Hickatee - a hands-on experience - IgoUgo Punta Gorda Journal

Craft with the Chiacs

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Basket Making - The Living Maya Experience Photo - Punta Gorda, Belize

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In the afternoon we were shown the route to meet up with Marta Chiac, a partner in this new venture. It was a 10 minute walk to Marta’s home and we hadn’t got that far when we saw her smiling face coming towards us. I have to admit that I commandeered her initially and had a great chat with her as she led the way to her home. She, like Amina, is very personable and it was a real pleasure speaking with her.She explained that she and her parents shared Chistobal’s vision for the Living Maya Experience and they have developed a visitor’s centre, in a traditional building, in which all their skills and crafts can be carried out. After a 15 minute walk we reached Marta’s home and were introduce...Read More

In the afternoon we were shown the route to meet up with Marta Chiac, a partner in this new venture. It was a 10 minute walk to Marta’s home and we hadn’t got that far when we saw her smiling face coming towards us. I have to admit that I commandeered her initially and had a great chat with her as she led the way to her home. She, like Amina, is very personable and it was a real pleasure speaking with her.

She explained that she and her parents shared Chistobal’s vision for the Living Maya Experience and they have developed a visitor’s centre, in a traditional building, in which all their skills and crafts can be carried out. After a 15 minute walk we reached Marta’s home and were introduced to her parents. The building is in the grounds of their home which is, like Amina’s, concrete with a thatched roof. The toilet facilities will be a bit of a shock for pampered visitors as it’s basically an open cess pit over which you must crouch. I was the only one of our foursome that braved the building (a rickety wooden shack) and it’s amazing how long it’s possible to hold your breath!

Marta introduced us to her parent’s skills following a brief family history. Juan Chiac learnt his basket making skills from his father-in-law and Marta jokingly said that he’d been drawn to Hilaria because she was a skilled back strap weaver and he wanted to learn the skill of basket making. At this point Juan, who was said to have very limited English, gave a broad grin. It later became obvious that he understood more than he let on!

Juan gave us a lesson in basket making – using his feet he held and turned the basket so that he could thread the raw material around the weave. Like all these skills it looked easy but controlling with our feet proved a little difficult. This was the first of many skills that we tried at Marta’s that resulted in laughter. Not only with us as visitors, but also our hosts. I was not about to be beaten by this skill and persisted until finally I was getting it right. My speed was sadly lacking, but the weave looked reasonable and Juan was happy with it and agreed to show us how to progress up the side of the wicker basket – that is to show how he developed the curve. This was a wee bit more challenging but I once again took centre stage and continued working the wicker. I don’t think I’d ever reach professional standards but felt that I developed a competence in the art of basket weaving.

Next Juan showed us how to make a hammock. Now this was complex as it required the "weave" to be counted in. I think the real skill had taken place earlier in the set up of the hammock and despite careful explanation I’m not sure any of us quite got it, but we did have fun trying.

Now it was time for Hilaria to take centre stage and teach us the fine art of Back Strap Weaving. We’d seen people weaving in this way when we were at Lake Atitlan (see separate Journal) but never been hands-on. Now it was our chance to shine. I was the last of our foursome to try it and I’d enjoyed seeing the others struggle. What I hadn’t banked on was how difficult a process it was. Moving the shuttle from one side of the cloth to the other but at one point in the process you had to pull up with one hand, push down with the other, give some slack to the tension and then take up the slack. Talk about multi tasking! And not only was it multi tasking at its best but it was also physically quite demanding. How come these weavers make it look so straight-forward?

At this point in the proceedings we were joined by two of Marta’s sisters who were keen to show us their skills. One etched intricate design on coconut shells. Once again it sounds a straight-forward task, but once we tried it we realised the level of concentration required to scrap the design into the nut. Not to mention the artistic requirement to create the design in the first place. I was impressed that we were allowed to try our skills on a carving that she’d already progressed quite well with, but she watched us carefully and I’m sure was able to rectify any errors that we made.

The final demonstration, by another sister, was in relation to small ornamental wicker-ware. This entailed sewing together the finely plaited "wicker" to create quite heavy lidded baskets. I didn’t try this as I’m not too good with a needle and the Chiac family were certainly of the opinion that this was "women’s work". My wife did have a go and said it was hard work as the wicker was real tough.

