Thanksgiving in Belize!

Thanksgiving was a tad different this year.  My usual Thanksgiving is not unlike most other people's Thanksgivings.  I stuff myself on turkey and dressing and nod off on the couch watching the Cowboys game with the family.  This year, instead of turkey, dressing, and nodding off on the couch, it was snook, ceviche, and nodding off on the beach.

Sign in Caye Caulker.  If you look closely you can see Bassano del Grappa.  This was a tiny Italian town very close to where I lived in Italy.  Soooo random!

We hopped aboard the big metal bird and allowed it to deposit us about 1200 miles due south in Belize City.  After that a little puddle jumper transferred us to Ambergris Caye (pronounced "Key" we found out), the tourist capital of the country.   I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it is to get to Belize from Dallas.  It was an easy 2.5 hour non-stop flight from DFW to Belize City followed by a 15 minute flight on Tropic Air.  Bottom line, you can be sippin a Rum Runner on the beach in about 4 hours!

Miles from ordinary. 

Here are a couple of highlights from the trip:

• It was first time to have snook and conk.  Snook is a white fish that I thoroughly enjoyed and conch is a large sea snail that is commonly used in ceviche.
• We went cave tubing in some of the very large caves scattered across Belize.  The caves were massive, some big enough for my house to fit into.

Me, Dev, and Brett before cave tubing!

• I had Belikin... a lot of Belikin.  Belikin is the Belizean beer.  There are only a few beers that you can drink in Belize: Belikin has a few different kinds (stout, premium, regular), Lighthouse Lager (which is brewed by Belikin) and Guiness (there is a brewery in Belize that is overseen by a brewmaster that works for Guiness).  Belikin (and Guiness) have a monopoly on the market bc the government does not allow any other beers inside the country.  If you are caught with another beer  there is a very hefty fine.  One or our guides told us that they would go on "beer runs" to Mexico (an hour by boat) to drink some good beer when they got too tired of Belikin.  While the selection is poor, I did enjoy the simplicity.  I could walk up to the bar and simply order a "beer" and receive a Belikin.  If I ordered a "beer" in the US I would be met with a dumbfounded look and smart-ass comment from the bartender.
• We snorkeled at Hol-Chan Marine reserve and Shark Ray Alley.  Everyone else saw a shark and a ray, but I had swam off in the other direction and missed them.
• Thanksgiving dinner for me consisted of Red Snapper vegetable soup and escargot to start, cheese and vegetable stuffed grouper for the entree, and rum chocolate cake and key lime pie for desert.  All of this was washed down with wine and "beer".  After dinner I relaxed with a Makers and water and a Cohiba (a fat Cuban cigar).  I was in hog heaven.  Can't imagine a much better meal.
• We took a boat to Caye Caulker which was about 30 minutes away.  There wasn't much there but if I didn't want to be found for a while, I think that is where I would go.  We found a hostel on the beach for about $12USD a day.  Gonna keep that in mind.

There were a few other things I didn't know that I found interesting:

• English is the primary language.  Almost everyone we came across spoke English but due to its proximity to Guatemala and Mexico about 50% also spoke Spanish.  A lot of people spoke Creole, which is a Jamaican type of English dialect.
• The Belizean dollar is pegged to the US dollar.  $1US = $2BZ.
• There are very few cars on Ambergris Caye.  Everyone gets around on rusted old beach cruiser bikes and golf carts.
• It was the bluest water I had ever seen.

The Happy Lobster!

All-in-all, it was a fantastic trip.  It was not as cheap as I had hoped and Ambergris Caye is very touristy but the beauty of the island and its close proximity (relatively) more than make up for it.  I absolutely loved Belize and got to mark another country off the list (that makes 15).