Belize Winter 2025 - Part IV

Monday January 27

Last night we walked to the brew pub to watch the Chiefs and the Bills  play in the AFC championship game. It was fun. There were plenty of other American football fans there. Some of them were there for the previous game where the Steelers annihilated the Challengers. I heard someone at breakfast calling the Challengers the Redskins. I guess old habits die hard.

I got a margarita and we got some wings and settled down to watch at least some of the game.  The wings were a lot better than the burger and nachos we had the other day. We watched the 1st half and the start of the third quarter. It was fun talking to fellow fans, some for the Bills, some for the Chiefs. Now that the Chiefs are so dominant everyone loves to hate them, but for me its fun to root for a good (or great) team for a change, kind of like when the Cardinals are good. And Mahones is just fun to watch, as is Andy Reid, stoic and mostly calm on the sidelines. And to see who Taylor Swift is sitting with. Last game she had Caitlin Clark with her; last night it was Travis Kelce’s mom.

When we left the Chiefs were still ahead but not by much. We stayed up until they won. Off we go to the third Super Bowl in a row, pretty cool. And to think 20 years ago when we first moved to Austin I had not a clue about football. Cody got me started and then Lee and Dan got interested as well. At first it was mostly college ball. Really it’s only been in the past few years, since we moved to Minnesota, that I’ve gotten interested in professional football, and even basketball last year when the Timberwolves got hot.

So today is our last day, we leave for the little airport on Caye Caulker at 11:10. This will be a long travel day; I’ll report back tomorrow! 

Back Home, Wednesday January 29

We’ve been home for a day now. We’re glad to be home even though it was a nice vacation. We liked the laid back vibe on Caye Caulker and the inexpensiveness too. The dogs are all just fine, even Heather seems happy and much better than when we left. Rita even gave them baths this time, and said Harper was fine and didn’t freak out. We want to know her secret!

The puddle jumper from Caye Caulker to Belize City was fun. iIs only a 10 minute flight, and the view over the water was just gorgeous. We were able to fill out the departure form online before we left and  ended up with a lot of time to kill at the airport in Belize City. But the rest of the flights went smoothly. And going through immigration in the US was nothing compared to how it’s been sometimes in the past. We have Global Entry and they now use facial recognition so that took all of a minute. And it seems like customs is now selective about who they check. Anyway we wound our way through immigration in Houston and that was that.

When we got to our gate for our flight to Minneapolis we still had an hour and as luck would have it there was a Texas BBQ place right next to our gate, so we split some sliders and a salad. It was pretty good, the real thing even in an airport!

We both managed to sleep a little on the flight to Minneapolis. It was after 11 pm when we landed, a long day. And oh joy! The ParknFly van was right there waiting for us, and we were dropped off at our car first too.

We were home in bed before 1 pm. Unfortunately we had to get up because our housekeepers were coming. But we went to breakfast in Excelsior and then got the dogs and took them for a walk. Even Heather trotted right along, with a couple breaks in the stroller.

We really liked getting away from the cold for a week. In a month we’re going to California for a couple weeks too. Winter will be over before we know it!

We’re talking about where we might go next year. We thought Portugal but it’s not warm enough. We’d still like to go to Costa Rica someday, so that’s a possibility. Then Lee suggested Palm Springs. Warm, sunny and we could combine it with an Emi visit. Maybe!

The biggest downside of our trip for me are the bug bites I got. Probably sand flies from what I’ve read. I’m putting hydrocortisone cream on the bites but it's not helping very much. They were really bothering me last night. I’ve got a call in to my doc to see if I can get something stronger. Dr. Google says the welts from the bites could last up to two weeks. Ugh! (the nurse said to take an antihistamine, so I went back on Claritin and that definitely helped! All better now.)

Belize Winter 2025 Part III

Saturday January 25

We woke up to blue skies! Yay! No rain today, and none tomorrow either. It’s windy but who cares!

We take our time, drinking coffee in our room, banana pancakes again in the resort restaurant. Around 10:30 we grab our bikes and ride to the Split Ferry. The ferries (there are a few different ones) are basically pontoon boats that are large enough to hold a golf cart, a couple of bikes, and some people as well. The channel is small, it only takes 5 minutes at most. Soon we’re on the north island.

There’s not much there, a few resorts, a few restaurants, lots of construction though of what looks like condos and fancy houses and resorts. The roads are the same Belize roads though, packed sand and potholes.

