From Jungle Juice to Panty Rippers

Don’t let this starting point put you off. The rest of the country is nothing like Belize City. Even the locals are afraid there and leave the streets after 9pm

Belize City is worth seeing if you like to take those scary ghetto pics that say, "look what crazy stuff I saw, and see, I’m still alive."

The biggest highlight all through Belize to me was the friendliness and diversity of the locals. They are a wonderful people who want to chat at any opportunity and are very proud of their little country. There is a mix of Creole, Latin, Garifuni, and expats. As each person approached us to chat about the politics, the weather, and what to do and what to see, we were ready for the onslaught
"Okay, great conversation - now what are you going to sell me,"
and it NEVER came.

"Okay, mon, well, you enjoy my country," and off they went. How refreshing.

It was also really nice to have the ease of an English-speaking country, as they speak a type of Creole that is very easy to understand, so conversations tend to go deeper than "Where is the bathroom" or "Two beers, please."

You are never quite sure if you are in the Caribbean or Central America.
Belize is not as expensive, like elsewhere in the Caribbean, yet not as cheap as other countries within central America. It is, however, much dirtier here, due in part to the Garfuni culture of throwing trash out the window, which has yet to change with the times.

For the most part, you will meet European or Australian travelers and few Americans until you reach Ambergris Caye, and then the tables turn and it’s all Americans. Most travelers you meet will have been on the road for months, sometimes years, and it’s great to exchange stories of things to do and see.

I will list each town and island we stayed at separately so you can read all the highlights in better detail. Also see my journal that will follow about our adventures in neighboring Guatemala.

Quick Tips:

• Panty Rippers - The local rum drink is just as lethal as the jungle juice. It’s very strong, so watch yourself

• It’s hot, hot, hot. I knew that; I had read that, but being there and experiencing it was another thing. I came from 100°F Texas sunshine to 100°F Belize sunshine (July), but the humidity was awful. Just stepping out the hotels would leave me drenched as though I’d been in a rainstorm.

• July is known as the hurricane/rainy season, so flights may be cheaper. We experienced hot, sunny days for 2 full weeks, yet on return to the U.S., a hurricane skirted the islands, so keep an eye on the forecast.

• Power outages are common, so bring a flashlight.

• Belize or American dollars are widely used, but just be sure you know which one the price is marked in. The rate is set at 2:1.

Best Way To Get Around:

The little planes are a quicker way to go, but also more expensive. They are fun, though, and you get to see the ocean and all the islands if you take one out to a cay. If flying in the little six-seater planes isn’t your thing, there are plenty of water taxis from the Belize Swing Bridge to the Cayes.

Once in a town or resort, it’s very easy to walk everywhere as long as you can handle the heat. Both Amergris Caye and Caye Caulker use golf carts to get around.

I did see hired cars, but I wouldn’t bother with them personally. The roads are in bad condition and the gas is expensive.

The only way to get from the airport to Belize City is by taxi, so just suck it up and pay the .

The GREAT HOUSE was wonderful. For $100 a night, we had a huge room with a king-size bed, beautiful accessories, sitting area with a cable TV, a remote-controlled fan, hair dryers, and coffeemakers. The room was gorgeous, with mahogany floors and a real old world feel to it. Originally someone’s mansion built in 1927, there was certainly an air of elegance, from the rooms to the outside colonial-style whitewashed boards.

It’s located in the Fort George area, just $20 by taxi from the international airport. There’s a really nice restaurant and bar attached called the Smokey Mermaid, which has all the different Belikin beers, as well as cocktails and decent food

It wasn’t the best food I had ever had, but the restaurant has an indoor area as well as an outdoor garden complete with these tree-house tables, which were fun to eat at overlooking everyone else.

On arrival, the room wasn’t ready, so we waited a while and chatted to Martha about all the various trip and tours that could be taken from Cayo.

Once our room was ready, we were in for quite a surprise, as we had the whole top floor all to ourselves. This included a queen-size bed and two singles, with plenty of space and lots of really sweet touches, like a teddy bear on the bed, pottery vases, and books left out to be read. The bathroom (complete with a scale to see how much weight we had put on) was huge. Big sliding doors lead us out to a full balcony that stretched the length of the room and had a table and chairs, rocking chair, and two hammocks. Heaven! The view down onto the town was great, and I could have just hung out on that balcony all day sipping Belikins and people-watching. This particular room did not have air-conditioning, but high vaulted ceilings and portable fans, which we trained on our bed, as it was very hot. The sliding door didn’t lock, so even though we were up on the fourth floor, I did feel a little uneasy about this, as it would have taken just a little time to have added a lock.

