It is hard to believe a month has already passed since our trip to Belize, but I am excited to document our adventures here to preserve the memories! Our trip started on the last Friday in June when we woke up at 3:30am to our phones buzzing with alerts from American Airlines – our flight from Tampa had been delayed five hours and we would miss our connecting flight in Miami. We were pretty groggy but quickly called American to see if there was another flight we could get on, but there wasn’t. We acted quick and in less than 15 minutes, we had gotten dressed, called a Lyft, and booked a rental car to drive four hours from Tampa to Miami. A solution that, at best, would get us to the airport two hours before our flight would depart to Belize.
When we got the the Tampa airport to pick up our rental from Avis, there wasn’t a representative at the counter. After a bit of back and forth, we made another quick decision to cancel our original rental with Avis, and book with Alamo instead since they had someone available to help us. In less than 10 minutes we had the keys in hand with no time to spare. We hoped for a miracle that we would somehow miss Miami traffic during rush hour. Four tired and hungry hours of convincing ourselves we didn’t need to pull over for a bathroom break, but eventually taking a hurried bathroom and gas stop, we made it to MIA about an hour before our flight boarded! Thankfully neither of us checked bags and the security line was moving along pretty nicely.
Our plan could have ended badly had we missed that connecting flight and had to delay our trip by a day or two, but everything worked out perfectly and next thing we knew, we were wheels up.
Caye Caulker
The flight was just over two hours and went by quickly. As soon as our plane landed, we took a taxi from the airport to catch the Belize Express ferry from Belize City to Caye Caulker island. We spent two nights on the island at Sophie’s Guest Rooms. Completely unintentionally, we arrived in Caye Caulker just in time for the annual Lobster Fest celebrations and the small island was buzzing with tourists and locals walking the sandy streets, Belikin beer in hand. We instantly loved the laid-back vibes and fact that there are no cars on the island. The islands and coast of Belize feel more like the laid-back Caribbean than Central America and the motto in Caye Caulker is “go slow”.
We checked in to Sophie’s and immediately went for a swim at the small beach directly in front of the guest house. Afterwards we walked the main strip and it was pretty easy to agree on fresh lobster for dinner. There were several vendors lining the streets that let you hand pick a lobster and then grill it right in front of you! We did exactly that and sat down to enjoy our lobster meal with a few Belikin beers on the water for less than $20. Belikin’s are basically the go-to drink anywhere you go in Belize and places don’t really serve water; you have to drink these things just to keep hydrated, I swear! For dessert, we grabbed a bag of mango from a street vendor for $2BZ, which we soon learned was a common way to sell this popular snack across the entire country. We must have bought almost a bag a day on our trip.
We stopped at Sip N’ Dip Beach Bar for a Pina Colada before calling it an early night. Sip N’ Dip is cool because the bar is built on top of a long dock over the water with tubes, hammocks, and picnic tables in the water for you to sit in while you drink. This is definitely one of the more popular daytime spots on the island for partiers. Before retreating to the hammock at Sophie’s for the evening, we did some exploring off the beaten path and it was interesting to see where the locals lived. We also enjoyed relaxing on a dock away from the crowds just listening to the waves crash.
The next day we woke up to find most of the small island had lost power due to so many people being on the island for Lobster Fest. We went for a 3 mile run around the island, which pretty much took us from one end to the other, and then cooled off with a dip in the ocean before taking a shower from the rain water reserve at Sophie’s (we ran out of regular water mid-shower due to the power loss).
Afterwards, we had some incredible FRESH watermelon juice and enjoyed our breakfast from the homestyle kitchen at Amor y Cafe. Fresh juice in Belize is nothing like in the states. They make the juices to order and are often pulpy, always delicious.
As we headed towards Caveman Snorkeling Tours to start our day on the water, we could see some storm clouds moving in and knew it would definitely be a day full of adventure. We lucked out and had an awesome guide who knew so much about the local marine life. For $35US, we snorkeled through various corals with manatees, nurse sharks, huge stingrays, and tons of other colorful fishes. The guides also provided us with water and fresh fruit. Our boat motor flooded at our last snorkel spot of the day and we thought we were going to be stranded in a huge storm as we could see lightning in the distance and it started to rain on us. Thankfully, after about 20 minutes our guide was able to get the boat started and get us back to shore!
After getting dry, we enjoyed our dinner at Bambooze with swings for seats at our table and ocean views while we ate. I had an aggressively large chicken quesadilla and Jeremy had a whole fish with some rice and beans. I think we ate Marie Sharps hot sauce with every meal not only because it is a Belize product and everywhere, but it is SO good. We planned to order some online as soon as we got back in the states…we haven’t yet but we will soon!
