AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Talk Belize Trip Reports AC: 1994 and 2004 Trip

WOW! The place sure has changed!!! Well, nothing ever stays the same and I guess it's a good thing because life would be awfully boring and no one would ever make a living if it did.

The first change we noticed was the airport on the mainland; it was not wide open anymore and they had real security - not the guys in fatigues with machine guns. AND it was airconditioned. 2nd was the plane (Maya Air) has grown to seat 14 people!!! instead of 4.
The water was BEEUUUtiful on the flight to AC. I was automatically relaxed at the sight of the different colors and the islands below.

OMG! A real taxi has picked us up at the airport AND the landing strip is paved-proper! WOW, this place has grown up. There are so many people and dogs everywhere and what happened to front street? The beach used to serve as front street but they've closed it off. As a matter of fact AC used to be so open you could access the beach around every single building and there was nothing barricading it from the street or the rest of the island. We were taken to Portofino immediately by MO, really great guy. Portofino is beautiful! Decided we won't stay in town because it is too hectic and full of people unlike up on the North side where it is calm and quite and very lovely.

Finally met the group from the board Friday night. What a great time that was and really fun to meet everybody! AND got to go to Papi's, yummy food! Rented a golf cart and rode all the way to Portofino in the dark on an uncharted (to us anyway) very dark and partially flooded pathway. It was great fun! SO glad I had my sports bra on!
Much of our time was spent looking out at the beautiful water and reef. I could look at that all day. Then walk out onto the pier at Portofino and look at the beautiful land with the palm trees! Wow this is a beautiful place.

One day we went exploring in the golf cart WAY up North. There is garbage everywhere which was a bit dissapointing. Heard someone say the water current was just right to bring in the garbage from the cruize ships that dump garbage into the ocean. YUK. Kindof funny was the amount of shoes that were in the refuse by the water. Millions of shoes!!! Mainly flip flops. I was reminded of a cargo ship several years back who lost a part of their load which was shoes. Wonder if that is where all the shoes came from.

All those dogs really upset me as I am part of a dog rescue org here in US. I wrote some people in the B gov't to inquire and I spoke with a woman who lives in Belmopan about it. Maybe one day this problem will be taken care of and just maybe I might be able to help out the problem. The part that was the kicker for me was the poison meat. Yep, crying on vacation is not fun. That is all I'll say about that.

The rest of the trip was spent drinking, eating and relaxing. We met a great couple from Chattanooga TN who was staying at Portofino. Weathered a storm with them at bar on the 3rd floor of a building up North. Wish I could remember the name of this resort as the food and drink were great! The rain was so fierce it was blowing thru the cracks in the glass doors on the bar and somewhat flooded the place. But it was great fun sitting there for hours and the flood waters just drained away. I had several wonderful lime daquiries that they made with real lime. YUM

Was anyone as surprised as I was the first time you went to the bathroom in Estelles on the beach? "Put water in bucket to flush toilet"???? I am somewhat of a germophobe and I was really stuck trying to figure out how to get water into that bucket and subsequently into the toilet without touching anything in there. Being a creative person I worked it out.

Surprised to find all the grocery stores and ALL the shopping! I believe if you wanted to go shopping in '94 you could pick up one of the 3 or 4 souvenier type things they had at the golf cart rental place!!! Yes, THE golf cart rental place and they had 5 golf carts I believe.

Of all the places we went there was only one place that had not changed: The Pier Bar. This place is the exact same as it was before. Very nice to go in and have a Belikin there AND I got a new T-shirt as my 10 yr old one has holes in it.

Well, that about sums up the trip. VERY different than it was 10 years ago but up North it is quiet and very similar to the way San Pedro used to be. But still lovely - think we are returning in February for Mr Malibu's birthday. Anybody going to be there? See you on the seaside........

What do you mean "poison" meat? Are people poisoning the dogs?

Well, yes. The government is. They use poison meat as a form of animal control. Check it out. Hopefully it will chap your hide like it did mine.

So Malibu, did you try any One Barrel while you were there?

"What do you mean "poison" meat? Are people poisoning the dogs?"

Do a search. There has been a bunch written on this in the past. It is a sad solution, but the alternatives take money and/or volunteers that are not easy to come by.

Also, to do nothing would be to let the population remain at overly high level with large numbers being regularly killed off by starvation and disease.

Didn't try One Barrel. My favorite was the Panty Ripper! Couldn't wait to try it and when I did found out it was my regular drink!!!

About the dogs: the government, not the people, routinely puts out meat laced with poison, strychnine typically, that provides a very slow, painful and horribly disgusting death.
What the poeple do is get a new puppy, then when the puppy reaches adulthood the people don't want it anymore. So the adult dogs are thrown out to roam the streets and a new puppy is obtained.

This problem could be resolved over years of dedicated education. I realize the resources are not currently present to do this although some in the past have tried. Additionally, spaying/neutering is not top priority.
A much better way would be for the government to humanly put the dogs down thru euthanasia: with a needle. The B gov't actually gives out free Rabies shots (this from the woman in Belmopan); surley they can help this situation AND it more than likely would be more cost effective for them to do so. Maybe, one day when I get that winning lotto ticket I will be able to do more.

Malibu, I hope to go back in February for my birthday too. When is Mr. Malibu's? Maybe we'll be there at the same time again & Mr. Malibu & I can get on the bar again.

Hey!!! I just got the picture of Mr M on the bar from our other boarder friend here in Spring! That was so much fun...

His Bday is the 18th. I think we will be there from the 11th to the 19th or the 15th to the 22nd. Don't know how the Continental miles will stack up yet. Maybe we will see you there!

Mine is the 17th!

I can't believe they poison the dogs:( Do they do this on a regular basis? Who picks up the dead animals? I am really saddened by this and hope I don't seee any of this going on. I am a dog lover also and would hate to spend my vacation crying!!