Martha’s Kitchen is the restaurant linked to the hotel, and even though we chose to eat elsewhere, I heard really good reviews on it. This hotel also has people who will do your laundry for just a few dollars.

Cindy and Renita (the owners) were really cool and bent over backwards to help us in anyway, even offering for us to go up to their room really early if we wanted to see the sunrise.

They had been away for a few days when we arrived on some family emergency, and so the B& B was a little chaotic on our arrival, with rooms overbooked; our room was overbooked in fact, but they moved us around and gave us money off, so there was no complaining from us.

Our room was small and simple, with a temperamental toilet and noisy air-conditioner, but it was very clean and overlooked the little garden with hammocks and friendly, very large iguanas.
We were about a block from the beach and had the use of the pool at the Yacht club, which was just next door.

There were push bikes for hire too, which we did make use of, and Cindy and Renita made our snorkel reservations, as well as reservations for the nice dinner we booked. The B& B has no restaurant of its own other than for breakfast, so plan on eating in town, which we would have done anyway. There was, however, a kitchen that was available if you wanted to cook, but who want to do that on vacation??!!

Changes in Latitude is just a 10-minute walk into the hub of San Pedro and a 5-minute walk to the airport.

Even though this place had its faults (yes, the toilet did break, and yes, the power was off for our last night, making for a worrying time that we would stink on the flight back), all in all these things are just what we had grown used to throughout Belize, and quite frankly, at this point, we hardly noticed them .

This tiny little restaurant along the main drag has everything from traditional Belizean foods to Burmese and Thai curries. I opted for the curry and was not disappointed, as the flavor was out of this world, with great spices and a good amount of heat. We got a seat easily, as it was quite early, but as the evening wore on, more and more people arrived and the level of noise went to an excited chatter, with me catching snippets of conversations about this ruin and that temple.

San Ignacio is a staging ground for a many a young archeologist, and they are not the stereotypical old men anymore, but good-looking 20-somethings all excited and eager to talk about their day’s work.

The atmosphere was wonderful, and as the wine and Belikins flowed, I felt right at home in this little place.

I had read such varied reports about this place on Yahoo, some people claiming to have eaten the best food of their lives and others saying they spent days in hospital after eating here. Funnily enough, if you keep reading these bad reports, at some point, Hannah herself publishes a write-up saying how the bad reports were the result of a "malicious woman in town" who is out "to cause me pain"
You know, she’s probably right, because I read all the bad reports before going, and they seemed very extreme, with no real grounds for proof. The restaurant was clean, and as I already said, the food was wonderful.

Down a leafy lane behind the (only) airstrip was a lone sign saying Coco Plum. No one was around because it was only 10 in the morning, but we had read about the wonderful breakfasts there and wanted to try them, so we wandered up the shady path until we got to the house. Still there was no one around and no one eating. Thinking we had missed the breakfast hours, we turned around to leave… and suddenly (as if by magic), there was Chris, wearing just cargo shorts and tending to his garden.

"Come on in."

"Have a menu."

I didn't want to be the only people eating here, as I don't like doing that, so I gave my husband that look that says get us out of here, but as usual, he choose to totally ignore me!!!

Well, in this case at least, it was lucky he did, because what a great experience it was. Chris was quite a character. He was from Holland, but married to a Belize girl with two Belize children, which, according to him, at least made him "more local than all these others," and he was very big into the politics of the island, telling us all the ins and outs, all the ups and downs, and all the struggles and strife.

It really was very interesting to hear his joys at living there, but his complaints about the government, like how they wanted the island to grow for tourism, yet wouldn't put money into simple infrastructures like plumbing and the freshwater supply.

All the time he was talking (which was all the time), Chris cooked us a wonderful breakfast of homemade omelets with fresh fruit. I have to say that I have never ever had such a good omelet, but he wouldn't tell me his secret ingredients. I tasted hot spice, basil, and some strong cheese, and I have since tried to make them on returning home and could not get it just right. He carried on talking the whole time we ate, and breakfast lasted 3 hours!!

Eventually his wife came downstairs and pretty much told him to shut up and go do some work, so we paid up and made our escape feeling like we were privy to all the Caye Caulker secrets now.

The resort of Capricorn has just three cabanas, so it is very small, intimate, and set in its own private cove, so making dinner reservations also involves getting a water taxi to get you there in style. (Otherwise, it’s a pitch-black back road full of potholes, which we had peddled along during daylight hours.)
Our hotel did all the leg work in reserving everything, and at 8pm sharp, a small boat came to get us from the beach and ferried us to the Capricorn. On arrival, the sun was setting and the boardwalk was lit with Tiki lights. The restaurant itself was beautiful, all wood, with thatched roofs and palm trees.
Where all the people came from, I have no idea, but the place was really busy, and even though rain threatened, we chose to sit outside. This turned out to be a fantastic choice, as a breeze blew in from the ocean and a lightening storm entertained us out over the ocean.

