Belize City Tours: Are We Missing History?

Ever taken a Belize City tour and wondered, “Wait… is that really the whole story?” You’re not alone. For many visitors, these tours are their first glimpse into Belize’s history, but how much of that history are they actually getting? Historian Nicholas Sanchez says, not nearly enough. He argues that too many guides are giving shallow, incomplete narratives, skipping over the rich colonial and cultural past that shaped the city. Drawing from his own experience as a tourist, Captain Sanchez believes Belize City’s story deserves more depth, and that proper training for guides could make all the difference.

 

Nicholas Sanchez, Historian

“I don’t know what they’re saying. No one has ever, there’s so much things to talk about in a city tour. The reason why I did the city tour is because. In 1988, I came to Belize for my mom’s funeral and I wasn’t pleased with what I got for a fifty dollar city tour. They showed me the Bliss Lighthouse and Tomb, the Swing Bridge and the Paslow Building, the courthouse, St. John’s Cathedral and Government House, five things. And that was a city tour. I wasn’t very pleased. Because I know there were a heck of a lot more to Belize City than that. The old colonial city, Mapp Street to from Mapp Street, from the river Mapp Street, Freetown Road cut across maybe Newton Barracks, but Wilson Street to the sea. South side, you went as a, the canal, Collet Canal to the Yarborough Bridge down to the vaults. Caesar Ridge Road back out, and that’s it. That’s the old colonial city that, that I grew up in, I loved and I can talk about. But I don’t know what they sell people today. I don’t know what they’re saying.”

 

Shane Williams, Reporter

“And now are you open to, I know you are not in Belize often. Are you open to training people for the city tours if offered and ask?”

 

Nicholas Sanchez

“Most definitely. That would be an honor as it were. Not free, but an honor, nevertheless, because I will have so much to impart to these young people. Because it’s not, I’m not a political in a sense, this sense is teaching Belizeans not only their history, but how to make a living off their history.”