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HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
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AUGUST
2012
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ILLUSTRATIONS BY PETER OUMANSKI
23
GLOBETROTTING
PLACENCIA, A FISHING VILLAGE
in southern Belize, is the picture of
a Caribbean idyll—lazy hammocks,
coconut palms, lush tropical forests
and, just off shore, the world’s
second largest barrier reef. In other
words, the perfect spot in which to
set up an eco-resort. Less expected,
perhaps, is the name of the person
who’s tapped into the eco-tourism
market here: Francis Ford Coppola.
The legendary filmmaker has been
Coppola’s status as Belize’s
most famous hotelier, as he tells it,
came about by accident. His first
resort, a Maya Mountains hideaway
called Blancaneaux Lodge, was a
response to the sheer volume of
friends who used to visit him here.
The second, Turtle Inn in Placencia,
just sort of followed. “I did not
go into the hotel business with
determination,” he says.
In expanding his burgeoning
hospitality mini-empire, meanwhile,
Coppola may have opened himself
up to new casting opportunities.
“In Belize, you meet all sorts of
characters who have washed up,”
the director says. “When we first
came to Placencia, a local guy with
a ponytail and earrings asked if I
needed help—he reminded me of a
young Marlon Brando.”
visiting Belize for 30 years. He has a
little thatched seafront house here,
around which he putters, barefoot
and in khaki shorts, looking every bit
the aging beach bum. “When I was
making
Apocalypse Now,
I became
infatuated with the jungle,” he says.
“I read an article about Belize and
learned it was filled with rain forest.
I thought it would be great to take
my kids there, and I might also find a
quiet place to write.”
PLACENCIA, BELIZE
WAR AND PEACE
A great American director plots his route from
Apocalypse
to paradise
BY COSTAS CHRIST