Afterwards, we explored the small island and some of the social spots like Lazy Lizard which is right on “The Split,” a small channel created when Hurricane Hattie hit in 1961 and divided the island. The island on the other side of The Split is uninhabited and made mostly of mangroves. The Lazy Lizard is a bit of a party spot, but you can just swim or relax and drink cocktails in the water like we did.
We took one of the first ferry’s off the island the next morning and headed back to mainland Belize. From the ferry, we took an incredibly sketchy cab ride back to the airport to pick up our rental car. Our cab driver started the drive by telling us about when he was in the old prison in downtown Belize City in the 80’s. At one point of the drive he also stopped the car in the middle of the road to give something from his trunk, where our suitcases were, to someone we drove by on the street. He clearly knew the person, but we had no idea what was going on and were a bit uncomfortable. We later realized we had nothing to worry about, but it probably wouldn’t hurt to make sure we knew the emergency number to call in Belize in case we got in a sticky situation.
Mountain Pine Ridge/El Progresso
We spent the next two nights in the Mountain Pine Ridge area at an Airbnb in El Progresso, Checo Hill Farm. El Progresso is in the middle of absolute nowhere and about 45 minutes from San Ignacio, the main city in the Cayo District near the border of Guatemala. We bottomed out our rental, a Kia Soul, several times down the rocky dirt road coming into El Progresso but let me tell you, it was certainly worth it once we got there! Our host recommended to us the best places to go in Mountain Pine Ridge like the Rio on Pools, Big Rock Falls, and Xunantunich mayan ruins. She also gave us a tour of their organic farm to learn about the fruits and spices they grow, and took us to the top of Checo Hill, which is only a 10 minute hike through their property with 360 views overlooking all of El Progresso.
Since Checo Hill is off the grid, the farm relies on solar power and we had to conserve energy while we were there. Our first day there we enjoyed doing nothing and making dinner with the limited supplies available at the only shop in El Progresso. It was nice to relax in the guesthouse with the sounds of jungle and birds all around us and finally be able to start to disconnect from the rest of the world, or so it felt like.
The next morning, we went for a brutal run that was all downhill one way, and all uphill on the way back. This Florida girl is used to running on flat ground in low elevation, so that uphill climb about killed me! But it still felt good to get moving. After we enjoyed a breakfast prepared by our host with fruits from the farm, we set off for a day of exploring Rio on Pools and Big Rock Falls inside the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve.
Both sights absolutely shattered our expectations and were too incredible to even put into words. Rio on Pools are a long chain of cascading waterfalls in the middle of the forest with at least 100 different natural swimming holes. We could have easily spent a day here exploring and relaxing in the falls. Both sights are also free! You don’t even pay an entrance fee when you enter the reserve.
Big Rock Falls was only about a 25-minute drive away and was slightly different, but just as amazing. The pools at Big Rock falls were bigger than most at Rio on Pools and so was the main fall, but the cascading pools of Rio on Pools cast their own wonder that is hard to compare anything else we saw on the trip to. And the best part, there were hardly any people at both spots! We had a pretty private trip over all, but we were still surprised every time we showed up and had these beautiful, untouched spots in nature either completely, or almost completely, to ourselves.
On our way back to El Progresso, we stopped at a roadside “restaurant” for some burritos and quesadillas. If you go to Belize you will see all these little roadside stops with families selling goods or services right out of their home. These hole in the wall places often have the best food and make for a fun experience. Everywhere we went served thick and fluffy handmade flour tortillas, and I was surprised that the norm for tortillas in Belize is flour and not corn. Regardless, they were amazing and much better than I have had in the states!
Our last morning in El Progresso, we climbed Checo Hill for the last time just after the sun came up. We saw about 15 wild parrots flying in the tree tops and I can honestly say I hadn’t experienced anything like that in my life. We drank in the muggy morning air and enjoyed our last few hours off the grid. Our host again prepared us a homemade breakfast with fruits, eggs, and vegetables from the farm that would tide us over for a day of adventure in San Ignacio.
San Ignacio
Our first stop was the San Ignacio Market downtown where there is something for everyone; locally grown fruits and vegetables galore, homemade quesadillas, fresh juice, clothes, and souvenirs. After we dropped our bags at our Airbnb, which was a small efficiency with a hammock on the screened in patio, we finally set out to explore the much anticipated Xunantunich mayan ruins! To get to the site, you have to drive your car across the Mopan River on a small hand-crank ferry. This was a first for me and a pretty unique experience that added another element of adventure to the day.
