LUCKY STRIKE

Elizabeth Pridgeon

Mid-way up the Old Northern Highway is the quaint, yet ever changing, village of Lucky Strike.  Once the stopping point for transport networks from the northern regions of the country to the City, Lucky Strike made a good en-route breaking point for trucks and the earliest buses.  Situated equidistant to the Northern River Lagoon and Midwinter’s Lagoon, Lucky Strike is only a few miles from the coast, which was also reason for fishermen and mariners to stop at the village.

However, what really determined the development of Lucky Strike more recently is its close proximity to the Mayan archaeological site at Altun Ha.  Since various tourist trails opened up in the region, encouraging international visitors to delve into the area’s ancient history, Mayan sites such as this have become an increasingly focal point on traveller’s itineraries.  Lucky Strike has, for several years, benefitted from the passing trade of such tourists.  However, the Old Northern Highway is now in such disrepair that most visitors to the site reach the location on accompanied tours, meaning that the busloads of tourists (including passengers from cruise ships) are no longer given the opportunity to stop in Lucky Strike village and experience the charm of the quiet hamlet.  Whilst this has reduced revenue for village businesses, some villagers have managed to adapt to the new reality and several now take their commodities to Altun Ha for sale on the market stalls there.

The village stretches from approximately Mile 29 of the Old Northern Highway to Mile 32, within which limits a Government Primary School and the prestigious King’s College lie.  The Lucky Strike Primary School fosters in children a sense of community pride and ambition in the sports field, and the village boasts several sports teams, including the Lucky Strike Eagles football team, which made the Super League last year.  Volleyball teams support both male and female athletes, and also depict a glowing record of local victories.  Many villagers join sports teams in their school years, and sustain membership and involvement for decades afterwards.

It is this entertainment and extra activity provision within the village that has enabled problems such as drug abuse and anti-social behaviour to stay at negligible rates.  Although the village boasts a bar, and occasional over-indulgence is recognised as a problem, the perpetrators are happily sent on their way before their behaviour reaches anything above nuisance levels.  Perhaps it is the familial ties that connect most residents to their neighbours which maintain the peace of the village.  Various youths of the village respect the area’s tranquillity and state that “the only gunshot is that of the hunterman”; the reality is that various villagers partake in game hunting, and local food specialities often feature armadillo, gibnut and deer.

The village is offered constant access to the city through two public buses daily, and two student buses too.  However, many villagers reveal that they only travel to the city when absolutely necessary, due to the increasing perception of danger and fear on the City’s streets.  A few villagers make daily trips to the City in order to sell their farm produce (principally salad products, maize, melons and seasonal fruit) although they report that they are always happy to reach the tranquillity of home at the end of the day.

The residents themselves, however proud of their village, refuse to be ‘left behind’ on account of their geographical isolation, and the village boasts higher levels of phone and internet connections than many other village localities in Belize.  Similarly, before potable water was offered to residents, a group of villagers teamed together to provide water pumps for the village, to ensure that sanitary standards were maintained well above national averages.

Lucky Strike may seem to have a mountain of challenges confronting its development, but somehow its residents persistently seem to succeed in promoting initiatives for the village.  [In fact, some elderly residents believe that the standard of living improved once the main traffic network transferred from the village to the new Northern Highway, as villagers were left in peace to look after themselves.] Thus, whether the village was called after its apparently “lucky” charm, or whether it is true that a road-worker helping to construct the very first (Old) Northern Highway found a Lucky Strike cigarette in the village, it seems that the ‘lucky’ aspect at least is true.

Lucky Strike village has defied all geographical odds and become a sustainable and active community in Belizean affairs.  And it is encouraging to know that, amid Lucky Strike youth at least, very few of them have any intention of leaving the ‘haven’ where they were born and have grown up.  Thus for Lucky Strike at least, future generations are already committed to continuing the work of past generations, and strive to maintain Lucky Strike as a village poised ever-ready to lunge into a successful future.

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