We tool along following the signs for Bliss Beach. We’re not sure what it is but we’re going to find out! It’s about three miles from the ferry to the beach. it turns out to be a nice beach where you can enjoy the ocean, sit in a lounge chair, and grab a drink. No food though, and we’re getting hungry, so we opt to turn around. We ride about two miles back to the Happy Lobster and have lunch there. I have conch fritters and Lee has a lobster and we share. They are spiny lobsters which means they don’t have claws. They’re split in half and it’s easy to pick out the meat. The conch fritters are excellent as well. They’re served with a chili lime dip that’s spicy but delicious. Just use it sparingly! I get another Mexican coke as well.

We bike back to the ferry. As we’re riding the ferry back my hat blows off! Oh no! It’s the hat I bought on the Big Island in Hawaii during our trip there for Dan and Kelsey’s wedding. It’s easy to see it in the clear blue water but we can’t reach it. The ferry captain says he’ll try to get it on his next trip but I really don’t want to wait around. All of a sudden the girl at the next dock over jumps in the water and rescues my hat! I thank her profusely and she tells me to wear it backwards if I’m facing into the wind. Good idea!

Back at the hotel I decide to get in the pool and swim a few laps to cool off. Well, the water is FREEZING. I only swim around 250 yards before I have to get out. Lee says it’s mostly rain water after the week we’ve had and he’s probably right. There hasn’t been any sun to warm it up, that’s for sure.

Sunday January 26

We had a pizza delivered for dinner. It was pretty good, mostly a nice change. 

In the morning it’s another beautiful day, and less windy too. We have a reservation to go snorkeling at 9 AM. We meet our guide out on the dock. I’m nervous; it’s been at least 10 years since we’ve done this and because of all the wind yesterday it was pretty choppy.

But our guide was really nice, and knowledgeable. He knew the names of lots of different fish. The first place we went he got in the water with us. Alas I had a problem; my mask leaked. We tried to fix it but my face is really narrow and sometimes I need a kid’s mask. I tried to make the best of it, just dumping the water out occasionally.

We floated around looking at all the different fish. The coral was brown but we expected that. Poor coral. There was a fairly strong current and I was still nervous. I had a life jacket around my waist so that I would be a little buoyant. Lee took his off; he didn’t need it. Of course we had flippers too. I tried to stay pretty close to our guide, but at one point I accidentally got a mouthful of water and that freaked me out. I couldn’t seem to keep up with Lee and the guide. The guide took a look at me and asked if I was ok. I shook my head no. He grabbed me, told me to just float on my back and relax. I floated, but didn’t relax, sigh. Once we got back to the boat and I was out of the water I was fine. He gave me a water bottle and told me to drink some. I was kind of mad at myself for having a little panic attack but oh well.

We drove to another site. Here there were a BUNCH of nurse sharks and sting rays. We got in the water again and just floated there for a bit while the sting rays swam underneath us and the nurse sharks bumped us with their big brown bodies. It was pretty cool but now it was Lee’s turn to be nervous, so we didn’t stay in the water very long. The sting rays are neat, they have big eyes and seem to be looking at you speculatively. The nurse sharks weren’t scary at all. Apparently they don’t have actual teeth but the insides of their mouths are very sandpapery. They are called nurse sharks because they suck up their food, like a baby with a bottle.

The third site, the coral gardens, was very shallow. Once again Lee and I got in the water by ourselves. The current here was really strong but finally my mask seemed to be seated properly and it quit leaking. We would kick against the current and then float down and look at all the fish. I saw a white fish with pink stripes that was beautiful.

After that we boated over to the other side of Caye Caulker and looked at the tarpons and pelicans. People are allowed to feed the tarpons here so that’s what we did. We had to be careful of the pelicans; they would take your fingers off, but all the tarpons did was bump your arm and make you drop the fish. Lee and I both fed them. It was awesome!

That was the end of the snorkeling adventure. It was fun once I recovered from being scared. It’s the ocean, and open water that does it for me. I love to look at it but getting in it not so much.