We see all the skills, had a go at most of them and enjoyed some great humour with the Chiac family and felt we were on target to catch the 5.00 bus from the bottom of the road. It was 4.45 and we explained that we needed to set off to catch the bus. The room went silent and then Marta entered into discussion with the rest of the family before very quietly telling us that the 5.00 pm bus went at 6.00 pm. Not a problem for us but clearly the family were embarrassed that we would have to wait longer for the bus. We explained that we were having fun and would certainly not have been ready to leave them at 3.40.

Now was the time for fond farewells and Marta gave all of a gift to take home – the men a wrist band and the women some ear-rings carved out of coconut shells. What a nice gesture. We left to many smiles and laughter and thanked the family for sharing their afternoon with us. We’d had a great time. What good value and superb entertainment.

As a postscript when we got back to Hickatee Cottages Ian, the owner, received a phone call from Marta. She was anxious to know if we’d got back to Hickatee and was really apologetic for "making us miss" the earlier bus. I asked Ian to let her know that we were fine and that we’d had a great day and didn’t regret catching the later bus. He did transmit this message, but said that he was due to meet up with Marta and Amina as he felt that they currently were not stucturing the visits to give visitors the best experience. I'm not sure he's right with that because we were able to gain knowledge from the families by asking questions - the lack of structure to the day gave us freedom to enjoy at leisure.
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Hickatee Cottages

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Hotel | "A great stay with attentive hosts"

Hickatee Cottages Photo - Hickatee Cottages, Punta Gorda, Belize

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Hickatee Cottages are just outside of Punta Gorda (known as PG by locals) and Ian, the proprietor, collected us in his pick-up truck. He apologised for keeping us waiting, although he was actually bang on time and arrived just as we had picked up our luggage. The luggage was stacked in the back of the pick-up and we were treated to an orientation of the town centre (more of that in another review) before heading out to the cottages. We headed off down a limestone road (sounds exotic but in reality it was littered with holes and bumps) before arriving at Hickatee. There are a total of 6 cottages in the grounds and as far as I can make out are all very similar.Registration was st...Read More

Hickatee Cottages are just outside of Punta Gorda (known as PG by locals) and Ian, the proprietor, collected us in his pick-up truck. He apologised for keeping us waiting, although he was actually bang on time and arrived just as we had picked up our luggage. The luggage was stacked in the back of the pick-up and we were treated to an orientation of the town centre (more of that in another review) before heading out to the cottages. We headed off down a limestone road (sounds exotic but in reality it was littered with holes and bumps) before arriving at Hickatee.

There are a total of 6 cottages in the grounds and as far as I can make out are all very similar.

Registration was straight-forward and soon we were heading off to cottages 2 and 3. Whilst registering our
luggage had vanished without fuss and was stacked outside our doors. Up a few steps to a shared veranda and then into our room. It was fresh and bright, but simple and utilitarian. A couple of comfortable beds, an open storage unit for clothes, a lockable drawer for valuables and a small sitting area with a bench seat and coffee table. A central fan was very effective in keeping the air cool and both of us had an excellent night’s sleep and were completely oblivious to the noises of the forest.

Hickatee doesn’t do lunch so we were a bit thrown when we had settled in to be told that lunch wasn’t an option. Now that’s the way it is at Hickatee so I am ready to blame the travel company for this oversight. After a time Ian came over to the cottage with peanuts and bananas. There was enough to keep us going until the evening meal at 7.30! The other quirky feature is that they don’t assume that you will be dining with them. In real terms this makes absolute sense because they buy in fresh each morning. Thankfully Ian assumed that we’d want food and so all was well with the world. They also don’t do dinner on Saturday nights but he does make the effort to drive guests into town and then arranges a taxi to get them back to Hickatee. I enjoyed both dinners that we had at Hickatee but they were more rustic than "table rock" (see other review).

Breakfast was "interesting" and although the scrambled eggs looked like that they’d had colouring added they tasted real good. We were served orange or pineapple juice, provided with plenty of bread, spread and comfiture. The American Breakfast consisted of the previously mentioned scrambled eggs, plenty of bacon, sausage meat, and tomatoes. A real feast and we certainly weren’t left feeling hungry.

Hickatee has a great feel to the place, relaxed and homely and with a real enthusiastic host in the form of Ian. This section of the holiday was as much about experiencing the jungle as giving us time to relax. Although there’s no swimming pool there is a very welcoming plunge pool with tables and chairs around it. Just perfect to relax under the blue Belizean sky, enjoying the sounds of the Orapendula and the frog like squawk of the Tucon. A bird that seems particularly shy of visitors.

