All I want for Christmas this year is Belize...Please!
Feliz Navivdad,
After Lisa, Paul and I got to Belize City we caught a ferry boat to Caye Caulker, an island 20 miles off the coast of Belize in the Caribbean. We were greeted with sun, palm trees, sand and people more than willing to take you to “one” of the best hotels/hostels on the island. Since we didn’t have any reservations, we decided to go along with one lady.
After about a 15 min walk, we came upon the Tropical Paradise Hotel a cute, clean place right on the water. However they were asking $70 Belizean dollars (which is about $35 US dollars) for three people and we thought we could do better. So after a few more minutes we came up a place for $45 Belizean a night for three which works about to $7.50 US dollars per person. Great, we’ll take it!
Sure the beds were broken and provided no support since all the springs were damaged. And yeah, the door to the bathroom was about three feet in length and provided no privacy and the fan was not securely fastened to the ceiling, with promises of fallen on top of us when we were sleeping. The shower had no hot water and trickled out with as much speed and the workers on the island and both the shower and bathroom sink drained out of a hole in the floor and onto the sand, but it was cheap!
Happy with our find and thinking we were savvy travelers we changed and decided to explore the island. However on our return we realized that the room was for 7 guests and not 3 since we found about 4 cockroaches in our bags and room. Trying not to freak out we all sealed our bags and tried to get a good night sleep. The next morning I reached in my bag to grab some clothes only to have a cockroach scurry up my arm. He also had his brother in there too!
After two days at the Roach Motel, we decided that there are more important things than cheap and checked into the Paradise Hotel. However, it was late and at the last moment and they only had one room which we needed to change the next morning. A little more expensive, but the second room had air conditioning. A rare and wonderful treat. The problem now is Paul is leaving which means that the room is too expensive for two people.
So again Lisa and I moved to yet another hotel. This one wasn’t as nice as the Paradise, but cheaper. Although this room had its’ own share of “amenities” namely the bathroom. The toilet upstairs was leaking….a lot. The bathroom ceiling was bulging under the weight of the water, which was running down the wall and dripping onto our toilet. And every time you used it you would get a sprayed by the dripping, slightly used water. And yes, this place had cockroaches too, but we decided to stay together as one big happy family.
The island itself was very nice. Slow paced and just the thing that you are looking for to relax. Our days were filled with getting up, eating, laying out in the sun and more eating. There were some good places to eat and some were really cheap, like $3 US for a complete meal. For breakfast we liked to go to Cindy’s boasting of organic coffee and great breakfast food.
It was here that I would get my peanut butter and toast and I also attempted at ordering an ice coffee that went something like this:
ME: Can I get an iced latte here?
WAITRESS: Sure, no problem.
CINDY (owner): Here you go, but I have never understood people ordering iced lattes because by the time it gets to the table, the ice is melted. (She had poured steamed milk over the ice cubes.)
ME: (after tasting the lukewarm nastiness) Uumm…I am sorry, but is there anyway I could get this made with cold milk instead?
CINDY: I am sorry, that is just the way we make it.
ME: I realize that, but could I just cold milk instead of steamed that way it won’t melt the ice?
CINDY: But we always use steam milk, that is why I have never understood people wanting iced lattes.
ME: I just don’t understand (shrugging my shoulders in disbelief).
I did end up getting some sort of blended cold coffee drink, but that was neither what I wanted nor was it good. From then on I realized that thinking outside the box a little bit was a harder stretch than me drinking hot lattes.
For my Christmas present for myself I decided to get certified to SCUBA dive. It was amazing. I hadn’t thought about getting done on this trip which is strange because this is something that I have wanted to do for a very long time, but then I saw signs for it and Paul just got it done in Honduras, so I decided to do it.
The first day was just watching the videos and doing some reading. I met with my instructor Bert who was totally cool and just the person you want for this kind of experience: funny, patient, confident, competent and kind. The next day we went out to the Belize Reef for two dives to do my first series of water tests. This involved me preparing my gear, breathing underwater, taking my mask off under water, and a number of other things.
The following day we dived to 60ft which was incredible. The complete feeling of floating in space, not to mention that we saw a huge sea turtle. It basically just stopped and stared at me for awhile, trying to figure out what I was. It was something out of a movie or felt like I was in outer space and this was some alien looking at me. Words cannot describe it.
There were two guys with me that day who were getting their advanced diving certification which turned out to be a great thing for me. Not only did they have to do most of the things that I had to do they were going to do an extra third dive that was a navigational dive. Bert showed us how to use a compass and then we charted out a underwater course, something that I wouldn’t have had the option to do on just getting my open water certification.
However, it wasn’t until the next day that I really got another awesome opportunity, we dived to a 100ft. For an open water certification you can only go 60ft and you need to complete five dives. Since I got that extra third dive in the day before, I got my five dives in and because I was doing really well Bert trusted me to take me to a 100ft. It is at a 100ft that nitrogen narcosis starts in (a cause from having more nitrogen in the blood than the body can absorb leading to a “drunken state of being”) and we had to do some additional tests at that depth to see the effects on us. There wasn’t really anything that was noticeable to any of us. We got one more dive that was a multilevel dive meaning that we started at 80 ft, then 60 ft and lastly around 40 ft. I can honestly say that the whole experience was one of the coolest things that I have ever done in my life.
Over all the whole island was great. Lisa and I decided to check out another island called San Pedro on Christmas Day. This island is more touristy and even has ATM’s, dance clubs and a hospital. We didn’t like it as much as Caye Caulker which is quieter and more intimate. I missed my friends and family on Christmas Day which was the first time that I have ever missed it in the 27 years that I have been born. Plus, it didn’t really feel the same with 89 degree weather, sun, sand and palm trees, but it was a transition I greeted with SPF 15.
