Arriving in Belize was simple and quick. San Ignacio is only 12km from the border so it was a short bus ride to the centre of town once we’d been dropped off at the bus station. Belize is a lot more expensive than its neighbours so is often avoided on the Gringo Trail through Central America. With the awareness of it’s comparative expense in mind, I was expecting a lot more development in Belize than was there. While it certainly didn’t feel like a developing country, it definitely wasn’t the affluent former British colony that we had been expecting. Right from the minute we crossed the border we could feel the warm Caribbean vibe, which pervaded throughout the country. The people were friendly and helpful, everyone we encountered wore a big and genuine smile and there was an aura of relaxation in the air that instantly drew you in and delightfully slowed you down. This was quite a contrast to what we had felt and just left behind in Guatemala. Dani found us an amazing guesthouse (PacZ) just 2 streets back from the main road. Connected to the Martha Hotel it’s a 4-bedroom home that has been converted into a guesthouse. Contrary to what we had been led to believe it was also really cheap for a double room (25 BZD/$12.50 USD/16.50 AUD). Having settled in, we went in search of food. We stumbled across Mickey’s that had all the local specialties, which would become our staple diet over the next 2 weeks. We ordered a fry jack (a deep fried light dough pocket stuffed with either beans, cheese, eggs, chicken or a combination of all of the above), a journey/Johnny cake (an American biscuit/savoury scone made with coconut milk and filled with beans and cheese) and 2 burritos all for the princely sum of 7.75 BZD ($3.87 USD/5.10 AUD). The thing we were fast discovering about Belize was that it wasn’t that expensive to be in, but if you wanted to do a lot of the tours/excursions you we’re going to have to triple your budget. After enquiring about a trip to some nearby caves and discovering that a half-day trip would cost a minum $60 USDpp (120 BZD/ 77.80 AUD) we decided to stick to the self-guided and independent cheaper activities. One novelty activity we did on our first day was the $5USD ($10 BZD/6.50 AUD) tasting session of Marie Sharps hot sauce, which is Belize’s most prized export and you will find on the table of every restaurant in the country (at the same location in San Ignacio town they also offer a $15 USD/30 BZD/19.45 AUD rum tasting session). Being a hot sauce lover I was looking forward to tasting Belize’s supposed best. After making our way through a large selection of the products I was nervous to admit I didn’t think much of her sauces. I did like the green habanero made with cactus fruit, the 2 pepper jellies and a really good mango chutney but considering how many were on offer that wasn’t a lot. The next morning, and our first full day in Belize, we had chosen to walk to the ruins at the top of the hill on the outskirts of San Ignacio. Not widely known about, Cahal Pech (10 BZD/$5 USD/6.50 AUD) is a small site of Mayan ruins that have been well preserved and are a nice way to spend a half day in San Ignacio. If you are exclusively visiting Belize though, I would recommend doing the day trip to Tikal in Guatemala from San Ignacio as it’s totally worth it and the Belize exit fee is not payable for just the day trip. The one last thing on our to do list in San Ignacio was Hot Mama’s hot sauce factory, which is about 10km down the main highway towards Belmopan. You can get there by jumping on one of the Belmopan/Belize City buses (2 BZD/$1 USD/1.30 AUD) and asking to be let off at the factory (all the drivers/conductors seemed to know where we were talking about). Having been let down by Marie Sharps I wasn’t sure I what to expect from Belize’s second favourite. As advised on the website, we had emailed in advance to let them know we were coming for the tour (15 BZD/7.50 USD/9.85 AUD) and had received a reply, so were a little unnerved when upon our arrival, the woman at the counter told us she had no knowledge of our booking and not only that, but the woman who had just got on the bus we had exited happened to be the only guide they had and she was going home sick. Luckily for us this meant that the manager took it upon himself to show us around instead. He was clearly very passionate about his job and product, which in turn gave us an enthusiasm for it too. By the time we got round to the tasting we were excited and you know what, we weren’t disappointed. Hot Mama’s has the best hot sauces I’ve ever tasted. They aren’t just pepper sauce with no flavor nor are they just multiple versions of the same sauce. Each has its own unique taste and sometimes when combined with another sauce creates a perfect harmony that will make you want to sing (if you have the chance try the mustard hot sauce with the barbecue…you will not regret it). The sauces were so good that we stocked up on extras to take with us. We both found that the Hot Mama’s experience was a lot better value than the Marie Sharps experience in San Ignacio (we can’t speak for her factory tour in Dangriga as we chose not to do this). From this point forward we were firm members of the Hot Mama’s hot sauce camp! We had really enjoyed our three days in San Ignacio and could have easily stayed for a few more, but we were on a bit of a time limit now having booked flights to Cuba for Christmas so we decided to head down to Placencia next. This meant going from San Ignacio to Belmopan (4 BZD/$2 USD/2.65 AUD) first, changing onto a bus to Dangriga (7 BZD/3.50 USD/4.60 AUD) and then finally one more bus to Placencia (8 BZD/$4 USD/5.25 AUD). This journey was relatively painless and took around 6 hours including wait times, which considering we were crossing the entire country and had just come from Guatemala seemed pretty astounding! On arrival in Placencia we had the misfortune of realizing that the annual marathon was taking place that weekend and almost all of the accommodation within our price range was booked out. After 2 hours of trawling around I finally stumbled upon Omar’s Guesthouse and Restaurant that had