Two full days in the PG area of Belize is probably enough but if you want to get close to nature and enough the attention of an enthusiastic host then I reckon Hickotee Cottages could be for you. It does have limited access to wi-fi but you’re asked to restrict usage and resist downloads or heavy ended browsing. Really it’s for emails and I had to resist even thinking about uploading to IGOUGO!

Even Ian says that Hickatee isn’t for everyone and he would prefer people to carefully self-screen before confirming their booking at his jungle lodge. For us it was great as there is an easy pace of life here with an apparent commitment from Ian and Kate to the local community. We enjoyed listening to the cacophony of jungle sounds including the howler monkey and the barking of the Tiger Heron. Overall a great experience and recommended to those of you who want to be in touch with the basics of Jungle Life whilst being totally comfortable.
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on March 1, 2013

Hickatee Cottages
Ex-Servicemen Rd.
Punta Gorda, Toledo 148
(+501) 662 4475

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Hickatee Cottages

Hotel | "On bug watch!"

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Now who would have thought that anyone could get real excited about seeking out bugs. Well Ian is "well in to them" and after dinner on our first night he announced that there was a net-throwing spider in town. When I say town I actually mean his "garden". We all dutifully followed him and he spot-lighted the little fellow, complete with the blue net in his mouth ready to throw. Now I do remember seeing a nature programme that had managed, with a lot of patience and modern technology, to record the event but to see one "ready to go" was a real treat. Right up there with the stripper ant! Indeed Ian said that his was only the third one he’d seen in nine years. What a privilege! ...Read More

Now who would have thought that anyone could get real excited about seeking out bugs. Well Ian is "well in to them" and after dinner on our first night he announced that there was a net-throwing spider in town. When I say town I actually mean his "garden". We all dutifully followed him and he spot-lighted the little fellow, complete with the blue net in his mouth ready to throw. Now I do remember seeing a nature programme that had managed, with a lot of patience and modern technology, to record the event but to see one "ready to go" was a real treat. Right up there with the stripper ant!

Indeed Ian said that his was only the third one he’d seen in nine years. What a privilege!

From there our garden tour continued and although we lost people on route I was too fascinated to leave. So to say I was hanging on Ian’s every word would not be too much of an exaggeration.

We went on to checkout some more spiders and I returned to the scene later on to get a few photos of these tiny creatures. I caught a number of bugs on film including a stick insect, a spider, a cricket and some butterfly eggs and with the promise of a bug tour the following night I went to bed a happy man, I’m now giving good attention to the ground and foliage and spotted a scorpion in the pool area. At about 3 inches long from head to tail it’s the biggest one I’ve seen, but it had vacated the pool area by the time I returned with my camera.

Mid evening on our second night Ian asked if "his assistant had his camera with him". I reported "no" and was dispatched to get it. Ian was as secretive as ever and refused to "spoil the surprise". I dutifully followed him and was told to turn off the torch. The ground was alight with fire flies. He reassured me that they were just bugs and would "do no harm" so I just enjoyed the spectacle. Later I was told that they were not all fire flies and that some wasps join in the show. However, the wasps are more sinister in their intent as they are attempting to attract the female fire fly before ingesting the aforesaid bug. Afterwards we went on to view the intended sight. It was a huge stick insect, about four inches long. I showed my ignorance by thinking the head was at the other end of the body. I just hadn’t realised that the stick-like appearance is created by the antennae and two of its six legs. That bright green bug was an amazing sight and dwarfed the stick insects seen the previous night.

Ian reiterated our planned bug tour later that evening and despite the fact that I was feeling a bit under the weather (a combination of a dickey stomach an overdose of sun and probably an insufficiency of liquid) I was determined to join him. What new sights were ahead of me?

We set off at 9:00pm and a couple of minutes later we’d seen stick insects in the middle of their sex act. It seemed a bit of an intrusion to take a photo but I was soon in to paparazzi mode! Next we saw a praying mantis, a bit of a let-down with such an exotic name, followed by the massive web structure of the funnel web spider with a couple of orb spider webs in the centre. The two spiders obviously live happily alongside each other.