We only did two ruin sites on our trip, Xunantunich and Cahal Pech, but there are so many others to explore in Belize. Both sites charge entrance fees and if I remember correctly, it was only $5US or $10US each. Of the two we visited our first day in San Ignacio, Xunantunich was by far our favorite because if you climb to the top of the main temple, you get 360 views over the Belizean countryside, San Ignacio, and Guatemala! Once you’re at the top, it feels A LOT higher than it looks when you are on the ground looking up. Cool for us, by the time we made it to the top we were the only ones up there and got to enjoy the moment just the two of us. But be careful. This site is not like anything you will see or experience in the US and there are no railings at the top, or even for most of the climb up, to keep you from falling.
Since we had already driven our rental to Xunantunich, we decided to drive to Cahal Pech even though it is within walking distance of our Airbnb and the San Ignacio city center. Cahal Pech was a much different experience, as the sites are much lower and are all interconnected. It is worth noting that both sites are still being excavated so if we went back in a few years, there may be more to see.
We only spent one day in San Ignacio and for some reason, it felt like the hottest day on earth for us. It was also the first day of our trip where we had not submerged into water at some point throughout the day. Our Airbnb hosts had told us that the Cahal Pech Resort charged $10US to use their pool for the day and that it is one of the highest viewing points over San Ignacio.
Since we didn’t have anything else planned for the day, we stopped for a traditional Belizean lunch, with several Belikin’s to cool off with, and then got changed into our suits to relax in the resort’s pool until the sun went down. It was the perfect way to cap off our stay in San Ignacio. We caught the Brazil vs. Argentina Copa America semi-final fútbol game at a bar downtown. Jeremy was happy to enjoy some soccer time and I was happy to stuff my face with another homemade quesadilla.
A traditional Garifuna inspired meal
All this for $25.50US!
St. Herman’s Cave & Blue Hole
We took off early and stopped for breakfast in San Ignacio at a place called Pop’s that was recommended to us by locals the day before. I ate my weight in fry jack’s stuffed with eggs and chaya (the mayan spinach), and once again enjoyed some incredible fresh fruit.
Fry jacks!
We intended to bypass the cave and only explore the blue hole however, we did not know there are two entrances to St. Herman’s National Park and we arrived at the cave entrance first. The entrance fee was small ($8.00BZ/$4.00US) and covered both activities. The hike back to the cave was serene and less than a mile through the jungle. You can walk 200 yards into the cave without a guide, but I highly recommend bringing a headlamp because it is pitch black in there. If you stand still and listen, all you can hear is the soft noise of the river trickling beside you. The experience caught us by surprise and we were so glad we stopped!
Afterwards, we drove a few minutes to the next entrance of the park where we got ready to dip in the blue hole! Note: this is not the Great Blue Hole that is part of the Belize Barrier Reef, it is an inland swimming hole and cave system that gets its name from the blue color of the water. In case I forgot to mention this, all the water we swam in Belize (every waterfall, river, ocean, pool, and even the blue hole) was at least 80 degrees and felt beyond incredible! The blue-green water felt nothing short of mythical and we were in awe that we were once again, the only people there for the majority of our stay.
Jaguar Preserve
The drive from St. Herman’s Cave & Blue Hole to the Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve was via bumpy dirt roads surrounded by lush jungly landscape. The entrance fee is $5US and is paid in a building when you first turn down the road to the preserve, but you have to keep driving for 6 miles before actually arriving at the trail heads. We chose to hike the Tiger Fern Trail, a 6.7 mile out-and-back trail that ends at two waterfalls with natural swimming holes. Little did we know, there is also a spot on the trail where you can look out across the thick canopy of the basin and see Victoria’s Peak, the second highest mountain in Belize.
We didn’t swim in the first waterfall’s pool as we had heard the second was the best and was only a few minutes further. We couldn’t believe we were the only ones there! Talk about paradise. We left our clothes behind and jumped into the huge pool with no hesitation. This was without a doubt one of our most memorable experiences from the entire trip. We didn’t actually get to see any jaguar’s while we were here, and a worker we talked to at the preserve said he hasn’t seen one the entire time he has worked there. Apparently they are very shy and rarely spotted during the day, but occasionally they have been seen by tourists and workers.
