Cake & Ice Creams

Yesterday, we woke up to the sun in our face, 80 degree weather and a sense of pure relaxation.

Today, while the sun is out, it’s only about 40 degrees and the thought of an 8am meeting tomorrow morning zaps a weeks worth of relaxation right away.

Here’s a final illustration of our trip and of the crazy weather in Belize. Stormy one day, hot sun the next.

If you’re interested, here is a link to the rest of our Belize pictures. Keep in mind Kevin got a new underwater camera and had a lot of fun playing with it

I have to admit, when we first got here and the weather stunk, I was not a fan of Belize. Why did I want to come here so badly? But then the sun came out and all was different with the world…and Belize.

Kevin and I have traveled up and down the Placencia peninsula and are really happy with our decision to stay in the Maya Beach area. It’s pricey to get into town ($20 cab ride each way) but the beach down in Placencia Village is much to be desired (it isn’t well kept, and quite dirty) and there’s only so many hours one can watch the old, drunk, slimy ex-pats make asses of themselves at Barefoot Beach Bar. Our beachfront at the Maya Beach Hotel, while we’re not the only ones staying here, the past couple of days it seems as if we are. It’s quiet, the sun has been out with a nice breeze, we have a beautiful view; I’m not sure I’m ready to go home to the cold, the grey skies, the rain…and work. But alas, the inevitable is near. We leave today.

Kevin and I had a really great Valentine’s Day yesterday. We treated ourselves to a morning of sunning at our beachfront pool. Kevin is even peeling if that tells you how much sun we’ve got (per usual, my tan is already fading away). In the afternoon, we cabbed it to Placencia Village to check out their annual Placencia Art Festival set up on the World’s Narrowest Street. Kevin bought me a heart necklace made out of conch shell

We had booked a late afternoon couples massage…we had to talk them into massaging us in the same room. It was weird. They were a little weird. All in all though it was a nice massage for me and Kevin’s masseuse climbed up onto the table and dug her knees into his back and butt. Good thing I was in the same room!

A lot of the hotels make a really big deal out of Valentine’s Day. We weren’t really expecting that and found it quite funny. Ellen, at our hotel, seemed a little irked because Valentine’s Day used to be “their thing” but now everyone has something going on. We ended up at Robert’s Grove for a luau type setting. They had a Caribbean band and lobster for Kevin. Robert himself came to check on each and every guest to make sure we were happy. At our table though, he looked at Kevin, who’s plate was piled high with lobster and said “Think you got enough food there?” Kevin just grinned as Robert then said “You know, you can go back for seconds.” Oops. For the record Robert, we cleaned our plates!

We came back, sat under the endless stars and called it a night. It’s rough vacationing in Belize.

If you’re thinking of traveling to Belize here are a few questions you should know…well at least D needs to know…

What is the local drink?

The local drink is a beer called Belikin.  There’s also one called Light House but we prefer the Belikin. And so far, they always seem to be served with a napkin lid.

Do you have hot water in your shower?

Nothin’ but hot showers at the Maya Beach Hotel – thank goodness!

Are the locals white or brown?

We have decided that, in Placencia, there’s a good mix of Whitey’s (Ex-pats that mostly seem to run the hotels), Garifuna’s (shipwrecked African slaves) and Mestizo’s (Spanish Amerindian descendant). English is the national language but Creole and Spanish are also used frequently. Belize as a whole though, is a giant melting pot. In addition to the white transplants, Garifuno’s, and Mestizo’s throughout Belize there are Creole’s (different than Garifuno), Mennonites (from Germany) and of course the Mayans.

Describe the most beautiful fish you saw while snorkeling?

There were many beautiful fish at Silk Cayes. So many, it’s hard to pick a favorite. Big ones, long and skinny ones, really colorful ones, hermaphrodite fish, etc. But our favorite thing to see while snorkeling was the brain coral.  They looked like brains, hence the name.  But neither of us could remember seeing one in previous snorkel adventures and they too came in all shapes and sizes.  Some of them quite large.

Have you spotted any snakes?