At this point another three joined Ian and I and for a few moments I was mesmerized by the Sony "layering" camera. I tried to put envy to one side as his night photos were just superb, and continued snapping with my Canon. We saw our second net casting spider (Ian at this point was in raptures) and as we moved deeper in to the undergrowth we were all mesmerized by the incredible site of fungi. I’d never seen anything like it before and soon we were all snapping away like there was no tomorrow. A couple of tarantulas were spotted but after a time the familiar, but unwanted drone of the mosquito was heard and that was a good time to finish. None of us fancied being bitten whilst on bug watch so decided to call it a night

How sad is all that? Well, I can now say, thanks to Ian, that it’s fascinating and not sad. There’s so much out there that it would be so easy to miss and I’m now determined to keep my eyes well and truly peeled when out in the countryside. For more examples of what's up around Hickatee check out Ian's Flickr Account at http://www.flickr.com/groups/1714372@N24/pool/
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on March 1, 2013

Hickatee Cottages
Ex-Servicemen Rd.
Punta Gorda, Toledo 148
(+501) 662 4475

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Cycling the tracks

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Beware Tarantula crossing Photo - Punta Gorda, Belize

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We arrived at the tiny airport of Punta Gorde, or PG as it is more affectionately known, and having disembarked (banging my head on the ceiling of the small plane as I battled to get off) we found our way to the baggage retrieval point. No conveyor belts here, just an open area shaded from the sun by a canopy. The luggage followed us very quickly, not surprisingly as there were only 10 of us on board and I, sitting behind the pilot, had been able to keep an eye on all the instruments (not that they meant much to me).Back on terra firma we’d been collected by Ian (see other review) and had a comfortable ride to the group of cottages. After a brief rest my wife and I decided to explore the area on...Read More

We arrived at the tiny airport of Punta Gorde, or PG as it is more affectionately known, and having disembarked (banging my head on the ceiling of the small plane as I battled to get off) we found our way to the baggage retrieval point. No conveyor belts here, just an open area shaded from the sun by a canopy. The luggage followed us very quickly, not surprisingly as there were only 10 of us on board and I, sitting behind the pilot, had been able to keep an eye on all the instruments (not that they meant much to me).
Back on terra firma we’d been collected by Ian (see other review) and had a comfortable ride to the group of cottages. After a brief rest my wife and I decided to explore the area on two wheels. Cycles are provided free and cycle selected we headed on the dusty road away from the town of PG. Now it’s a long time since I rode a fixed wheel bike and my wife had never done so. Yet another challenge for us. Once we were on the road we tried a few slow-downs and sudden stops and after a few skids we were feeling fairly comfortable in the saddle.
The dusty track was fairly quiet which was just as well as we were manoeuvring across the width of the road to avoid the pot-holes. There was plenty of signs of life with bird calls coming at us from all quarters, and at one point we were rewarded with the sight of two green parrots flying across our eye-line. But it soon became evident that we needed to keep our eyes peeled in all directions as my wife saw a fairly hefty tarantula making its way across the track. We paused whilst I reached for my camera (my wife wasn’t going to get close to this "beast") and I was happy that the spider seemed to be fairly photogenic as it posed on the roadside for this camera call.

Back on the bike and we soon heard the familiar sound of the Orependula and sure enough at the top of a tree there was a group of very excited birds. They were flashing their yellow tails and walking in an ungainly fashion along the branches. Then just as we were enjoying their antics they spread their wings and flew off.

Along the route we were kept company by a stray horse, it had obviously broken loose from it tethering as it still had the rope around its neck. As we approached it got a wee bit skittish and cantered off the lane and into the undergrowth. However, he obviously didn’t like the terrain because he was soon back on the track and giving us a suspicious glance every so often. We spent the rest of our ride giving each other plenty of space. He was, after all, a lot bigger than us!

It was really quite noticeable how friendly "the locals" were to us. A couple even slowed down in their vehicles to have a word with us. English is not their first language but they just seemed that they wanted to let us know about their town and its surrounding countryside

Of course you always need to remember, especially on a linear ride that you have to return and as much as we’d enjoyed free-wheeling down the slopes of the dusty track we had to retrace our cycle track and pedal slightly up hill on the return journey. Not too onerous, but it meant we were both "glowing" when we arrived back at Hickatee Cottages.

The bar had just opened so we ordered ourselves a bottle of Belekin beer. This is the only local beer sold in Belize and I understand that the company has been issued with exclusive rights to brew and sell their beer for 15 years. Now that’s what you call a deal for the brewers. We sat back and enjoyed the ice cold beer taking in the beautiful surroundings of the garden at Hickatee
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The Living Maya Experience

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Attraction | "Food preparation in Big Falls"

Our transport to Big Falls Photo - The Living Maya Experience, Punta Gorda, Belize

