10 Things I wish I'd known about Belize

I could honestly go on about our time and Belize for ever and ever because there were just so many unique aspects to that country and our trip. However, I believe you have to experience a country for yourself to truly appreciate everything about it. You can read all the travel books in the library but nothing can really capture the essence of a place until you see it for yourself. I do advocate being prepared for any travel whether it's an hour or 20 away so I've put together a list of everything I wish I'd known before visiting the Cayes in Belize:

1. pack a light rain jacket especially if you are going anytime between may and september. Something small enough to fit in a purse or backpack because it can downpour anytime and you don't won't to be caught walking about without one

2. don't exchange your money ahead of time. Exchange booths will charge you a percentage for having your money changed over causing you to loose out on some of your hard earned travel dollars. In Belize they will take american dollars wherever you go and often give you back your change in Belizean dollars (BZ) The exchange rate is 2-1 so you get $2 of their dollars for every one of yours

3. pack bug repellent. Because I find aerosols run out fast I buy lotion bug repellent. you can put it on in the morning and be covered all day, plus I find you don't miss spots like you do with the spray. You'll save yourself from spending an unnecessary chunck of change by bringing your own and not having to buy it there. Same goes for sunscreen, shampoo, etc.

4. I'm a definite planner but one thing I don't recommend (unless you are going in the "ON" season) is to book your tours ahead of time. It really is better to walk around, check out the places, talk to the tour guides and book that way. We booked our snorkeling tours the day of no problem. It's also good because then you can snorkel based on the weather. If it's been raining the water will be cloudy and not as good for seeing fish. Also if you are going to snorkel it's usually better to snorkel in the AM, that way the water is more calm and you won't risk getting sunburnt or caught out in a rainstorm. If you don't like crowds, snorkel in the afternoon because chances are you'll get a guide all to yourself.
I recommend tanishatours.com on Ambergris Caye and look for Carlos on Caye Caulker.
*The Tanisha Tours does NOT provide fins and snorkel so that will cost an additional $5. Carlos provided them for us. Best to ask when you book your tours if these are included if you plan to snorkel.

5. The hot sauce you see on all the tables down there called Marie's is the best hot sauce ever and I'm not even a big hot sauce fan. Buy some at the end of your trip and bring it home...it's amazing

6. In Ambergris Caye at night there were a variety of street food vendors in the park area. Chad and I got burritos one night and they were amazing...until I woke up in the middle of the night with the worst stomach cramps ever. Chad had an upset stomach too and he has a garbage disposal for a stomach so I think it must have been the street food. I wouldn't recommend. Also all the rum punches and fruity drinks in Belize will have ice in them and when in foreign countries it's best to only drink the bottled water which means staying away from the ice as well. I know their water is potable so it's supposed to be regulated but don't take any chances. Even buy bottled water to use to brush your teeth. In Thailand bottled water was in every hotel room in the fridge of every place we stayed at. In Belize we were on our own. So drink the beer and stock up on the water and drink a lot.

7. Buy a towel down there and throw it away or take it home for a souvenir. But you probably won't want to use your hotel bath towels and chances are slim they will provide beach towels and you def don't want to waste precious suitcase space packing one. Chad and I bought one and shared it but it's so hot out that after you are done swimming you dry off quick.

8. The bakeries are amazing down there and def a good buy for snacks and breakfast as they are open all day. In the bakeries in Ambergris Caye you walk in, grab a metal tray and tongs and put what you want on the tray then take it up to the front and pay. I was very confused the first time I entered one but I watched the locals and learned this. Very different from our bakeries where everything is in glass cases.

9. Most every place you will want to pay cash and save the plastic for hotels, golf cart rentals and tours as all these "bigger" operations take cards. Also if you want to buy any wooden carvings (stingrays, sharks, etc) buy them off the guys from the street. You'll get a much better price than in the gift shops

10. Ladies, buy a good purse like this:

I absolutely love love love my Kavu purse. It has all sorts of great zippers and stowage. I can fit a full size water bottle in here as well as my cell phone in the separate cell holder. It's great to have your hands free (esp if you are back packing because then you sling this over your shoulder and don't have to dig around for your plane tickets etc), it doesn't hurt your shoulder and if you carry a hoodie, towel, etc you can tie it on here. I also keep our passports with us the whole time in a plastic dry bag and leave photo copies in our luggage just in case. Unlike Costa Rica or Thailand none of our hotels in Belize had safes so I carried everything on me at all times. You just never know!