No snakes but we have seen what’s called the Jesus Christ lizard. They’re named that because they can walk on water

How much does it cost to eat dinner?

It’s pretty comparable to eating in the states. We were a little surprised thinking it might be a little less but I guess they know how much we’re willing to spend to eat!

Author food notes: Like I’ve mentioned we haven’t had food that was so good we needed more. But our hotel has a bagel that we can’t seem to get enough of. I’m not usually a big bagel fan, mostly because I know how many calories are in them. But these, seem to be dipped in a butter vat and served warm. They are delicious! The chocolate souffle is also something I plan to have more of. Served warm with home-made ice creams on the top. Mmmm…. And Kevin wants me to mention the shrimp corn dogs. Not because he loved them but because they were funny. Imagine a hot dog made of shrimp. Ground shrimp…yeah, sounds gross to me. And just today, Kevin had what’s called the Blue Creek Banana Boat. He said it was interestingly good- a nice mix of sweet and salty. It was an open faced sandwich that had shrimp, banana, white cheddar cheese and bacon.

For those of you keeping score at home, we sadly have nothing exciting to report today as all we did was eat and sit outside and read. We read in the hammock. We read on the beach. We read by the pool. It was great.

Once you step foot into Belize City airport you’re greeted with all kinds of souvenirs that ‘play’ on the country’s name. In order to keep the fan base captivated and readership up, here are a few we saw and a few more that we’ve come up with on days like today.

Don’t stop belizen’ (Kevin’s favorite- in the tune of Journey’s hit, of course. Yes, we’ve been singing it all week.)
You better belize it!
I belize I’ll have another. (Belikin beer)
Unbelizable!
Belize it or not.
Do you belize in love at first sight?
Do you belize in magic, mon?
I can’t/don’t belize it!
Belize and thank you.
Belize sir, may I have another?
Belize forgive me.
Belize you me.
I belize there is.
I belize (in) you.
Do you belize (in) me?
Oh, Belize!
Belizus Christ (Kevin just had a light bulb moment with that one- it was kind of funny )

Please feel free to add your own Belize-ism in the comments box below!

As I get older, it seems that I get really anxious for things that really aren’t that big of a deal. Some of you have heard of the ‘nervous poops’ where I have to go and go and go when I get really nervous about something; even something as silly as a 5k race. I don’t know why it happens but I’ve chalked it up to a good way to clean out the system.

Well, the only reason I wanted to get SCUBA certified was to go diving in Belize. Today would have been the day. Instead though, my anxiety set in, and as we were snorkeling yesterday, I decided that’s all I really wanted to do. Thankfully, Kevin was ok with that too. So, we decided instead of suffering through the nervous poops, let’s just snorkel! Ellen at our hotel hooked us up with a great dive shop that took us out to the Silk Cayes in the Belize Barrier Reef.

It was beyond amazing. Our group was the only group there and we had our own private island to snorkel around (oh wait, that sounds like yesterday). The difference was we were way out in the Caribbean and on the reef! There were tons of colorful fish, sponges, coral (pretty coral, not just the kind that hurt you). And on most snorkel trips I’ve been on, they take you out in the middle of (an) ocean and dump you saying something to the effect of be back in 30 minutes, don’t touch anything and don’t drown. Our guide actually guided us and stopped to tell us what we were seeing- twice (once pre beach BBQ lunch and once after)! We had time to snorkel on our own too. It was a lot of fun, we felt very fancy on our own private beach caye and I didn’t have to worry about pooping in the boat.

ps – the yogurt from the food truck was awesome! The Goss chocolate not as exciting as the yogurt. But my palate prefers crappy chocolate like M & M Mars. Kevin said the dark chocolate was scrumptious.

Finally! Today was perfect and exactly what we pictured when we first booked our trip. Being on the Caribbean side, we get to wake up to the sun rise (it still is a little weird that the sun doesn’t set over the ocean). With the bright bright sun, we decided to take the hotel kayaks to False Caye, an island about a mile out to sea. On our way, a pair of dolphins came to swim with us! We snorkeled about the reef around the island until I was too cold and until Kevin almost got attacked by the giant jellyfish (i’m not kidding, check out the picture below!) then headed back to shore.

