Cool for cats in Caye Caulker

---

HE SAID...
This afternoon we were travelling northeast from Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve to Caye Caulker.

On the drive from Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve to Belize City, derelict concrete houses dotted the highway, with little to no immediate reason why they had ever been built in the first place. On our arrival in Belize City at 4:15pm, our new driver (who replaced our street fighting driver who was sent home at breakfast) suddenly started making calls back to San Ignacio asking where the ferry terminal was. Not a good sign when we had a 4:30pm ferry to catch. We drove down roads, doubled back, asked service station attendants and finally found the ferry – only to be told by a policeman to move because we were blocking the road. Luckily, the policeman promised a parking spot if we got back in a few minutes, which the young driver did. We parked in our reserved spot, got our packs and ran to the ferry. The staff were fantastic and held the ferry for us– we only just made it! We were crammed in like sardines, and the bumpy trip over the windswept Caribbean Sea took about an hour.

We arrived at 5:30pm, jumped off the ferry, walked onto the beach, grabbed our bags and walked to Caye Caulker Plaza Hotel. We checked in, had a quick shower (we hadn’t washed after the ATM Cave tour four hours earlier) and went for an orientation walk of this tiny island. With our bearings intact, we headed out for dinner at Belizean Flava, an upstairs restaurant near the beach front. I ordered the grilled fish, while Ren had the grilled shrimp. Belizean Flava had a very generous business model – you received unlimited free rum punch and a free desert (bread pudding) with your meal. I’m not sure how many rum punches I had, but I slept incredibly well. It was a great meal and a great night.

We woke early the next day at 5:30am and helped ourselves to the tea/coffee from the hotel foyer. We dropped our laundry off and headed to Errolyns House of Fry Jacks for breakfast. I had an egg fry jack, while Ren had a bacon and egg fry jack. We walked down to the beach, found a table and enjoyed an open air breakfast as we gazed out over the Caribbean. We then walked the length of the island and had fresh juice at Paradiso Cafe at the split, a narrow channel that splits the island in two.

We picked up some drinks and headed back to the hotel around 11am. It was incredibly hot! On the way back we stumbled upon a school and discovered it was Cultural Day on the island, so kids were dressed up in traditional clothing and having a great time riding around on their bikes.

We headed out for coffee and fruit liquados (smoothies) at Caribbean Colors Cafe around midday, and explored the island streets a little more, but still had to retreat to the hotel to escape the intense heat. I picked up some drinks and plantain chips in the afternoon, which sustained us as we uploaded our Flores blog. We headed out in the late afternoon to pick up our laundry and walk the back streets on the western side of the island. The sunset was amazing, but it seemed to be competing with the noise and smoke of the island’s power generators and the industrial barges bringing building products for the many new hotels under construction. The residential poverty on this side of Caye Caulker stood in stark contrast to the wealthy tourism infrastructure and houses on the opposite side of the island. This disparity is always difficult to experience as a transient tourist.

On our way back we picked up a couple of bottles of May Sharp’s Hot Sauces, which have been in nearly every restaurant we’ve eaten at in Guatemala and Belize. We headed out to dinner at Roy’s Blue Water Grill at 8pm. We both ordered the coconut encrusted snapper, and it wasn’t good – the fish had been deep fried in a coconut batter, and the coconut flavour was completely overwhelming. However, the fantastic atmosphere in the restaurant (along with complimentary drinks for a double booking) made up for the ordinary food. The owner’s daughter was having her third birthday at the restaurant, and we were welcomed into her party – we even ended up having some of her birthday cake for dessert. At the end of an incredibly relaxing day, we made our way back to the hotel around 10:30pm, caught up on some travel writing and eventually succumbed to sleep at midnight.

We woke early at 5:30am on our third day on the island and walked to Amor y Cafe to pre-order our breakfast for the following day. We were leaving Caye Caulker the next day and heading to Tulum in Mexico, so we needed to order breakfast for the trip.

We decided to spend the first part of the day on a deep-sea fishing tour, so we picked up breakfast at Errolyns House of Fry Jacks (I had an egg fry jack, and Ren had an egg, ham and cheese fry jack). With our fry jacks in paper bags, we walked to the western jetty and jumped into one of Stressless Tours small fishing boats. After having to turn back to collect our bait for the day (which both crew members had forgotten to pick up), we eventually made our way through the split and headed out into the Caribbean Sea. Our captain was too laid back and last minute in everything he did, including telling us to throw out our lines in the protected marine reserve, only to have the ranger pull up in a boat beside us and tell us we were fishing illegally.