So there you have it, ten things I wish I had known before I had gone. Of course, Chad and I were originally supposed to go to Peru so I was caught totally off guard going to Belize, but being the avid traveler I was eager to explore this new country. Our tennis shoes we had planned on using to hike the mtns. in Peru never were used so unless you were planning on jungle trekking leave them at home.

As the locals say, "Get a piece of the jewel!" (aka enjoy Belize!)

Our celebrity guest flyer for this evening is....

Five years ago when I applied for my job as a flight attendant, I knew there would be certain perks; obviously traveling being the biggest. I would get to fulfill my dream of seeing Paris and the Eiffel Tower as well as any other place my heart desired. With time my schedule got better and my pay went up and now I can work as little or as much as I choose whenever I choose. I have great health benefits and though it gets tiring at times, there are some days I really can say I love my job. An unforseen benefit to flying the friendly skies has been meeting interesting people from all over the world...and some of those people just happen to be celebrities.

My first introduction to the rich and famous came in the form of a rap group that I doubt you've ever heard of because I hadn't either. I was working our 50 seater jet so I was by myself (one flight attendant per 50 passenger plane says the FAA) and this large group of black guys came onboard covered in jewelry and wearing nice (but baggy) clothing. I knew they had to be someone. The manager was last to get on and he started hitting on me, asking if I was single etc so I took it as my opportunity to ask,"who are you?" As it turns out he was the manager of this group that called themselves, "Down for Life" as far as I know the only hit they had was "The laffey taffey song." The manager assured me they were going to be big and had all the members sign one of their posters for me. I never heard of them again and I think I even threw the poster away.

Interestingly, the longer I've worked for the airlines, the bigger the name celebs I've had on my flight. My next brush with fame was with the band Hoobastank, then Felicity Huffman (of desperate housewives fame), Rumor Willis (Bruce and Demi Moore's daughter), Daisey Fuentes (remember when she hosted a show on MTV?), Gerard Butler, R. Lee Ermey and a few others who worked for ESPN or were government big wigs who I didn't recognize (but others on the plane did and would ask, "Is that so and so sitting up there in first?). I remember my sister once said, "You will never have any famous people on your plane, what famous person flies regional jets?" But when celebrities book plane tickets they don't really have a choice what size airplane they fly on...especially when goin to Aspen.

If you have never been to Aspen you should fly in there some time if for nothing else but the views and the terror factor. The runway is situated in the middle of the mountains. Our pilots who do fly in there are specially trained and there's no room for error because you can only land one way and take off the other. That means visibility has to be perfect for landing and once you commit to the land you are landing (moose and all on the runway if that were the case) or else you run into a mountain trying to extract the plane out of there. Several private planes have crashed in Aspen over the years, all with fatalities. In the winter we cancel flights all the time just because of the weather and how difficult the conditions get. But for some reason celebrities love that place and those who don't have their own personal jet like Maria Carey (she has a nice one with butterflies painted on it) have to fly with us. Our Aspen to Los Angeles route is notorious for having celebrites on the plane and the other day was no exception:

Yes, that's right Luke Wilson. You may remember him from such films as Legally Blonde, Old School, Finding Henry Poole and my personal favorite, The Royal Tenenbaums. Now normally I leave our celebrity passengers alone except when asking if they'd like something to drink, can I take their trash, etc. R. Lee Ermie (he was the bad cop in texas chainsaw massacre and was in Full Metal Jacket) did not want to be messed with on my flight so I dared not ask for any special fan favors from him....but Luke, well how can you not want to talk to Luke? My fellow flight attendant and I schemed up a plan to get him to take photos with us. We were so giddy through our service we could hardly think straight. But Luke made it easy on us by getting up several times to use the bathroom and get stuff from the overhead. Whenever we could we would make eye contact until finally after his last trip to the bathroom on his way back to his seat we summoned him to come into the galley and talk to us. He was so easy to chat with and very nice; we probably could have talked to him for the rest of the flight(and would have if some stupid 13 year old girl hadn't come up behind him and asked us for a sprite throwing our whole game off). We managed to get pictures with him (while excusing ourselves for interrupting his flight and for being such dorks) before he retreated to his seat in first class. I told him how much I loved him in Royal Tenenbaums which flattered him. We both agreed, they just don't make movies like that anymore.

