You betta Belize it!

The title phrase of this post adorns many a sunburned tourist wandering down the streets of San Pedro on Ambergris Caye. But despite the abundance of tourists and tourism industry, San Pedro is still charming and lovely. After a couple short plane rides, a water taxi ride (that miracle of all miracles DIDN'T MAKE ME VOMIT!) and another short taxi ride dodging lazy tourists riding golf carts through a town that is not more than a couple miles long, we made it to Hotel del Rio n the north side of San Pedro. We are staying in the Dream House cabana, which would be pretty dreamy with its thatched roofs, colorful hammocks and refreshing ocean breezes, but the Dream House became the stuff of nightmares when my first welcome to Belize was from a cockroach that scuttled out when I opened my suitcase... Gavin said probably everyone on the property probably heard me screaming. :) I told him they are probably used to tourists and their altercations with the local bug life.

We had the rest of the day to walk around and explore, so we walked down the beach into the main downtown area for dinner. The oceanside area here is not a traditional beach; the tide doesn't appear to go in and out, but stays at the same level. So there is a hard packed sand road that runs along the coast most of the way down the island, lined by sea grapes, mangroves and palm trees on one side, and resorts, shops, bars and restaurants on the other side. We went to dinner at a restaurant called Crave. Gavin ordered one of the most ridiculous meals I have ever heard of: steak wrapped in chicken breast which was then breaded and deep fried and then smothered in thick, creamy gravy! I could only take one bite of the gravy, and that alone was too rich for me! My shrimp tacos were really tasty, though! And the black beans were to die for! I also had a yummy "islandy" drink called Crocodile Juice, and then one that was not so yummy - a coconut mojito. All I could think of as I drank it was a nail polish I had as a kid that smelled like coconut when dry; I imagine if I had ever taken a sip of that nail polish, it would probably have tasted like that drink... We rounded off the meal with chocolate tres leches cake - still can't beat the tree leches from Costa Rica, but this had hot pepper in the chocolate, which is one of my FAVORITE flavor combinations! After dinner we went to a thatched roof bar on the beach called Fido where there was live music and more tasty beverages. There was also a nice gift shop with Belizan arts and crafts; we got a nice, carved vase. After listening to the music and finishing our drink, we took the moonlit walk back down to beach to our Dream House cabana to dream sweet, island dreams.

Also, a note on this Belize trip: Gavin forgot the cable to connect our camera to our iPad to download the pictures, so I'll have to post pictures after we get home! :)