Our welcome to the blue seas and jewel like cayes of Belize 

The remarkably stunning Ambergris Caye west coast 

The waiting room at Belize International Airport 

I'm leaving on a jet plane... 

Relax..don't worry! 

After a gruelling journey from London to JFK, then a ‘lovely’ stay at an airport hotel at La Guardia, followed by a flight to Houston – we were finally on our way to Belize. It was a quick acclimatisation to the heat, which involved me going to the ladies toilet to change into my shorts and sandals and then a panic when I realised I had left all my money in the toilet. Fortunately no one took it and we saw that as a good omen on which to start our trip.

The first person to greet us ...Iguana Rocks 

Maya had never been on a small plane before and was a bit apprehensive, especially when her seat belt didn’t work. This was followed by a conversation with a lady sitting near her who said ‘Don’t worry, I’ve been in this plane when it’s crashed before. It was fine, everyone just got out and walked back to shore’. Never mind – we made it to AC, grabbed a cab and headed for our first destination. Mata Rocks.

The view from our room at Mata Rocks 

We were greeted by the wonderful staff there. I cannot praise them enough. We dumped our stuff in our room, dipped our feet in the sea and headed off to Elvi’s Kitchen. The food was good, the staff were lovely but it felt expensive and geared towards USA tourists.

Our first sunrise on Ambergris Caye. 

We got up for every sunrise in Belize. In fact on the first few nights we got up at 4am and hung out with the hotel’s security guard, communicating as best we could with our limited Spanish and her limited English. Nevertheless we had fun exploring under the pier with our torches in the moonlight.

Breakfast at Mata Rocks beach bar - The Squirrel's Nest 

Mata Rocks preparing for my first open water dive 

The Squirrel’s Nest is Mata Rock’s fab little beach bar. It is usually buzzing with people and we met some truly gorgeous people from the northern USA and Canada who were escaping the freezing weather.

It was really tough relaxing on Ambergris Caye 

The beach at Mata Rocks is small, cute and perfectly formed. We enjoyed paddling and we took the opportunity to snorkel at Victoria House Hotel’s pier, which has a surprising number of interesting fish under it. We ate at their bar restaurant a couple of times and while expensive, the food was superb. We had our first conch ceviche there and loved it.

our snorkel guide spearing a lobster 

During our week on Ambergris Caye:
We went snorkelling to Hol Chan in a glass-bottomed boat.

colourful coral 

I did my diving certification with Pro Tech. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

Hol Chan fish 

The SAGA animal shelter. They are doing a great job with few resources. 

An Ambergris Pot Licker looking for a new home at the shelter. 

We visited SAGA Animal Shelter.

This is 'The Cut' 

This Neighbourhood Watch sign gave us pause for thought 

Music played on the sea always sounds better - The Palapa Bar 

This dog couldn't wait for the hand ferry to carry him across so he jumped ship and swam 

Then hand ferry across the cut. 

Hammock House is a funky place to have a drink if you need a break heading up north 

This horse is waiting for his owner on the other side of the hand ferry 

We walked to the south and hired a golf cart for the day to go to the North. Up north we saw some great houses, bounced around a lot in big potholes, visited the Palapa Bar and ate some BBQ at Hammock House. We watched the ferry traffic jam. On one of our crossings a local dog joined the group on the hand ferry, but when it wasn’t moving quickly enough, he jumped off and swam.

The lagoon is beautiful at sunset 

Everyone joins in with the painting during Carnival in San Pedro 

The ladies dance at carnival in San Pedro 

On the way back from the North we experienced Carnival and gave some adorable little children a lift back.

We ate at a number of places but the ones we recommend are:

Victoria House – pricey but lovely location and yummy food.
Papi’s – good value and great food.
Antojitos – Mom and pop shack style. Cheap, great food and local experience.
Rico’s – expensive, yummy breakfasts. Get a seat on the deck.
Caliente’s – delicious burritos.
Vendors in town – the best burritos.
El Divino – huge portions USA style.
Hammock House – good value, funky location.Celi’s – We ate here on our last night. The food was good and the staff lovely.

Security is tight on the beaches in San Pedro 

You wouldn't want to throw dirt and make this area dirty! 

While on Ambergris Caye we walked to town and back about twice daily and occasionally borrowed the hotel bikes to look around. We rarely used taxis and only hired a golf cart once. Unless you have some sort of disability, have to get to the north end of the island or have to carry something heavy, there really is no need to hire a golf cart. You get to see more of the island, meet more of the people and generally have a better experience walking and cycling. Coming back at night we either used a torch (flashlight), which we brought from home or on one or two occasions we hired a taxi.

Baggage check in at the airport 

Then we went off for our next stage of the trip. I must admit that we loved Ambergris Caye so much we wanted to stay longer but could only get a room for one extra night, so we decided to come back at the end of our trip and booked our last night at Mata Rocks.

We went to Crystal Car Hire and hired a little two-seater pick up truck. Now, by USA standards, this would probably be considered dinky – but we bloody loved it. We drove off to Belize Zoo and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, as the zoo was virtually empty. This is not zoo for people who feel the need to be entertained. It is designed with natural habitats in mind and not for the benefit of the visitor. If you want the opportunity to see some of the amazing local wildlife, this may be your only opportunity. The Harpy Eagle was just amazing

The only place you are guaranteed to see native Belizean animals is at the zoo. 

The quirky Tapir 

The many faces of the Belizean landscape 

The long road to Hopkins 

We then headed south to Hopkins where we had decided to go for a night. We had not booked anything so drove into town on a wing and a prayer. The drive was beautiful. On one side you can see the Maya mountains rising above the land. The weather was quite moody when we did our trip and there also happened to be a bush fire so it all looked particularly dramatic. Driving through the jungle is also an experience to be remembered with the gigantic plants and trees towering over you as you pass. It makes you feel like you have arrived in the land of the giants.