Belize Winter 2025 Part II

Thursday, January 23

After our afternoon expedition we went back to the hotel for a while. We just lazed around. I took a shower and a little after 5 we walked down to our reservation for dinner, Pasta La Casa. It’s a very popular Italian restaurant that gets very good reviews. They have two seatings, 5:30 and 7:30. The tables are communal and we sat next to another couple, Susie and Bob. They live in Oregon and have done a lot of traveling in their old age. We compared notes on places we have been, what we like to do. We have similar hobbies, Susie also crochets, bakes, and gardens; Bob plays guitar but is also an artist, pen and ink. So we had plenty to talk about. 

The food was very good, as was the wine. But something strange happened with our main course and it took a long time to arrive, like an hour! It’s like they forgot us, but that seems impossible, we were all there for the same reason and there were only two items on the menu! It did eventually show up and it was delicious, although I think I enjoyed it more than Lee; he said there was an awful lot of cheese on the pasta. That was ok by me!

I slept a lot better last night, although I did wake up with some mosquito bites. We’ve done our usual morning routine, coffee in our room then down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. Today I got two scrambled eggs and banana bread. I almost got the banana pancakes again!

It’s actually chilly today, low 70’s for the high. I think even Belize is being affected by the polar vortex! We’ve kept the bikes for another day and in a while we’ll go down to the brewery for lunch and a beer flight.

Later:

The brewery was fun. Lee was finally able to get an IPA and I got a coconut porter. We got food as well, but the burger and nachos were pretty mediocre. They have good TV’s though; we may go back to watch the Chiefs vs the Bills on Sunday.

The afternoon was a little TOO lazy for me; Lee took a nap; I finally went for a walk, all the way down to the Split and back. It was just as well that things were slow, Friday was busy!

Friday, January 24

Well we’re sitting waiting for the ferry back to Caye Caulker and I’m on my phone so we’ll see how this goes.

I woke up at 4:30 am this morning to get ready to go on our guided tour of the Mayan ruins at Lamania. We needed to meet our taxi at 5:50 to make it to the 6:30 ferry on time. This is the earliest we’ve been up in a while.

It’s dark and rainy out but Max our driver is prompt and his golf cart taxi has clear plastic shades so we get to the ferry on time and dry.

The ferry is full and it leaves a few minutes late but soon we’re on our way to Belize City. There we meet Juan who helps us find our driver, boat captain and guide for the day, Julian. We pile into J’s ancient van and soon we are tooling around Belize City picking up the other people on our tour. 

Finally we are on our way to Orange Walk, from where we will take a boat to the ruins. Along the way we learn interesting factoids from J, and sampling of which are below:

a) Belize City is no longer the capital. They moved it inland to Belmopan after a hurricane hit Belize in the ‘80’s and Belize City flooded badly.

b) Lamania was just discovered in the 70’s which explains why I don’t remember hearing of it 50 years ago.

c) J is Mestizo, Mayan and Spanish mixed. His grandparents are full Mayan and still wear traditional clothing.

It takes an hour to get to the boat. I’m very impressed by the highway, mostly smooth paved 2 lane the entire way. J says there are no speed limits in Belize, just periodic speed bumps and police checkpoints to keep people in line. It seems to work pretty well too. You wouldn’t want to hit one of those bumps going 50 that’s for sure!

After about an hour we transferred to a large speed boat and away we went up the New River. By now it has stopped raining, and it stayed dry for the entire boat ride and the tour of the ruins. I have no idea how he found his way through that curvy many channeled mess but I guess he does it all the time. We sped along taking the curves at an angle and me with my eyes shut half the time.

Pelican Outside a Mennonite Village

Periodically he’d screech to a halt and point out something of interest, a bird, a crocodile, a Mennonite village. The river got very wide and became a lake, and then we were finally there.

So Lamania was pretty spectacular. We climbed one of the temples and walked around a lot of them. When we were finished with the tour we had a picnic lunch cooked by J’s mom. And I had a Mexican coke too! I was starving!

We checked out the little museum and then it was time to reverse the process. Hour long speed boat ride back to Orange Walk. Ancient van ride back to Belize City. We were the first one’s dropped off, which was nice, but we missed the 3:00 PM ferry by about 20 minutes, which meant we had to wait about an hour for the 4:30 ferry. 

While we were waiting for the ferry it started pouring again. After all of J’s stories about Belize City flooding the copious amount of water coming down started to make me nervous. It was still raining hard when we got on the ferry, but somewhere along the way the rain stopped and the clouds actually parted a little.

