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#410632 06/25/11 09:18 PM
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Monday morning, 8:00 a.m., June 20, 2011. The smell is what I notice and remember first, the smell that I'd forgotten. It's one of my favorite things about this island, a funky, yet pleasant aroma combining the salty sea air, humidity and vegetation, and perhaps even the smell of island cooking.
Although I've traveled to Ambergris Caye a couple dozen times in the past decade, I have not visited at all in the past two years, and have not brought my wife with me in more than three, and once we make it to the island, I realize there is much I miss, from the people, the beach and the laid-back aura-all the way down to the smell. After years of my wife G and I cajoling her sister (M) and our brother-in-law (M) to come to Belize, they finally relented and we, last summer, booked a week at Grand Caribe, north of the cut.
Our first night, we got here early afternoon, ate at the poolside bar and grill, then walked a few miles. At night we walked looking for an open restaurant, finally made it to Legends Burger House, decided we didn't want to pay $8.00 for an American-style hamburger and kept walking until we made it into town. We ended up at Carramba's-one of my favorites-and really enjoyed the meal. Thankfully took a taxi back to where we were staying.
The first full day on-island is always a treat. Because of the time difference (two hours during the summer) I usually wake up refreshed and the sun is still rising. I do some calisthenics and exercises on our veranda, and then at 7 went out with M and M and snorkel off our pier for about an hour.
I chill out the rest of the morning, until a little after 11, rent a golf cart for the week, then we all go into town to show M and M around. For someone from a big city, it would seem silly, but for me, actually carting through San Pedro town can be a bit hectic, not remembering which streets are one-way, having to watch bikes, pedestrians, dogs and other drivers, and just generally feeling a bit harried. We park at the south end of town at the elementary school and just walk, looking in to some of the tourist shops, art stores, and not buying anything until we come to the rum and cigar shop and are given samples (a great marketing technique if there ever was one).

By this time lunch is calling and we stop in at Caliente's. The day so far has been overcast, but a slight break in the day with hazy sunshine got us hot, so it's nice to sit out on their veranda eating shrimp burritos and people watching. In front of me are two couples. One, the husband is wearing a polo-type shirt with the name of some dive operation. It's not clear if they've ever visited before, but he's talking enthusiastically. His wife, more reserved, pulls off a scarf she's wearing and wraps it around her head to ward off the sun and heat. She seems not quite comfortable.
To my right appears to be a "newly found" couple-a youngish (30), gringa with a male companion who, when I hear his quiet, accented English, and see his homemade tattoos, probably comes from the mainland. He orders the biggest thing on the menu, and a Belikin, and talks to her softly, though mainly, he lets her talk. At one point, he erupts in a deep-chested cough that I've rarely heard except for people who smoke weed. He doesn't make any attempt to offer to pay for their meal, and she keeps her pocketbook out. Ahh, island romance. My wife and companions have their backs turned to all of this, and don't know what's diverted my attention.
Afterward, we walk some more through town, stopping to look at Graniel's furniture shop, then we drive south. I'm surprised by the number of new condos down south. The roads are better than I remember, though when three youths in a golf cart-all carrying open beers-pass us by at the far south, I decide it'd be better to turn around by the time we hit Boca Ciega rather than meet them again.
We pick up some produce, a few groceries, and make it back across the bridge and to our condo by 4:30, then spend the rest of the afternoon swimming and snorkeling. At night we golf cart up to Belizean Shores' restaurant, and I'm shocked at the prices-especially when I find that they're listed in US dollars. I opt for the buffet which, though overpriced, at least gives me more variety than the slightly cheaper but similarly overpriced plate menu. A $22 buffet with stew chicken, rice and beans on it-wow.
We make it back, and by this time we're all tired, and just crash. M&M thank me for being their "tour guide," and say they really enjoyed town, and probably wouldn't have ventured out from the resort (except for excursions) had they been just by themselves. It occurs to me that many tourists up north probably do just that, which is ironic considering that all of my previous trips other than this one have been defined by my proximity to town. Speaking of town, there are parts of it I miss. I miss the convenience of being able to just walk there-if I wanted to get a meal, if I wanted to just explore, or heck, if I was just waiting for my wife to get finished doing whatever she was doing and wanted to kill some time. Town is, relatively speaking, still close, but it's not convenient, and getting there is a trip that must be taken. The trade off, however, at the least outweighs the inconvenience. It's much quieter, the beaches are nicer, and I love not hearing as many boats, or smelling the all-pervasive smell of fuel over the water that comes with staying in town.
Our digs-at Grand Caribe-are also very nice, large, centrally cooled, and much more luxe than anything we've ever stayed in before. Though we've given up proximity to the in-town bars, restaurants and distractions, we've got three pools-the largest with a swim-up bar-and a pier that offers some pretty decent snorkeling off the end. Try doing that in town.
 