rooms for 50 BZD ($25 USD/33 AUD). This was double what we had been paying in San Ignacio for a room that was not even in the same category of comfort but it was the best deal we could get and pretty much our only remaining option! I wouldn’t recommend it, unless like us you can’t find anywhere else to stay (Omar’s wife is horrible and there are plenty of other options available for a couple of dollars more that are far nicer…provided they aren’t all booked out). Irritated, tired and hungry we went out in search of food and found Carmen’s which is one of the only cheap local snack shacks in Placencia and is super tasty and reasonably priced. It turned out that was the only thing in Placencia that was…after checking out the cost of tours and having spent double on sub-optimal accommodation we realized that other than a very beautiful beach there was really very little there, so we decided to move on to Hopkins after 2 nights. One good thing that we did discover was that there is a direct bus to Hopkins (7 BZD/$3.50 USD/4.60 AUD) every day at 10.30am and having been told yet again by Omar’s wife that check out was at 11am (we were informed of this fact three times during our one full day in Placencia) it was perfectly timed. The bus to Hopkins takes around an hour and a half and drops you off in the ‘centre’ of the town. Hopkins is divided into north and south and although there is technically a centre you won’t find much there as most things are clustered at either end. Doing our usual one with bags/one searching for guesthouse game, turned out to almost be as fruitless as in Placencia when Dani returned after a 35 minute search in the southern direction having found nothing and thus having to head off towards the north. After almost an hour waiting for her to return I was starting to get worried when she suddenly pulled up in an old 4x4 with a slightly crazed looking ex-New Yorker and told me to get in. It turns out this lovely but odd woman was the owner of Kizmet Inn (66 BZD/$33 USD/43.50 AUD for a double room with ensuite right on the beach) right down the far end of the northern side of town and she was going to drive us back to the guesthouse after she had checked out the brand new supermarket that had opened that day at the far end of the south side (it turned out that this was the most exciting thing that had happened to Hopkins for some time). This supermarket although brand new and huge appeared to stock exactly the same things and look pretty much exactly the same as all other supermarkets in Belize (more like converted warehouses with dusty shelves full of…stuff) but it was all anyone was talking about when we went to dinner later that night. Slightly confused by the description of Hopkins in the Lonely Planet (it describes it as a great village to discover Garifuna cutlture) as we were still trying to find the village part we set off to explore. It wasn’t until we returned that evening and got talking to the owner of our guesthouse that we learnt a little more about Hopkins. She described it as a “drinking village with a small fishing problem” and that had already appeared painfully apparent. All we had really seen in Hopkins were people sitting around drinking rum in varying levels of intoxication, which was sad because it seemed as though Hopkins and its people had a lot more to offer. It was this that prompted us to sign up for the cultural tour (which also included a cooking class) to learn more. This course was fantastic and run by a great father and daughter team whose main objective was to help to preserve the traditions of the Garifuna culture in Hopkins through education and participation. For $55 USD (110 BZD/$72.45 AUD per person) you get a half-day experience that is so much more than just a cooking class. You start with a historical and cultural explanation of the Garifuna people and their traditions. Following this, you get to don items of traditional Garifuna dress before starting the food-orientated portion of the day. This begins with a laddered ascent of a coconut tree in order to acquire your own young coconut for use later. Next, you are provided with an old coconut, which you are shown how to husk and split in order to be grated and then turned it into coconut milk for cooking later. After the efforts of husking and splitting the coconut you are rewarded with your previously self-foraged young coconut sliced open and heavily topped up with local rum (at this point it is approximately 10.30am). The final stage of the cooking section is to prepare from scratch a traditional Garifuna dish called Hudut, which of course you get enjoy for lunch afterwards. The day is finished off with a drumming lesson during which you are taught the different drumbeats and what they mean as well as how and when they are used. It was well worth the money and hopefully what Mel hopes to achieve by using tourism to help the younger generations understand how important preserving their culture is works! Having learnt a great deal that day and really enjoyed our time in Hopkins, we felt we were ready to leave. We enquired as to exactly how this was going to be done in the easiest way possible and were informed (by aforementioned slightly nutty guesthouse owner) that the bus that went to Dangriga (our first stops of another multi-stage) came right up to the northern end of town a mere 100m or so from Kismet Inn. Not entirely trusting of this information but not wanting to show lack of faith we left our abode the next morning to wait at the instructed location. Unusual for Belize, the bus that was due at 7am, was running late that morning and didn’t arrive until 7.30am, but sure enough it did arrive and we were on our way to Dangriga (5 BZD/$2.50 USD/3.30 AUD). Having informed the driver that we wanted to go all the way to Belize City he made sure we made the connection just outside of Dangriga instead of having to go all the way in and needing to wait (12 BZD/$6 USD/7.90 AUD). Once in Belize City we chose to do the 20minute walk to the port for the ferry, much to the surprise of the taxi drivers who were still nice enough to give us the directions despite not using their