We had wine and bread to start. I had the fresh fish of the day, which was snapper, whilst Karl had the stuffed grouper. I have to admit that whilst mine was good, his was delicious. The food wasn’t cheap, but for the ambience and quality, it was well worth the splurge. My fish was BZ$38 (about US$19), and Karl’s a little more.
All this was washed down with more wine, fresh coffee, and rum cake.

Our experience would end here, but as we ended and paid up, we found our boat taxi sitting patiently waiting for us. It was late now and pitch-black, and as the speed boat whisked us off, we became enveloped in the dark sea and dark sky, a few rain drops hitting us - it was a little freaky!!! But in a cool way, which added to this being one of our best memories!!

I had read this café was a little over-hyped by the backpacking guidebooks and that the food really wasn’t all that great, but our experience proved otherwise.

Nettie was really sweet and gave us a spot by the fan, as she could see the sweat pouring off me after being outside for a while. I chose the veggie burrito, which was huge and nicely spiced. Karl had the Chillimole, which was a spicy soup in a chocolate (mole) sauce, which had pieces of meat floating in it, as well as (strangely) a single boiled egg !! It sounds weird, and indeed looked weird, but it was sooo good. The bill was just $9 for both.

The decor was café-casual, and the walls were full of photos from travelers, articles on Belize, and postcards from the far corners of the globe. It was busy, and though we just had lunch here, we walked past many times, and Eva’s seemed to be busy no matter what time of day or night.

Cahal Pech was a half an hour walk up through the town and up a steep residential hill (Buena Vista). There we saw a signpost, took an even steeper hill to the left, and nearly couldn’t handle the gradient with the over 100°F temperatures, but we did, and there it was, "The Place of Ticks" as the name translates to. I can’t say we experienced any ticks, but we certainly had a very pleasant afternoon wandering though the temples in the shady jungle.
On top of the tallest structure (the Audiencia), I ran into two girls who had just begun their backpacking adventures through Central America and were heading on to Guatemala. So, feeling very worldly, I sat for a good 2 hours trading my tips and advice with them.

The park was $5 to get in, and this included a small museum with some interesting artifacts and facts about the Mayan culture.
The park is open from 6am until 6pm, and on a hot summer day, is a great place to wander around.

The trip itself was $40 for both of us, with $5 extra for the special mask. This was only a half a day tour, but that was plenty, as it was so hot

Jeffery picked us up at 9 that morning from our hotel beach, and after a brief diversion to get other vacationers, we were off to Hol Chan (Little Channel). It is about a 20-minute boat ride to get there, and on arrival, Jeffery had to pay the few dollars entry fee, as this is a protected part of the famous reef.

We put on our snorkel masks and followed Jeffery as he swam up and around the reef, pointing out all the marine life and interesting creatures as he went. The coral had lovely colors.

We saw all kinds of fish that I will never remember, as well as the head of a Moray eel peeking from the rocks and a few nurse sharks eating from the bottom of the nearby boats.

After a good amount of swimming and marine lessons, it was back on the boat for drinks and homemade banana bread and on to my favorite - Shark Ray Alley. As soon as we approached, the boat was instantly surrounded by big nurse sharks and sting rays. It was quite daunting to say the least. Jeffery told us that they couldn’t feed the fish in the Hol Chan Preserve, but here it was still okay, something about because this had originally been a place where fishermen stopped to clean their fish, so the fish and sharks still gathered to eat leftovers. I’m not sure this sounded so ecologically correct, but you know, I loved seeing them all so close that I didn’t ask too many questions.

It took some guts to get in that water, and by then, the sharks that were much more nervous were swimming off. The sting rays, though, were so curious and would swim right up to me - kinda freaky.
Jeffery was quite the comedian, and his favorite trick was to throw little bits of dead fish at you where you weren’t prepared, which caused the sharks and bigger fish to swim up mouths open. No matter whatever anyone tells you, nurse sharks do have teeth - I saw them!!!! They are just little (and I’m sure sharp).

It was a wonderful time, though, and I really recommend going early, as we did, before the areas become full of tour boats. Also, do remember to bring a waterproof camera, as the photos from the boat just make it look like a giant aquarium and no one back home will believe you swam in it!!