WEDNESDAY MORNING, 6-22, 5:20 a.m.: Snorkeling, biking, and a beachfront massage by a swimsuit model-days don't get much better.
I started the day with 6:00 a.m. exercise on our veranda before the sun got too hot. At about 7:30, I went down to the pier for what has become a daily ritual and did some snorkeling. This was the first day that the sun was out, and as a result the waters were filled with boats coming up the north coast to get tourists trying to fit in a snorkeling trip. The winds were up a bit and as a result the water was choppy and visibility was limited. My wife, and M&M came down and joined me after some time. M threw some bread into the water to attract fish, which helped some. G wanted to swim over to a neighboring pier, so we snorkeled over. With her head in the water, G kept getting turned sideways and swimming toward the reef, so I finally took her hand and we held hands snorkeling over to the pier. Nothing to see there, so after about an hour of swimming, I got out.
We ate a late breakfast over at the outdoor bar at Akbol, and all agreed the food was excellent. The breeze by that time was cooling, they were playing a reggae radio station, and we watched a group of guests finish up yoga pier-side underneath a palapa. G had coconut pancakes, and I had a Belizean breakfast of eggs, vegetables and fry jacks. Then we split a fruit plate for good measure.
After breakfast, M&M scheduled a massage with Capricorn Resort a quarter-mile or so north of us, and G and I rented bikes from the front desk. Biking the north is a tradition for us on Ambergris Caye. Usually, we stay in town, so being a couple of miles north, I figured we had a head start. We started off our ride road-side rather than beach-side, which makes for easier peddling on the hard surface, but is also hotter because of the lack of a consistent breeze. I'd apparently done a poor job of applying sunscreen because the sweat in my eyes kept burning. The common theme that we saw along our ride was resort after resort that was either lowly populated or empty, and, in at least one case, perhaps abandoned.
When we first came to the island, both electricity and our bike journey ended around Belizean Shores and the then-appropriately named Journey's End. Now, however, Journey's End has been shut down since my last trip. Two lagoon-side hotel buildings-built since I first started coming--sat empty, one for some reason degrading quickly, with doors falling off, crumbling steps, and unbelievably quick decay. The pool across the road lie dry, a once-popular resort with pastel-colored shacks that had seen better days.
We kept going until we finally reached what appeared to be the end of the road, and turned around to ride beach-side. A half-mile back, we passed Blue Reef resort, about nine miles north of the cut. The condos were attractive, a quaint beach-bar sat open, a pool with infinity edge cascaded water down-but all for an apparently empty audience. I saw no guests, and the workers, surely there to have opened up the bar, were also absent. Similarly ghostly was Belize Legacy Resort, about seven miles north. We saw a young family playing around the water, but I wondered if they perhaps worked there. No units appeared occupied, an on-site restaurant appeared closed, notwithstanding a slightly opened screen door flapping in the wind, and the newly built "garden view" units that they'd inexplicably decided to construct during this economic downturn lay brand spanking new and untouched.
Our competitive athletic streaks and pride had, we both agreed, caused my wife and I to ride farther than we probably should have. In the past, we'd often stopped for lunch at some point in the trip, giving us a much needed rest. On the way back, at the Mata Grande grocery, we stopped in for some water and Gatorade, sitting in the shade on steps outside as we tried to gather up the strength to make the last three miles back. G swore she wouldn't make it, but after a few minutes, we felt a little better. We hopped back on the bikes and slowly trekked the last few miles back to our resort. Arriving back by two, we handed the bikes back over, and trudged back to our condo.
I'd wanted a massage, so I set one up at Capricorn in an hour and, after showering, made my way by golf cart. I was shown upstairs to a small porch and apartment above Capricorn's bar, and was greeted by Vanessa, my massage therapist. I changed inside her apartment, which was apparently shared with her boyfriend (the owner of Capricorn). I noticed a swimsuit pin-up picture of her in the house and, when I inquired, learned she'd been a 2009 Belikin calendar girl and was slated for the 2012 calendar as well. She gave me a nice massage on her porch, overlooking the Caribbean sea-how do you beat that?
We were pretty tired. M&M went to Aji and said they enjoyed their meal, but G and I just stayed home and ate a bit.
 
FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2011, 7:15 A.M. Last day, better make it good. The last two days have been full, enjoyable and tiring.
On Wednesday, we'd set up a boating and snorkeling tour with Chito Guerrero. Chito, a native San Pedrano, doesn't have a fancy website (or any website), flashy advertisements or a big building on the waterfront. He just gets by on word of mouth, which is how we found him a few years ago. We told him we wanted to ride around the island and to snorkel. We met him at our pier at 8:00, with his (I think) brother, whose name I've forgotten. Chito bears the scars of long days in the sun, and covered his arms and face as he drove. We began riding up the coast, which is always an enjoyable trip, watching as the hotels, resorts and houses gradually thin out, and as empty white stretches of coconut-palm-fringed beach become the rule and construction the exception. Though we'd seen a lot of tour boats pass by our pier earlier to take advantage of the good weather, up north we pretty much had the sea to ourselves. Resorts were ghostly, with few inhabitants-at least, few stirring this early in the morning. Even Costa Maya Reef Resort (usually fuller than the rest with time share users) looked pretty quiet.
Once we reached Tranquility Bay, we turned around and headed back down south for snorkeling. We reached Mexico Rocks first, and had the entire area ourselves. Chito's brother got into the water with us and guided us around as we viewed coral heads and all kinds of small colorful fish living in and under them. Second, we reached the Hol Chan marine park. At least a dozen other boats were already moored, but we staked our little spot, and this time saw many large species of fish: jacks, groupers, snappers, rays, everything. Finally, we went to shark ray alley. Before we got in, Chito and his brother chummed the water with sardines they'd caught up north, and the rays and nurse sharks swarmed our boat. We jumped in and the sharks were very docile and gentle, letting us rub their bellies (a pleasantly rough texture). The other boats were packed with eight to a dozen people per boat on the package tour trips. We appeared to have more shark activity than anyone else, and consequently some of the other snorkelers made their way to our boat, a couple even having the temerity to cut us off and swim in front of us as we were making our way around our boat. I was thankful, though, that I'd not gotten on one of these tours.
After snorkeling, we made our way around the south side of the island, through the mangroves, up the interior lagoon, and then through the cut, back up to the front of the island. I dozed a bit as we cruised the backside. We made it back to our place by about 1, and decided to head into town for lunch and to pay a bill. G likes El Patio, so we stopped in for a late (2:00) lunch. Most restaurants on the front street are sufficiently cooled by the sea breeze, and most off the front street are enclosed and air-conditioned, but El Patio is the exception, an open-air restaurant located on a side street, with very little breeze. M sweated most of the meal, but we all agreed our meals were delicious.
We got some pineapple and bananas from a local vendor, I paid my bill while G, M&M shopped, then we went back, tired. I realized I got a decent burn on my back, and G, for the first time ever, got a sunburn. We decided to just stay at the condo, played out at the pool as the sun went down, and ordered supper from the poolside bar and ate it there. The food was actually good, but highly priced.
The next morning, we took a cave tubing tour with Daniel Nunez and Tanisha Tours. My wife and I had used Daniel on our last trip, and really enjoyed him. M&M had suggested going on a cave tubing trip, and we set it up with Daniel. Because we were a small group, we were told, we would not be taking Daniel's boat to the mainland, but instead would be riding the water taxi over.
Daniel picked us up at our dock at 6:30, and had brought a light breakfast to eat on the way to the taxi pier. He informed us that he wouldn't be traveling with us today, that his associate Roberto would be waiting on us in Belize City at the taxi terminal. We made it to the water taxi just before it left, and got pretty bad seats inside a less than optimal boat-sitting on the inside, with little air, little seating, just hot, stifling dead air. We bumped along and sweated for the hour-plus ride to the mainland, arriving just after 8. However, when we got off, we couldn't find Roberto. We walked around a bit, waited a bit, and at 8:30, finally called Tanisha Tours to let them know Roberto wasn't there. They said to wait a bit, but that Daniel would be making his way to meet us as a backup, taking a flight over. I could tell from their tone that they'd also been trying to reach Robert, with no success. We waited, and Daniel arrived around 10:00. We had to wait another 15 minutes or so for a van to arrive with a driver, and finally, two hours later than we'd planned, we were off. We'd been hot on the boat, hot at the terminal, and the van, with no air-conditioning in the heat of the day, just kept us warmed up. I quickly fell asleep until we turned off the western highway at Franks Eddy village, for the last half-dozen miles to our destination: Caves Branch.
