Adventures in Belize: GETTING TO KNOW HOPKINS

Adventures in Belize: GETTING TO KNOW HOPKINS: Doesn't take long to get to know Hopkins, it's really tiny. the main road is dirt most of the way & very bumpy. We decide we can...

GETTING TO KNOW HOPKINS

Doesn't take long to get to know Hopkins, it's really tiny. the main road is dirt most of the way & very bumpy. We decide we can do what we need to do there in 4 days & head back to Placencia. First I let them know at our cabana we are only staying the three nights we paid for. Next I call back to Sea Spray in Placencia & talk to Deon, he remembers me & laughs when I tell him we are coming back, makes arrangements for us to stay 3 more days. Now it's time to head to Beaches & Dreams where we will splurge and stay for 2 nights. Tony, the owner takes us to look at property on the Sittee River, right next to Sanctuary Belize. It's beautiful, 1.6 acres partially cleared with power & 150 ft of river frontage, but 45 minutes from the nearest store & neighbors are few & far between.

Headed back to town for a walk, there isn't much to do. We found a couple of really neat gift shops & the local bakery owned by Katelyn who is from the US. All these shops are in peoples homes, there are no actual store except the grocery store & some restaurants. We decided to drive up to Dangriga, which is the largest town in the Toledo district. It happens to be a school holiday so there are kids everywhere. we took a walk to the beach & watched the kids playing in the water, no fancy toys, an old wood boat worked for a group of boys just having fun.

Kids down here spend most of their time outdoors & stay active. We gassed up the car as stations are few & far between & headed back to Hopkins for dinner at Beaches & Dreams. On the way back I noticed my finger swelling up & my hand itching like crazy. As I watched the swelling went from my index finger to my middle finger. Needless to say I freaked! We got back & I asked a local, thinking I may have to head to a hospital, he blew it off & said it was a doctor fly no big deal! Went to Caitlyn at the bakery & asked her, she said the same thing. Asked her what to do. She said to get benedryl, which we couldn't find, don't scratch it - haha - and ice. The ice was easy, just went to the restaurant & kept ordering drinks with lots of ice, which did help, of course, the rum may have helped a bit too! Just a note, no one back home had heard of a doctor fly so I googled it, it's a yellow fly, & we have them in the southern US as well, my reaction was mildly severe. It stayed swollen for a few days & itched for several days! Dinner was excellent at Barracuda Grill & enjoyed the company of tony & his wife.

Next morning we head to Beaches & dreams only to find out our waterfall rapelling is cancelled for today, so that will wait til tomorrow. we spend the day chilling on the beach, walking around town again & Ron gets to do some fishing at the pier at Beaches & Dreams while I took a nap in a hammock on the beach!

Tomorrow morning it's off to Bocowina National Park for ziplining & waterfall rapelling.

Adventures in Belize: NEW ADVENTURE IN HOPKINS

Adventures in Belize: NEW ADVENTURE IN HOPKINS: It's Sunday & we are on our way to Hopkins, with a stop at Calvary Chapel in Seine Bight for church. Pastor Jim is doing wond...

NEW ADVENTURE IN HOPKINS

It's Sunday & we are on our way to Hopkins, with a stop at Calvary Chapel in Seine Bight for church.

Pastor Jim is doing wonderful work in a very challenging environment. Many of the congregation is expats, the mission work in the community is ongoing but very difficult except for the children. So many little ones in church by themselves, so excited to learn about Jesus. The challenge is getting the parents to come with them. It was almost like being at home, the service wasn't much different. We were warmly welcomed & will come back whenever we are in Placencia.

Now it's on to Hopkins. Hopkins is a very small town, the main road is dirt & very bumpy, but we found our cabana pretty quickly,  were told by the owner who looks like some surfer dude out of the past, that it wasn't ready, so we took off to explore. We found the Sittee River, where we want to look at property & a marina where we stopped for something cold to drink. Found a hotel on our way back that books excursions to Mama Noots, so we stopped & talked to the owner only to find out not only does her run this upscale hotel but he sells real estate too! We arrange to look at property with him tomorrow. Found the local bakery, run by Katelyn & bought some baked goods. she is a divorced mom with 3 kids & supports her family from her bakery. Back to our cabana, which is right in town but on the beach. No one is around & no idea where to find anyone, but door is open with key in the lock, so we unpack. Don't know if we can drink the water or what the WIFI password is, so we are off for dinner.