We were very glad to get back to Caye Caulker. No Max waiting for us but that was ok; we didn’t mind walking back to Weezies. A couple of showers and soon we were down in the restaurant once again, drinking wine and eating pasta. We’re both really tired and we’re glad we don’t have any big plans for tomorrow.

Belize Winter 2025 - Part I

A Rastafarian Temple

January 20, 2025

 

A little over 50 years ago a friend and I went to Belize. We were on a grand tour of Mexico and Central America with stops in Tulum, Honduras, San Salvador and Guatemala as well as Belize and other places in Mexico. We were foolish, innocent, naive young women, still living in a haze of hippiedom with a perhaps misplaced faith in the goodness of the world.

Along the way we met fellow Americans, Europeans, and natives of all the countries we visited, including many that were indigenous. We traveled on buses, boats, trains and small planes. We hitched rides, sometimes lucky ones, and in Belize a terrible one where we were raped and were lucky to get out of it mostly unscathed. We were all of 22 years old, almost 23.

Now here are Lee and I going back to Belize. I recently got out my little travel diary from that long ago trip. I remember a surprising amount, but I’d forgotten a lot as well, including how we got from Tulum to Belize City, and where we stopped when we took a boat down the coast.

This trip is of course a far cry from the one back then. We are flying from Minneapolis to Houston and from there to Belize City where the resort where we will be staying will pick us up and take us by car and boat to Caulker Caye where we will stay for a week. We’ll explore, relax, go snorkeling and take one day to go on a guided tour of some Mayan ruins.

I expect things to be unrecognizable. I remember Belize City as quiet, with dusty streets. We stayed at a hostel with a big front porch where we hung out for several days recovering from our harrowing journey. We met an Australian who took us to a restaurant and bade us try something called “sour sop soup”. I’m sure it had coconut in it and beyond that I have no idea.

We eventually found a “rice boat” going down the coast that took us to Placencia Village and then on to Punta Gorda where we took a small motor boat across a bay to Livingston, Honduras.

50 years ago most of the Belize interior was impassable, with roads that only the toughest vehicles could transverse. When we go to the ruins we will travel on a road to the town of Orange Walk and then take a boat up a river from there. I’m sure it will be better but maybe not by a whole lot.

I’m excited for this trip. We are currently on our flight from Minneapolis to Houston. We have a fairly tight connection in Houston but with luck things will go smoothly.

It’s horribly cold in Minnesota, -15F this morning with a wind chill close to -30F, and tomorrow will be worse. It’s even cold in Houston, 30F, so they’re probably freaking out.

It was hard leaving the dogs this time, even though I know that they are in good hands. I just have this sense that Heather is toward the end of her time with us, and it makes me sad. We’ve taken to leaving her in the crate when we are gone for a few hours and a few days ago she pooped in the crate and got it all over herself so she had to have a bath when we got home. It was a mess and I felt terrible. Since then she’s been okay but she’s been coughing more and sometimes it just seems like she doesn’t feel well. Poor Heather. I just don’t want her to suffer. When it’s time I would rather err on the side of one day too early than one day too late.

January 21, 2025

When I left off we were on our first flight. We landed in Houston and had about a 20 minute walk to our next gate and about 40 minutes supposedly until our next flight started boarding. Such a big airport! We get to our next flight and it’s delayed a bit “due to operational changes” whatever that means. A lot of flights for Tuesday (today) are being cancelled because of the bad weather so maybe that was it, anyway they had to get a a different plane. But eventually we boarded and took off.

It wasn’t a very long flight, maybe an hour and a half. We started our descent and approach to the Belize City airport and as we were preparing to land the plane’s engine’s roared and we took off again. Lee and I glanced at each other; we knew that wasn’t normal! We circled around with my mind going to dark places intermittently while I kept telling it to “shut up!”. We descended and landed again without incident. The pilot got on the intercom and apologized. Apparently a Delta jet had decided to taxi on to our runway right when we were preparing to land! But as the pilot said, “we’re all safe now”. Sheesh. New one for me.

Belize airport is little of course, but pretty busy. Another plane landed right around the same time as us so immigration was crowded. But once it was our turn we went through swiftly. Nothing to declare and no one challenging us either. Soon we were out in the arrivals area and there was our driver holding a sign that said Weezies and Conrad Nill. Onward!

He drove us to the Marina where we boarded a little trawler. At first we putt-putted through a canal on our way to the open water. We saw a lot of iguanas. The green ones were the males and the brown ones were the females. We saw nice birds too, and a rainbow!