The rest of the afternoon was magical, soaking in endless sun rays. As we were playing Uno near the pool, the food truck that comes only on Wednesday’s and Saturday’s came by our hotel. We had heard rumors of said food truck and it was indeed, great. We bought some mango and coconut yogurt for breakfast tomorrow and some Goss chocolate which is made here in Placencia. We’ll let you know how they taste next report.

Tonight on our walk home from dinner we spotted some fireflies. Neither one of us has seen one before so it was a nice treat to end the day. The best treat of all though was the chocolate souffle we shared for dessert out on our dock, under the stars. I know what you’re thinking, awww, isn’t that so sweet? Yes, it is, but all I could really think about was how I wish I didn’t have to share that souffle…it was yummy!

Today we decided to beat the weather and take an excursion to some Mayan Ruins and go swimming in a cave. It was also a good way to see the countryside. First stop was Nim Li Punit, a Mayan ruin only discovered in 1976. After seeing Machu Picchu, the Mayan’s don’t got nothin‘ on the Inca’s. It seemed really small for being inhabited for about 200 years. The only hieroglyphics that remained were the ones that had fallen face down and hadn’t been eroded from the rain. One of the things I found most interesting was the “ball court” area where they played a game similar to basketball (they call it pitz). The catch was they couldn’t use their hands or feet. They would play for hours with nobody scoring a point. The winner though, received the ultimate prize of being sacrificed to the Gods. And it was an honor to get to play. The Mayans are actually trying to bring back the sport, sans the sacrificing part. They have a match at an upcoming festival in March.

For lunch we stopped at a local Creole place and had rice and beans and our choice of meat. I had the chicken. Kevin had the chicken, pork and beef. It was the first time we’ve had plantains all trip. So, D, to answer your question about plantains, no we have not been able to have plantains for every meal. However, I wish we did because I think that’s been the best thing I’ve ate so far. Our hotel restaurant is touted to being the best in Maya Beach. It’s ok but nothing I’ve wanted to order again.

Our final stop on the excursion was at Blue Creek Cave where we were literally swimming in the cave. I didn’t quite get that we were really going to be swimming in the cave- but we did. And it was awesome. Dad, I think you would have really liked it. We hiked about a mile into the jungle to the cave then swam around in the cave through waterfalls, currents and rocks. It was dark, so we wore headlamps. That’s how we could see all of the stalactites and guano. I’d been cave tubing in New Zealand but this was totally different.

Today we met a local Belizian who happened to be a fan of the Seattle SuperSonics. He even knows the tragedy that is Clay Bennett. In only a couple of days here, everyone we’ve come across has been exceptionally friendly. The weather on the other hand, not so friendly.

We spent most of the day lazing around, napping, reading (we finally started reading Barak Obama’s, Audacity of Hope), some wandering and some minimal sitting in the sun between rain squalls. The wind though is quite brutal and drops the temperature quite a bit. We did venture out for dinner and made it down to the highly recommended Wendy’s in Placencia Village. In Seattle, it probably would be like going from our house to Downtown. The roads aren’t great to start with but because of the rain, they are horribly rutty. It took about an hour via the local bus. It was fun though to get out of the Maya Beach area and see something different. Keeping true to eating weird food, Kevin had the Conch. It’s not as disgusting as pigeon or guinea pig, but unique nonetheless.

Kevin’s favorite part of the day happened when we made it back from dinner. He spent almost two hours playing outside under the moonlight with his camera. The shot below is my favorite.

It’s raining here. And cold.

We are in Belize during their “dry season” and Ellen, the hotel owner said if she could pick one time of year to come, it would be now. I think I’m being punished for something. Maybe because I missed my nephews birth? John, Ellen’s husband, told us it has been icky like weather since November. He said it’d be nice by tomorrow. I don’t belize him.

We’re staying at the Maya Beach Hotel in Placencia, Belize. The grounds are beautiful. Now all we need is sun!