Pulses slow in laid-back Belize

By Catherine Bremer

BELIZE CITY, (Reuters) - Even on election day, there is little noise in Belize's biggest city above the whirring of ceiling fans, squawking tropical birds and the Creole chatter of women in the porches of colonial-era clapboard houses.

With its tiny population and oppressive Caribbean heat, Belize is famous among backpackers for being one of the world's most laid-back nations.

Visitors feel their pulses slow in this corner of Central America where the sticky air smells of fruit trees and locals greet you on the street in a lilting Creole accent.

"There is no hustle and bustle here, that's just the way it is. There is nothing to rush about in Belize," said Leroy Castillo, 46, sitting outside the "Bliss Institute" arts center where he works as a sound technician.

A former British colony populated largely by Mestizos and Creoles, descendents of African slaves in the logging industry, Belize wallows in its mellow mood. It listens to Love FM radio and the government's radio station is called "Positive Vibes".

Reggae music pumps thrugh Belize's palm-fringed cayes, and in Belize City, whose population of 70,000 is ten times bigger than the capital Belmopan's, police in short-sleeved shirts cycle past shops called "Lavish" or "Charisma".

"Belize is a very nice and cool place," says policeman Derek Gideon, cycling by pink, turquoise and yellow wood-front buildings with white picket fences and swinging wooden signs.

The election brought people out to campaign rallies, but as many were there for flowing beer and reggaeton bands as for political speeches. Campaign T-shirts bore slogans like "Deh Wid Dean" ("We're with Dean") for opposition leader Dean Barrow and young women cut theirs down into tight mini-dresses.

"We are the party of love," Prime Minister Said Musa told a cheering crowd this week. Riots in 2005 over Musa's tax hikes were only the third case of civil unrest in Belize's history.

Belize lives mainly off tourists and farming, but relies too on remittances sent by relatives in the United States. Despite the lure of its jungles and beaches, Belize lags far behind tourism giants like Mexico and Costa Rica.

Coastal Garifuna communities, descended from shipwrecked African slaves and Arawak Indians, are well placed to cash in on eco-tourism, traditions such as basket-weaving, and bottom-waggling "punta" music, but instead they struggle to survive on small-scale fishing.

"In one sense Americans might be pushy and expect too much, but when I came back here I found my workers were too laid-back and got upset when I pushed them," said Jeanette Neal, who runs a guest house after a long stockbroking career in New York.

"It's so slow sometimes it drives me crazy and I think it's why we're not as far ahead as we should be."