Horns of Plenty

In honor of thanksgiving I have decided to blog about horns of plenty but maybe not the thanksgiving kind you are used to. In North America most of us are somewhat judicious with the use of our horns. We save them for moments of extreme frustration or danger. We hesitate to use them for fear of waking the Road Rage Monster. And with good reason. If we accidentally bump the horn and it blasts, we mouth 'sorry's to all those within lip reading distance. In Belize, the horn has an altogether different purpose. The horn is used as a method of communication instead of a method of agitation. For example: if you are driving down the road and you pass the house of someone you know and you honk your horn, the people that are home feel loved and remembered. So here is a crash course in the art of Belizean horn honking:
As already mentioned, you honk your horn as you pass the house of friends, relatives or acquaintances to say 'Hi! I'm just passing through!' Carrying this a little further, if you see someone on the street that you know, you can honk your horn to say 'hi' and then wave when they look your way. Or, if you see that friend wave just a second too late to wave back (you've all been there) a quick honk on the horn says 'I see you. Hi back'.
Driving in Belize, as has been touched on in past blogs, is an exercise in avoidance. To make it easier to avoid ... walking people, biking people, stray dogs, stray kids ... honk twice as you approach anyone/thing that may not be looking your way. The first couple of times it happened to me, I jumped a mile and guiltily tried to figure out what I had done. Then, one day as I was barreling down the Southern Highway at about 105 km/h, a man on a bike swerved out right in front of me. I slammed on the brakes and almost lost control of the car trying to avoid him. Now I am a dedicated 'I'm right behind you' honker. This is not 100% guaranteed, however. Lucky was in a bad accident after he honked and the kid swerved out in front of him anyway. It helps if the one-to-be-avoided isn't deaf. Also, animals may or may not know the purpose of the two honk get-out-of-the-way.
The only situation in which I have never heard a Belizean honk their horn is if they are angry at the driver in front of them. They may glare. They may swear. But they do not honk. That would be like yelling 'good morning' with a smile on your face. Not terribly effective in that situation. Somehow I think the Belizeans have it all over us on this one! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!