Caribbean Coast - Belize

Parting ways with my Tikal companions, I left Guatemala and crossed over into Belize. I was going to a place I have long since wanted to go but had never been before: the Caribbean. It´s something you always hear about when talking to people whom have traveled. ¨I spent a week in the Caymans,¨ ¨my family went on a two week sailing trip off the coast of Venezuela,¨ ¨I caught a huge Marlin on a charter boat in St. Thomas.¨ Always amazing stories of pristine beaches and tranquil seas, a wide verity of rum drinks and thatched hut cabana bars. I felt it was my duty as a world traveler to investigate the legitimacy of these claims.

I made my way to Caye Caulker, a small island 30km from Belize City. It is considered the smaller, backpackers version of Ambergris Caye, a large upscale island just to the north. With only one principle town, consisting of three sandy roads backing a cluster of beachfront hostels, bars, and restaurants, Caye Caulker epitomizes the nation´s motto: ¨Go Slow.¨

Inhabited by a mix of Latin and Garafuna Belizens, the island has blended these two distinct cultures into one chilled out ideology that can be summed up in one word, ¨Mañana¨ (tomorrow). Beside offering a relaxing atmosphere, Caulker also boasts some of the best snorkeling and diving in Belize. Just an hour´s boat ride to the east lies the famous Blue Hole, one of the worlds top diving destinations. Not being a diver myself, I opted for snorkel cruse around the outlying reefs which, to me, seemed equally amazing. In one particular reef, you could jump into the water and find yourself swimming with Stingrays and Nurse sharks. Treading water they would swim up, around and beside you. Truly amazing. That stretch of reef is appropriately called ¨Shark Ray Ally.¨

Needless to say, with an endless supply of beach bars and and steady stream of backpackers, Caye Caulker has a healthy nightlife to pass away the evening hours. My memories of those nights are a little fuzzy (rum, lots of rum), but they consisted mainly of drinking in waterfront hammocks and late night swimming off the docks. I could have stayed there for a month, but I only allowed myself two days, because while it is still cheap by American standards, it can be astronomically expensive compared to the rest of Central America.

So I ventured further south, to another beach town called Placenzia. While not a prime destination like the Caye's, Placenzia does own a nice strech of beach with great reef diving just off shore. This has lead it to be affectionately titled ¨Placenzia, the Caye you can drive to.¨And while it certainly is beautiful, and a fair bit cheaper than Caye Caulker, it didn´t have too much to offer save a canal where you can spot manatees playing in the surf and the Guinness Book´s longest sidewalk in the world. The locals where well enough not to try and market the later attraction. Yet, while simple, Placenzia still had it´s charms and made leaving after a couple of days difficult. But I was burning a whole in my wallet and needed to move on. Plus, I had just made plans to meet up with some friends in Costa Rica after the new year, and that only gave me a month and a half to see both Honduras and Nicaragua, so I wanted to get a move on. But before I could do that, I had to go back into Guatemala, to visit port towns of Livingston and Rio Dulce; Guatemala´s only claim to the Caribbean.