The majority of celebs sit in first class but you'd be surprised how many actually do sit in coach. Both Felicity Huffman (with her daughter) and Rumor Willis were in coach on my flights and I'm sure there have been many more. When it comes to air travel you just never know who is going to walk aboard your plane...which really can make for a very interesting and exciting day. How many people can say that about their jobs?

Don't you just love him?

Un-Belizeable Time in Ambergris Caye

There is, arguably a lot more to do on Ambergris Caye if you are in to exploring. The island is quite a bit bigger and with a golf cart rental it makes it easy to get anywhere you could possibly want to go. It's also nice to have when it's hot and humid out as you get a nice breeze as you are riding along.

One of the first things we did on the island after getting settled in our casita and returning into town was to visit the tourist information stand. It was basically a little room with lots of pamphlets and coupons for places on the island. The information lady gave us some coupons and told us of some great places we should eat. I think she got a kick back from sending us to these places (I saw her initials were on the coupon) but when you've never been somewhere you should pretty much take whatever suggestion comes your way. Especially if a free rum punch is involved.
The first place we ate was called Eliv's (eliviskitchen.com) It started out as a burger take-out stand in 1974 where Eliv would serve her homemade hamburgers. Over time it evolved and with the help of her family, Eliv turned it into a full blown restaurant. A tree, which the stand was under, stands in the middle of the dining room where the restaurant was built around it:
My favorite part was that the whole floor of the place was sand. It's a nice feeling to be inside out of the elements and still have your feet in the sand. There was quite a bit of seafood on the menu and I went with the shrimp burger which was shirmp on a bun covered in bbq sauce and chad had fish tacos. The service was amazing and the staff were all very nice, knowledgeable and attentive. We arrived before the lunch "rush" but by the time we left it was pretty packed. Apparently it's a well known spot to send tourists visiting the island.

It started raining pretty heavily by the time we left the restaurant and despite having panchos we were soaked by the time we got back to our casita. I really recommend bringing a rain jacket or pancho if you are traveling to the country this time of year because when they say it's the rainy season, they really mean rainy. With the humidity it makes it a warm rain but with our golf cart having no windshield we were soaked:
But yet another reason to rent one, it made getting back to our casita that much faster. The downside of San Pedro is that there isn't much sand on the island to absorb the rain and I didn't see any type of drainage system like we have in the states so everything flooded. This caused deep ruts in the sand lined streets which we later saw people (city workers? volunteers?) shoveling sand in to even the "road" out.
I highly recommend bringing some sort of bug spray if traveling to the country this time of year as the mosquitoes became unbearable once the rain subsided. I would go to stand outside and have 10-15 mosquitoes covering any exposed skin instantly. Of course there is bug spray sold in stores but it was pricey, because what can you really do at that point?

After our one moonsoon of an afternoon the rest of the week ranged from overcast to bright and sunny with hardly any clouds in the sky. We came to appreciate the breeze and the clouds a little more after it really started warming up.

Since the swimming conditions were not ideal we began looking for another snorkel tour we could do. Belize is a diver's paradise but there isn't as many options for those looking for a day snorkel especially if you don't feel like the 2 hour boat ride to the Blue Hole. Walking along the beach we came across Tanisha's Ecotours (tanishatours.com) which was attached to a bar that we had seen the previous day (it caught our eye because it extended over the water while the bar we were at was on the beach and very hot) which appeared pretty popular. Tanisha is actually the name of the 34 foot boat that Daniel, the owner and guide of the company, takes people on tours inland with. Since we had already snorkeled in Caye Caulker we asked them about a different tour and they told us we could head out to Mexico Rocks. It was about $35 per person plus snorkel rental (which we didn't know about until we showed up, that was an extra $5 fee) but well worth the trip because of our experience with Daniel. Chad and I did the afternoon tour so we were the only ones on the boat besides our guide and his 6 year old daughter (cutest girl ever and quite entertaining) so we really lucked out with a private snorkel trip.
On our way out to Mexico Rocks we were talking with Daniel and quickly realized we had not, in fact, snorkeled the Hol chan marine reserve as we had previously thought. If we had, Daniel said we would have seen not only the stingrays and barracudas, but also sea turtles and nurse sharks. Where we went had a smaller shark ray alley so we had it confused with the Hol Chan. This was disappointing to learn because we really would have liked to have seen the sea turtles, but we were already headed to Mexico Rocks so there was no going back. Well, something to save for next time.