Then we hit the open water. He opened up the throttle and off we bumped through the somewhat choppy waves. It was a long boat ride it seemed. Bump bump bump. Not my favorite pastime, that’s for sure.

Finally we approached Caye Caulker, a little island and our home for the next week. We’re staying at a small resort called Weezies. Our room is very nice, a suite with a large living room, a kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. The living room has a balcony overlooking the pool and a little bit of open water. 

We were very tired last night. We ate at the resort’s restaurant. I tried to stay up until a decent hour but I’m sure I was asleep a little after 8. Still I managed to sleep until a little after 6 so well done Lynn! I woke up with a raging headache though, might have had something to do with that “Belizian Cooler” I had with my dinner.

A rainstorm blew through during the night. It’s supposed to rain most of this week off and on but we don’t really mind. I’m still getting over this cold. I have a croupy cough and my ears are stuffed up as well. This warm humid air has got to help.

In the morning we had coffee in our room and then went down to the restaurant for breakfast. I had huevos rancheros and Lee had fry jacks (Belizian beignets) and a fruit plate. The huevos were a little too spicy but I ate some of Lee’s fruit and a fry jack dipped in honey which was great. As we were eating another storm blew through.

After breakfast I took a shower and then we decided to walk into town. We took the road to get there. It was very busy, lots of bicycles and golf carts, some private, some taxis and some delivery vehicles. No cars on this island. The road was packed sand with lots of puddles. It started raining a couple of times and we ducked under awnings or porch overhangs until it let up.

We stopped at a grocery store. We needed more bug spray (sand flies!) and a little something to eat in the morning before the cafe opens, bread, butter and cream for our coffee. We wanted some fruit too but no luck.

We found the ferry which we will need on Friday when we go to see the ruins. Then we walked back along the water. There is a path winding around all the little resorts on this island. A much prettier way to go!

January 22, 2025

After resting back at the resort for a while we walked into town again for lunch. We tried one place but it wasn’t open. We found another, La Cubana, that looked ok and popped in there, sitting in the back room along the beach. We had only been seated for a few minutes and it started pouring again. Good timing!

We had their “snack plates” for lunch. I had their stewed chicken, which was delicious. Lee had grilled chicken and said it was good too. I had a beer and Lee had a coke zero. We struck up a conversation with some people at another table. One of the guys had traveled in Central America a lot, not 50 years ago, but 30 so we reminisced about how things have changed and how some things seem the same. 

While we were sitting there a group of snorkelers came into the restaurant. They were soaked from getting caught in the rain but they said the snorkeling was great.

We were pretty lazy the rest of the day. At one point we walked out to the dock and sat there for a while but the bugs are just terrible. The water is very shallow and you could just walk into it and swim if you wanted. Almost no waves and very clear with a sandy bottom.

We had another quiet night, ate at the hotel restaurant and in bed by 9. One problem; mosquitoes! Lee had turned down the fan and they started bothering us. It kind of disturbed my sleep. I had songs stuck in my head and couldn’t get comfortable. Another problem was a little water running down the wall. Lee put down his towel so the floor didn’t get wet. Eventually it stopped.

In the morning I got up around 6, started the coffee, and then the power went out. Ugh. It came back, went out again, came back again, and seems to have stayed on since then.

After breakfast (banana pancakes, mmm) we decided to make reservations to go snorkeling on Sunday. The weather is supposed to be better by then. AND we decided to take a small plane back to the airport on Monday. It will be a lot less hassle than taking the ferry, and faster and less bumpy than a small boat.

We rented bikes for the day. They are just beach bikes but that’s all you need around here. We cycled all the way up to the northernmost point of the island which is called the Split. There is a small island that you can take a ferry to and bike around there as well. Maybe tomorrow.

Then we cycled down to the airport and watched one of the puddle jumpers land, right over our heads. That was fun! Traversing most of the island  was about 3.5 miles. It’s just not very big.

We went back to the hotel for a little while and then took our bikes out again to lunch at a little middle eastern place. The owner was originally from Honduras. She had married a man from Jordan but they split up.  I joked “but you kept the recipes!” She laughed. 

Then we tried to find an umbrella but no luck. We bought a couple of ponchos instead, just in case, and I bought a strip of bandaids because I’ve now got a blister on one of my toes from walking around yesterday in flip flops. Sigh.

To Be continued.