Caye Caulker - Best for Last

We arrived via water taxi here in Caye Caulker, and as we stepped off the boat, Bryan remarked, "I like this place already!"

I think we all have agreed this has been our favorite location of the trip. Caye Caulker is very laid back but still busy at peak times. People are mellow, both locals and tourists alike, and no one is in a rush to get anywhere or do anything. In fact the island's motto is "Go Slow!"

There are people from all over the world here and many younger backpackers. We have met women travelling alone, who feel safe and secure on the island. The shops are few and the restaurants very local in style and food. However, surprisingly, there is a Starbucks.

I think the only vehicles on the island are those used for specific construction projects; otherwise, people bicycle, drive scooters or golf carts, or simply walk. It's not a super large island (the Caye is actually two because rumor has it a hurricane in the 60's split the island into the northern and southern halves), only 2 kilometres long for the main town. I found it easy to get around on foot but the guys think walking for more than three minutes is a crime so they rented a golf cart for the few days we are here.

Sunday, after settling into our cute pink cottage (aptly named Weezie's Pink), we ventured into "town" to explore. The one place everyone raves about is called Lazy Lizard, a bar right on the water where the island split (thus called The Split). We headed there and ate a mediocre meal of fish tacos, pork tacos and cheeseburger, had a couple of drinks, watched people and left. It's nice - I think it could be fun earlier in the day - but it was a very young crowd with a very obvious "meet market" vibe.

Our taxi driver who drove us to our cottage from the water taxi recommended a few places to eat to us, one of which was Rose's Bar & Grill. We easily found this place and were intrigued by the fresh fish special of the evening. There was a guy standing by a table with trays of raw fish fillets, raw chicken kebabs, and crab claws. He told us about each item, its cut, source and manner by which it would be cooked, and explained that we could choose our item there and the kitchen would cook it up and serve it with a couple of sides. Sounded fun and looked fresh, so we tried it.

Rose's is a large space with a 4-sided central bar, large picnic tables and chair/table combos around it, and a high, huge palm frond thatched roof. We are forever intrigued by these roofs as they seem so simple and fragile, yet clearly work well for tropical locations. Belize doesn't experience hurricanes often so the people can get away with wooden buildings and palm frond roofs.

Dinner was great! We all received conch and shrimp cerviche as an appetizer, included with the meal. Scott and I tried the cobia fish fillets and Bryan got a pound of crab. The sides were honey roasted carrots, turmeric rice and garlic pasta, all delicious. Our main meals were super - so fresh! Bryan grumbled about how much work his crab claws were but that's the price you pay if you want to eat them! Plus it makes meal time more fun!!

We happened to run into a couple we had met in Ambergris late last week, too, so we all headed to a sports bar to chat and have a few drinks. They're very nice people from Portland - Jeremy and Mindy.

Yesterday was another great day. I woke early and decided to go for a walk as it's quite hot even at 5:00 am and I'm having a really hard time running in the heat. So, I ventured out to explore and found out that it's really not a great distance or hurdle to walk to where the bustle is. I ended up doing a couple of laps because I found this animal shelter that allows you to take their dogs for a walk at anytime. It's free - I think they're happy to let the dogs out for exercise. I was given a medium sized, young guy named Franky - he was very well behaved and people really seemed happy to see him out. He had to wear a red vest that says "Adopt me" on it so people know he's a shelter dog. We walked for about 30 minutes, as we were both getting pretty hot out there. The shelter has many dogs and cats in it and it sounds like the guy just uses his own money to take care of them without any government or organizational support. Crappy dog food is $50 US per bag so it must be tough for him to care for the animals.

After my walk, the guys were finally awake so we went for breakfast at a place called Fantasy Dining. It was 11:00 when we got there and the food was fine. What was weird though was when we asked for more coffee at 11:25, we were told the coffee was turned off for the day. Very few places in Belize offer coffee refills as well, which Bryan and I decided we would offer at our breakfast joint/bar!

As it's very hot and the boys find it unbearable at times, we hung out by the water on the dock of the accommodations managed by the same people who look after ours. Our cottage is one of three on a back road that share a nice pool and deck. However, the sister rental is right on the water with a nice pier with chairs set out and we are allowed to use it. Most hotels have their own private docks to lay out on but there aren't many public ones, so it's definitely appreciated that we have the pier as an option. We found out they also have kayaks and paddle boards for us to use too!

The airstrip right beside the pier!

Bryan is always concerned about when he'll receive his next meal so it's become a bit of a joke because he tries to get us to say we are hungry when really it's him that wants to eat. Halfway through the afternoon, he had already started asking whether Scott and I were hungry and saying things like "if you guys want to go eat, we should start getting ready...", even though neither of us mentioned food.

Anyway, to appease him, we hit up a restaurant/bar with swings to sit on, something Bryan and I want at our bar one day.

Sobre Las Olas, the bar, had a great outdoor ambiance, right on the water under another awesome thatched roof. Bryan and I had the chicken nachos to share, which were okay except for the awful movie theatre style "cheese". The chicken pieces were substantial though. The guys enjoyed their meals but my jerk chicken salad was only okay. They forgot to add the avocado and all most places have for lettuce is iceberg so I basically had pretty good chicken with some small pieces if pineapple.

We did a bit of shopping afterwards. I bought a plastic wrap sealed Belizian cookbook so I'll get a bit of a surprise when I open that! I'm hoping for some great recipes because most of the food that's been labeled Belizian has been beyond amazing. Maybe it will teach me how to cook plantains properly too!

Dinner was absolutely outstanding last night. I feel like I talk about food a lot in my travel blog but the food is kind of a big deal to me while exploring the world. I love tasting new dishes and experiencing different flavour and texture combinations. The second place our taxi driver recommended is called Habanero's. It's run by a guy from Lethbridge who has travelled the world perfecting his cooking skills. Incidentally, I also believe he is the "friend from Lethbridge Alberta who now lives in Caye Caulker" of our Ambergris condo neighbour John Kennedy. Small world!!!

Habanero's menu alone is like none I have ever seen. The mix of Asian, Italian, Mayan, and Carribean flavours and dishes is mind bogling, really - it was almost impossible to choose our food as there were so many wonderful sounding items! As it was, we choose Creole Voodoo cakes (seafood mixed with onions and peppers, formed into balls, lightly breaded and fried, served with a horseradish sauce and habanero pepper sauce) and some Japanese style seafood dumplings. Oh my God - outstanding!!!

The serving dish for our voodoo cakes was a conch - they are very abundant here!

For our main meals, I had a seafood combo with snapper and shrimp along with rice and great potatoes. Bryan had their Y Caye Caye (Waikiki) pork/beef/chicken dish and Scott their Cha-Ala-Ato-Ob Baab, a huge pork chop with crab claws. Words simply cannot describe how amazing this particular meal was!