Okay, so “city” might be stretching it, but there is no doubt that the biggest concentration of Belizeans in the world (about 70,000) lives on this jutting thumb of land surrounded by the Caribbean Sea to the east and expanses of swampy wetlands to the west. Belizeans throughout the country usually refer to Belize City, their former capital, simply as “Belize,” which can be disorienting until you get used to it.

While there are no high-rises, only three traffic lights, and more faded paint and rotten wood than you’d expect in the country’s most important population center, Belize City is a bustling and exciting cluster of cultures that alternately throbs and stews under the tropical sun, wind, and rain.

The town straddles Haulover Creek (named when cattle were attached to each other by a rope wrapped around their horns and “hauled” across the river) and sprawls loosely north to the Belize River and international airport. Visitors should know that Belize City is no Caribbean “paradise”—not by a long shot. The city is generally old and run-down and, though perched on the edge of the Caribbean, it is without beaches (except the artificial one at Old Belize). Antiquated clapboard buildings on stilts—unpainted, weathered, tilted, and streaked with age—line the narrow streets, and are slowly being replaced by concrete structures. If Captain Lafitte, the pirate of old, came swaggering down the street today, he’d fit right into some of these neighborhoods, and he’d probably be grateful he still had his sword.

The people, for the most part, are friendly, and the hucksters who prey on cruise ship passengers may be a little too friendly. In general, Belize City residents are better off and more optimistic than those in many other cities in Central America—in large part because Belize City is so much smaller (70,000 compared to millions). Schools and uniformed students are plentiful, little shops are everywhere (often referred to only according to their “Hindu,” “Arab,” or “Chinese” proprietors), and some of the simplest bars are gathering places for truly interesting and important people.