For our wedding, we didn't ask for traditional wedding gifts. We're both adults who have been living on our own for years, and pretty much owned all the basics. Instead, we asked for contributions for a honeymoon trip. I don't recall how exactly we decided on Belize. Matt had traveled through Central America several years before. I think I wanted to see that part of the world and visit Tikal. This past June, Matt found the Land of Belize trip that Intrepid offers, for half off. We immediately booked it. There were limited dates, but they worked out. We picked December 8- 15. It's a slow time of year for both our jobs, but not so close to the holidays that traveling on standby would be impossible. It was also key that our vacation to the Maya holy grail wasn't overrun by crazy apocalypse freaks. Traveling with Intrepid takes and draws a certain type of person (usually). We only packed overnight hiking packs. You're traveling with a group of people (up to 12) and a local person who will be your guide. The guide's job is to tell you about the area, give you recommendations on where to eat and what to do, but most importantly, make sure you have transportation and sleeping arrangements taken care of ahead of time, so you can focus on the journey and having fun. We were very much looking forward to this trip's itinerary because we get to see the city, the inland Cayo district with jungles and caves and ruins, Tikal in Guatemala, and end with a few days to unwind and work on a tan in Caye Caulker. It has everything we're looking for in 8 days. [...]
We left Portland for an overnight in Atlanta on Thursday afternoon. Of course, we have to make things as stressful as possible by working that morning (Matt) and getting a haircut on the way to the airport (Sam). All in all, everything worked out and we made it to sunny and warm and humid Belize around 1 in the afternoon on Friday, and we grabbed a cab to our hotel. Driving with the windows down you could smell trees, gasonline, sewage, food, and the salt sea air. I always find it fascinating to decipher the smells of a new place. Our hotel was Coningsby Inn on Regent Street. The street layout in the Lonely Planet guide was very misleading in it's representation of what to expect other than it's warning not to go west of Albert Street (which was one block west of Regent St). You see a lot of shoreline on the map, but don't get it into your head that there are beaches- no, there are only seawalls and docks. The streets are narrow, sometimes seemingly no more than an ally, and there are houses of varying design and condition everywhere. For some reason, the map gave me the idea that there were clean, easy to navigate streets with low lying quaint houses, and lots of open space. Not so! Our hotel was in the colonial district where the British used to live, so residentially, it's the nicest.
West of this area is the center of the city with the main bus station. It it jam packed with ramshackle housing, store fronts, and people and well known for being the seediest part of the city. In fact, the owner of Jambel's Jerk Pit used to have his restaurant there until he was robbed and shot. Now his restaurant is located near the tourist area of Newtown Barracks district in the northeast area of the city. The north and south part of the city is divided by Haulover Creek which empties into Belize Harbor on the Caribbean Sea. Spanning the Creek, which looks more like a slow moving river, is the famous and last of it's kind in the world Swing Bridge. Again, I was expecting this to be an amazing site to see with my own eyes and brag about later. Clearly, I need to lower my expectations of this trip. This area of the city is crammed with people- this area is the heart and soul of the city and nearly everyone is here nearly every day. People sitting on the sidewalk, walking, trying to give you cab rides, selling crafts, playing drums, eating, and carrying assault rifles. The last are the police, and you'll see them all over Belize with intimidating rifles slung over their shoulders walking around like it's nothing, because it is. North of the bridge and along the water front is the tourist area where passengers from cruise ships come to "see the city". It's completely protected and nothing like the real town. You'll rarely see an actual tourist outside this area and if you do they look lost and terrified. We never walked into that area. To see if from the sea side it looks beautiful and nothing like the rest of the city. From the street side you'd never know what was on the inside because I think there's just a long wall with the occasional gate and guard, who once asked us if we knew where we were going. Of course, fool! We're not tourists- we're travelers!
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| St. John's Cathedral- the oldest Anglican Church in Cen. Am. |
Once we were checked into our hotel room and changed into weather appropriate clothing we wondered down to Bird's Isle (also misleading!). The south part of Regent Street is nice and quiet. There's the Government House, a 2-story wooden colonial mansion, which we declined to visit, and the oldest Anglican Church in Central America, St. John's Cathedral. It's not very large, but it was pretty with the stone work and large red doors. Taking a left after the church you walk down a street to Bird's Isle. I'm sure the same thought has gone through everyone's head who was walking down this road looking for the restaurant- "Surely, I am going the wrong way. This just doesn't look right."
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| St. John's Cathedral |
Well, have faith and keep walking. You pass a narrow strip of "bridge" and start to see funny signs like the one that said "Keep your religion and your sex life where they belong- in the bedroom" and others reminding you not to litter. Straight ahead is a basketball stadium and to the right is the restaurant. You can get a burger, but this is the coast! We had snapper filets with rice and beans (a Belize staple). Thanks to high tariffs on imported beer, the only brand available is the local Belikin. There are 4 versions: Lighthouse, the barely there beer. Belikin, the standard regular version and you order it by just saying "beer". The Stout, the highest alocohol content, which you order by just saying "stout". And Premium, which is just the regular version in a larger bottle. The funny thing about this beer is how heavy the glass is. You'll think you've got at least a few sips left, so you throw back to discover one drop. At the end of the trip we finally did the math. Each beer and stout only has 9.6 oz in it. I think the Premium is closer to a pint.
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| The last Swing Bridge in the world. Belize City, Belize. |
After lunch we wondered into the Swing Bridge area and across from "tourist town" we were drawn into a market with a group playing the Garifuna drums. There were quite a few jewelry and craft stands and the man at the first one was proudly showing off his work. These guys are the real deal... the ones who actually make the jewelry. Most of them were sitting at their tables making them as you browsed. I bought a pair of dangle earrings he made out of coconut shell and had carved to look like leaves and a small conch shell he had sawed into a cross section. They were the only ones I saw like this on the entire trip. The other coconut earrings were just cut and smoothed with nothing carved into them and not until we reached Caye Caulker did I see another cross section of a conch shell.
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| The oceanside view from the Swing Bridge |
Between traveling, the drastic change in weather between home and here, and the food we decided it was time for a nap. Afterward we went back to Bird's Isle Restaurant (hey, it was easy to find and didn't require a cab) for happy hour- beer, a Panty Ripper (the national drink is simply coconut rum and pineapple juice) and an appetizer of conch ceviche. We ate a lot of conch and seafood ceviche on this trip and it was excellent! Back at the hotel we crashed out to Inception (the only time we turned on a tv), but woke up all throughout the night to a chorus of dogs barking, occasionally howling in unison, and the apparently standard Friday night party crowd singing, drumming, and making joyous raucous in the streets. We learned Friday is party night as a lot of people leave the city for the weekend. It turned out to be true, because there were far, far fewer people around that next day.
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| The grave of Henry Bliss, a great ambassidor for Belize, although he never stepped foot in the country until after he died. He is grave is at the base of the lighthouse. |
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| The "famous" lighthouse. |
Sounds like an amazing trip Sam!
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