BELIZE - San Pedro & Caye Caulker & a whole lot of new friends

SAT DEC 6 – DAY 58 – GUATEMALA CITY TO SAN PEDRO, BELIZE

Little prop plane from Guatemala to Belize.  My phone plan did not work – AGAIN – so when I arrived, I was trying to figure out how to get to San Pedro island where I was staying. 

A professional man in the immigration line in front of me was so kind, he offered to drive me, show me Belize City – take me to his office to use his wifi – then drop me to the water taxi.  Ramsay.  So I did that and it worked out well, except I missed the 3pm water taxi by a couple of min and ended up sitting there till 4:30 for the next one.

Met some great people from Utah on the ferry – got dropped at San Pedro, took a cab to Sandbar – my hostel for the week.  When I pulled up, Cindy from Kelowna was already standing there waiting for me.  We walked to the town square where they had Christmas light up.  Then went to dinner at the big Palapa restaurant across from my hostel. 

Met Kevin from Toronto who has been to Niverville, my home town in Manitoba as a Labatt’s rep… insane.  Met Chris a local – had a super fun night. 

Hostel pod and bed so comfy I loved it!

SUN DEC 7 – DAY 59 – SAN PEDRO, BELIZE

I took my time getting up today, bed so comfy.. I am enjoying this place . Walked around town, walked into a Catholic service briefly. 

Ended up going for a golf cart ride to see San Pedro with Chris.  Had a glass of wine at the end of the pier and met Brett, Maggie and Matthew from Colorado.  Then ended up at Sandbar to watch the Chiefs game with Earl from Manhatten NY.  Fun day and night.

MON DEC 8 – DAY 60 – CAYE CAULKER, BELIZE

Took the water taxi to Caye Caulker – joined 2 ladies from Washington, DC on an island tour.  Had lunch at the infamous Esther’s – so good! 

Fed tarpon fish, fed stingray, and explored.  Met Kristy from Vancouver, Washington close to my home!

Went for a walk at night ended up at Sandy Toes bar.  Hung out with Kelley and Gary all night from Arizona.. so fun! 

TUES DEC 9 – DAY 61 – SAN PEDRO, BELIZE

 I took an easy day, worked on photo album books – laid by the pool – went to Sandbar bar for dinner.  Met Kristen from Massachusetts, now living on San Pedro Island.

We shut down the place, fun times with a bunch of people chatting at the bar.

WED DEC 10 – DAY 62 – SAN PEDRO, BELIZE

I rented a golf cart for 24 hours – Cindy from Kelowna and I toured a lot of the island.  Visited many of the best resorts, had lunch, drove over to Secret Beach.  It poured when we got there with bright sunshine, we watched under an umbrella then drove back.  Such a great day!

I met William Penner, a Plaute Deutsch Mennonite selling peanuts at the side of the road in San Pedro and picked his brain for a long time.  So interesting. 

Went to the Purple Pelican for sunset glass of wine.  I dropped her off at her place… lovely day.

Went home to shower.  Earl picked me up at 7:30pm.  My NFL watching buddy from NYC.  We drove around looking for a karaoke bar.  We went to beaches.  We went all around for 2 hours, then ended up back at Sandbar for dinner and a couple of drinks.  Ended up sitting at the end of a dock until 3am.  The deep chats you can have when you have the freedom to travel and live in the moment.  Star gazing, bring moon, fish jumping around us, actually a perfect last night in San Pedro. 

THURS DEC 11 – DAY 63 – SAN PEDRO TO BELIZE CITY, BELIZE

I was up early – found out my next place does not have laundry as they promised so I scrambled to get mine done before I left San Pedro. 

Had lunch – went swimming and to the pool for an hour – showered and washed my disgusting hair – walked to Caribbean Sprinter just in time to catch the 1pm ferry. 

Got to my hostel which was pretty disgusting. My room was shared with a man, open no curtains, and a few stories up – so super creepy.  I upgraded to a solo room for more than it cost for a nice room with pool Best Western Plus a few steps away I found out after ugh. 

Walked to a pizza joint for dinner.  No sooner I sat down and I heard a kid screaming to his father – this cockroach is alive ! – as they all started stomping the floor.  Excellent.  Can’t wait to get out of Belize City. 

RECAP BELIZE

Belize as a whole has a population of 441K.  Very Small. The largest city in Belize is Belize City with 66K people.  San Pedro Island has 20K, Caye Caulker has 5K. There are other areas but Belize is pretty sparce. 

It feels pretty safe on the islands.  Belize City does not feel safe.  There is a lot of land to expland, and of course coastline for days everywhere.  The one surprising thing was that there are very few beaches.  All this coastline and seawalls built around for the rising water levels and seagasm.  Disappointing to see how few beaches there were in Belize. 

My phone indicated rain every day but it only sprinkled a few times.  There is a mix of the Mayan Belizians and the Black Belizians.  It is basically a mixture of the Mayan culture with Jamaican / African. 

Quay Caulker on the other hand has a population of 5K.  it has one elevator and 2 vehicles on the island which belong to the banks.  Other than that, is consists of bicycles, golf carts, or good ole walking.  Quay Caulker is great – love the energy.  I fed tarpons there, stingray, and ate fresh seafood as I hung out with Keiyanna and Brianna. 

I think I prefer San Pedro over Quay Caulker just for the fact there is more to do. I do get tired of the bumpy crazy roads in traffic on a golf cart – and mine had no shocks. 

I do not like the humidity – my hair sucks at all times.  And this is the first country of my travels where I was eaten alive.  My legs and arms are full of bruises and I mean full… and bites.. so I’m not sure what all happened   Crazy. 

I met so many fun people in Belize – for me this week was about the people.  I think the place makes it easy for people to connect with each other. 

I lost my black fleece zip up jacket that I purchased in San Francisco and have taken traveling on every trip since the mid 90’s.  it was the perfect travel companion.  Very very sad day. 

I rate Belize 8/10.  It is so high because it is easy to make memories here.  It is not higher because of the traffic, the bugs, and the humidity. 

2 more countries, then I am Home Sweet Home.