We got unpacked and parked and Daniel took us walking up the well-cleared path (basically a dirt road). He informed us that the total hike would be about 45 minutes, so we took a brief dip at a river crossing before making our way up. After hiking 20 minutes or so, there was a fork between the well-trodden pathway and another one that was much less so. Daniel took the less-walked path, though I wasn't sure why, telling us it would be another 45 minutes from here. The path quickly became narrower, and trees, brush and other detritus were often lying in the pathway. Daniel questioned why the path hadn't been cleared, and I really began to wonder why we'd taken this way. We made our way upward, ascending onto a gradually worsening path. Every 20 or 30 yards, we'd have to stop as Daniel cleared a path, or went ahead of us a bit, or checked underneath fallen-over logs to make sure no critters were under it. After more than an hour of doing this, I think we were all beginning to get worried. The path had gotten worse, and every few minutes, we'd have to hand our innertubes to the front of the line, cross over or under the fallen detritus, then re-take the innertubes. All the while, Daniel warned us against poisonous bushes, trees and vines. G was hot, tired, and was getting frustrated, while M&M put on very positive faces and trekked on. As the trail got progressively worse, I became worried. Not so much about being lost, mind you, because the trail, though rough, was clear enough that we could make our way back. I was fearful of having to make our way back. We'd walked more than an hour just on this "alternate" trail, and I didn't relish the idea of having to backtrack. Finally, the trail just dead-ended. Daniel turned around with a slightly worrying look. "We can't make it any farther this way. I don't know what's happened... You wait here." Daniel left, and for about ten minutes we just rested, dreading what I feared was coming next�. "I can't find another way to the river, we're going to have to go back and get on the main trail." At this point, G was looking like she'd have a meltdown, so I took her innertube for her. After backtracking about two minutes, Daniel said, "Wait, here it is," and we headed off down a trail. He started going ahead of us at a quick pace, and about five minutes later, I heard him call out, "We're here, guys!"
And at that point, our trip turned from bad to great. Daniel had not just set off on some random trail. He'd been trying to take us to the "top" cave in the river. The typical cave tour was a "three-cave" tubing tour, but because we'd not wanted to do any additional excursions for the day, Daniel's wife had promised us the longer "five-cave" tour. Apparently the fourth and fifth cave paths had not been cleared since the last major storm. We were the only people to put into the water at the cave-and we had it all to ourselves! We slowly cruised down the cave, looking at the bats, the stalactites and stalagmites, cooling off in the water after almost two hours of walking through the jungle. We were all happy. At the fourth cave, two or three tourists were jumping off a small floating pier. I heard their guide and Daniel talking. It was clear that the guide was surprised we'd made it to the fifth cave, and Daniel was equally proud for having gotten us there.
We made the final three caves and finally started seeing other tourists. By the end, we were all pleasantly tired, soaked and had really enjoyed ourselves. We cleaned off, changed clothes, and made our way back to the highway. We stopped at Amigo's on the Western Highway for some stew chicken, rice and beans, then made it to the taxi terminal. Our taxi didn't leave until 5:30, but this one was a much nicer boat than before, and, though it was a bit slower, it had windows open, lots of space, and took the bumps better.
We made it back at about 7 and, too tired to want to go out to eat, we ordered take-out at Daniel's bar and grill-Hurricane's-before going home. His food was good too: M and I had the chipotle lobster special, while G and her sister M had fish.
SATURDAY, 9:00 A.M.: Waiting on the plane, thought I'd finish up. Yesterday, we took it easy, after three days straight of biking, snorkeling, hiking and cave tubing. Got up later, went lap swimming in the big pool here, then ate a late breakfast at Akbol. M&M took the cart and headed north, while G and I just lazed around outside on our condo's veranda. I went into town briefly mid-afternoon to get some money and buy a few souvenirs, then G and I walked north late afternoon. Early evening we went into town and ate at Hidden Treasure restaurant, near Royal Palm Villas. What a treat. Great food, chill atmosphere, very eclectic place in the middle of a residential area. Probably the highest priced locale we've ever tried on the island: two cocktails, two appetizers and four entrees totaled about $140.00 US. We wondered around town a bit buying last minute items, then headed back.
Review of Grand Caribe: A great place, and this would be our first choice when we return. Price isn't cheap, though we negotiated down a bit. Location is near enough to town, but far enough out. Nicely done accommodations, great pool, great beachfront, and top-notch staff. The poolside bar had good food, though the menu was pretty much gringo fare and high prices.
Impressions of the island: it's been two years since I've been to the island, and three since I've been with my wife. Here are my thoughts:
--Condos are overbuilt: way too many condos in various stages of construction, completion, degradation and non-use. From a (long-term or short-term) renter's point of view, this ought to make for great deals for a period of years. From an investor's point of view, pretty risky right now.
--Restaurants: prices had really gone up, even in the years of economic downturn. Most of the restaurants we visited were old favorites, and the food was still great, but we rarely ate cheaply anymore.
--The human element: in the mid 2000s, when business was picking up, it seemed to me that the quick growth on the island bred disturbing trends. I remember walking with my head down, not wanting to acknowledge anyone who called out to me because almost all of them wanted something from me-money, to sell me a time share, etc. A lot of the "locals" seemed to simultaneously resent us gringos while at the same time taking our money. I remember the irony of a dispute breaking out at the old hand-pulled ferry where construction workers on bikes kept passing gringos on golf carts, and when called out about it, a couple of them muttered out about the "gringos"-notwithstanding the fact that they were working jobs building luxury houses and condos for those gringos. This time, however, the mood was more mellow. The lower tourist numbers, and lower construction, has on the one hand probably reduced the perceived threat of a gringo takeover, and has also probably served as a wake-up call that the island is dependent on tourism. We didn't get harassed at the beachfront bars by vendors, nor did we get hit on by time share salesmen, nor did we get offered drugs on the beach. Yes, much more pleasant.