South Hopkins
Hopkins is a small fishing village on the coast of Belize that is growing slowly due to tourism in the area. Most of the tourist resorts are in South Hopkins, while the local restaurants and accommodations are in North Hopkins. The “main” street in the village is a new one-way and the locals drive the wrong way on it daily, even past the police station. They clearly don’t think the one-way is necessary and we found it pretty comical to continually see cars disobeying the signs. It is just the kind of place that change doesn’t happen often and when it does, it happens slow. Families tend to live here for several generations and like everywhere in Belize, they don’t need to have a lot or make a lot to be happy.
Our Airbnb hosts in San Ignacio had recommended and set us up with a beachfront bungalow on the edge of South Hopkins where they had stayed several times. They let us know that it wasn’t the “cleanest” place, but we thought that meant the beach, and we were just excited to have accommodations set up for us that we didn’t have to put our energy into. The place was a pretty dirty shack and the beach was covered with ant mounds. I love to camp and don’t mind getting dirty and usually, I wouldn’t have a problem staying in less than satisfactory accommodations, especially for one night, but by the 6th night of our trip I envisioned we would just be relaxing by the water without a care in the world. I didn’t want to worry about cockroaches crawling on me out of the toilet (this almost happened).
We decided to make the most of it and headed into North Hopkins for dinner at one of the only open places, the Fat Mermaid Beach Cafe. After we crushed some fish tacos and a Belikin, we decided we weren’t quite ready to head back to our shack, so we stopped for a glass of wine at another restaurant in North Hopkins. Halfway through our second glass of wine, Jeremy decided to walk into the resort next door to see if he could get us a cheap room since we would be booking so last minute. Of course, he didn’t tell me that’s what he was doing and just came back to tell me the relieving news. Such a valiant gesture! We stealthily grabbed our bags from our shack in the dark in order to not hurt the hosts’ feelings. As we were leaving, the car wouldn’t start at first and for an instant, we felt both defeated and on the edge of hysteria. Once it started we let out a sigh of relief and burst out laughing. We felt like kids sneaking out of our parents’ house!
When we arrived at The Lodge at Jaguar Reef, we were greeted with welcome drinks and walked to our ocean-front room. Wow! How our night had done a 360. It was SO nice and a definitely the fanciest place I have ever stayed, aside from Blue Haven Resort on our trip to Turks and Caicos. Jaguar Reef has a hot tub, two pools, a private beach, all-inclusive water sports, and a two-story “Big Dock” with a ceviche bar and rope swing. I remember thinking, “so thiiiis is how the other half lives!” This was our first stay of the trip that we were able to take a hot shower and the first time we didn’t have to sleep on top of our blankets because we were so hot without a fan or AC. Jeremy still hasn’t told me how much the room cost, but I am sure it is at least half of what the same room would cost in the states or anywhere else in the Caribbean. Everything in Belize is CHEAP. The Belizean dollar is worth exactly half of the US dollar, and they accept both currencies almost everywhere you go.
The next morning, we climbed out of our California king in a state of utter relaxation and caught the 5:30AM sunrise from the beach. We wanted to catch the first boat to Tobacco Caye from Dangriga at 10AM, so we didn’t waste any time getting ourselves a kayak and paddle board out on the water for an hour. We also took a few jumps from the top of the dock into the warm ocean water before packing up our room and heading for a bite to eat and some fresh mango juice at Thongs Cafe.
Tobacco Caye
We made the 45 minute drive to Dangriga easily and were greeted by the “Dock Master” who charged us $10US to park our car somewhere it would be “safe” while we were at Tobacco Caye. It was two blocks from the dock and basically in the yard of one of his buddies, or possibly someone he didn’t know at all. He was a nice guy and coordinated our boat ride to the island with one of the local boat operators. The fee is $20US per person each way and unfortunately, there is not a real schedule of when boats leave for the island, just sometime between 10AM and 12:30PM.
We ended up waiting at Riverside Cafe, the designated waiting spot for such boat transfers, for an hour and a half before enough passengers arrived to make the trip to the island worthwhile for the boat captain. To help paint the picture, people were walking in and out of the cafe barefoot drinking Belikin’s like they were water. Everyone knew everyone, except us. There was not another tourist in sight and we stuck out like a sore thumb.
Downtown Dangriga
We had Captain Fermin, or rather his son, drive us the smooth 45-minute trip to paradise. As we pulled up to the small island, we knew we were in for a treat. We were once again off the grid, but this time we were staying in a private rustic cabana over the Caribbean with the Belize Barrier Reef right outside our window. Tobacco Caye Paradise, where we stayed, uses only solar energy and collects rainwater for showers and toilets. They do provide clean drinking water and three homemade meals a day for their guests. All this for $80US a night each.
