Belize

Just like 95% of my trips, this trip to Belize was planned no more than 4 days before arrival. Earlier in the month one of my flight attendant friends, told me about her crazy idea to go to Belize and swim with sea life and lay on beautiful beaches. I didn’t have work at the end of the month, so I thought, hey-why not! We both were very unsure of how things operated in this Central American destination, but through good advice, we decided to focus on Caye Caulker. The Cayes are a series of tropical islands off the shore of Belize, and Caye Caulker is specifically known for its friendly locals and gateway to adventure.

So once we had that part of planning figured out, we then struggled on accommodation. Although our trip was during the low season, lodging was sold out and choosing a place took some guts. We looked into comparing Airbnb’s and more affordable hotels. We ended up settling on a private 1 bedroom house that had good reviews and was only $50 a night on airbnb. We primarily chose it because of its location, and I have to say that the location was worth it. We were only a block away from “The Split” which is one of the nicer beach areas of the island, and close to great restaurants.

Our first day in Belize started with multiple flights from the mainland, and for Jazz, Hawaii. We both took red-eyes into Houston, and from there flew directly to Belize City. After a few phone calls, we had a taxi take us to the ferry terminal, and from there we took a speed boat to Caye Caulker. Once we met our host, Hilda, she was very knowledgeable and kind. Explaining everything to know about the house and even some history about the island. We started to get comfortable and eventually walked down to the split to relax and take a dip in the water.

Our first evening we got a feel for the land, tried to acquaint ourselves with what was around and enjoy the slow life. Our second day in Belize, we started early to scout out the available tours. We walked down the main road inquiring at a few options, but decided to spend the day with “stress less tours”. The tour went from 10 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon. This tour was one of the main reasons tourists visit the Cayes. We planned to snorkel with manatees, stingrays, reef sharks, turtles, and explore the reef. The reef is the second largest on earth and snorkeling with marine life is always a unique experience. On our first stop, we found a manatee and swam with her for almost an hour. This slow and calm creature would occasionally take breathes at the surface and slowly move around quietly. We learned manatees are mostly blind and use it’s hair follicles for navigating. It was so amazing to be swimming next to a wild manatee, I never thought I would do that. The rest of the day included swimming with more sea creatures. The reef sharks were plenty and curious. The sharks were not dangerous as they did not have teeth. None of us were scared to be in the water with them, we wanted to get as close as possible.

The rest of the trip we spent ‘going slow’, not looking at the time, and enjoying the fresh and flavorful culinary eats. Oh, and I guess I forgot to mention my favorite part of this trip. We met this street dog, named Mika, on our first night on the island. I have no idea what breed she was but she was a medium sized, very happy pup, with the craziest ears. She would play around us as we walked and then eventually never left us. I started to buy her dog food, and I even taught her how to drink water out of a bowl. She never left our side, never barked, and went where dogs were not meant to go. On one of the days we rented a golf cart. These are the Rolls Royce of the island, mainly because there were no roads and probably not enough space for anything larger. When we rented the cart, Mika did not want to get in. After several attempts, we gave up, but found that Mika preferred running behind the cart. She was such a lovely friend to have made, you would not believe how much I cried when we had to leave her. I even tried to adopt her; but when I reached out to the island’s human society, they informed me Mika had an unfit owner, but appreciated my care. All in all, it was a very fun and special trip to Belize. It was exciting to learn their culture, and live like a Belizean for a moment.