Dinner at the Barracuda grill, which is part of the Beaches & Dreams resort where Tony the owner is the realtor. Nice visit with him & his wife over dinner right on the ocean of course.

Back at our cabana & finally the owner is there at his little bar where all the locals hang out. We have decided we can do what we need to do, here in 4 days, so we are going back to Placencia. We find out what we need from the owner & tell him we will stay there the 3 days we have paid in advance. Can't drink the water & they have none available, so we will have to buy it in the morning. thankfully I have a couple of bottles so we can brush our teeth & it's time for bed.

FOUR DAYS CHILLIN' IN PLACENCIA

Woke up bright & early in the morning to the ocean calmer than I've ever seen it. After breakfast of fresh cinnamon rolls from John the Bakerman. We were off for some kayaking out to Placencia Caye. the water is shallow & so clear it's like being in an aquarium. Starfish & coral all over, so I jumped in & picked up a starfish.

Two hours later we were back to the hotel & I was fried. I put sun screen on my face & shoulders, but forgot my feet & hands. & boy were they sunburned. Thank goodness I had my shea butter to ease the burn & barefoot is pretty much the way to go. Frank one of the guys from the hotel chopped open a coconut & gave us fresh coconut water to drink - Delicious! Ron was off to fish again & finally caught something when he quit using fake bait & fished like the locals with shrimp & sardines. Dinner at what would become our favorite place, the Purple Space Monkey, for their fresh catch.

After Dinner it's of to the Pickled Parrot for drinks. Owners are Eugene & Lynn from New Jersey.

This is the expat hang out. If you want to meet people who have moved from the US to Placencia, this is the place. So glad we are MSU fans, we drank for free on a guy from Ohio who dislikes Uof M as much as we do. Off to bed for snorkeling tomorrow.
Ron is up bright & early for a "business meeting" at Detach which is basically coffee with the owner & a few other businessmen from town. He brought me back fry jacks for breakfast.  Beautiful weather & we are off to snorkel at Silk Caye & then shark alley.

Didn't think to bring our Don't Bug Me spray, & I got eaten alive by sand fleas on Silk Caye. Ran out of gas on the ride back, lots of jokes about Gilligan's Island especially when we saw the storm clouds coming. Flagged down another boat, which just happened to be a fishing charter & surprise Ron Knew the guy who had chartered the boat. they gave us gas & we made it back to port. Off to Tutti Fruiti for gelato before dinner. Dark chocolate is my favorite, although Violet flower is awfully good.

Purple Space Monkey for dinner, conch fritters & fresh grouper.

 Pickled Parrot for drinks & Detach for coffee & dessert for Ron, Belizean Lime Pie.

Fresh Coconut bread from Deon at the hotel, for breakfast. Lazy day shopping and relaxing on the beach after a busy day yesterday. It's spring break, so there are kids everywhere. It's different here though, they don't have electronics, & their life is much freer, they are friendly &  talk to strangers without fear, & the parents aren't always right with them. they are content without a lot of "stuff". Everyone is friendly & speaks to you. We met a minister from Kansas & his wife witnessing on the sidewalk, spent time talking to them while shopping. Back to Tutti Fruiti twice for gelato, Purple Space Monkey for dinner, & Pickled Parrot for drinks.

Last day in Placencia before we move on to Hopkins. It's windy so no kayaking. Walked around town & found an adorable little gift shop called the treasure Box. the owner is a young woman who makes most of the jewelry, she is so sweet. Off to try kayaking in the late afternoon as the waves should be laying a bit, not! Hard ride back from the Caye. Dinner tonight at Detach right on the beach.

Packing & early to bed. Tomorrow it's church & off to Hopkins and our search for property.