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Belizelaw, your impressions and not too far from my own on the last couple visits. "Condos are overbuilt" is an understatement, but then again, so true of any desirable place to live.

After visiting the island and roaming around the mainland in Belize for many years and many times, have had lots of conversations with elderly locals about all the gringos moving there, etc. So far, I think that villages like Placencia have it right: many families will keep their land and homes, passing it on to the younger generations. Many of them have said that they know they could make a fortune selling their property, but choose not to in order to ensure their children, grandchildren, etc. have a comfortable life.

Having just recently returned from a third trip to Panama, visiting some remote locations where no one spoke English and there were no condos in sight, I realized that is the reason that I love to travel to Central America, my favorite area of the world. Beachfront room for $50 a night, happy hour rums for .75 cents a drink. We laughed a lot at how inexpensive, actually unbelievably cheap, and beautiful it was.

Still, I will return to Belize again, as it grabbed a piece of my heart from my first visit.






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Lauriemar, I understand where you're coming from. I'm torn. There are certain creature comforts that my wife and I really enjoy, that would be hard to attain if we went to remote areas of Latin America--primarily for us, sports (we love gyms, tennis, etc.). That said, Ambergris Caye just gives us a certain sense of tranquility that we've not yet duplicated anywhere else.

Having visited Xcalak, Mexico, just across the river, I'd say that might most closely approximate the "chill" feeling of Ambergris Caye, without a lot of the trappings or conveniences, if that was something you didn't want.


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Nice trip report. I'm on mainland Belize out back-a-bush so it's nice to hear the going on's out there. I haven't been to San pedro since visiting a Jerry Jeff concert seveal years back. Is he still visiting and playing there?

But I have a couple of questions: Why do you get up so early? And did you get a "happy ending" with your massage? Just kidding. Don't answer that one ha ha ha

On a different note, I will put up some pics of the Placencia Lobseter Fest on my blog in the next day or two. It was pretty good, but because the hype was far greater than the activites I was a bit let down, but it was a fun time nonetheless.... Ate and drank way too much!

http://belizewalkabout.blogspot.com/


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I got up early because of the time difference back home, and, with the early-rising sun, it was kinda nice to be moving about at 5 and 6.

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Belizelaw, it kinda nice to be moving at any time at my age smile

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Belizelaw, sounds like a fabulous trip....every trip there is different and great.

Tyshep, will look forward to checking out your pics of the lobsterfest in Placencia. All this talk of lobster lately makes me want to be there, yet again!

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Great report. Thanks for posting.

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I enjoyed your report too, and the mentions of many places we've been (and will enjoy again!)

Thanks for taking the time to post it.

As for the early rising, we do the same. At home, I'll sleep until 7:30 or so on a weekend morning, but in Belize I am usually up by 6 am. The sun rises early and strong, and adjusting from eastern time makes it all the easier to rise and shine. I'm nodding off by 9:30 or 10pm at night, like an old fart. grin


Former Belize expat traveling the USA & Mexico
http://travelingtwosome.weebly.com

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