Belize It Or Not: February 2006

Monday, February 27, 2006

Sun and the City

Hello Everyone,

After two weekends away, Michael and I were happy to stay in Belize City for some sun and relaxation. On Friday night we joined Scotty's cycling group for dinner. Scotty, pictured with Michael, is Michael's cycling instructor from Toronto. Michael is devoted to Scotty's class and when we found out he was bringing a group out to Belize for a cycling trip we had to see him. Dinner with the group was full of laughs. One guy, Matt, was particularly funny. He had stories from around the world. They were mostly about self inflicted injury and the parody that followed. Michael also had a great time chatting with John, one of his spinning buddies, from back home. It was really nice to spend time with the Canadians.

Saturday morning, we took or usual walk to the fruit stand for some juicy treats. Michael found another great watermelon, a 14 pounder this time. We then headed to the Pickwick Club and our temple, the gym. This was followed by what Michael calls 'shul of the pool'. It was a gorgeous sunny day, what else were we to do but

work on our tans. Michael was eager to use the aloe he had purchased earlier in the week. He is really serious about getting darker. I think he just wants to look really baked for when the Telpners get here next week. After spending our afternoon in the sun we had dinner and watched the movie 'Munich'. I thought it was great. Good job Spielberg!

Sunday was spent between the pool, gym and tennis court. I like Sundays. There is only one playground in Belize City and it's right beside our building. On Sunday afternoon, families gather at the park to hang out, eat and let their kids play. All the little traditional Spanish food carts open up and it smells great. It's the only place and time I've seen families in Belize City get together to just hang out without it being some kind of holiday or festival. Otherwise, the streets around where we live are quiet. It's nice to see people out and about. All in all, it was great weekend at home.

We're looking forward to our trip away with the Telpners next week. I'll be updating the blog in two weeks following our vacation on Amberigis Caye.

Love y'all!

Michael doing his fitness thing at the park beside our building.

One our way to the Pickwick Club and ready to work out.

The pool and front and entrance building at the Pickwick.

The pool and club house. The white building in the background is our apartment building.

The high tech gym.

Michael working out, he likes to show it off.

Barracks Road on a Sunday afternoon between the Pickwick and our apartment.

Food stand getting ready for the evening rush.

The only park in Belize City has a Police Station. BTL stands for Belize Telecommunications Limited.

Newtown Barracks Police Station, it's open, sometimes.

Monday, February 20, 2006

South For the Weekend

Michael and I are still getting used to the idea of vacationing in the tropics on weekends. So we had to subject ourselves to another trip in paradise. Along with Michael's co-worker, Landy and his girlfriend Sole, we drove south to the resort town of Placencia.

We headed out on Friday evening in the Scotiabank truck for the four hour drive. Michael was the lucky driver being the only one who can knows standard. With the road being windy, pitch black and unpaved at times, Michael did a great job getting us there in one piece. Michael was convinced that we would get a flat tire and then some twisted 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' scene would ensue. Just remove the movie's evil character Leather Face and add in a group of scary banditos to make it realistic. Thankfully, the drive was uneventful. I was just happy to arrive at our final destination, Chabil Mars Villas.

The units at Chabil Mars are privately owned and rented out by a management company. The villa we stayed in belongs to one of Landy's clients resulting in a great deal for the weekend. The newly built two bedroom villa was beautiful. I wasn't too surprised by the interior as the villa owner also owns the only furniture and department store in Belize City, Mirab. As nicely decorated as it was we preferred spending our time outside. We ate all our meals on the villa's ocean view deck. Right beside the villa was an infinity pool and directly in front was a soft white sand beach and a simple but upscale pier. My favourite thing in the villa was the bed. It was pillow top, sink into softness, comfortable. It made me miss our bed in Toronto.

Saturday was a wonderful day. Michael and I swam, read and relaxed under the 'not a care in the world' blue sky. We're getting used to living in a bathing suit every weekend. Oh, the torture of it! With the exception of Friday night we didn't go into town. It's not that we didn't want to see Placencia, but after having dinner at a little open air beach restaurant Friday night, we realized that the town is full of tourists and we didn't really care about being there. We get enough Belize culture in the city. We just wanted to sit by the ocean under the sun reading Bryce Courtney and we did.