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We wanted to visit a chocolate making factory and check out a Mayan village whilst we were in the area, so I spoke with Ian about the options. He was quick to point me away from an "expensive organized tour" and suggested that we try a local one that used local transport and local people. With this proposal we would be hands-on and all try the different skills used by the cottage industries and would also be able to see how the locals lived. It sounded good to me so I took a recent newspaper article with to explain the trip to my wife and friend. It was a goer so Ian confirmed the arrangement. He would get us to the bus station in PG where we’d take the James Bus service and on dis-embarkment we’d be ...Read More

We wanted to visit a chocolate making factory and check out a Mayan village whilst we were in the area, so I spoke with Ian about the options. He was quick to point me away from an "expensive organized tour" and suggested that we try a local one that used local transport and local people. With this proposal we would be hands-on and all try the different skills used by the cottage industries and would also be able to see how the locals lived. It sounded good to me so I took a recent newspaper article with to explain the trip to my wife and friend. It was a goer so Ian confirmed the arrangement. He would get us to the bus station in PG where we’d take the James Bus service and on dis-embarkment we’d be picked up and start our experience.

The Living Maya Experience (LME) is a 45 minute bus journey from Punta Gorda (PG) in the village of Big Falls and the trip on the local bus is, at $1.50 US, part of the day’s experience. We set off at 9.50 and got off the bus at the other side of the bridge in Big Falls to make our way, following the signs to the LME. We were met by a very friendly daughter of Cristobal and Anita Cal. Amina is currently working alongside her mother and father and hope to study tourism management when she goes to University next year. She’s had to take a year out to enable the family to save up enough money to finance this part of her education, but she doesn’t mind because she wants to help develop this new family business.

Cristobal Cal sounded really passionate about this new venture as he wants his culture with its traditional ways and knowledge to be recognized and to continue to flourish. He has therefore created a traditional Mayan home as it would have been before the onset of modern technology. The local schools are able to visit this traditional home and learn about the Mayan way of life and Cristobal is hoping that more tourists will visit their village. We started off with a tour of their garden with every plant having a use. The soapberry tree with its berries which are used to cleanse the skin, the Yam and the coconut tree were present in his garden and his young boys were real pleased to be able to shin up the tree to collect 4 coconuts for us to drink from. It’s years since I drunk coconut milk and I really enjoyed it.

Christobal was a member of the Kek’chi – Mopan are the other group in this area – and he is ever hopeful that some of his family will retain the Maya ways. However, for all of his commitment to the Maya way of life, he does have a separate dwelling to the one we saw (concrete with a thatched roof) which contains all the trappings of modern day living. Still the country kitchen that we saw is where they spend most of their working days and it is here that we saw their demonstrations of how it used to be.

In the hut we were shown a bed with a mattress made from the rolled out bark of the moho tree and a comfortable (although I’m not sure I could relax on) bench seat from the trunk of the balsa tree. The demonstrations started after we’d been told that the family grow 4 types of corn (white, yellow, red and black) and the corn is ground on an ancient Maya grinding stone. We’ve seen these before as we travelled through Maya Sites but this was the first time we could put it to the test. It isn’t easy and soon I had more corn on the floor than I did on the grinding stone. To strains of "don’t give up your day job" I retreated to the bench to give the rest a go. Needless to say they didn’t perform much better!

After our disastrous grinding of the corn we settled down to make Tortilla. I have to say that this looked real easy as we watched Amina and her sister. They could have done it with their eyes closed and each thin doughy mixture was thrown onto the griddle for a perfect grilling. Let me state here and now that Tortilla making is not easy and three out the four of us made a right hash of it. Ours looked sorry specimens on the grill and to make it worse we were going to have to eat them later!

Next we watched Amina’s grandmother grinding cocoa beans. Basilia performed this task effortlessly and I suspect you know what I’ll say next... Yes it was not as easy as it looked. It was hard work but I’m sure with practice we could have got the action and rhythm to sort out the beans that we had jumping all over the grinding stone. Basilia continued grinding the beans in order that we could sample the fresh cocoa after our lunch.

Talking of lunch.... Well I’ll try anything once, but I’m afraid that the preparation put in front of me was not compatible with my taste buds. I struggled with the first mouthful and decided to smile politely and admit defeat. None of this bothered my friend who tucked into the meal as if he hadn’t eaten for days. I reckon that he has the stomach of an ox as he suffered no stomach "unrest" as a result of this strongly tasting meal. Indeed he devoured it quicker than Amina could!