We didn’t have any problems here; no one mugged us or gave us hassle. No one shot at us or really did anything even slightly aggressive. However, the air of danger is there. The newspapers are filled with stories of shootings or stabbings, and the sense you get when you venture from your hotel is a little dodgy to say the least.

We splurged on a really nice hotel for the night we had to stay here. All flights will come into Belize City, so it may end up that you do have to stay a night before going on to your next destination. Some people we met were staying there a few days as a base to see all the sights, but no one was staying there just to see Belize City, as really, there’s nothing to see but a few stalls at the fake-looking "Vacationer Village" that springs to life only when the cruise ships come in.

No doubt, I will get messages from people that liked it here and have good things to say, but I’ll tell you this: on further travels, after meeting the locals and telling them we went out at night and walked though the main town, let’s just say that they were shocked and amazed we were still alive.

Our hotel, The Great House (see hotel entry), was stunning and in a safe area of town. We walked out at night to try and see something of the city. I’m not afraid of much, but within a few streets, we saw rats the size of puppies sitting on parked cars washing their whiskers and crabs in the street that would run to their holes in the grass verge after scuttling across my flip-flopped toes !

This was bearable until a few streets farther down, when we ran into what we like to now call our "dawn of the living dead" experience. In seemingly deserted streets would suddenly pop up older women (sometimes men), as though from the ground, with missing teeth, wild hair, and dated old dresses asking for money or drinks.

It was enough to make us flee back to our cool, air-conditioned room.

We tried to exploring, with better results, early the next morning, when the dodgy characters seemed to be still sleeping, and it was a much more pleasant experience. However, there was really still nothing to see: just the Swing Bridge, local shops, and lots and lots of trash. The town smelt really bad, and the reason became evident for this when we saw a man cleaning out the street gutters of human waste - poo!!!

Most people use it as a base for all the river trips, caving, and seeing Tikal in Guatemala.
There are tons of cheap bed-and-breakfasts, restaurants, Internet cafés, and travel agencies to plan your tours through.

I loved Cayo; it was laid-back, and though there was not much to do in town itself and the pace is slow, you will constantly run into backpackers from all corners of the globe to chat with.
The town is small but feels very safe, and all the locals there were wonderful and friendly, going out of their way to help us. Nobody here is just on vacation, and all the conversations run something like this.
"How long are you traveling?"
"2 years"
"8 months"
"12 months"
"Us? Oh, erm, 2 weeks"

It’s okay, though, as we were just happy to be in this funny little rundown, frontier-style town. However, whilst we were there, there was a tour bus of Americans that got stopped and robbed by machete-wielding men just 20 miles away at a popular caving area called the Frio Caves, but this was just one of those random things that the people of Belize and Guatemala are trying hard to stamp out.

The whole time in Cayo, we walked all over in the morning and late at night and only ever felt safe and welcome. The restaurants are wonderful and cheap, and you will find the majority of these along the main drag, which is Burns Avenue.

It seems that power outages are quite popular, and we heard they have been happening on a regular basis because of a power dispute with Mexico. Be aware of this and bring a flashlight if you can.

The main street is Burns Avenue, and you will find the majority of restaurants and guesthouses along here, though the town does stretch for a few streets wide. It will only take you 20 minutes to cover the whole town by foot.

Though San Ignacio is a lively town at night with many bars and live-music "clubs," don't go expecting a wild time. This is purely hangout music, often of the ‘80s variety. In fact, for some reason, I heard an awful lot of old George Michael tunes whilst we were out.

The island is really small, and the main area is just six streets across and three streets wide. From the beach, you can look down a side street through town and out to the ocean on the opposite side of the island.

I read that there were 700 people on this 1-mile-long island, and I’m only guessing, but I bet that there are more cats than residents. The building next to our place had 20 cats and kittens

There are roads, but they are sand. In fact, everything is sand: the beach (obviously), the roads, the streets, etc.; there is even sand on the floor of the bars and sand on the restaurant floor. There aren’t any cars at all, just bikes or golf carts, though most people just walk, as it’s so easy to get around.

We found our guesthouse easily. De Real Macaw was a great little place right by the beach owned by Peter from Florida, who was quite a character. Our room was simple, with a double bed, not much room, a small bathroom, and noisy air-conditioner, which actually stopped on the first night but mysteriously worked again after that, but we didn’t care, as it was on the beach and had a thatched roof and a hammock conveniently hanging right there on our own porch !!

The beaches on Caulker are pretty, but very natural and wild. There was no manicured sand like in Mexico. In fact, the swimming was very difficult due to the sea grass that grows close to shore. This is because just a mile away, the world’s second largest barrier reef sits protecting the shore from any pounding surf that might take such grass away.

