HE IS GOING THERE FOR ADVENTURE; FRUITLAND MAN LOOKS AHEAD TO LIVING NEAR ANCIENT MAYAN RUINS IN BELIZE

Alan Gerecke (left) stands with some Mayan children in the Belize town of Uaxactun. Tortillas are being made in the hut. There is no electricity in the town.

This is a typical bridge in Belize. Gerecke and his friends have to pull themselves across the river. Belize is a country with only about 150 miles of paved roads and you can't drive from one end of the country to the other on a paved road.

These Mayan children were photographed by Gerecke while he was in Uaxactun.

Alan Gerecke and his son Jake stand inside their yacht in Fruitland. Michael Wells/Jackson USA

Alan Gerecke, of Fruitland, plans to move to the Belizean jungle someday to explore Mayan ruins and begin a new life in a home he purchased there near the Gulf of Mexico shoreline.

Gerecke has been studying Belize and Mayan ruins at SEMO University and is working on a master's degree on the subject.

He has visited the country on numerous occasions and someday he hopes to move there permanently.

He purchased a boat in 1994 and has been refurbishing the boat since. He said he is 95 percent done with the restoring of the 35-foot yacht.

He plans to take the maiden voyage in the yacht this fall on the Mississippi River.

"I'm going to issue everyone a life jacket and a bucket for the maiden voyage," Gerecke joked.

Gerecke will take the boat with him and he will begin his new life in a house built with materials from the surrounding jungle.

Gerecke purchased the house and 40 acres in Belize for $5000.

Gerecke, who has traveled to Central America seven times in the last five years, said that Belize is the most stable democracy in Latin America.

The monetary fund is tied to the American gold standard. "If ours goes up they go up," Gerecke said.

Gerecke said that Belize was recently on the verge of losing its favored nation status with the United States because Colombian drug cartels were using the country's remote string of islands for airstrips to fly drugs into the United States.

Gerecke defended the third world nation by saying, "how are you going to fight these drug lords, if you can't buy your sheriff a car."

Gerecke said that Belize was a part of Guatemala, but the British took it from Guatemala and they gave Belize their independence after the British cut down a great deal of the country's rain forest to make furniture in England.

The British military still defends the small nation.

Belize has the second smallest population with 2.2 people per square mile, Gerecke said.

Gerecke isn't the only American interested in living in Belize. Francis Ford Coppola is building the world's largest archaeological museum in Belize and he lives there half of the year, according to Gerecke.

Actor Harrison Ford lives there part-time and Jimmy Buffet and the Moody Blues frequently visit the country, he added.

He is going there for adventure. Belize was the main stronghold of the Mayan empire and he plans to study many of the ruins and he also plans to use his yacht to travel up some rivers into the jungle.

He also said he plans to use his yacht to show tourists some great sights in Belize.

"My goal is to move to Belize and start an environmental vacation spot," Gerecke said.

Belize has the second largest barrier reef in the world and the sport fishing is spectacular, Gerecke said.

He said that 90 percent of what archaeologists know about the Mayan empire is from a book written in the 16th century by Friar Diego de Landa. The book is entitled "Yucatan: Before and After the Conquest."

Gerecke said that the ancient Mayan city of Caracol had half a million people living in it in the 10th century and they were good at writing, astronomy and they knew the value of zero in mathematics.

The country today only has 160,000 people living there, according to Gerecke.

He subscribes to Belizean newspapers to keep up with what's going on. Belize has 14 newspapers for its population of 160,000.

There are 14 national parks and it is one of the last places in Central America with untouched rain forests with jaguar sanctuaries, according to Gerecke.

"They have learned from our mistakes and are trying to save their jungles," he added.

Gerecke said that the Mayan Indians are still being persecuted in Guatemala because they are Indian.

He said that there has been an attempt to rid Central America of Mayan Indians since the conquest of the Yucatan because the Indians refuse to integrate with society and refuse to stop worshiping their gods.

Gerecke said that Belize has become the fourth most popular web site on the World Wide Web.

"Belize knows the value of education and has a two party system much like the U.S."

Gerecke plans to take his son Jake there someday to live. Gereke still needs to sand and caulk the bottom of the yacht and paint it to make it ready for water.

When that is done this fall he will try out the yacht on the Mississippi River, but he has no definite plans as to when he will move to Belize.

This is the ancient Mayan ceremonial city of Palenque in Belize. Submitted photo

Alan Gerecke (left) stands with some Mayan children in the Belize town of Uaxactun. Tortillas are being made in the hut. There is no electricity in the town.

This is a typical bridge in Belize. Gerecke and his friends have to pull themselves across the river. Belize is a country with only about 150 miles of paved roads and you can't drive from one end of the country to the other on a paved road.

These Mayan children were photographed by Gerecke while he was in Uaxactun.

Alan Gerecke and his son Jake stand inside their yacht in Fruitland. Michael Wells/Jackson USA