As the plane took off from Miami for Belize, I looked out the window and could see a haze over the city that I assumed was from the wild fires that have been burning in Florida this past week. I hadn’t realized that smoke and wind could change the look of a city that was miles away from the fire, but now that I have arrived in San Ignacio, Belize, I have once again seen another city that is clouded with another fire’s smoke.

The 72+ mile drive from the airport to San Ignacio revealed brush fire after brush fire which made me believe that Belize is quite literally, “on fire,” yet no one seems to be alarmed by this. Instead our friend Brainard joked that the fires are “purifying” Belize, which holds a partial truth. The agriculture does benefit from the seasonal burning of the under growth to allow the larger plants to survive and carry on, but I wondered if the man that was trying to keep his house from catching fire thought that the burning of the under- brush was such a great thing. Despite the occasional lone fire fighter, no one was seen paying the fires much attention, or trying to put them out.

Again, the interesting thing about smoke was how well it traveled across Belize. At one point during the drive I pointed out the window and asked Brainard if it was getting ready to storm because of how dark the sky was getting. He chuckled and told us that those were not rain clouds that were threatening to block out the sun, but rather, the smoke from the brush fires that were being blown west towards San Ignacio. And blow west it did. All over the city was a “fog” that clearly was unusual given the weather, and everywhere there was a strong smell of a smoke. Of course, no one seemed too bothered by any of this, and in fact it seemed quite normal. The football match still went on, the dogs still barked, and the little town of San Ignacio still bustled about like any other day. I guess the Belizeans will do just fine chalking up the hazy days to being part of a usual season of purification in Belize, instead of my worried thoughts that Belize is on fire.

More to come this week…