The cocoa that we were served after the meal was a pleasant contrast and this sweet drink, made entirely of water and the results of the cocoa grinding, went down a treat.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Cal household and were impressed with their openness and aspirations. They do have a simple life, which they are happy with, and the look forward to spreading the word about the Maya way of life. I’d recommend a visit if you’re in the vicinity.
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on March 10, 2013

The Living Maya Experience
The Lodge at Big Falls, P.O. Box 103
Toledo District

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Punta Gorda

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The centre of Punta Gorda Photo - Punta Gorda, Belize

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We were a healthy cycle ride away from the centre of PG and despite the condition of the road it only took our gang of 4 around 20 minutes to get there. PG is built on a grid of roads with Far West Street being the furthest inland followed by West Street, Jose Maria Nunet Street, Main Street and Front Street. At one point the land enable the emergence of another street between Jose Maria and Middle Street. That they’ve called Middle Main Street! We parked our bikes outside one of the two local banks and looked across the "main square" of the town. In the centre was a brightly coloured clock tower (seems to be feature of Belizean towns) with the clock on all four sides showing a different time. I menti...Read More

We were a healthy cycle ride away from the centre of PG and despite the condition of the road it only took our gang of 4 around 20 minutes to get there. PG is built on a grid of roads with Far West Street being the furthest inland followed by West Street, Jose Maria Nunet Street, Main Street and Front Street. At one point the land enable the emergence of another street between Jose Maria and Middle Street. That they’ve called Middle Main Street! We parked our bikes outside one of the two local banks and looked across the "main square" of the town. In the centre was a brightly coloured clock tower (seems to be feature of Belizean towns) with the clock on all four sides showing a different time. I mentioned this to our host at Hickatee Cottages and he, with a completely straight face said "well it tells the correct time eight times a day". You can’t say fairer than that, can you?

Now if you’re expecting a grand metropolis you will be sadly disappointed. PG is a lazy, relaxed village with small business, a couple of supermarkets (which sounds rather grander than it is as they carry limited stock) and a lot of friendly people, many of whom seem to have been abandoned here in the heyday of the Hippy. We passed government buildings that were compact and can best be described as shabby, but I guess they’re not out to impress.

We had been recommended a trip to Cotton Coffee where they process the bean and create chocolate for selling on the premises. The smell of chocolate was intense when we opened the shop door (reminiscent of a trip we’d made to Hershey many years ago) and a very jolly woman told us that she was just finishing off a tour and would be with us "shortly". We took in the smell of the chocolate for a few moments and then were taken on our free tour. It seemed a very small business with all the processes contained in a very small area, but as the woman explained to us the product is purely for tourism and is sold in PG and at airports and their output services those demands. She explained that the locals couldn’t afford the chocolate, which in a way was quite poignant.

On the front street there’s a market which is purely for the locals. It’s not a glamorous sight as this is a market that does its job. It’s not trying to impress just to provide a service to enable the locals to stock up on their requirements for the weekend. However, no local craftsman "worth their salt" is going to pass up a chance to sell their goods so you need to be aware that bag makers, cloth weavers, wood crafters and the like will appear, as if by magic, and try to entice you to look at their goods. In PG you don’t need to push them away as they seemed content to try and if told "no thank-you" will disappear as quickly as they appeared.

There are plenty of small cafes in town and we stopped off at "Snack Shack" for a drink. It was busy and it’s fair to say that you don’t need to be in a rush if you’re stopping off any place in town for a drink or a meal. You’re now officially in Belizean time and things will happen at some time. We ordered pretty quickly but we sat for at least 15 minutes before there was sign of our order being processed in the kitchen. The activity was purposeful and measured (euphemism for slow!) and finally a drink was brought to the table. Ok, it wasn’t quite the drink we’d ordered but it was close enough for one of our party to say thank-you and accept the fruit smoothie. We were assured that the other drinks were "on their way" and a few seconds later we saw one of the staff leave the kitchen. She returned a few minutes later with a plastic bag of fresh produce. We were to see this action repeated several times during our sojourn at Snack Shack and it became obvious that ingredients were being sourced on an "as required" basis. After another few minutes I went to check on our order and guess what? Yes, they’d forgotten it. A profuse apology and several minutes later our fruit drinks arrived. My word they were good. Worth the wait? Well I’m not too sure, but we’re on holiday so it doesn’t really matter, does it?

The town is full of noise most notably the strains of Reggae Music that can be heard in almost all parts around the town centre. Several "come day, go day" Rastafarians saunter around the place bringing their colour and happiness to all that pass.

It’s fair to say that a half day visit is probably enough and I’d suggest that you get there in the morning before the heat of the sun takes hold.
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Member Rating 3 out of 5 on March 9, 2013

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