Land Rover donates to reconstruction at Caracol

For those who may not remeber, there was a time when the most prestigious vehicle a Belizean could ever hope to drive was a Land Rover. No, not a Range Rover, but that big old, slow moving, ugly and uncomfortable boxy Land Rover … the kind George Price rode in for years. But times have changed and so has the thinking at Land Rover. Over the last week a fleet of new models has been touring the country and News Five’s Alyssa Noble joined them for a promotion at Caracol.

Alyssa Noble, Reporting
Land Rover North America has been coming to Belize since 1994 but after a five year hiatus, they?re back with some serious action.

Tim Watson, Vice President of Communications, Land Rover North America
?The reason that we are down here at the moment is to bring a group of U.S. journalists to come and drive our cars, to come and have a little bit of an extreme jungle adventure. And we can go to lots of places around the world but there?s a very special affinity for us here. There are some great places to go and we thought it was a great opportunity to allow the media to see what our cars are capable of doing here in your jungles.?

According to Mariam Roberson, local coordinator for the expedition, Land Rover North America isn?t the only one that stands to benefit from this media field day.

Mariam Roberson, Local Coordinator, Land Rover North America Expedition
?Of course, bringing thirty-six international press to Belize although they are motor journalist, lifestyle and leisure press. It?s fantastic for Belize. The timing could not be better. We are having a little down time with Caracol, but I must tell you that we have never felt, not even for once, that we were unsafe. The experience they are having in those cars, in a country like Belize is what?s making the trip so phenomenal. And the importance for Belize is a lot of these journalists; the first thing they want to do is come back to Belize. Bringing this many people to Belize in this long a time, it?s quite an event to put together. But Land Rover has had a history with Belize, and is always welcome to Belize and we appreciate everybody.?

And what about the journalists? Bob Burns, off road Programs Manager and media spokesperson, says that the experience has left these verbose reporters speechless.

Bob Burns, Off-road Programs Manager, Land Rover North America
?Some have been here, but they always go to sea side. They don?t know this exists. They don?t know these temples are out here. It?s amazing, so they are just blown away by it. Everyone is so proud of Belize. Anyone you talk to here, their heart just swells about Belize. And we have had great help here. And I think it?s a huge part why we come here. We feel welcomed and they say ?here let me show you this? or ?let me show you this part of Belize?. Everybody recognizes Land Rover, ?Oh my Car?, ?I want one of those.? So we just can?t get enough of Belize here. And the reactions have been all over the map, but mostly surprised about the jungle and what?s hidden within it.?

But while the Land Rover name is synonymous with adventure, Tim Watson says it is also about philanthropy.

Tim Watson
?I?ve just learned today, ten minutes ago, that a Land Rover was possibly one of the first vehicles that came up here when this place was first found. So I think we have a little bit of history here. We?ve supported them over the years with a little bit of money, but what we are doing behind us here is helping to recreate in fibreglass two of the masks here on this building here, to help with some of the preservation work. And it?s a nice fit because we like the country, we like coming here, we like to show people, that when we go to their country, that we are actually putting something back into community as well. So that?s our thought behind it and long may this relationship continue as well.?

Dr. Jaime Awe, Director, Institute of Archaeology
?This present grant will be used to conserve monuments on a building we call structure A3. These are stuccoed masks that we were unable to conserve during our big tourism project because eventually we ran out of funds. Land Rover?s assistance has aimed at the conserving of our cultural heritage and you can?t put a price tag on our heritage and our history. And so for them, to always be willing to help us out in that area, it speaks a lot about that organisation.?

Reporting for News Five, I am Alyssa Noble.

Land Rover’s contribution to the reconstruction project totalled eighteen thousand dollars.