We then headed out to the reef surrounding the small island, and I loved the opportunity to sit and watch waves breaking over the reef. I’d been watching this distant reef ever since we arrived at Caye Caulker, so it was fantastic to be so close to the breaking waves. We trawled for barracuda without luck, so the captain decided to drop anchor and line fish for snapper off the sea bottom. It wasn’t long before we ran out of sinkers (after only two snags), and our bait was thrown overboard by the crew who thought we had finished fishing. This was not a professional organisation by any stretch of the imagination. The name Stressless Tours doesn’t apply to the people they take fishing – it applies to the attitude of the crew! However, with no sinkers or bait on board, the only thing to do was dive into the Caribbean and swim in the open sea, with Caye Caulker a very distant bump on the horizon.

After I clambered back into the boat with the help of the captain (they had forgotten to bring the ladder), we began our journey back to Caye Caulker. We arrived at the western jetty we’d left four hours earlier, climbed out of our small fishing boat and walked the short distance to our hotel for a quick shower. We then headed out to lunch at Enjoy Bar and Restaurant, which was located on the beach front on the eastern side of the island. I ordered the creole snapper fillet, while Ren ordered coconut curry with shrimp. It was happy hour for the rum punches, so we were in heaven. The food was extraordinary, the view of the Caribbean Sea through palm trees on the beach was unbelievable and the rum punch was fantastic. This is the very reason why we travel.

We finished lunch around 2pm, and on our way back to the hotel Ren picked up an ice cream from a street cart vendor. We also picked up some drinks and plantain snacks from the supermarket before retiring to our room to catch up on some travel writing.

We headed back out at 5pm to get a few sunset photos before heading to the basketball court on the eastern beach front to see local kids of all ages train with their coach. We had watched this the previous night, and we were amazed at the dedication of this coach and the unconditional respect he had from the kids.

We wandered back to the hotel, picked up some plantain chips and beer and worked on our blog. I crashed around 10pm, while Ren kept working for a couple of hours longer. We had a 6:30am start the next morning, followed by a long, long day of travel to Tulum in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. We were finally on our way to Mexico!



SHE SAID...
We were running late for our 4:30pm water taxi from Belize City to Caye Caulker and stress levels in the minibus were high. We eventually made it to Belize City, and it wasn’t a very inviting city. Dusty streets, soulless buildings, broken footpaths and rusty cars choking the roads with exhaust fumes. I’m sure it had redeeming features, but I couldn’t see any in our short time there.

We made it on to the ferry by the skin of our teeth, but most seats were already taken and we had to squeeze into a hot and packed ferry. I couldn’t enjoy the 45 minute ferry ride across the beautiful blue waters of the Caribbean as I was starting to feel quite fatigued, and the petrol fumes from the boat didn’t help.

When we reached the island, we walked to Caye Caulker Plaza Hotel through the island’s basketball court and made a note to come back and watch a few games. We were both very tired, but we had a quick shower and joined the orientation walk of the area near our hotel. It was probably because I was very tired, but I couldn’t absorb any of the information being discussed. We were only in Belize for four days, so we hadn’t bothered buying a Lonely Planet guide. This had been a bad move, as I was a bit lost without one, but we realised that we could borrow an old copy (2011) from the hotel reception.

Caye Caulker (with a population of about 2,000) is a pretty little island (8km long and 2km at its widest point) with colourful clapboard houses and a sandy main road. With no cars allowed, the laid-back locals get around on foot, bicycles and golf buggies. The island can be circumnavigated by buggy in 30 minutes. Even though the island was predominately powdery white sand (limestone), ironically, the only thing that wasn’t sandy was the beach. The island doesn’t have many roads, and while I’m sure they have proper names, the locals refer to them as ‘front or main road’, ‘middle road’ and ‘back road’. I loved the simplicity of it! 😊

The sparkling sea and coral reefs are what most visitors come to Belize for, but I was equally fascinated by the island and its people. The locals predominantly made their money from the sea, but tourism has now started taking over as the main industry.

In the evening the smell of grilled seafood filled the island air. The food was much like the island itself – laid back, affordable and thoroughly enjoyable. Needless to say, the seafood was fabulously fresh, and restaurants and street stalls offered all manner of seafood feasts. Caye Caulker is famous for its lobster, but sadly we missed the season as lobsters can only be caught between June 15th and February 15th.

We had dinner at Belize Flava do&o (it took us a while to figure out that do&o stood for ‘da one and only’). They offered free bottomless glasses of rum punch… need I say more? The fish of the day was laid out at the front of the restaurant, but I opted for grilled shrimp with mash and garden salad… it was nice but not great. However, Andrew picked a winner with a snapper fillet with baked potatoes and pasta salad. For dessert we were served a free bread and butter pudding (of sorts).