Mexico Rocks had some great snorkeling as well as there were a lot of juvenile fish there. We saw some really tiny fish I would have never have known about had Daniel not pointed them out as well as a nurse shark hiding under some coral and a very shy puffer fish. My favorite had to have been the puffer fish or the damsel fish:
(note: I did not take this picture but this is one of the many kinds that we saw. It almost looked neon)

We snorkeled about 2 hours then headed back to the restaurant/ecotour site and had some excellent conch for dinner. Daniel said he is starting to focus more on the inland tours which involve the cave tubing, ziplining and mayan ruins tour. He really was a very knowledgeable guide committed to preserving the environment. He even said that when he sees fishermen out if they have caught a sea turtle he will pay them to let the turtle go in order to preserve the marine life in the area. He also has a friend who will be, in the future, organizing sky diving over the Blue Hole. I've never been skydiving before but can you imagine jumping out of a plane over this?:


You can count me in on that tour! I hope that next time when we visit Belize we can plan to do the inland tours because I'd really like to see the jungle (and the jaguars living there!) and cave tube. Of course these all day tours will run about $150 a person so I'll know to bring some extra money, just in case :)

Ambergris Caye

After spending a few days on Caye Caulker, my husband and I began to plan our move in where to travel next. While Caye Caulker was very nice, about two days there is all you need because the island is so tiny. Being the off season there weren't many people around either and we were anxious for more "action." We began to research heading inland to stay in the jungle and do the cave tubing, ziplining and seeing the Mayan Ruins. However, a quick browse of some of the hotels in the area (don't you love wifi in foreign countries? It makes things so much easier) led us to the conclusion this wasn't in our budget. So I said, "Why don't we just keep living out life on the islands?" and with that we bought ferry tickets on Wednesday and headed over to Ambergris Caye to visit the little town of San Pedro (pictured above). *As a side note we almost got on the wrong water taxi heading back to Belize City. Actually we WERE sitting on the boat ready to go until someone collecting tickets noticed ours were to San Pedro and got us off. Always double check your destination!*

Ambergris Caye is considerably larger than Caye Caulker so it actually has a city named within the island called San Pedro. The main ways to get around the island are either by renting a golf cart, biking, walking, or taking a taxi van which are the only cars on the island. If you stay farther down the island away from either end of San Pedro you can take a small water taxi boat that will take you to and from your resort. We noticed towards the ends of the island were big resorts with time shares you could buy and private houses. There was a lot for sale and still reasonable prices from what I could see.

The first thing we did when we got on the island was rent a golf cart. We didn't want to walk all over with our back packs and it was raining (fortunately we had brought panchos with us....always a good decision in the rainy season) so we headed for the closest golf cart rental shop. There was one right off the end of the pier and the girl was very nice. All you needed was to be over 18 and have a driver's license and for about $45 a day we were on our way. We rented the cart for three days because our plan was to actually stay right by the water taxi pier Friday night so it would be easier to get up and get on our way home.

Once we decided we were headed to San Pedro I had researched a few places on the internet that looked good to stay. It's a little confusing when you are first driving around because you have to take some of the back streets in order to loop around and drive on the beach front road where there are many more hotels. From the looks of driving around at first it didn't appear to be as many hotels and hostels that you could just walk up too and rent a room but after we got comfortable with our surroundings we found many places that were "hidden." The place I picked to try our luck at was the Hotel del Rio. From the internet I liked the thatched roof huts, how it was farther away from the city center (so we could possibly sleep in peace?) and it had it's own dock which you could swim off of. They ended up having a casita for $50 a night so this is what we ended up with:
There were only 4 of these on the property then a cluster of rooms in a hotel behind us that were part of the same place. The one across from ours had a whole family staying in there (small kids = loudness early in the morning = not happy) so I'm assuming it slept about 4-6 whereas ours slept two. There was a thatch covered picnic area where you could sit and eat and some lawn chairs out front plus a dock that extended into the shallow water where we swam.




