I used to work with a doctor who did medical missions to Belize a couple times a year. Two years in a row he invited me and another nurse (as well as some people from his church) to accompany him. We flew into Belize City, spent the night at a mission there, then charted a private plane down to Punta Gorda where we met a missionary family, who took us out to the different villages. On our second trip, I took my then 13 y/o son with us. The day we landed in Belize City, my son had on a red baseball type cap. We were told by one of the missionaries that there were two main street gangs in Belize City and one of them wore red, so it was suggested that my son not wear that cap. He also had a Texas Longhorn cap (sort of a butterscotch color), so wore that one instead. As we were walking around the city that afternoon, we suddenly heard a voice yell out, "Hey boy!" and turned. A young man in his early 20's rushed out of an alley, pushed my son down, grabbed his cap, and ran off down the alley. Without thinking, my son took off after him and of course I took off after my son, yelling for him to stop. There are alot of old alleys back behind the main streets there and before we knew it we were lost. It was really scary. Thankfully a police officer saw us, asked what in the world we were doing in that section of the city, and escorted us out to the main street, telling us visitors has no business in that area as it was a dangerous neighborhood. He said that as long as we stayed on the main streets we'd be fine, but to not wander off those main streets. When my son asked about getting his cap back, the police officer told him he was very lucky that the other guy had just knocked him down to steal the cap and had not seriously hurt him.
Everyone we met was nice and friendly. We were only in Belize for a six hour shore excursion. I wish we had more time.
Something to think about.