I decided on that first night that I loved Caye Caulker. Even though its main attraction was its unmistakable Caribbean pace and charm, I especially loved the many ethnic groups who had made the island home and gave it a very multicultural feel.

The next morning we were supposed to go on a full day snorkelling trip. However, I woke up tired and slightly under the weather, so we decided to calm our pace down a bit and have a day of quiet exploration instead. We started our day with fabulous stuffed fry jacks (traditional Belizean dish of deep fried dough pieces) from Errolyn’s House of Fry Jacks. I think I’m in love! We took them down to the beach and ate them under a coconut tree. 😊

The advantage of having a common language with the locals was that we could easily strike up a conversation with them. A few times I was mistaken for one of the many mixed-race locals, until I opened my mouth. I’m hopeless at accents, so couldn’t even pretend to put on the Caribbean drawl for a laugh. So far on our travels I’ve been mistaken for a local in Turkey, Cambodia, Malaysia, India and now Belize.

Our hotel was roughly located in the middle of the island, which was so small that from our corner third storey room, we had views of the water to the east from one window and views of the water to the north from the other. We were about a five minute walk from the water and about ten minutes from ‘The Spilt’ – the popular swimming area (so named after a narrow channel – created by a hurricane – that literally splits the island). The Split is the closest thing to a beach on the island.

The main things to do on the island were water or relaxation related. The island prides itself on its ‘go slow’ motto which is applied to absolutely everything. Apparently they value people more than schedules – and while I can see merit in that argument (especially when we were on holiday), it would drive me nuts if I had to actually try and get things done within such a loose framework. But for our short time on the island, we totally embraced the ‘go slow’ ethic.

We explored most of the island on the first day. Narrow streets were lined with arty shops filled with art for tourists, alongside boutiques, cafes and restaurants. It was a great place to get to know by walking... wandering back streets that led to other back streets and new discoveries. We eventually made it to parts of the island where the locals hung out, and I really appreciated seeing the quieter everyday lives of the islanders away from Main Road.

We skipped lunch and just snacked our way through the day, stopping for juices and coffees when we needed to hydrate, and retreating to our room whenever we needed to cool down. The chai iced coffee I had at Caribbean Colours Cafe was the best of the lot. And our favourite snack was plantain chips from the Chan supermarket next to our hotel.

There were heaps of dogs on the island, and it was nice to see the majority were neutered and looked very much loved. However, we still did our best to give the all the pups and the few kitties we came across as much love as we could while we were there.

I had read about the ‘cake man’, a man who rides around with a pile of cakes. I later found out that he sells marijuana to tourists. Nevertheless, he had the best banana bread I have tasted in a long time.

For dinner we went to Roy’s Bluewater Grill and Restaurant with Hoa, Gavin, Yen, Megan and Brendan. Our table wasn’t ready, so we sat on the bar swing seats and were offered a free round of drinks for the wait. I’ve already developed a healthy taste for the white rum and pineapple juice drinks that seemed to be the drink of choice. Andrew and I ordered the coconut encrusted snapper fillet – the fish was lovely, but the coconut crust was way over the top and made the dish too sweet. It didn’t help that I ordered sides of coconut rice (which was slightly sweet, and a garden salad with a slightly sweet dressing); Andrew’s roasted potatoes and pasta salad were the better options.

We’ve loved working our way through all the hot sauces in Belize– they were delicious. The popular choice was obviously Mary Sharp’s sauces which we are hoping to be able to take back home. Roy’s had a house-made fresh hot sauce that was delicious but seriously hot and made with habanero chiles (one of the hottest Chiles commonly used), vinegar, carrots, cilantro (coriander leaf), salt and pepper. I’ll have to give this sauce a go at home.

The highlight of our night was a three year old’s birthday cake cutting that we participated in, which was quite normal until the candles were blown out and the father forcibly planted the little girl’s face into the cake. We were all in shock and even though we laughed, we felt bad for the little girl, but she handled it like a trouper. And we also got cake. 😊

At dinner we heard that some of the guys were going on a fishing trip the next day and we decided to join them. So after another delicious breakfast of stuffed fry jacks, we spent the next day on our private fishing boat beneath a blue but slightly cloudy sky, in warm turquoise waters. The world’s second largest barrier reef (after Australia’s Great Barrier Reef) is just off the coast of Caye Caulker and we headed towards it. The deck hand put out two lines so we could trawl for Barracuda, but no sooner had he done this than a boat with a marine ranger sped toward us and told the captain that we were fishing in a protected area. Even though the captain played down the situation, I wasn’t overly happy with the extremely non-eco-friendly behaviour going on.