Here's a picture of the inside of our casita. It was very nice and cozy which was great because it rained really hard all that afternoon and we spent the majority of our Wednesday there. While the staff was very friendly and would do anything for you (including bust a coconut open that dropped from a tree that chad and I found) there were some problems here. First, don't assume a mosquito net is cute, it became essential after the rain brought the bugs in. Second this room, having a thatch roof and siding attracted A LOT of bugs. I'm talking tiny ants and mosquitoes here. Third it was really loud and not just from the kids. Being ground level you could hear everyone walking by and talking and at night there seemed to be large trucks driving by making lots of noise. We slept horrible here. And once the mosquitoes came in after the rains we couldn't even sit on our porch and enjoy. The upside however, was the staff, it came with a mini fridge and the bathroom was nice and it was right near a bakery where we could go eat in the morning. Have to take the good with the bad I guess.
But we did enjoy the dock....












and fresh coconut....



More to come on Ambergris Caye...

Caye Caulker

One of the reasons I chose Caye (pronounced: key) Caulker as our first destination in Belize, is because it was the only island I really remembered anything about from my Fodor's book. I knew it was small and there were no cars on the island (which makes it seem not quite so overwhelming on arrival) and that it was less expensive overall. Since it was the first stop on the Water Taxi it also seemed to make sense to visit here first.

There are three "main" streets to the island, appropriately named: front (or beach street), middle and back. The front and middle are the only two that you really need to worry about as a tourist because the back part of the island is more housing for the locals and as far as I could tell there weren't really any restaurants there. Our summer is their rainy or green season which means mosquitoes, humidity and not many tourists. Their main tourist time is christmas through Jan. although in talking with a few locals they said there hasn't been many tourists visiting with the economy being in a downslide. Bad for business but good for us looking for a deal.
(picture: conch ceviche)
One of the most popular dishes in Belize is conch ceviche. You can get it as an appetizer at any restaurant and it was even given to us free for one of our meals (as a way to lure the tourists in I'm sure). It's basically conch, peppers and lime juice and I'm sure a few other spices depending on who makes it and tastes like a salsa. Conch is a little chewy but fairly tasteless (I'd compare it to a scallop) so it takes on the flavor of whatever it's prepared or cooked with. We grew very fond of conch and really hated to have to come home where we knew there would be a fat chance of finding it in your local restaurant. What impresses me about conch is that the whole thing can be eaten and then they use the shell for decoration, sell it whole or carve the pink inside out for jewelry. Since conch shells are illegal to bring into the united states I opted for a nice necklace made from the pink part of the shell.

The best meal I had on Caye Caulker was at a place called Rose's (we were told if you miss eating here you miss the best part of the island). They had fresh caught snapper, barracuda fillets, conch kabobs, chicken kabobs and pork chops laid out and before you entered the restaurant you picked what you wanted and the guy threw it on the grill. Then you got to pick your side items to which I had mashed potatoes and gravy and cole slaw. The kabob was excellent (as was Chad's snapper I might add) because it took on the smoke flavor of the grill and there was really almost too much for me to eat.
(picture to left: dinner at Roses)


This picture of Pirates of the second best place we ate at on the island. I have learned through my travels that hole-in-the-wall places are some of the best kept secrets and serve, often, better food than sit down restaurants. I think because they don't have to pay waiters and have all those operating costs they can better focus on the food. We decided to order the fried chicken here for lunch and opened our to go box at the hotel to find half a fried chicken. I was a little skeptical at first. I don't like the drumstick and pulling chicken apart and all that mess. But this chicken was amazing. All white meat and almost a tempura fried quality so it wasn't super greasy but perfectly crispy. These people know how to do chicken at this place. My best advice, if you see locals eating there, then follow suit.