After Lisa, Paul and I got to Belize City we caught a ferry boat to Caye Caulker, an island 20 miles off the coast of Belize in the Caribbean. We were greeted with sun, palm trees, sand and people more than willing to take you to “one” of the best hotels/hostels on the island. Since we didn’t have any reservations, we decided to go along with one lady.
After about a 15 min walk, we came upon the Tropical Paradise Hotel a cute, clean place right on the water. However they were asking $70 Belizean dollars (which is about $35 US dollars) for three people and we thought we could do better. So after a few more minutes we came up a place for $45 Belizean a night for three which works about to $7.50 US dollars per person. Great, we’ll take it!
Sure the beds were broken and provided no support since all the springs were damaged. And yeah, the door to the bathroom was about three feet in length and provided no privacy and the fan was not securely fastened to the ceiling, with promises of fallen on top of us when we were sleeping. The shower had no hot water and trickled out with as much speed and the workers on the island and both the shower and bathroom sink drained out of a hole in the floor and onto the sand, but it was cheap!
Happy with our find and thinking we were savvy travelers we changed and decided to explore the island. However on our return we realized that the room was for 7 guests and not 3 since we found about 4 cockroaches in our bags and room. Trying not to freak out we all sealed our bags and tried to get a good night sleep. The next morning I reached in my bag to grab some clothes only to have a cockroach scurry up my arm. He also had his brother in there too!
After two days at the Roach Motel, we decided that there are more important things than cheap and checked into the Paradise Hotel. However, it was late and at the last moment and they only had one room which we needed to change the next morning. A little more expensive, but the second room had air conditioning. A rare and wonderful treat. The problem now is Paul is leaving which means that the room is too expensive for two people.
So again Lisa and I moved to yet another hotel. This one wasn’t as nice as the Paradise, but cheaper. Although this room had its’ own share of “amenities” namely the bathroom. The toilet upstairs was leaking….a lot. The bathroom ceiling was bulging under the weight of the water, which was running down the wall and dripping onto our toilet. And every time you used it you would get a sprayed by the dripping, slightly used water. And yes, this place had cockroaches too, but we decided to stay together as one big happy family.
The island itself was very nice. Slow paced and just the thing that you are looking for to relax. Our days were filled with getting up, eating, laying out in the sun and more eating. There were some good places to eat and some were really cheap, like $3 US for a complete meal. For breakfast we liked to go to Cindy’s boasting of organic coffee and great breakfast food.
It was here that I would get my peanut butter and toast and I also attempted at ordering an ice coffee that went something like this:
ME: Can I get an iced latte here?
WAITRESS: Sure, no problem.
CINDY (owner): Here you go, but I have never understood people ordering iced lattes because by the time it gets to the table, the ice is melted. (She had poured steamed milk over the ice cubes.)
ME: (after tasting the lukewarm nastiness) Uumm…I am sorry, but is there anyway I could get this made with cold milk instead?
CINDY: I am sorry, that is just the way we make it.
ME: I realize that, but could I just cold milk instead of steamed that way it won’t melt the ice?
CINDY: But we always use steam milk, that is why I have never understood people wanting iced lattes.
ME: I just don’t understand (shrugging my shoulders in disbelief).
I did end up getting some sort of blended cold coffee drink, but that was neither what I wanted nor was it good. From then on I realized that thinking outside the box a little bit was a harder stretch than me drinking hot lattes.
For my Christmas present for myself I decided to get certified to SCUBA dive. It was amazing. I hadn’t thought about getting done on this trip which is strange because this is something that I have wanted to do for a very long time, but then I saw signs for it and Paul just got it done in Honduras, so I decided to do it.
The first day was just watching the videos and doing some reading. I met with my instructor Bert who was totally cool and just the person you want for this kind of experience: funny, patient, confident, competent and kind. The next day we went out to the Belize Reef for two dives to do my first series of water tests. This involved me preparing my gear, breathing underwater, taking my mask off under water, and a number of other things.
The following day we dived to 60ft which was incredible. The complete feeling of floating in space, not to mention that we saw a huge sea turtle. It basically just stopped and stared at me for awhile, trying to figure out what I was. It was something out of a movie or felt like I was in outer space and this was some alien looking at me. Words cannot describe it.
There were two guys with me that day who were getting their advanced diving certification which turned out to be a great thing for me. Not only did they have to do most of the things that I had to do they were going to do an extra third dive that was a navigational dive. Bert showed us how to use a compass and then we charted out a underwater course, something that I wouldn’t have had the option to do on just getting my open water certification.
However, it wasn’t until the next day that I really got another awesome opportunity, we dived to a 100ft. For an open water certification you can only go 60ft and you need to complete five dives. Since I got that extra third dive in the day before, I got my five dives in and because I was doing really well Bert trusted me to take me to a 100ft. It is at a 100ft that nitrogen narcosis starts in (a cause from having more nitrogen in the blood than the body can absorb leading to a “drunken state of being”) and we had to do some additional tests at that depth to see the effects on us. There wasn’t really anything that was noticeable to any of us. We got one more dive that was a multilevel dive meaning that we started at 80 ft, then 60 ft and lastly around 40 ft. I can honestly say that the whole experience was one of the coolest things that I have ever done in my life.
Over all the whole island was great. Lisa and I decided to check out another island called San Pedro on Christmas Day. This island is more touristy and even has ATM’s, dance clubs and a hospital. We didn’t like it as much as Caye Caulker which is quieter and more intimate. I missed my friends and family on Christmas Day which was the first time that I have ever missed it in the 27 years that I have been born. Plus, it didn’t really feel the same with 89 degree weather, sun, sand and palm trees, but it was a transition I greeted with SPF 15.
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