Trip Report: AC

Flew into BZE Thursday and took a cab to Muni. Even with cab fare, we saved $200.
We stayed at the Hide Away. It used to be yellow and run by four gals from Texas; it’s been whitewashed and the one lady left has it up for sale. Joyce is as gracious as ever, but the place seems a bit sad now. The restaurant has been leased to an American couple that seems desperate to make it work. Unfortunately, desperation isn’t very pretty.
The first item of business was to get the girls' hair braided. We walked up the beach to a palapa hut next to Estel’s (the best place for breakfast) where the sign said “Rosanna Hair Braiding Done Here”. She did an excellent job on my younger daughter; she also told her that she was nice and thin but her sister was fat, then she did such a bad job on my older daughter that the braids fell out the next day. DON’T EVER GO TO ROSANNA aka RED GIRL. The next day we got the phone number of Helen. Helen is 3rd or 4th generation islander and knows some wonderful history. When I called her, she came to our hotel within 15 minutes and did my daughter’s hair right by the pool. She did such a fantastic job on my older daughter’s hair that my younger one was jealous. She was terrific. Call her at 206-2610 or 606-7467.

We spent one day in the pool, one day with a golf cart and one day snorkeling.
The golf cart was from Cars R Us, it was $48 for 24 hours and I can’t believe we didn’t need a charge. We went everywhere! We loved Boco Del Rio Park. If you have kids, it’s a nice playground with some of the equipment in the shallow water. The water level was high and the wind was blowing so getting onto the ferry north was interesting. The north is much prettier than the south, but I won’t go to Captain Morgan’s again. We had bad service and overpriced food next to their pool. We had much better food at a roadside barbeque just south of the cut. We did go south, but Satan was a no-show. Ah well, it was a fun drive anyway.
We visited Papi’s for lobster; it was wonderful. Celi’s for lunch and had the best fish and chips I’ve had in my life (the fish was fresh grouper). Tried going to Fido’s which I enjoyed so much 3 years ago. They only have bottled drinks, no fresh juices for the non-alcohol crowd. The menu didn’t have a thing that my kids were remotely interested in. We left there and drove around looking for something more appropriate. A guy stepped out into the road waving a menu saying, “Have dinner here! Please!” The place was (I may have it slightly wrong) Cocina Caramba. They greeted us with complimentary conch cerviche, fixed a smoothie for my daughter that wasn’t on the menu, and served the best Mexican food she has ever tried. The fish was also wonderful. We loved it!
I had tried to arrange an all-day snorkel trip with Alfonso Graniel. He said wait to until I get to the island, then call. It was hard to get a hold of him (he’s out on a boat all day) and when I did he said he’d have to check around to find more people who might be interested. More waiting. Then we finally got word that he couldn’t find anyone else, so no trip. That was disappointing. I understand how things work there, but I really had tried. So, we ended up on Hustler’s catamaran. Hol Chan was neat (a spotted eagle ray and eels fighting!), but I only saw 3 rays at shark-ray alley. We stopped at Caye Caulker for lunch and were served the biggest burrito I’ve ever seen at Rasta Pasta. After some ice cream (I don’t know what soursop is, but it works great as an ice-cream flavor!), my girls were abducted by smiling children who pulled them into the surf. There were about a half a dozen in various shades of brown. They wrapped their arms around my girls for “rides”, they all linked hands, said “1,2,3 GO!” and dove forward and one girl jumped up to say “I win!”. They just seemed so very happy to see my children. I’m tempted to go back just because of that.

In all honesty, I probably won’t go back to AC again. I did have a wonderful time but if you have 10 guests, you might be genuinely pleased to see each one; if you have 10000, you can’t do anything but go through the motions. It’s starting to feel like people are going through the motions and it can only get worse. My next trip to Belize will probably include Caye Caulker or Placencia. Sad but true.

MamaLiz,

Helen is one of the nicest people you could ever meet. She is always so pleasant, the first two times I was down there, I walked and talked with her for hours. Just listening to her stories and she has a lot. I never got my hair braid, bad experience in the ever so dreaded Cancun. I did not see her the last time I was down there,but now that you posted her number I will be sure to give her a call. I love those beaded sandles that she makes, though, I will probably buy a pair in May.

I also had a bad experience at Capt Morgans,the service was terrible and they treated me like I was some kind of skum that just rolled in from the ocean.I hard a hard time paying also, they would not take my travelers checks(I had my ID and a credit card they said I need another form of ID), then they would not take my credit card(said I did not order enough to charge). So I had to end up using the little US money and BZ money that I had brought with me. I will never go there again!!! That place is one of the worst.

Sorry you did not enjoy your trip that much,but atleast you are not giving up on Belize totally.

Jackie

MamaLiz - where is CarsRUs located? Do you have their telephone number? $48 dollars for 24 hours is the best rate I've seen.

They are located behind Ramon's, but we got a 10 day rental for 325US!! Its at Moncho's there by the airport. Just ask for a discount and they will give ya one!!!
Rick