The best part of our stay on Caye Caulker and especially for my birthday (to which I had no birthday cake but I did have ice cream) was snorkeling. If you visit here I highly recommend using Carlos as your tour guide (located on middle street he runs a hotel too). What we learned in Thailand about these snorkeling tours is this, most of these guys you see set up with their shops boasting about taking you snorkeling, diving, whatever, all work together. They have too. There aren't enough tourists on these small islands to just take one or two people out alone (Carlos will take a minimum of two) daily so they will group you together. You sign up with one group because you like the guy standing there telling you about the tour, etc. and end up getting handed off to a bigger group once you show up. A good snorkel guide will only take out 8 and have at least another person with him to split the group up. If you have more than four in a group you end up on top of one another kicking each other in the face with your fins. Carlos will actually get in the water with you as well, something I had never heard of. You snorkel as a group and he shows you the fish, tells you their names and points out things you would otherwise miss. We saw lobster, angel fish, parrot fish, and even a moray who he made mad so the thing would come out of his hiding spot!
On our snorkel adventure we went to three spots with the first being the deep part of the reef (Belize has the second largest in the world next to Australia) and then to stingray alley which was my favorite and finally a shallow part of the reef where he lets you swim the channels by yourself as long as you want. Stingray alley has turned into such because it's where the fisherman go to clean their fish and the stingray caught on and started breeding there and so now they just hang out there all the time. I was a little nervous getting in at first, the water is really shallow, but there were about 30 of these stingrays swimming around and I didn't want to have a Steve Irwin type accident or something! They were curious about us of course so they would come up and touch you and one even nibbled my leg. Carlos was cutting up fish in the water for them to attract them closer to us which is how I got the nice picture above of me touching one. The area also draws barracudas, which in reality are probably more terrifying to see up close than the stingrays but Carlos said they would only try and go after you if you were wearing shiny jewelry which they might mistake as a fish. I have heard that it isn't a good thing to touch the string rays because it rubs the mucus off their body and can cause infections so I just tried to let them swim around me and do their thing. I highly recommend doing the Hol Chan Marine Reserve and their stingray alley (which we thought we did but apparently it's another separate part of the reef) with Carlos because there are sea turtles and nurse sharks there as well as the stingrays.

The one downfall to having a reef is that it doesn't make for a good beach. Since the reef catches all the waves and protects the island, there isn't much sand on the waterfront and a lot of sea grass. A hurricane came through several years ago and split the caye into thus giving a deeper area off shore to swim. This area known simply as
"The Split" is pretty much the only place to swim on the caye and as a bonus they have built a bar on the end which makes for a great relaxing, apres snorkeling afternoon. Hotels down by the split are a little more pricey as well and you will hear locals or websites referring to it when referencing areas (as in: oh yes that hotel is down by the split). I wish we had taken advantage of the swimming here more because there is no area like this on Ambergris Caye.

I'd have to say overall I enjoyed Caye Caulker and think it's a good introduction to island life. There aren't any hagglers here trying to sell you things on the beach meaning you can take a nice walk and enjoy yourself and everyone on the island is friendly and helpful. The food we had here was excellent and there were some good drink prices like 2 for 1 beers and pina coladas and half price pizza. No one rushes you in or out the door at the restaurants so you can stay as long as you like (half the time we just had to go up and ask for the check or we'd have been sitting there all day!). I would definitely recommend a second level room at any place you stay to avoid bugs and the only drawback to staying directly on the beach as we did was our room flooded one really stormy night. It was nice to have a fridge in our room to keep drinks in although we did discover that beers (which aren't sold in 6 packs only individually) are cheaper not bought in bulk and better off left to be bought at the bar to get a real deal. There are little grocery stores all over where you can buy whatever you need and don't ignore the guys riding around on bikes selling meat pies and banana bread in the morning, those are a specialty and delicious. There's also one gift shop on the island so you can buy whatever souvenirs you need and they happened to be cheaper there than Ambergris.....which leads us to our next adventure.....

