Dale Johnson | View of Belise City from Hotel Mopan | Gouache on Canvas | 2000

A fierce rain had made so much racket on this tin roof of our hotel. I was waiting for the weather to clear so I could get out and paint from the porch. This Belize port is all about the power of the sea and the stormy British history that continues to unfold. The British military structure and order is challenged by the wild Caribbean ways in the reggae music and tin huts. The poor and desperate are pitted against this formal order. It is not an easy relationship in Belize City.  Poor and the desperate are there in the midst of the formal teatime.