Thank you all for your invaluable advice on our first trip to Belize.
-----
Victoria House | Ambergris Caye
Lamani Outpost Lodge | Lamani
Green Parrott Guesthouse | Placencia
http://www.mbboarts.com/new/mbboarts/content.asp?contentid=2016484529 Victoria House | Ambergris Caye
The first day we stayed at Victoria house was probably the best weather. We decided to wake up in the morning and head out to the north part of the island. We rented bikes and rode the bikes for about a 12 mile ride round trip. The roads were full of potholes, and was not easy on the butt. Beach route was better on the way home.
We ate breakfast at Papi's Diner. Lawn furniture planted on the sand in a restaurant was just up our alley. The food was great and we headed up north to the quite side of the island. Always read about hand ferry and glad we participated and paid for it while it is still the operating device to get from one side to the other. Local people say that they dump about 4-5 golf carts per year, and I am surprised it is only that many. Loved it.
We ended up going to The Palapa Bar for a rum and grapefruit and our first Belekin. We ended up staying for a while, we were alone for 2 hrs. without other visitors. Then got back on the bikes and headed further north to Captain Morgan's resort where we proceeded to have some more cocktails.
They offered, and after jumping in the pool, we rode the bikes back along the beach, hit up The Palapa Bar again before we headed back into town. This took the entire day, but was beautiful and a great way to spend the day exploring the island. Fidos, Chicken Drop, and our best meal was at Caliente......we ate at all the top notch places recommended on this board, and Caliente was the best in our opinion.
We dove out of Ramone's and thoroughly enjoyed our two different guides from both days. Professional and friendly.
Lamani Outpost Lodge
About 2 days into the trip we discovered that we were not staying "at" the Jungle. We were staying "in" the jungle. After seeing/hearing Howler monkeys, crocodiles, and toucans, we had to go to bed for the night. When we went to bed, my wife looked at me in bed and said, "That does not look like it is supposed to be part of the Palapa" So I grabbed the flashlight, and looked at the roof. I noticed that there was a black furry thing hanging upside down on the palapa. I looked at it through my camera lens and told he that it was a Tarantula. She jumped out of bed and looked at me and said, "I am not sleeping in this room."
I walked up the stairs and grabbed one of our guides. He came down to the room to take care of our little creature. He took an umbrella and brushed the Tarantula off the ceiling. It bounced on the pillow and ran across the bed and disappeared under the bed. So we thought. It ended up hiding under the comforter, and the guide picked it up in his hands. It was upset and it bit him. He proceeded to throw him in the jungle, only about 3 ft away from our front door. The next morning, we told everyone, and our guide had two fang marks on the palm of his hands.
All guides here are top notch, the equipment and facility is top notch. There is a local village where the kids make handcrafts to support their education. We brought home a bunch of goodies for our family.
Green Parrott Guesthouse
This place was CHILL ! Leo is the Manager here and is a great local guy who holds nothing back. He will tell you how it is and that is an honest perspective of the going ons in Belize .......we basically ate three meals per day, had tons beers, and read our books........We were located about 14 mi. from the town, Super mellow and it was a good 30+ minutes by bumpy roads. Anyone in the auto shocks business would do well down here. Did I mention that the food at the Green Parrott was AWESOME!
If you want to have some downtime - this is your place.
The first night we were in town, we decided to go check out the nightlife. We ate dinner at DeTached - good local food with a really local ambience. On the way to dinner, some local Rasta boys decided to let me know that I had a really nice wife. We all exchanged smiles and went on with our lives. After dinner, we went to the Barefoot Bar to dance with the local Reggae band and the rest of the locals in Placencia. Anyone know how I can get a CD with their music, let me know. Our cabbie was a few beers deep when we decided to let him know that we were going home. On the way home, he made sure to stop at the local watering hole to pick up a road soda. Good man!! The local watering hole was a hut, with a cooler behind the bar. It was a great experience.
We will take a ton of great memories home with us from Belize, and will probably return as soon as we hike Kilimanjaro next year. The scuba was UnBelizable, the people were as friendly as you can imagine while still being real, and I was super stoked to see how wonderful of a place this part of the world is.
http://www.mbboarts.com/new/mbboarts/content.asp?contentid=2016484529 I have tons of pics. Lemme know if you are interested in more.......
Brian