We flew into Belize City, which is questionable. It's a metropolis by Belize standards, which-by the way-the whole country has only 310,000 people. There will be a Belize City post a little later because we drove straight through it and hopped on a ferry to head to San Pedro, an island off the coast. The ferry ride is about an hour long. Once you get there, it's white sandy beaches and not a care in the world.
That picture pretty much says it all.We headed to our hotel, Banana Beach Resort. It was nice, but as soon as we got there, my friend Kenyah and I headed straight for the beach. Wouldn't you?
We spent lots of time here...beach, cool breeze, hammock, Kindle...it was heavenly. For the record, SPF 30 isn't enough here. Apparently you need at least 55. (I learned this the hard way.)San Pedro is a pretty small island. Not very many people can afford much gas, let alone cars (third world country, folks) so everybody there either rides bikes or golf carts. Most of the actual cars on the island are taxis. We ended up renting a golf cart. It was fun zipping through the streets. There aren't really any traffic rules; you just try not to run anyone over.
Here's Kenyah and I riding our golf cart.A couple of things I will always associate with San Pedro are white beaches, golf carts, and stray dogs. There are stray dogs everywhere.
After two days of laying on the beach, it was time for some action. The hotel was trying to put together some festivities for the guests. This is how we met our buddy, Rudy. Rudy is a jack-of-all-trades hotel employee. We first met him when he put together a game of volleyball. We ended up playing with some investment bankers from New Jersey. They were really nice and it was a ton of fun! Once Rudy realized we were down, he invited us the next day to color eggs with the kids.
That's my homie Rudy teaching the kids to dye eggs. By the way...none of these kids are Belizean. They're from the UK! We met one kid's mom who had actually won some money on a game show in the UK and so she was there visiting with her sister. It's fun to see where people came from and where they're going. I always meet interesting people when I travel.
So, after we colored eggs, Kenyah and I helped hide some eggs filled with candy. 
The kids loved it. It was nice to celebrate a holiday in another country. You get to see different ways they do things and celebrate. Later on in the day, there was an Easter procession. It's like a Jesus parade. Everyone either wears black or white and they walk through the town streets. From what I understand, it is public way of showing devotion to Christ by commemorating his walk through the streets with the crucifix. It's a Catholic tradition that seems to be more prominent in Spain.
So that was my Belizean Easter.
I should take a moment to talk about the food situation. The food is BOMB. They've got Mexican influences, so you know they can make a mean quesadilla. This man I met on the plane suggested that we try a place called Elvi's on San Pedro. I'm so glad we took his advice 'cause it was killer. There is a staple that goes with EVERY meal and that is rice and beans. Not to be confused with beans and rice (as I was at first). Rice and beans are mixed and beans and rice are separate. It seemed so obvious to all the Belizeans, but I didn't get it at first. So, rules for when you travel to Belize: 1. Go to Elvi's. 2. Eat rice and beans...NOT beans and rice. And 3. Coke is cheaper than water, so go for the good stuff. That's right-you heard it here first!
Edna's sister Mollie, Kandice, Reese, Stino, Suzette, Kenyah and Edna all eating at a restaurant on the beach. By the way...a cool fact out our buddy Stino here, is that he is in charge of the US Peace Corps in Belize. He's a really interesting guy!
Having a Coke and a smile. Coke in a glass bottle-I love it!I'm a firm believer in ice cream. Ice cream is something that should be enjoyed everywhere you go. We enjoyed ice cream a little too often on this vacation.
We also ate at this hotel called Ramon's Village and they had some mean food, too. It's a pretty neat hotel, grass huts, lots of jungle, etc. Here we are checking things out at Ramon's.
So, on Easter we ended up going snorkeling at the Hol Chan Reef and Shark Ray Alley. It was so awesome! Belize has the second biggest reef barrier in the world (after Australia's Great Barrier Reef). They are also famous for the Blue Hole which is a big...well, hole in the ocean.
For the record, Kenyah does not know how to swim. At all. But she really conquered her fears and jumped in! The guide helped her get acclimated to the water and then took her around so she could experience everything. She did so awesome! At Hol Chan, we saw tons of fish and coral. There were some cool sea turtles, sting rays, and even eels! It was straight up Little Mermaid style!
After Hol Chan we went to Shark Ray Alley, where we got to swim and pet the sharks and sting rays. It was so neat! I didn't get to pet any sharks, but I did get to pet a sting ray and feed some fish. It was so fun! And cheap-it was like $35 US.OK, so let's talk about prices while we're on the subject. You'd think things would be cheap in
Belize. WRONG. Things are really expensive because most things are imported. We went to a grocery store and a package of lunch meat was like $9 US! That's crazy! The stuff that is produced locally is very cheap, though. That's why the Coke is cheaper...they make it there. We stopped on the side of the road for some fruit (on the way to Xunantunich...that's another post though) and we bought a couple of coconut waters for like $.50 and pineapple for $.50! I was thinking I scored the goods!
Speaking of locally produced goods, we met this Mayan Indian lady that was weaving purses and rugs and things that she sold. She was so interesting...we HAD to buy something from her!
After snorkeling, we headed down so Kenyah could go parasailing. I did it before in Mexico and I'm also too cheap, so she had to go by herself! She did great on that too! This trip she did a lot of fear conquering!
While she was parasailing, I was flapping my pie hole to the owner of the parasailing business, Brad. He is Canadian and he just decided he was going to move to Belize. So he sold his house in Canada and moved to San Pedro and bought his business and that's that. I loved talking to him because it's like an outsider's view looking in and what life is like there.
Waiting for Kenyah to parasail.
A local boy I met also while waiting for Kenyah to parasail. :)On Monday, we left San Pedro for the mainland. I loved San Pedro, but I was really excited for our upcoming adventures!
Waiting for the ferry back to Belize City.
1 comment:
I love living through all your fun vacations. If I read your blog by myself I can ALMOST picture myself on the white sandy beaches! Wait, my kids are crying for me. lol
Thanks for sharing! :)
Post a Comment