services. Our last stop on our Belize tour was to be the famous Caye Caulker ($12.60 USD/16.60 AUD per person each way on the ferry if you buy a return in advance). Not sure what to expect from this supposed backpacker haven island, it was a pleasant surprise when we arrived to discover that although it was clearly a tourist island, it still had a great vibe. Knowing that it wasn’t going to be a cheap place to stay we were actually really shocked to find a number of places that had rooms for 50 BZD ($25 USD/33 AUD). We chose to stay at Hostel Juan (previously known as Juan in a Million), which even had an ensuite bathroom and was really quiet at night. We had found out that our friend David was also on the island so we arranged to meet him at the hostel for a drink that night. Not only were they a great hostel but their 2 for 1 cocktail deal for 5 BZD ($2.50 USD/3.30 AUD) during happy hour was the best deal in town and the cocktails were certainly not light on the rum!! The only thing I had my heart set on in Caye Caulker was a snorkeling trip where you had a good chance of at very least spotting and potentially swimming with manatees. We had a strong recommendation for Reef Friendly Tours from our friend Megan. This is one of the only truly ecofriendly tour companies in Caye Caulker that do not chum the water (feed the fish for the benefit of tourists). As this is really bad for the natural order and behavior of the fish we were determined to take this tour company. When we were signing up we were told that it was actually the end of manatee season and subsequently that the likelihood of spotting them was slim. In fact they had not seen any for a few days, which was a sign that they had migrated closer to the coast for the winter. With this in mind we booked their tour anyway ($65 USD/130 BZD/85.60 AUD) and oh am I glad we did. The tour started off fantastically when our guide decided he was going to look for manatees before setting off to any of the prearranged stops. Now, one of the perks of picking this company is they set off a good 2 hours earlier than most other companies which meant that a lot of the stops are quieter than they are later in the day. It wasn’t long before he spotted what we had all been hoping for…a big grey lump floating on the surface of the water. Quickly diving in, we set off to see this beautiful sea creature as it slept beneath the surface. We were actually lucky enough to see 2 while we were down there, which is unusual as they are usually solitary creatures. After 15 minutes we hopped back into the boat and headed off to the next (and first official) stop. The day was sensational and not only were we treated to manatees but we were also lucky enough to see multiple types of ray (including our new favourite the eagle ray), a loggerhead turtle, moray eel, tropical fish, stunning coral and we even got to swim with large schools of nurse sharks. It was well worth the money and has gone down as one of the highlights of the trip so far. The other days we had on Caye Caulker were spent relaxing on the beach and wandering up and down the 3 sandy roads. It really is a beautiful island just to chill out on and exactly what we needed before then next leg of our trip. We ate breakfast every day at Jenny’s snack shack, which is outside the Drifted Coconut Hostel (previously Dirty McNasty’s) and can highly recommend both her burritos and her fry jacks (especially the Jenny Special). Caye Caulker is also the home of cheap lobster meals and many places offer a lobster with rice, vegetables and garlic bread for 20-30 BZD ($10-15 USD/12.95-19.45 AUD) and as this is the cheapest you’re going to see for a while take advantage! Overall, we absolutely loved Belize and were really surprised by how much this strange nation captured us. Much more Caribbean than Latin American it’s strange blend of cultures, creole language and laidback vibe had captured us from the moment we arrived. I would encourage backpackers not to skip through this wonderful country and give it a chance to show you it’s treasures beyond the heavily touristed spot of Caye Caulker. LGBT: Dani and I found Belize to be really relaxed when it came to us as a couple. The reputation of gay rights in former British colonies in the Carribean is fairly appalling and Belize has followed this trend until recently. It was illegal to be gay until 2016 and there is actually still a law in place (it has never been enforced) that bans foreign homosexuals from entering the country. Belize held its first pride event in 2017 and it is working to change the attitudes and a recent study found that Belize was one of the most tollerant countries in the Carribean. I feel that the laws/lawmakers have not caught up with the attitudes of the majority of the population as far as the Carribean goes Belize is a pretty safe country to be gay in. Budget Time $$$As mentioned at the start, contrary to what we were expecting, Belize was not as prohibitively expensive as we had been expecting and prepared for. Having said that, it was still more expensive than any other destination we had visited in Central America by a fairly decent amount. We did come in reasonably under our $50USDpp daily budget in the end, but that was going no frills on almost all transport, food and accommodation options throughout the country in order to allow ourselves to spend on the entertainment experiences we were interested in. While we opted out of doing some of the majorly expensive tours, we did do everything we really wanted to do while we were in Belize including a hot sauce factory tour, visit to a ruins site, cultural/cooking course and a snorkeling excursion. This is not a country to visit if you really have to stick to a small budget, but if you can justify a couple of weeks of a slightly steeper spend this is a country that unquestionably makes the extra expense feel worth it!
What it actually cost: $1219.12 Entertainment: $362.21 Accommodation: $301.35 Food: $233.76 Transport: $156.73 Drinks: $79.10 Miscellaneous: $61.92 Souvenirs: $23.95 This works out at $50.79 AUD per person per day
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