A good swimming area was at the split where the last hurricane literally split the island in two, and conveniently enough, there’s also a bar right here called the Lazy Lizard, which is quite the happening spot to be day or night.

During the day, the island is very sleepy, as most tourists are out on the many diving and snorkel trips, which are the most popular things to do here on Caye Caulker

It was whilst we were here on this island that the news of the British bombings reached us, so a whole morning was spent trying to text home and make sure all were safe and sound. It was a scary time for many of the tourists, who were all of the backpacking type, many from the UK, so we stayed around the island instead of doing the trip we had planned to keep my cell phone available if anyone needed it.

The locals here were some of the nicest we met, so very friendly, and yet with their muscled bodies and wild Rasta hair, they looked intimidating walking towards you on the street till they drew level, and then a huge grin would break out on their faces as they started chatting or nodded their head to say hi.
The nightlife is laid-back and involves bars, reggae music, and Panty Ripper cocktails. I saw plenty of people sat around the beach, etc., smoking weed, but the signs tell you it’s illegal, and unlike my experiences in Jamaica, no one tried any hard-sell pressure on me. I don't think anyone really wanted to sell, but just to sit and enjoy it themselves.

Ambergris Caye was made famous by Madonna all those years ago, and more recently by Billy and Mandy of Temptation Island fame!!! (Sorry, but what can I say? I like reality shows, so shoot me.)

Ambergris Caye was a ferry ride from Caye Caulker, but this time it was just 20 minutes and the boat was not nearly as crammed as our first experience.
Most people arrive on San Pedro (the only town on Ambergris) as part of a package vacation from the States. They fly direct into Belize City and then take a mini flight here.
In fact, most people only know Belize as this tiny island paradise, which to me is a crying shame, as the country has so much to see and do, and San Pedro is just a small part of that.

Ambergris is really just the bigger, overdeveloped brother of Caye Caulker. It’s much more congested and much more expensive, though compared to other Caribbean destinations, we are still talking cheap. It’s still very laid-back, but busy and loud compared to Caye Caulker. They do have some cars on this island, but only little Toyota vans for taxis. It’s still very much a bike-and-golf cart kind of place. Some of the carts just crack me up. Gangster-looking boys are driving them around; one cart even had Spinners, and we saw a couple with neon lights underneath. UNBELIZABLE.
The nightlife is fun, but at the same time, it’s no Cancun. It’s all about beach bars and dance/Punta music. Live bands or chart music is about all you will get here. Beyonce and 50 Cent seem very popular on this island.

One popular bar with live music was FIDOs, and that seemed to be happening each night, usually with a mixed age range, but mainly Americans.
We tried a club called the Barefoot Iguana, but though the music was techno and lively, the place wasn’t and the staff outnumbered the clubbers.

At night, San Pedro looks dodgy, with all the shops just shacks with small lights outside and stray dogs and cats wandering aimlessly through the streets, but it always felt safe to us, and we had a good 10-minute walk out though town for our bed-and-breakfast and never experienced anything other than extreme friendliness directed at us. From Ambergris, the popular trips are again the diving and snorkel outings, and these I highly recommend (see separate entry for our snorkel experience.)

San Pedro is small, but the island is a decent size, so one day, we hired bikes to explore the "resort" side of the island. Now let me explain: most of the resorts, such as Captain Morgan’s, Journey’s End, and Mata Chica, are at the far end of Ambergris and really only accessible by water taxi, which is quite expensive unless you stay there. This probably helps keep away the "undesirables." However if you do get to the big resorts, you can use their pool, beach, and restaurants as though you were staying there.
I had a slight ulterior motive in my wanting to explore that side, and it was because I had (at least I admit it) been addicted at one time to the Temptation Island show, which was filmed between Captain Morgan’s and Mata Chica. Therefore, we rented push bikes and peddled through San Pedro across the hand-crank ferry and 5 miles in the heat, down the one potholed road that goes behind all these resorts. I don’t think the people staying there have any idea this road really exists, because it’s so dirty, just a swamp piled with trash. It was well worth the effort, though, because the resorts really are beautiful, with their manicured beaches for good swimming and sea grass already removed (that’s probably not a good thing ecologically). Even though we weren’t guests and arrived by pushbike, we were treated like royalty and found it to be quite a treat.

On the whole, Ambergris is a fun and friendly place, though I have my doubts how its future will hold up, and as the tourism grows, if it can keep up its friendly, relaxed pace. God, I hope so.

This island is a wonderful place to include in your Belize travels, but please don't make it all you see.