Saturday afternoon, Landy and Sole went into town to hit the bars. Michael and I stayed at the villa and had a quiet romantic dinner. It was nice. Michael tortured a frog with the repetitive and close up flash of our camera and we realized that quite a few bats live in the trees by the deck. We watched some Olympics and a chunk of the movie 'Castaway'. I think Michael's love for Tom Hanks is a little unnatural. Landy, Sole and a few people Landy knows from the local Scotiabank came back to the villa later that night. They were great people and we had some laughs with them before heading to bed.

Sunday we awoke to cloudy skies. Throughout breakfast we could see fish jumping in the ocean. Michael grabbed his snorkeling gear and we were off to the pier to see if he could catch a glimpse of the fish. Michael jumped in the water and started swim around. Before I even got in the water I heard him shriek like a little girl. The water was murky and he swam right into a fish. It scared the hell out of him and made me laugh hysterically. You would have thought he saw a shark by the way he screamed.

We left Placencia mid-morning. It looked like it was going to rain. We can't seem to get a weekend with two days of good weather. Woe is us! Landy and Sole were definitely ready to leave. They don't do the beach thing very often and were a little groggy after hitting the bars the day before. The drive home was fine. It didn't really rain but the sky didn't clear up either. Michael got us back to Belize City in the record time of three hours. We were happy to be back and were lazy for the rest of the day. We are watching a lot of Olympics. We know a lot about the American athletes as we only get American coverage. Since the Americans know they can't win in hockey this year we don't get to see the hockey games. It basically sucks. On the upside of getting American coverage NBC commentators are actually really funny sometimes and I think I'm falling in love with Matt Lauer. Very scary.

We enjoyed the weekend out of the city. We're happy that we are traveling around the country and seeing the sites, but I think we'll stay home next weekend. Scotty, Michael's spin instructor, is coming here with a cycling group next Friday so we'll try to hang out with them for part of the night. We're looking forward to seeing some familiar faces.

I want to send a shout out to Patsy. It was her birthday this past Sunday. Happy Birthday Patsy! I hope it you had a super fantastic weekend.

Love and great big hugs,
Carly

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Playing in Placencia

The first floor is our villa from the beach.

Our front yard for the weekend.

Landy and Sole in the villa, drink anyone?

Our super comfortable bed.

Michael reading on the beach.

The pier.

My official past time, tanning.

I think he's cute.

The pool right outside the villa.

The beach right by our villa.

Hanging out after dinner on the deck. I think Michael needs a new shirt.

I never know what to do with my arms.

Our friend the frog.

Tough guys in front of the big tough guy truck.

Michael, what are you doing!?!

Monday, February 13, 2006

Sun + Sand = Paradise

What a great weekend! After Michael's birthday Thursday, we were set to head out to Caye (pronounced 'kee') Caulker for the weekend. Being in the heat of Belize City minus the beach had taken it's toll on me and it was time to bask in the sun on the sand. My birthday gift to Michael would serve us well. The private flight in a four seater plane would only take 20 minutes to get us to paradise.

The flight was great. Michael and I got into our small Carib-Bee plane with the flight sevice's owner, Arthur, and our pilot, his son, Arthur Jr. I had arranged the flight with the help of our new friend David. He was very generous. Picking us up from our apartment and giving Michael the gift of a bottle of wine and a snack. We were very thankful. The plan was to head into the skies, do a quick loop around Belize City for the view and then head over the Caribbean Sea to the caye. Sounded great to me.

Michael was smiling the entire time and he couldn't stop talking about how cool it was. It was a beautiful clear sunny day. The colour of the sky and the sea was bright turquoise and totally unreal. The only turbulence we felt was coming down for the landing and it wasn't bad at all. One of my favourite parts of the experience was upon landing there was a girl on her bike on the runway. The pilot and his dad laughed mumbling 'only in Belize'. They went on to tell us about the cows that they usually spot. They have to radio down to someone to get them out of the way. The filght was great. We got a bit of a tour and a lot of beautiful scenery. I never thought I'd say this, but I wish it was a longer flight.

