For Mom, Love Steve

So this is where I got stuck. Caye Caulker is about a 45 minute water taxi ride north of Belize city. Now, I was actually really looking forward to this part of my trip from even the beginning. Now, I know I have not been to enthused about islands, but as this was actually a Caye and not an island, I figured it would be okay, even if some Belizean orphans were going to have to start school without supplies.

I wasn´t planning on making the long run in one day figuring I could stop off in Dangria another Garifune town half way between Placencia and Belize city, but after walking around the town for a couple of hours, I figured it was just going to be another disappointment so I stopped by a grocery store and loaded up on some food which I would take with me to C.C. From there it was a second bus to the capital and then a third express bus to Belize City. Now, most people I had been talking to were pretty much giving Belize City a poor score on the destination scale as it was crappy and dangerous, so I figured it would be fine to do another capital city style run through. Fortunately, from the bus station to the water taxi office is only about a five minute walk although most people again recommended not walking and taking a taxi the couple of hundred meters. Now, just to try and balance things out, I do have to say that I think that the negative talk is a bit over done. I know what the key reason why people have such a negative feeling towards Belize city even though really it is not that big nor different than any other port town. The main reason is sadly because the population is black. Drving through town with the exception of skin tone, there was no different layout or out of control bad guy on the corner look to it than any other town that I had been in in Central America. In fact the dangerous five minute walk was the main road which was side by side stores run by Indians. So maybe I have my perceptions crossed and Indian shopkeepers are really dangerous or perhaps they are such good sellers that you end up spending all your money, but in general, I think most people see black people and automatically start getting into the gang infested ghetto mode. Kind of a bad rap, but what can you do, at least I am acknowledging it. In reality though, it was the same issue in Key West and St. Thomas as the same kind of unwarranted impression is given. Sadly, even in paradise.

The taxi boat was packed with tourists as we headed off to the budget island versus San Pedro which was the more all inclusive resort style island. We pulled in and I grabbed my bag and headed off to the left down the beach having got the heads up on a great place to stay right on the beach. A couple of Australian girls I met in Placencia had let me know that the two best budget options were either Bellas, which was in the center of town but it had a kitchen or Ignacios which was on the beach but had no kitchen and was about ten minutes walk from all the hubbub of the tourist center. I was not interested in all with the town center so the cabanas on the beach were an easy choice. It was basically at the end of the tourist places with the tip of the island being still kind of wild. I picked out a cabana, dropped my bags and was in a hammock ten minutes later. The cabanas were basic but versus the other style huts and cabanas that I had been in, really nice especially since they included a bathroom. The beach was ten feet away and there was great views. A crickety old pier led out over the sea grass which gave way to a little deeper water where you could swim. The island is basically surrounded by flats and sea grass, but the reef is around a mile out easily spotted from shore as the waves breaking were very visible. Most of the time the water was crystal clear although when the wind picked up it got a little choppy and the visiblity dropped. Other than that, some really nice water.

I ended up staying for two weeks as Ruben the son of the owner through in a buy six and get one free night deal as well as towards the end letting me have all the usual additions for free, drinking water, bike, snorkeling, etc. The island itself is one of those mandatory week places with a lot of activities on tap. The most common activities were snorkeling and diving with the Blue Hole being a world class draw and the second longest barrier reef. Other stuff including hiking, bird watching (extremely popular as being on the end of the island we saw all the birding freaks passing by with all there binoculars, long lens cameras, camoflauge, books, etc. If I go back, I am going to bring a shotgun and follow them around asking them to spot birds out for me). Fishing was also a huge draw as sport fishing for flats fish was pretty active as I saw a ton of guys with their fly rods as well as guide bringing their clients right in front of the property. Just at our dock I spotted Tarpon, Snook, Bonefish, Barracuda, Jacks, and all the other little shore fish. I fly fished a little bit but really didn´t want to get too involved as I really would have stuck around. One Dutch guy was there for two weeks and he spend every day out on a Kayak flyfishing for Tarpon. With the island life you also have tons of restaurants and bars to hang out with although I spent most of my time at Ignacios having only walked to the other side maybe three times the whole time I was there.

Steve´s daily itinerary.

5:30A Wake up at sunset and watch the day begin. The Cabanas face the East so you get the best fireball sunrises.
6:00A Hang out on the dock seeing what kind of fishies are around debating whether I should pick up some fishing stuff.
7:00A Have my patented peanut butter, jam, and sliced banana (sliced long ways not into circles- makes a huge difference in the flavor, really,) sandwiches for breakfast.
8:00A Play with Armando, one of the third generations of the family owned Ignacios before he went off to school
9:00A Back to the dock to hang out and then the start of my hammock time.
10:00A Rubens (second generation) wife comes to take over the office bringing with her their 10 month old baby and Ruby their 3 year old and my other playmate. We play until around noon when Armando comes back from school for lunch and we all hang out under the Cabana with my hammock and a swing.
1:00P Armando goes back to school and Ruby goes in for a nap so I head to town to my tortilla making shop where I pick up a bag of freshly made tortilla chips and then to the Chinatown grocery store for a can of tuna. After lunch it´s a quick swim and snorkel followed by a hammock laze.
3:00P Armando comes back from school and Ruby wakes up hearing us playing and she comes out. We full around until 5:30 when Ruby goes back to her house with her mom. I go for my afternoon swim and then hang out with Armando, Chuck (retired American friend of Ruben who spends a few months a year in Belize at Ignacios) and Ruben.

6:00P Dinner time so either I go to town for some take away stewed chicken and dirty rice, some canned food I brought from the mainland, or out with Chuck and Ricky (Another son of Ignacio).

8:00P Back to Ignacios for some dock time relaxing sometimes with a cigar sometimes with my spotlight to attract fish and crabs.

10:00P Bed time.

The weather was still a little volatile as some of the winter crap from the north blows down and we got hit twice with some chilly nights. Out of the two weeks I would say we had “perfect weather” for nine days and some overcast day the rest. Overall very nice.

My last night was really nice as they threw a going away bbq for me with a whole table full of food. I hadn´t had a hearty american style bbq in a long time so I ate a shit load. Two servings of everything and three of the mashed potatoes. I was getting in shape for thirteen of my days there.

I had a really great time even though I pretty much did real low key stuff. I didn´t go on any of the tours as I wasn´t really all that interested in paying money to see stuff that I had done many times before, instead one day I snuck out on a kayak to the “not allowed without a guide” reef and checked it out on my own. Playing with the kids was great and pretty much eliminated my middle of the day nap times. Caye Caulker definitely rates as a possible return visit place especially because I would like to go back armed with some of my fishing stuff. With it being so close to California and cheap flights to Cancun, I could easily get down there anytime I wanted. I am sure the family would be happy to see me return, especially the kids.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 7th, 2010 at 3:04 pm and is filed under Belize. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.