Don't Stop Belize'in

This picture of my husband and I should have a background of Machu Picchu seeing as that's where we were headed a week ago yesterday. However, the life of a standby is an unpredictable one at best and the one direct flight a day from Atlanta to Lima, Peru last Sunday was full. Since I had bought plane tickets from Lima to Cusca to get to Machu Picchu it was pretty pointless for us to try and go if we couldn't get there by Tuesday. The flight Tuesday looked oversold as well and being that it left at 5pm we decided we were done wasting time in the airport. It was time for a backup plan. So we chose the somewhere else on our never ending list of places to visit and that place happened to be Belize.

For my birthday two years ago we had gone to Costa Rica and after we got home I started researching other places in Central America I wanted to go. Belize, with it's laid back people and Caribbean waters and "go slow" attitude on it's cayes seemed like a perfect fit. I even bought a Fodor's book on the place and started saving money for the trip which I planned to take that September. However, my husband asked me, would I rather get engaged or go to Belize? Because we didn't have the money for both at the time. So I put Belize out of my head and never imagined going there again until last Sunday. After talking to customer service and seeing that Peru wasn't an option I had them list us for the flight to Belize City. I hadn't paid for anything but the Taca plane tickets in Peru so we weren't really going to be out any money by switching destinations.

We showed up at the airport Monday morning and were given our boarding passes for Belize City. The sane logical side of my brain was screaming, "What the hell are you doing! You are going to a country you've never been too and have no idea what to do when you get there!" Chad and I had no place lined up to stay and no plans upon arrival except get the hell out of Belize City and head to Caye Caulker. If you have never been to Belize City it's basically like Detroit or a slum of New York City. It's poor and there's a lot of petty crime and it's not a place you dare walk around by yourself at night. While the government says they are trying to clean it up, it still looked pretty bad to me and I was glad we weren't spending any time there.

Upon clearing customs there was a travel center in the airport and Chad went and talked to the lady and asked her about Caye Caulker and where we should stay and if we needed reservations, etc. The lady told Chad that since it was the off season (read: rainy season) that we could walk around the island and have our pick of a place to stay. So we hopped in a cab and headed for the San Pedro Water Taxi pier. Here you buy tickets for $10 per person us one way to Caye Caulker. We were fortunate our plane arrived in enough time to take a cab and get us on the noon boat so we didn't have to sit around until 1:30pm. We boarded up and said goodbye to Belize City and headed out on the water. It was raining when we arrived and I hoped that wouldn't be a sign of the weather for the week to come but at least it was warm!

On Caye Caulker there are no cars, only golf carts to get around. You can rent a golf cart or bike or take a golf cart taxi but the island is only 5 miles long and about 2 miles wide so that's pretty pointless. We declined a golf cart taxi when we arrived because well, we didn't even know where we were going to end up.
(picture: Chad upon our arrival at Caye Caulker)

There are multiple Cayes off the coast of Belize but only Caye Caulker and Ambergris are inhabitable for tourists (there are some smaller ones that have dive huts where avid divers can stay but the water taxi only goes to Ambergris and Caulker) and Caye Caulker is the smallest of the two and also the cheapest. We were told that heading left from the pier we would find cheaper rooms while to the right, down near the Split (pretty much the only area to swim on the island) were more expensive. So we walked all around the island checking out spots that looked suitable until we found The Popeye. The Popeye was right on the beach and looked like a big safe place to stay. It was also close to the pier so when we had to leave it would be a short walk with our backpacks. The cool thing we found out on our travels down here was that the hotel staff always show you the room before you have to buy. So the guy showed us a few rooms and we ended up getting a discount of paying $50us for a waterfront room. This is the bonus to traveling in the off season and also for waiting in person to pay. If you suggest you might look elsewhere they are more likely to bargain with you. Then when you agree to the room they hand you the key, let you get settled in and then you get to go down and pay. A great system for travelers if you ask me!
(picture: the popeye hotel)










(picture: our room at the popeye which was very pink! It had air conditioning and a fridge which was a bonus. The downside, on a really stormy night the rain flooded our room, not terrible but enough to have water all over the front part of the room)








So that's the start of the story about our week in Belize. I will have to break it up over a few blogs because each caye was so different and had so much to offer and I want to focus on both separately. Check back for more of to come!