When I’d been reading up on marine life in this part of the world, I was especially interested in the manatees who loved these waters. For centuries the manatees had been hunted for their meat (called bucan), and the pirates of the Caribbean (the actual ones) drove them to near extinction as they lived almost solely on bucan meat, and were thus called buccaneers. One of my favourite bar jokes is about buccaneers… a pirate walks into a bar, and the barman asks ‘where are your buccaneers?’, the pirate answers ‘they are on my buccan-head, you buccan-idiot’. If you didn’t find that joke funny, try reading it again after two or three large rum and pineapple drinks. 😊

The fish weren’t biting very much while we were trawling, but once we stopped and anchored, a few fish were caught by the group. Andrew and I had no luck, but even though fishing is fun, it was incidental to the experience of being out on the reef in gorgeous water and enjoying a day on the boat. We snacked on watermelon and pineapple, but by the time we got back at 1pm, we were ravenous.

Later we relaxed and chilled over lunch at Enjoy, and the meal was the best we’d had on the island. Andrew had Creole fish, while I had shrimp coconut curry. Both dishes came with coconut rice, salad and a smoky chicken kebab. We enjoyed eating lunch while people watching on Main Street with the backdrop of the glittery Caribbean Sea. It was happy hour, and the barman poured us another glass of excellent rum punch – the sweet rummy flavour was as glorious as the magic of the beach setting we were in. We were totally happy and relaxed – as we were supposed to be on an island in the sun. What made this day better was buying a chocolate paletas (popsicle / icy pole) from a guy on a bike. I like supporting micro businesses, even though buying one to eat while walking down a street in high temperatures wasn’t the smartest move. I ended up with more melted ice cream down my arm than in my mouth.

A vivid mosaic of sunny skies, warm green-blue seas, puppies a plenty and litres of sweet rum punch… this was my perfect tropical travel fantasy. The three days we had in Caye Caulker were a blur of sun, sand, surf, seafood and rum. Time really does seems to melt into nothingness when I’m relaxed.

Next we cross the border into Mexico, and travel north to Tulum in Quintana Roo.

---

Comments

[taracloud]

Cool cats and hot sauce
Go slow--what a perfect motto for a 'tropical travel fantasy.' There were no hotels, restaurants, tourist shops or golf buggies when I was there 30 years ago, but how great that they still don't allow cars! The restaurants, rum punches and tropical vibes sounded fabulous, and I'm so impressed that the dogs were often neutered! I wonder if a vet retired there?

[RENanDREW]

Re: Cool cats and hot sauce
'Go Slow' defined the island in many ways, and we loved it. We didn't catch golf buggy taxis while we were there, but there was an aging population on the island who used them a lot... development isn't always bad :)

[Shelley and Scott]

Buccancoconutsnapper
Just love the fishing boat story, getting annoyed and frustrated but ultimately just going with the flow and having a great day. The food sounds incredible (except for the coconut encrusted snapper) and will need to sample that rum punch.

[RENanDREW]

Re: Buccancoconutsnapper
It was a lovely day on the water, despite the dodgy brothers fishing trip business. The food was seriously good, we picked very badly with the coconut snapper. We are in Mexico now and really missing that rum punch!

[alex waring]

Time to Go Slow!
Great - after your hectic trip through Guatemala, great to hear you've had time to rest and recupe at the seaside :) Thank you very much for your kind offer of advice for my trip out there in the summer. I shall let you guys enjoy your journey for now, and I'm sure I'll have lots of questions for you guys when you return. Hope all has gone well on the journey to Mexico :)

[RENanDREW]

Re: Time to Go Slow!
It was the best possible place for some down time! I will let you know when we are back home, and we should also have better info for you by then :)

[D MJ Binkley]

Do&o
Perfect name. You've become good friends with the rum punch. I'll send you and email about a book you should read when you get home. It has a lot of rum punch in it and will make you smile. Twice we've planned a diving trip to Belize and had to postpone the trips. We will get there some day. The creole fish looks great. Glad you adapted to a slower pace....certainly not your norm. Dave and I are longing for a dive trip so that sounds appealing.

[RENanDREW]

Re: Do&o
It was quite funny when we realised what it stood for. We always plan for a few slower days at some point of our trips, and it's a pity that it doesn't always happen on an idyllic island - it really did energise us for more adventures. Belize is so close to you, hope you get to go on that trip soon :)

[denidax]

This is hilarious!
I loooove this photo!!! I'm slowly catching up on your blogs and I'm loving your trip so far!!

[RENanDREW]

Re: This is hilarious!
I loved that they reserved this shelf in the supermarket for a cat they hadn't even bothered to name. I patted her a few times and she only woke up once... such a lazy happy cat :)