Beaches and Dreams welcoming beach palapa 

Cabana at Beaches and Dreams 

We turned left when we got to town and started at one end, visiting every hotel and guesthouse along the way. We had some pretty strange experiences while doing this and realised that Hopkins is truly unique. The last place these two tired travellers tried was Beaches and Dreams. Funnily enough, I had read good things about this hotel in the past. As we drove up, the new owner greeted us with a big smile and made us feel right at home.

Escaping the sand flies 

Worth getting up early for. 

The crowded beach at Hopkins 

Having fun in Hopkins 

Young men drumming at the Garifuna drumming centre in Hopkins 

Oooooh Barracuda! 

Snorkelling heaven 

Approaching South Water Caye 

The real desert island experience at South Water Caye 

We loved Beaches and Dreams so much we ended up spending three nights with them. While in Hopkins, we went fishing, went to South Water Caye for lunch (the food wasn’t worth the journey but the journey was worth the food!) and had an amazing snorkelling experience. We went to the drumming centre, got to know some really nice local people and artists, ate gibnut and armadillo – both of which we found delicious – commissioned a drum and hung out. Hopkins was one of the highlights of our trip. The people we met were lovely, the children were adorable and it just felt that there is nowhere else in the world quite like Hopkins.

Glorious South Water Caye 

The last stop for petrol on the long drive south. 

We then headed off to Placencia. On the way, we stopped at the Cockscomb Maya Centre. It was very unassuming and the Mayan women who worked there were friendly and smiley. I have to say that we did not see anything unique amongst the crafts there and the prices were higher than in some of the tourist shops we had been to. Nevertheless, we bought a few pieces and continued on our journey.

Great cabanas at the Green Parrot 

Green Parrot pier 

The main road in Placencia 

The famous landmark of Barnacle Bill's on Maya Beach, Placencia 

We stayed at Green Parrot, which had our favourite beach cabana. We loved the shower and Smiley, the resident smiling dog! The hotel was very nice but we discovered that many of the resorts in Placencia depend on keeping you there. It was a bit disconcerting being asked at 10 am whether we were going to have dinner at the hotel that evening. People who did not have vehicles said they felt trapped at their resorts. We headed into Placencia and found we arrived on the tail end of the arts festival. I have to say that while Placencia is a cute little town, it was our least favourite place. We did enjoy having a drink at Mango’s and eating at the Hungry Ghecko and the Purple Space Monkey. We also had breakfast at Roberts Grove Inn on our last day, which was very handy as they now run a petrol station, so good breakfast and gas and we were on our way to San Ignacio.

David found us with our drum 

While we were eating one evening, walking down the dusty road towards Placencia we spotted the artist from whom we had commissioned a hand made drum. Lo and behold – it was pitch black outside and we were sitting in a restaurant, but we spotted him with our drum under his arm. He had come to Placencia to find us so he could deliver it to us in person. I have avoided mentioning people’s names here because I do not like to invade personal privacy, but I am sure that the artist would love the publicity in this case. The artist’s name is David. He is a very softly spoken, lively, funny and charming guy who is hugely talented with wood. You will see his work in a number of different shops in Belize as he is also extremely hard working and promotes himself well. His woodwork is beautiful and fairly priced. If you meet him, ask him to make you something personal. We bought him dinner, paid for the drum and dropped him off at a family member’s home in Seine Bight village.

Plane in the woods in Placencia 

Belize has some big bugs 

Leaving the beach and heading inland was sort of a jolt. By this time I had not been bitten by mosquitoes but the sand flies had started to eat me in Hopkins and continued to do so in Placencia. I also had a nasty horse fly bite, which I got while hanging out with a crazy but interesting horse guy in Hopkins. Also, on our second morning in Placencia we had been woken to the tale of one of our neighbouring cabana residents having been bitten by a scorpion in his bed. We had also seen some big bugs. I am not particularly frightened of bugs, but I am frightened of pain, so we were very careful with our stuff.

The squatter in our room at the San Ignacio Hotel 

When we arrived in San Ignacio we had two days to kill before we were heading for our jungle lodge, so we thought we would have a bit of luxury and AC and booked into the San Ignacio Hotel. This hotel was clearly luxurious in it’s day (which appeared to be the seventies) but had not updated since then. I do have to commend the hotel staff for not baulking when they saw our luggage absolutely covered with thick red dust from the road trip.

We had slept in pretty comfortable beds until now, but we were not so delighted to find nylon sheets and saggy mattresses. Never mind, we could relax, watch TV and turn on the AC. Within five minutes we found a huge scorpion on the floor. We did the brave thing and called a man to save us!

I'd prefer a cabana..the room at San Ignacio Hotel 

Busy San Ignacio bus station 

We had to return our car, which seemed like a simple exercise. We had been instructed to wait at the bus station at a specific time when the car would be collected. We waited, chatted to cab drivers, had a Belikin, and waited some more. I wandered off to see if there was another bus station but a policeman told me that if we were told to meet at the bus station, we were at the right place. Eventually we gave up, went back to the hotel and called Crystal motors. We were told that the guy was there waiting for us. We explained that there had just been the cab drivers, one bus and us during our hour-long wait but he insisted the guy was there. So, we dutifully returned to the bus station. No one from Crystals was there. Eventually we went back to the hotel and I called Crystals again a little peeved by now. Fortunately, the guy they had sent had some initiative and located us at the hotel. There was another bus station and he had been there. He was British and we chatted a bit and off he went.

Downtown San Ignacio 

You have to swim to reach the ATM cave 

The pots are broken so they do not rise up against the gods