Once on the caye we had to get a golf cart taxi to take us into the main town. There are no cars on Caye Caulker so all you see is bikes and golf carts, it's part of the island's charm. People kept telling me that Caulker had a 'small town' feel. That's exactly what it felt like. It is a small Caribbean town where you can see the water on either side of the island at the same time. We were staying at one of the nicer hotels in, Barefoot Caribbe. It was your basic room with a great little balcony and hammock. The caye doesn't have all inclusive resorts. The hotels are small and there are a variety of restaurants to choose from all along the main strip. The seafood was incredible and unbelievably cheap.

After lunch at a spot with a fantastic view, we set off to find a snorkeling trip for the afternoon. I was finally going to tackle my fear of the great big things that live under water. I was a little nervous, but optimistic. Belize has some of the best snorkeling and diving in the world. I had to give it a try. Our afternoon tour would take us to three different locations, the close by and shallow coral reef, Hol Chan reserve and Sting Ray Alley. Our first stop was only a five minute boat ride from shore. It was shallow enough that us beginners could put our feet down while getting used to our masks and fins. I started off with a life jacket around my waist. That only lasted a few seconds. Once I got in the water I realized that 1) the water was only four feet deep, 2) fins are great and 3) I can swim. I guess I was just a little nervous at first. Within a few minutes I left the beginners group to check out the coral reef. It's a whole new world. The water was so clear making visibility perfect. The fish were beautiful and the colours amazing.

Our second stop at Hol Chan reserve was even better. The water was deeper, the reef was bigger and there were more fish to see. Michael saw a huge, six foot, black fish, but I missed that moment without regret. We think it might have been a big barracuda. Scary! The tour was kind of funny. There were eight of us on the small speedboat with Edgar, our tour guide. In the water Edgar would point out different fish and corrals with a stick and then surface to inform us of the name. The funny part was his stern and mechanical repetition, "That is a Blue parrot fish, blue parrot fish!" Maybe you had to be there.

Our last stop was definitely the most memorable, Sting Ray Alley. The water at this stop was at most three feet deep allowing only a foot between you and the fish. Once we were all in the water, Edgar started throwing dead fish off the side of the boat. This resulted in a serious feeding frenzy of not only sting rays, but nurse sharks as well. There had to have been at least 50 rays going crazy and a few sharks in the mix. Everyone was pretty close to the underwater riot and I was backing away thinking 'what are these people doing'. Now, sting rays don't bother people unless they feel threatened but the ten foot nurse sharks were enough r

eason for me to stay at least a few feet away. I actually didn't get really nervous until the huge eight foot ray swam directly underneath me leaving less than a foot between us. Other than that moment of totally paralyzing fear, I was completely fine. I didn't realize how crazy Sting Ray Alley was until later that day when Michael told me, with all his diving and snorkeling experience, he had never seen anything like that. Usually, you might see a couple of rays, not 50. Either way, I loved it and can't wait to go again next weekend. It was a wonderful new experience for me and I am happy Michael got to see something new.

That night we walked down to the Split, home to the Lazy Lizard. It's a great little open air bar on the beach. Bob Marley and everyone just talking and having a great time set a great scene. It was so relaxed. We sat back and enjoyed the sunset without a care in the world. After a very potent drink called Lizard juice, lime and rum slushy, some food was necessary. Dinner on the beach at a restaurant called Bamboo served up great local creole seafood. You just couldn't look at any of the stray cats or they would hang out by your table for half the night. We went for a walk at night, something we haven't done for a while (not recommended in Belize City but completely safe everywhere else in the country). It was a fabulous day I will not easily forget.

The next morning we awoke to the expected cold front. The sky was grey and the wind was howling. Michael's diving trip was cancelled and we decided to head back to the city. Our boat ride back was quite treacherous. The sea was rough. Even on our closed passenger boat everyone sitting near the open rear had to move to the front after getting soaked. They boat caught some air on quite a few waves. We just felt bad for the open air boat that left the dock at the same time as us. I'm sure they were all soaked to the bone. Upon arrival in the city, we were happy to be home. It was a great 24 hours in Caye Caulker. Michael couldn't get over the idea of feeling like we were on a major vacation but we were only gone for 24 hours and could go back so easily. I loved the whole experience and I can't wait to go back!