We Live 2 Hours From THIS - 10/22/06

We have been in Caye Caulker, an island about 30 miles off the coast of Belize, since Friday evening. We drove 2 hours from Blue Creek to Belize City, left our truck, and took a 30 minute water taxi which landed us on Caye Caulker! Each person who arrives to the island is greeted by a beautiful mural at the end of the pier that reads “Go Slow.” This seems to be more than a motto; like most vacation destinations—it is a way of life.

Nathan, Maria (our neighbor) and I landed on the caye about 4:30 and had only one hour to find a hotel before sundown. We heard from some friends back in Blue Creek that it is better to haggle for a room once you get to the caye instead of booking a hotel ahead of time. That goes against every American bone in our body, but we decided to listen to the locals. We saw a few small places which offered the bare necessities, then we came to Barefoot Caribe (you really should google it). Another teacher had stayed at this hotel for $70 Bz a night, and we told the manager this information upon our arrival. He showed is a nice room and said it was normally $80 Bz, but agreed to give it to us for $70. We pointed to the 3^rd floor tower rooms overlooking the Caribbean and asked to look at them. They were PERFECT! He told us they were $150 a night and went down to $100 right away. I looked at Nathan and pouted, telling the manager we really wanted to stay but that it was too much; Nathan and I were going to use the “just walk away” method of driving down the price. Maria, however, had another plan. She used the straight-forward, in-your-face, I-wanna- stay-here- but- I- am- a- poor -teacher-and-*really* -can’t- afford-to-pay-that-much-approach. It worked!! We are staying in a large king bed suite with air conditioning, cable, a beautiful deck overlooking the Caribbean, and a bathtub (something I haven’t seen since leaving the States)- for $40 US dollars!! Just to put it in perspective, our hotel room is costing us as much as we pay for 4 jars of peanut butter (that info was for you mom!) And check out our view!

The caye is very small, we can walk the length of it in about 20 minutes and can walk across it in less than 5 minutes. We have only seen two motor vehicles on the island; most people seem to get around by bicycle or golf cart. Most of the locals seem to drive golf carts around, but they are careful to observe the posted speed limit- the signs simply read, “go slow.” Golf carts and bicycles are for rent, but our bare feet seem to be getting us around just fine on the sandy streets.

On Friday evening, after getting settled into our room, we met back up with Maria and went to a funky-looking restaurant on the beach called Rasta Pasta; having no idea what to expect. What I certainly didn’t expect was to have one of the best Thai dinners I have ever eaten! WOW was it good! We washed it all down with some Happy Hour Rum Punch Specials and hit the beach--even though it was already dark. We ended the evening sitting on a pier, listening to the water hit the dock and looking at the palm trees on the tiny island silhouetted against the clear, starry sky. Ahhhhh…..

Saturday started with a walk around the caye in search of breakfast. We were pleasantly surprised to find a funky little coffee shop featuring art by 11 local artists. More exciting was the fact that the owner made her own fantastic chai tea and served it to me with soy milk! Yum! We went back to the hotel and changed in bathing suits and got busy sunbathing. We soaked up the Caribbean sun for a while before jumping in and exploring the clear, green water, the white sand, and everything in between.

We found Maria and grabbed a quick lunch right off the beach, from a man selling chicken kebobs and tortillas off his bbq. The beach is lined with people selling bbq every day at lunch and supper time. You can buy chicken, shrimp, lobster, conch, crab, or whatever else the chef was able to catch that day. The smell is irresistible!

Tonight we will again, end up on the pier, with a glass of rum punch. Tomorrow, I think we’ll rent some snorkel equipment and explore the nearby reefs.