Placencia to Cay Caulker (3/28/11-4/1)

Placencia


the Hummingbird Highway

One of the nice things about going to Placencia is having to drive the Hummingbird Highway again (I was down here 5 years ago). Once you get past the capital of Belmopan - a total yawner - it gets hilly and green like in the picture. Plus, it's a great name for a road.


end of local Placencia airport at left,
important sign on the right

The branch road off the Southern Highway that goes to Placencia was only completely paved 4-5 months ago, making the drive pretty straightforward. This area is being pushed as the next big thing as an international airport is being built back where the road branches off. There are 'for sale' signs everywhere on the 22 mile long road that runs down the skinny penninsula, especially the lower half.

part of the sidewalk system

The town is still small with just the single, and very busy, road ending at the dock. Otherwise, there are concrete sidewalks connecting the town along the beach. The beach: it's what Placencia has and the rest of mainland Belize does not (Hopkins to the north has a thin beach, too, but I hardly count that). Strangely, unlike a typical Caribbean beach this sand isn't white sugar, but a rough tan-ish sand and not all that much fun to walk on. Parking is at a premium here so I take a room I don't like for too much money that at least has a/c since it's hotter than hot.


11 days in Belize
click to enlarge

 One day around lunchtime I was walking by the dock when a large local woman who was cooking up some food says to me, "hey, big boy, you want some of what Brenda's got cooking?". This sexual innuendo makes me laugh and Brenda and her girlfriend really turn on the charm and so I sit down for the standard Belizean meal of stewed chicken, rice and beans. Pretty good for a good price. We continue to throw one-liners back and forth (Brenda even starts rubbing my shoulders!), then, when I'm leaving I notice a starfish right next to us in the water. I say, "maybe you could slap that starfish on the grill, how would that taste?" Brenda comes back with "how about you slap your dick on the grill?" Her girlfriend adds, "slap it between your legs, you mean?" Wow. And Wow, again. That's my Placencia story.

nice idea, but I wouldn't bet on it

Placencia doesn't really do it for me (Brenda notwithstanding) and I probably won't be back. That said, I guess between the new airport and all the real estate biz going on, this area will explode at some point. And Francis Ford Coppola has his own resort (Turtle something) right at the entrance to town, so lots of other people - people who can afford to live anywhere - love it.





Monkey Bay

Monkey Bay...it's flat around here

On my way back up the Hummingbird I have to stop for gas. Welcome to the future: $5.62 a gallon = $96 for 17 gallons. Hello!

In only 3 hours I make it north to the Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary just off the highway. They are a research facility with some tours and facilities for university students and some campers. The students happen to be away for a few days so the place is all mine for the night. This is a great rest stop if you're ever driving through, only $8 and with very clean facilities and free filtered water to drink (and to reload with) and great wifi in the library.

harpy eagle

white-fronted parrot

A reason I stayed here is that the Belize Zoo is only 5 minutes down the road. People have told me it's really worth it, so I pay my $15 and cruise around. It's pretty small but the reason they are here is that it's a home for animals that were caged or abused or who for some reason can't be put back into the wild. Lots of birds, crocs, jaguar, most anything that would be native to the area. The harpy eagle (picture) is the world's most powerful bird of prey and the national bird of Panama. 75-90 minutes is all it takes to see everything.

Cay Caulker

A drive of less than one hour across very flat, boring country and I'm on the outskirts of Belize City. There is a marina there where people park their vehicles for safekeeping before heading over to the cays. A nearby food shack is serving up the usual (Rosie is cooking) and the shack owner is a Canadian expat, Don, who offers to give me a ride into town to the boat dock to Caulker. You meet the nicest people.

main street

The boat ride takes about 40 minutes, costs $17.50 for a round-trip ticket and is fairly smooth as it's all within the reef. I have no idea where I'm going to stay when we land, but there is a rental shack on the main street and the lady points me towards the Tropical Paradise. Main street is white sand as are all the streets on the island. And only golf carts, no cars.


view from the Tropical

The Tropical (the hotel, not the old bar in Belmar, NJ) is at one end of main street so it's quiet and it's clean with a decent restaurant. I was going to get one of their $20 rooms, but it was still so hot that when the woman mentioned a/c, I said "yes, please". That cost $50, but worth it.



another budget buster

 I expected wall-to-wall partying on this island just by how the guidebooks write it up, but I found the island to be more subdued and the people friendly. Typically, the Rasta-looking guys all thought I'd be interested in buying their shit. No thanks, bro. I only stayed two nights to do more of a scouting of what a cay looked like. Now I kinda wish I had done one of the snorkeling tours, they're supposed to be pretty darn good. Bottom line, I would come back to the cays, maybe even do one of those 3 day sailing trips from Caulker to Placencia. It's probably more fun, though, if you know the other folks on the boat. I made the mistake of walking into a local art gallery and couldn't get this painting out of my mind. It's an original acrylic by Walter Castillo, one of the best known Belize artists. I also bought a mahogony clam chair up in the Cayo District...a fucking chair! I need a bigger car. And a bigger storage unit.