Captain is a loose term in Belize
Welcome to Tobacco Caye Paradise
Our cabin for the day
Tobacco Caye is very small and you can walk the perimeter in less than 10-minutes. There are roughly 20 permanent residents, no cars, no bikes, and rarely shoes on the sandy island. Since it was low season, only two of the six cabanas were rented and we spent all day lounging in our hammock over the water, snorkeling with eagle rays, and enjoying the tranquility of this little slice of paradise. This is a place you only come if you are looking to relax, disconnect, and not have any type of agenda whatsoever.
Eagle Rays off the dock
Spotted Eagle Ray
Pretty much all there is to do on Tobacco Caye.
After dark, we spotted some small yellow spotted stingrays and what we think was bioluminescence from our cabana! There was no light pollution which made for perfect stargazing and we thought we might actually get to see the Milky Way, but weren’t quite able to. The ocean breeze and sound of waves crashing right outside our window was the recipe for an outstanding night’s sleep. We were up early the next morning and caught the sunrise from our double-kayak as we paddled around Tobacco Caye. After a breakfast consisting of more homemade Belizean cuisine, we caught the first boat off the island back to the mainland.
North Hopkins
We came back to Hopkins for our last night to stay at an Airbnb on the beach in quiet North Hopkins, only a two hour drive from the Airport. Our Airbnb was a PERFECT little studio bungalow on a large, and mostly private, beachfront.
We didn’t have anything planned for the last 24 hours of our trip, which was rather nice. We went back to the Big Dock at Jaguar Reef for some ceviche and fresh pico de gallo over the water. We also enjoyed some fresh margs and piña coladas! They were soooo good and easily the best cocktails we had on the trip. We took advantage of the amenities and relaxed in the daybeds under the dock and even took a jump into the ocean from the rope swing.
Once back at our Airbnb, Jeremy cracked some coconuts on the beach and played soccer with a few local kids that wandered onto our beachfront (totally normal thing to happen in Belize) while I lounged in the hammock. We had heard from a couple we met on our first night in Hopkins that we had to go to Driftwood for the best pizza in Belize, so we decided to give it a shot for our last dinner of the trip! It was really good and had awesome vibes. It didn’t hurt that it was right on the ocean either!
For our last morning, we decided to catch the sunrise over the ocean again and went for our third run of the trip! It was hard to get moving since we were in a total state of relaxation, but we ended up managing three miles around the village. We passed a few locals grabbing Belikin’s at 6:30AM! It’s really how people stay hydrated in this country, I swear! You are way more likely to see locals drinking a Belikin at this time of morning than you will see them going for a run, that’s for certain. We took our last warm ocean dip of the trip and set off on our winding journey towards the airport. The “highway” towards the airport was actually a bumpy gravel road that we were on for 40 miles! It was unexpected and delayed our ETA a little bit, but not too bad and definitely gave us much to laugh about.
Belize Zoo
Since we had nothing planned for our last day and some time to kill, we decided to stop at the Belize Zoo on our way to the airport. It was right on the way and the zoo has great reviews so we decided to give it a try, even though I am not usually a fan of zoos because it makes me feel sad for the animals. I will admit, they do a pretty good job with the exhibits and all the animals are native to Belize, so they are not forcing the habitats at all. It is also a tropical education center and they teach conservation. The zoo is pretty small and we made it through everything in just about an hour. We got to see several incredible species that we had hoped to see in the wild, like toucans, jaguarundis, tapirs, and jaguars!
Alas, it was time to conclude our trip and head to the airport. But of course, not before finding a gas station to fill up our flat tire! We had been dealing with a slow leak in one of our tires for most of the trip, but after leaving the zoo we noticed it had gotten so bad that we might not make it to the airport before filling it. After stopping and asking for directions and turning around at lest once, we found both a gas station and an air pump to fill our tire for a $1BZ.
“Why Belize?,” so many people have asked us. There are so many wonderful places to visit, and we hope to eventually visit them all, but while we are living in Florida with Central and South America so accessible to us, it seemed like a good place to go! Not only are flights short, but they are cheap ($460 round-trip). Accommodations once you arrive in the country are cheap as well and most of the places we stayed charged less than $40US for a private room. Belize also came highly recommended to me by a coworker and Jeremy has been wanting to go there since he was in grade school. I am so lucky to have the best travel partner and someone who loves new adventures just as much as I do!
Where will we go next?!?
June/July 2019
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