Slow Living in Paradise

  Caye Caulker, Belize
Monday, May 7, 2007

After two very long flights on American Airlines (dreaming of Singapore Airlines) we arrived in Belize city. The heat and humidity start to melt you as soon as you disembark. Luggage collected we had to catch a cab to the water taxi. The cabbies are either lucky or clever because without a relative willing to pick you up, they are the only option into town. We paid the $25 (at least the price was posted) and took the 15 minute ride to the water taxi terminal in town.

The water taxi ride was a little scary - not for the driving or speed but for the sun! I had not applied sunscreen in days and I could feel my pale skin starting to crackle the minute we got on the uncovered boat. I wore a hoody and suffered with the heat for the 45 minute ride.

Caye Caulker (pronounced Key Caulker) is considered to the the alternative island to the flashy Ambergris Caye a few miles away. It has about 5 or so real cars on the island to do official car things and a few tractors that collect bottles from the many hotels and restaurants. Otherwise it is just golf carts. Some golf carts have certainly been souped up, going a bit faster than our golf carts at home. One even had purple neon lights installed one the bottom so it makes the sand under it glow as it cruises around at night. This is a very relaxed place.

We had reserved a room at a lovely guesthouse on the south side of the tiny town. The woman running the place couldn't have been more friendly. We got settled in and got a nice cold shower. 

Julius with the Stingrays

With the heat we decided to lie around until the sun set. With a hammock on the porch for me and a TV inside showing NBA playoffs for Julius we were in heaven.

We did hit one snafu that day in that we somehow dropped one of our ATM cards on our way to the ATM. We realized it right away and still had the other one so we called the bank to report it. Since I have the best credit union in the world they managed to cancel the one without canceling the other and all was well. We figured some of the kids playing on the streets picked it up. No matter because no one was able to use it. 

The next day we decided to go on a full day snorkel trip with one of the many, many snorkel shops dotting the island. We went with Mario's and they were great. We had a small group of five and befriended a nice woman from Colorado who was here for three weeks.

The snorkeling was great, especially Shark Ray Alley full of sharks and stingrays. We even got to swim with a sea turtle, a real treat. Belize's coast has the longest reef after the great barrier reef in Australia but it was sad to see that many of coral areas were dead.

Sea Turtle

It is a mix of human interference, bad hurricanes and rising sea temperatures in that area, according to locals. It was good to see what was left.

I unscrewed the sides of my spare glasses and stuck the front of the frames under the goggles, which actually worked quite well. Ridiculous looking but at least I could see. Julius looked much cuter in his. We bought an underwater disposable camera but we won't develop it until we get back to Seattle so you all will have to wait to see them in June.

We were pooped after being in the water all day so we did some power napping then went over to Nancy's for drinks. It was her birthday so we toasted to that and chatted for a few hours on her porch.

For dinner we went to Syds, a wonderful place that played Bob Marley continuously and had fresh conch on the menu. Delicious food and who can quibble with Bob Marley? No one. If someone can think of a more universally beloved artist in the world I would like to hear it.

I considered going diving the next day but decided against it due to price and how sore I was from snorkeling. I spent the morning in the hammock while Julius watched the news. We did get out on the guesthouse bicycles and did some shopping and exploring for the afternoon. It was the same order as the rest of the world, the Chinese owned all the groceries and an Indian family ran the internet cafe. That sounds like a stereotype but somehow the Chinese ended up owning all the groceries in Belize. This was the pattern through the rest of the country.

Belize is truly a marvelous mix of different ethnicities and everyone seems to get along quite well. English is their national language but everyone seems to speak something else as well. Creole, Native Americans, East Indians (arriving as indentured servants to the British in the 1800's then another wave in the 1970's), Chinese (arriving in the 1940's) and finally Mennonites who arrived in the late 1950's.

The Mennonites had been searching for a place to call home since they left the Netherlands in the 1500's. They wanted to find a place they could freely practice their religion and avoid the rest of society. After the Russians tried to conscript them into the army they moved to Canada and Mexico, only to have those counties demand army service and income taxes. Their search for a new promise land led them to Belize where the government welcomed them with open arms. At the time Belize was not known for its farming prowess. Almost all their food was imported from neighboring countries. When the Mennonites settled they started large farms and now supply the country with most of its poultry, eggs, dairy and meat (as well as a lot of their fruits and vegetables). They stick to themselves with their own banks, schools and churches, but most Belizeans we talked to on the trip seemed glad to have them here.

Our last morning on the island we went to mass at the small Catholic church. There was a guest priest from Germany here on holiday who got saddled with the job when the regular priest fell ill. Some holiday. We enjoyed the acapella singing. The song leader was an alto like me so all the songs were in my range.

We managed to make it to the noon water taxi. We met probably the worst backpacker in the history of backpacking. She was dragging two huge suitcases behind her, one so heavy that the guy loading the boat could hardly lift it. All the other backpackers including us just looked at her incredulously and asked what she was thinking. She was going to be gone for five months and reassured us that after Fiji it would get better because she would be in Australia and New Zealand and those would be easier to travel in. This must be her first country. Canadians are usually good backpackers but she was only 20 so she had a right to be a bit foolish. On the boat she was the radio, talking the whole time about how loaded she had gotten the last few nights. Radio is a term we learned in Tanzania when we rode a bus with a passenger behind us who did not stop talking the entire 6 hours of the trip. When he got off to smoke at one stop the guy across the aisle blew up (in Swahili) "That guy is a bleeping radio! Why doesn't he shut up?" Now we are always pointing out the radios around the world and this girl certainly was one. Luckily the huge engines were pretty deafening and drowned most noise out.

At Belize City we got another cab to the bus station and found a bus leaving right away. We had to stand for a half hour but it was worth it to be on the road. This was no luxury bus - the only way to get to our village was the local bus and it stopped everywhere. If you wonder where old school buses go to die, this is the place. It gave me good memories of childhood.