I understood immediately why this place is such a popular resort destination for rich Americans looking to escape cold winters and beach-less landlocked states. While much of Belize lives on in the unfortunately common Central American world of violence and poverty Caye Caulker and its even more upscale and resorty neighbor Ambergris Caye are sheltered havens for tourists. The nice things are the uncommonly garbage free streets and coastline, the relative safety, friendly locals and that even the stray dogs are well-fed. The bad thing is the fact that everything is incredibly expensive, sometimes not even just by C. American standards. The Caye is a foodie´s paradise and made me instantly wish I was much richer than I am so I could spend a couple weeks here sampling the food from every available restaurant and stand. Everywhere seems to have gourmet menus with lobster drizzled in garlic butter, slow-cooked lamb, exotic seafood in delicious sauces, and a huge variety of other delicious sounding menu items. Everywhere I went I found myself drooling from the smells emanating from restaurants and outdoor grills. The sandy streets of the small town lead to a small little beach and swimming docks, an area known as the cut for the small channel that now separates the island after the most recent earthquake. A great place to relax, read a book and have a beer. If you appear to be in at all of a hurry or really even walk with more than a languorous stroll one of the island´s residents will call out with friendly and mild reproach, ¨Go Slow!¨, the island´s semi-official motto.
The hostel that was recommended to me only had dorms with AC available and I dutifully shelled out the extra four bucks, a decision I was not to regret. The rooms were lovely, my roommates variously nice and cute and I was later to learn the people in the non-AC dorms had the unfortunate experience of being woken by rats scampering through the walls, across the floor and eaves, and even in one case on the bed where said person was trying to sleep. So, yeah. Met some nice British girls and found a place that was doing pub trivia where our team ¨6 Brits and a Yank¨ almost won, and would have if not for the reluctance of some members to bet the full amount of points on the last question. I´m not still bitter though...really, I´m not!
Arranged the next day to go on a snorkeling tour of the nearby reefs on a sailboat. Was a bit disappointed that we did not get to see the manatee, but it was nevertheless awesome. Saw mammoth stingrays and nurse sharks, beautiful coral, magnificent tropical fish, and creepy looking moray eels. Our snorkel guide grabbed a stingray and let us ¨pet¨ it, feeling the mucousy skin while carefully avoiding the stinger. He next managed to snag a good size nurse shark by the tail, wrestled briefly with it, flipped it upside down seemingly rendering it immobile and again let us touch, this time sandpapery skin. Oh to have a good underwater camera. Our captain and assistants were all good-natured, funny and interesting people. One of them a Canadian lady had been a professional power-lifter, canoe racer, construction worker and stripper. Hell of a resume.
After the final snorkeling stop the rum punch was broken out and we began to slowly make our way home. Shipwreck! Haha, the disappointment of not seeing a manatee was quickly replaced by the excitement of running aground on coral. Our now embarrassed and completely mortified captain had been sipping a rum and chatting up one of the girls which apparently left him precious little attention to devote to where the boat was headed. After some frantic and futile backpedaling with the small outboard motor and various shifting of the passengers to extremities of the boat, tilting it at an alarming angle in some cases, we seemed well and truly stuck. Eventually I along with a few others were tossed overboard with our snorkel gear to lighten the load and try to free us. With my mask on I watched as the crew mightily pushed on the boat from the water, finally smashing off a huge chunk or 3 of coral and freeing us. Oh, the irony! We had been given a serious lecture on how precious and fragile the coral ecosystem was and how we should avoid at all costs even standing on it with flippers or in any way endangering it. Now I had witnessed our eco-friendly tour boat rip a massive chunk of it out of the reef. Not cool. On the plus side the delay gave unintentionally turned the tour into one featuring magnificent views of the sunset. Silver lining, etc.
An embarrassed Captain Willie
A few more nights of drinking, good eating, reggae, and lots of funny Brits, Scots and Irish and I decided my budget demanded a speedy exit from Belize. I´m now in the Guatemalan town of Flores near to Tikal where I will be going tomorrow. Can´t wait, it should be really good. Will post pictures of it when I can, probably from Mexico, my next stop. Getting closer to my homecoming, can´t wait to see everyone! -Azi
No comments:
Post a Comment