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Ambergris Caye, Belize
Heartfelt purchased a shirt which said, "Where the hell is Belize?". I think that sums up our trip perfectly. Up until a week before we set to leave for Belize I had thought it was in Mexico. It's actually in Central America, way down at the bottom. It's a hidden gem, and that's how we felt: like we'd fallen into a tropical paradise that hadn't been sullied by massive tourism. Why did we go there of all places? I'll tell you. I have a subscription to Budget Travel and one of their issues focused on a guy's trip down to a place called Ambergris Caye (pronounced Ambergreez key). The title of the article was "Beachbum Central". Never before had I had any interest in a beach vacation, but after discovering the joys of SCUBA and snorkeling while on the Caribbean cruise with my brother, I was eager to do them again. This quiet little island described in the article sounded perfect. It isn't busy and crowded with tourists like Cancun or Ensenada; streets are unpaved and you can't get off except by boat or plane, yet English is spoken freely and amenities are relatively easy to come by if you hunt them down. It sounded like the best bet for experiencing authentic without roughing it, and after roping Heartfelt and Cinders into the trip, we were good to go. Note: it's a bit funny that the girls even went because Heartfelt is allergic to citrus fruit and can't swim, and Cinders is allergic to coconut and is afraid of fish. The gods insisted that a Caribbean vacation wasn't possible, and yet it all somehow worked out :) I met Cinders at the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport. We had a fun beginning. My flight from Vegas arrived in Dallas at 12:15. Our flight to Belize didn't leave until 1:50. Or that's what I thought I saw on my ticket. So I said to Cinders, "Hey, let's go get some lunch!". So we headed to TGI Friday's and had appetizers and main courses. Feeling a little antsy while waiting for the bill, I checked my watch. It was 1:05. Feeling a weird sense of impending doom, I double-checked my tickets. Boarding was at 12:35 and the flight left at 1:05. Yeah. Not 1:50. So she and I booked it out of TGI Friday's even though the plane had already left. I want to mention that Cinders isn't the type to freak out, which I appreciate because I don't generally freak out, either. I figured we'd catch another flight or worse come to worse, join Heartfelt in Ambergris the next day. But no, we heard them calling our names over the P.A. so we ran (ugh, my belly) and were berated by the flight attendants who had given the order for our bags to removed from the plane. Fortunately that hadn't occurred yet (yay for slow luggage handlers), and we were able to board and fly away from the good 'ol U.S. The Belize City airport is smaller than I expected, just a single terminal, and everyone disembarked from the plane via a rolling stair. It was a quick affair and then we were issued tickets to fly to San Pedro, the town on Ambergris Caye.
Here is our lovely little Tropic Air plane that would ferry us from Belize City airport to the San Pedro airport on Ambergris Caye. It's the closest I've been to flying a plane without actually flying the plane. It was a very cool experience and helps you understand why people decide to take flying lessons. You also come to appreciate how easily you could die in one of these things (at least you'd hurtle through the front windshield so quickly you wouldn't feel it). But honestly, the trip was so cool you didn't think about it much.
Why who's this? It would be Cinders, although she appears to be smelling something funny.
A bunch of islands we flew over. Strips and swathes of land would randomly break the surface of the water and someone would slap a house or other building on it no matter that it looked like high tide would wash everything away. If a big storm ever blew through here, a lot of people would be in big trouble.
This is my first view of Ambergris Caye, I think. It was my first flight in so I wasn't properly oriented yet.
Another option to taking the 10-minute Tropic Air flight is to take the water taxi from Belize City, which Heartfelt opted to do just for experience sake. It was a longer trip, over an hour, but I'm glad at least one of us took it so we could get some pictures out of it.
And here's Heartfelt, getting ready for her taxi adventure.
The end of Chapel Caye, a three-mile private island which holds an exclusive golf course and a handful of resorts whose rooms go for $1500-3000 a night. You can buy the island for a measley $85 million.
The taxi made a stop in Caye Caulker, the next largest island after Ambergris. Caye Caulker is in the condition that Ambergris was fifteen years ago. It's still a fishing village, but it is slowly turning into a tourist destination. The girls and I decided it's a pretty place, but we would have been stuck wondering what to do there. It's the sort of place you go to so you can get away and do nothing. Or alternatively, smoke a lot of pot, which was the impression I got from the visitors I saw there. Investment-wise, this is probably the next hot spot in the area.
And Heartfelt makes it to San Pedro safe and sound.
Here we are posing in front of the yard of our condo. There are six condos, each with a balcony facing the ocean. The price was ridiculously cheap for what we got -- sleeps four, full kitchen, bath with shower, laundry facilities, maid service. The girl who works the office, Kenisha, would book our tours for us, so that simplified things, too.
Our living room. Here you can see the lovely futon which Cinders enjoyed sleeping on *cough* during our stay. The condo was very comfortable, with tiled floors and sturdy wooden furniture still in good shape. There was a TV that got a gazillion channels, including hardcore porn, and about twenty paperback books which I would have read if I'd had time because they were mostly suspense thrillers with one or two romances thrown in. Water pressure was good and there was plenty of hot water. There was AC in Heartfelt's bedroom although I don't think she turned it on. There were fans in every room which we used in conjunction with the steady ocean breeze that blew through the balcony doors pretty much non-stop (except, of course, whenever we tried to book windsurfing lessons). We didn't cook anything in the kitchen, but we used the blender for Horchata shakes, and the microwave to reheat leftovers.
The gorgeous view from our balcony. I was so excited to see this (and relieved, too, since I badly wanted a place right on the water). We have our own private yard with chaises we sat in once and hammocks which we took advantage of a couple of times but inevitably abandoned because we felt too cold in the shade -- and it was probably eighty degrees in the shade, lol. I really enjoyed the privacy, especially after seeing some of the other hotels on the beach which are side by side with each other. Some even had their 'yards' bisected by foot traffic along the beach.
The girls, enjoying their view.
Here is one set of hammocks beneath the palms. Another set was on the other side of the yard.
A morning (or was it sunset?) view standing within our yard and looking at the end of the dock where we were picked up for our various tours and activities.
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