Mennonite Communities

The Mennonite religion emerged in Holland during the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. These Anabaptists (so called for the practice of baptizing adults) first moved to Germanic lands—many in Belize still speak Low German, which combines elements of German and Dutch—and then to Prussia, the United States (mainly Pennsylvania), and Manitoba, Canada. In the 1950s some 3,000 Mennonites emigrated to Belize, where they established communities in the Orange Walk and Cayo districts. Today, there are an estimated 8,000 Mennonites in Belize.

The Blue Creek Mennonite community, about midway between Orange Walk Town and Chan Chich Lodge—it's 33 mi (54 km) from Orange Walk Town via Yo Creek, August Pine Ridge, and San Felipe, and 36 mi (59 km) from Chan Chich—is predominantly progressive, which means the Mennonites accept modern conveniences such as automobiles and electricity.

Near the Linda Vista shopping center is a small bed-and-breakfast where you can stay and learn a little about Mennonite life in Belize. About 6 mi (10 km) beyond Blue Creek, you'll enter the Río Bravo reserve managed by Programme for Belize.

Most of the Mennonites in Shipyard, which you reach via an unpaved road that turns west off the Northern Highway just south of Orange Walk Town, and Little Belize, which you can visit by driving northeast from Orange Walk Town via San Estevan, are conservative; they shun the use of cars and motorized farm equipment. Both Little Belize and Shipyard are primarily farming areas and have no hotels or tourist facilities, but the unexpected sight, on dusty rural roads, of pale-skin folks in old-fashion dress—the women in long plaid dresses and the men with suspenders and straw hats—in horse-pulled buggies will remind you of how diverse Belizean culture really is.