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  • Day 171

    Belize: Caye Caulker

    October 24, 2015 in Belize ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    3B = £1. English is the first language.

    Feeling fully refreshed after a good sleep, we got up at 7am for our 7:30am shuttle to Belize. It arrived empty half an hour late, we picked up 2 other couples and off we went for the border. We ate our packed breakfast which the hotel had kindly given us again - cheese and ham sandwich plus an apple juice, which is better than their sit-down breakfast.

    We travelled for a couple of hours, crossed the border quickly and then travelled a further couple of hours to Belize City, which seemed a very lovely place, all colourful and no high rises. We waited an hour for the next boat and both had our favourite foods - Indian curry for Anna and ice cream for me. The boat took about 45 minutes and we were on the island by 2pm. Shuttle and boat cost 180Q total.

    We checked into the Tropical Paradise Hotel. At 90B it’s a bit more than we'd usually pay but there weren't any budget options we fancied. Turns out it’s a lovely place and well worth the money. We have a spacious, modern cabin a stone's throw from the sea with aircon, hot water and even a bath!

    I promptly planted myself on one of the nearby sunbeds on the ‘beach’ which is more concrete as there is no real sand on the island. For once it was the perfect sunbaking conditions with a strong breeze making the temperature ideal. Anna went off in search of her caffeine fix and then joined me. Some locals set up camp next to us with a large bottle of rum and a cooler full of ice. They invited us to watch them play in their band that evening.

    The sun disappeared behind the houses just after 4pm so we went for a wander around the small island. It's a beautiful place full of coloured, shabby wooden houses with a lovely vibe. We caught some of the sunset, spoke to some tour people and finally found an ATM (Caxton succeeded again). A random man offered to let us go watch him catch lobster and do some fishing for a tiny contribution of $100 each!! Both of our jaws dropped and we made our excuses. He later found us in the restaurant and invited us to dinner (well Anna mainly; I think I'd alienated myself when I told him I preferred to see fishes in the sea rather than murder them!). The men here are certainly friendly and stoking our egos. An old man tried to grind up dancing next to me and nearly got smacked by Anna!

    We had feared Belize was going to be uber expensive, especially in view of hotel prices, however there is a lot of cheap food options and the snorkelling tours are pretty reasonable. We had dinner at La Cubana and had mains, 3 rum punches and chocolate cake for 15B each (£5!). Anna had fish and I had salad, with coconut rice, beans and garlic bread.

    There was a big, lively political parade whilst we were dining and then they all congregated in the outdoor basketball court waiting for the party to begin. The band wasn't playing so we went back to the room for a while. We went out later and they still weren't playing so perhaps they got too drunk. We did however find our drunken fisherman friend, even more drunk and regaling us with the slowest story ever. Anna, buoyed on by her rums and 2 of mine seemed to enjoy encouraging his storytelling. He repeated his invite to dinner but we suspect he won't remember a thing tomorrow.
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