 

PLACENCIA!

Up bright & early for breakfast on the beach at Detatch. Fry Jacks!

Quick stop at board of tourism for Ron's fishing license & stop at real estate office. We will not be dealing with Remax in Belize, need to find different company. Never met such rude people in my life. We will wait until we get to Hopkins, as Ron is really interested in property on the Sittee River.

Time to take a walk. we walked the entire length of town, nobody talks how far anything is except in minutes - it's a 10 minute walk to the point (end of town) on the side walk. Which is right behind the hotels on the beach & lined with restaurants & gift shops, often in people's homes. The point is where the boats come in & locals fish. We watched them for a few & I walked the beach and found lots of coral & shells, & a real bonus a conch shell. the sand is kind of course as it is made up of ground coral & shells from the barrier reef.

On the way back we stopped for ice cream at Tutti Frutti.  Actually it's gelato & it is delicious! Two double scoop cones are $4.75 US. such a deal. the dark chocolate is to die for. This will be our dessert most nights I think. It's lunch time, but we're full of gelato, so it's time to relax on the beach. Spent the afternoon meeting our neighbors, a couple of nurses from NY, a lady from CA who has moved to Belize & is living in Punta Gorda way in the south. We visited while standing in the beautiful warm waters of the Caribbean. One of the ladies found a starfish while snorkeling right out front.

Need to take my own advice about not standing under a coconut tree, we almost got hit by two falling coconuts! time to get out from under that tree! Late lunch with fresh bakery rolls & meat & Ron

 was off to go fishing with the locals & I relaxed some more, I can really get used to this beach stuff.

Ron was really sunburned. he never takes his shirt off, so he got it good, we used shea butter to take away the sting. Salt water also really dries your hair, so a good conditioner is a must, I brought my coconut oil conditioner & it worked great. Late dinner after Ron got back, but since we weren't especially hungry we shared some beef nachos at the Barefoot while listening to Reggae. It's tequila Tuesday! Dessert is more gelato as they are closed tomorrow. Most businesses are closed one day a week so the owner can have a day off. People work six days a week in Belize as a regular work week.

We drove to get the ice cream, it was our first time driving at night & very scary! People on bikes everywhere & they don't watch for you, you have to watch for them. Don't think we will do that again! The end of another day in paradise.

ON OUR WAY BACK

Up at 3am to catch the airport shuttle for our 6am flight to Houston. It seemed like everyone in the airport was heading to the same place. Not much open for breakfast, but we managed to find muffins & coffee. We arrived in Houston a few minutes early & it was a good thing as our connecting flight was at the other end of the airport. We really had to hurry, no time to stop for anything & we barely made it, but we did & now it was off to Belize!
Belize airport is the tiniest international airport I have ever seen! Six gates & maybe four runways.

Another plane landed just before we did, & they are definitely not equipped to handle two planes at once, so after an hour of waiting in line at customs, in a tiny building, we were finally through & on our way to pick up our rental car and find some lunch in Ladyville at one of our favorite bakeries.

Stopped to gas up & surprise, gas tank leaked, so quick call to car rental company, 20 minute wait & we were really on our way.

Stocked up on all kinds of breads & goodies & found some yummy homemade "hot pockets" for lunch. Now for our 3-4 hour drive to Placencia. It's only about 100 miles as the crow flies, but there are only four main highways, so we have to go west up into the mountains then back east to the coast before we go south, making the trip 220 miles. Speed limits are between 40 and 55 mph, oh and there are the speed bumps & humps and one lane bridges to watch out for!

Lots of road construction and large trucks, so our drive took longer than usual, but finally we made it to the Placencia Peninsula, but surprise they have added bunches of new speed bumps since Oct. It took us almost an hour to go 20 miles. Finally 2 hours later than we planned, we arrived at the Sea Spray, deon is waiting for us & it feels like we are home! Fresh flowers everywhere in the room.

Off to dinner at the Barefoot & of course one of the first people we see is our buddy Tom from Michigan. Dinner and one drink & we're ready for bed. What a long first day, early to bed for a busy Tuesday.