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From Guanacaste Park the Western Highway pushes on towards San
Ignacio and the Guatemalan border, while the Hummingbird Highway
heads south 2km to the turn-off for Belmopan, before
continuing to Dangriga.
Belmopan was founded in 1970 after Hurricane Hattie swept much of
Belize City into the sea. The government decided to use the disaster
as a chance to move to higher ground and, in a Brasília-style bid to
focus development on the interior, chose a site in the geographical
heart of the country.
The name of the city combines the words "Belize" and "Mopan", the
language spoken by the Maya of Cayo. The layout of the main
government buildings, designed in the 1960s, is modeled on a Maya
city, grouped around a central plaza.
In classic new-town terms
Belmopan was meant to symbolize the dawn of a new era, with
tree-lined avenues, banks, a couple of embassies and
telecommunications worthy of a world centre. Today it has all the
essential ingredients bar one: people. Arriving in the market square
or bus station, the first thing that strikes you is a sense of
space, but unless you've come to visit the government's archeology,
archives or immigration departments, there's little reason to stay
any longer than it takes your bus to leave.
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