topic of adolescents, with the run up to Christmas there is definitely a love affair between the boys and their firecrackers. The closer to Christmas – the louder the bang. The most popular time to set off firecrackers that are loud enough to set car alarms off is about 3 AM. At other times firecrackers go off, like the continuous popping of corks, really loud corks in rapid fire.
Then there are the dogs. There are two types of dogs in San Ignacio. Dogs who have human caregivers and dogs who wish they had. The street dogs or “Pot Lickers” as they are sometimes called, are usually found sleeping in the streets during the day. After the sun goes down and the Pot Lickers are finished begging at the local restaurants, they come out to raid garbage cans. Gangs of roving dogs sometimes end up in a cacophonous pile of howls, barks, growls and whimpers. The dogs who have owners protect their pack from within the safety of their fenced compounds. As pedestrians pass, enthusiastic barking warns of the intruders presence. The neighbours dog dutifully picks up at the property line. You can actually picture someones path through town by the trail of barking dogs.
Friday and Saturday night is when all hell breaks loose. Party animals from miles around converge on this “sleepy little town” to whoop it up. The downtown discos pump up the volume until their patrons ears bleed, only hitting its stride around 1 AM. The Boom…… Chick! Boom- Boom……. Chick! of the base line yields to nothing, penetrating everything in its path.
Competing with the dogs and the roosters are the roving groups of teens sounding like a like a shipload of semi-domesticated primates in a hurricane as they prowl through town.
A popular weekend pastime durning the wee hours of the morning is to drive your mufferless motorcycle at breakneck speeds up the hilly streets of San Ignacio, releasing heavy metal thunder under full throttle. Others prefer to drive their Boom Box equipped vehicles through town sharing their favourite tunes as they go.
We have really enjoyed our stay in San Ignacio. We have had some excellent food, seen some amazing sites, and met some truly wonderful people here, however if there is a next time we will stay well on the outskirts of town.
And as I lay in bed with earplugs pushing into my exhausted skull, the Paul Simon song “American Tune” keeps on running through my weary brain:
Many’s, the time I’v been mistaken
And many times confused
Yes, and often felt forsaken
And certainly misused
But I’m all right, I’m all right
I’m just weary to my bones
Still, you don’t expect to be
Bright and bon vivant
So far away from home, so far away from home
We come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the age’s most uncertain hour
and sing an American tune
But it’s all right, it’s all right
You can’t be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow’s going to be another working day
And I’m trying to get some rest
That’s all I’m trying to get some rest
