Of Roads and Soybeans
A smooth, hardpacked caliche road after it has been sprayed with oil. Most of the dirt roads in Spanish Lookout are wider and in better condition than some of the main "highways" in Belize.
You have heard of soybean oil being used for various purposes, but did you know that in Spanish Lookout it can also be used to facilitate the flow of traffic? By simply spraying it on the surface of a properly prepared dirt road. The cost-effective and health-safe oil soaks into the dirt for an inch or two, forming a binder that keeps the dust down, creates a much smoother drive, protects the roadside plants from pollution and most importantly protects riders from the fine, choking, blinding, penetrating limestone dust so common to the rural roads of Belize. While the method is certainly not new nor is it by any means a long-term solution, it simply points out the fact that Mennonites are more than a step ahead of the government in their united approach to ensuring that their citizens receive their money’s worth of road taxes. In Springfield, a colony of Hoover (a branch of Old Order) Mennonites united with several landowners nearby to discuss the issue of road improvement. The result is a stretch of upgraded road packed with black crushed stone but without the tar.
A water truck would drive almost every night to soak the roads; pouring oil has eliminated the need for the nightly routine.
A. Mendoza