Everything but the Kitchen Sink

Ever since I became a flight attendant I have become an extraordinary packer. Of course, when I first started this wasn't the case. I'd pack extra uniforms (waste: I'd wear the same dress every day), an outfit for every day (wear the same thing over again, no one cares especially not your crew) and a variety of shoes (tennis shoes are all you need). In fact, packing only pj's and workout clothes has often saved me money by giving me a great excuse NOT to go out to dinner with my fellow employees. When I travel for leisure I only take a roller board now and a purse. Checking bags is a waste when you fly standby because if you don't even know if you are getting to your destination chances are your bags may or may not go either. I wear my bulkiest pair of shoes and jacket or sweater and bring items that can be worn over again or layered. I find I rarely change outfits in a day (although somewhere in my subconscious I believe I will which is why I pack multiple outfits for one day thus weighing me down) and a pair of flip flops and ballet flats always work and pack well. I don't bring a laptop, dvd's, dvd player, or anything bulky because really who needs all that when you have the iphone? When we travel to another country, Chad and I always use hiker's backpacks. Trust me you don't want to be schulping through the beaches of Thailand or climbing up a hill to your bungalow in Costa Rica lugging a roller board behind you. The plus of backpacks is they fit easily in overhead bins and all the weight is on your hips leaving you hands free. The downside is, being that we always have to non-rev in business casual clothing, well you kind of look ridiculous. Ever seen a guy in a coat and tie with a backpack strapped to his back? Yeah it sounds about as bad as it is.

I recently rented Up in the Air with George Clooney and was pleasantly surprised at how the movie portrayed the business traveler. After all, even though I'm working the flight per say I consider myself a sky warrior as well. In the movie, Clooney's character, Ryan Bingham travels around the country representing the company that other companies use to fire their employees. Although I don't get the frequent flier and hotel perks his character receives in the movie, I definitely related to the loneliness that comes with traveling and staying in hotels night after night. The movie does offer some good advice to travelers though which I thought I would borrow and post here for all of those out there who just don't get "it."

Rule one: Always carry on your bag. As Bingham says:
"You know how much time you loose checking in? Thirty-five minutes a flight. I travel 270 days a year. That's 157 hours. That makes 7 days. You willing to throw an entire week on that?"
And really you DON'T need 6 pairs of shoes, 2 outfits a day, full size shampoos and lotions, and the various other things you always think you will use but don't. The hotels have hair dryers. Seriously not worth the trouble.

Rule two: Pack your belt; don't wear it. You're holding up the security line for an accessory. The same is true for watches, fancy jewelry or anything else. Pack it and wear it later. Or don't pack it. I always pack jewelry and rarely ever change out my earrings...

Rule three: Please stop waving goodbye to your family as you are going through the metal detector. Say goodbye at the curb and be done with it.

Rule four: Tourists are amateurs. They carry way too much electronic equipment and their brains are on vacation. Steer clear of anyone in a hawaiian shirt or sun visor in the security line.

Rule Four I can attest too first hand. When I travel to foreign countries I try to look as not out of place as possible. This means no camera around my neck, no tennis shoes (in Europe at least because no one wears tennis shoes out or yoga pants for that matter) and of course luggage to match the local. When we went to the Phi Phi Islands from Phuket we had to climb across three ferries to get onto ours. Once we arrived at Phi Phi we had to disembark down stairs then walk down a dock and take a long boat over to our side of the island. Of course if you know anything about long boats you know you don't really dock so when we arrived at our final destination we had to get out in ankle deep water, then walk up the beach to our hotel. From the lobby we had to hike up a hill to our bungalow. Was it worth it? Yes. With a roller board, can you even begin to imagine? I saw several other tourists dragging their suitcases all over the place and as you can guess, wheels and sand don't mix.

When we head to Peru in a few weeks we will once again be toting our hiking backpacks. I have learned to pack all my clothing (which isn't much these days) in ziplock bags then bring extra ones for wet or dirty clothes. I also like to google appropriate clothing before I go so I don't stick out too much. In Peru, apparently the clothing choices for locals is very casual so I'd probably look out of place wearing a fancy dress and the roads and walkways there are rocky which means no high heels. I've learned to love wearing hats as they are always good to cover up bad hair days, block the sun and you bonus you don't have to pack them...they just sit on your head.

A little advanced planning means a restful vacation, and as I've learned the less you bring with you the more you can take home :)