Down on the farm — in the jungle

Deep in the jungles of Central America, where jaguars, crocodiles and Howler monkeys are king, visitors may spot something out of the ordinary. Women in bonnets, suited up in wooly winter frocks; men dressed in overalls and straw Cowboy hats; children riding stone-faced in horse-drawn buggies.

A Mennonite settlement in the heart of the jungles of Belize may seem like a hallucination brought on by the intense humidity and hypnotizing buzz of cicadas, but this is no illusion.  Amidst Mayan ruins overgrown by moss, there are some 5,000 Mennonites living in this small central American country bordering Mexico and Guatemala.

Mennonites, I learned, are a Protestant religious sect first formed in the Netherlands in the 16th century.

While there are one million worldwide, many have settled throughout Belize among the towns of Orange Walk, Shipyard and Indian Creek.  Belize’s government welcomed them and praised their farming expertise, which accounts for much of the country’s produce. They live a simple, ultra-conservative life in closed farming communities.

Tourists staying at the Lamanai Outpost Lodge, an eco-resort that offers jungle expeditions to nearby ruins, may arrange a visit to a Mennonite community.

From the air-conditioned comfort of the four-by-four Land Rover, I travelled a few kilometres to Indian Creek, home to some 1,400 Mennonites. From the back of the car, I watched the landscape change from the lush jungle of tangled vines to vast, clear-cut pastoral farmlands.

Indian Creek was a scene right out of Little House On the Prairie: White farm houses dotted the countryside, laundry was meticulously hung on front-yard clotheslines and angelic children in flower-print dresses ran through fields.

The four-by-four stopped abruptly in front of a horse and buggy, their preferred mode of transportation. I scrambled out of the car to meet Abe, a respected member of the Mennonite community who agreed to show me around.

Wearing blue overalls, a crisp marine-blue shirt, droplets of sweat gathering on his upper lip, Abe shook my hand with a firm paw. A kind man with a family of four girls, he was warm and welcoming.

Though many residents shy away from outsiders, Abe is keen to show people around.

He explained that Mennonites here refuse to use modern technology. No television, no cellphones, no electricity, no cars. No music or dancing allowed. Abe told me that the reasoning behind it is to create a strong family unit without the distractions or temptations of modernity.

A horse and buggy packed with cloaked women sped along the unpaved road. Air thick with moisture, my back dripping with sweat, I couldn’t imagine what it must be like to wear such heavy layers of petticoats and dresses every day.

Many cultures
Though Belize has only 290,000 inhabitants, it has a variety of distinct cultural groups, according to the Belize Tourism Board: Creole, Garifuna (a mix of Carib Indians and Africans), Mestizo (a mix of Spanish and Maya), Spanish, Maya, English, Mennonite, Lebanese, Chinese and East Indian.

On the web
• Lamanai Outpost Lodge, www.lamanai.com.
• The Belize Tourism Board, www.travelbelize.org.

– Julia Dimon is co-host of Word Travels, airing on OLN; www.juliadimon.com.