Honeymoon in Belize Pt. 1: Caye Caulker, Tikal, and Flores

Hello there! It has been a while since I’ve written a blog post and with having had some pretty interesting honeymoon adventures in the recent past, I thought now would be a good time to write one. :) For our honeymoon, Garrett and I decided to go to Belize, which we had heard amazing things about and which we knew also to be a fairly economical place and so within our price range. We bought the tickets, secured economy-sized bottles of bug spray and sun screen, packed a couple of backpackers’ backpacks to the brim, and waited anxiously and excitedly for August 3rd.

For those of you unfamiliar with this area, Belize is a country on the eastern coast of Central America, with Caribbean shores to the East of the country and jungle to the West. In the immortal words of Wikipedia, "It's known for its beaches, eco-lodges, scuba diving, and sportfishing. Offshore, the massive Belize Barrier Reef, dotted with hundreds of cayes, hosts rich marine life. Belize's jungle areas are rich with Mayan ruins." So as you can see= perfect place for honeymooners who seek relaxation, challenge, and adventure (that's Garrett and me!). Since we are kind of nuts, we decided to take on seeing six cities in two countries over our ten day trip: Caye Caulker, Tikal and Flores (in Guatemala), St. Ignacio, Placencia, and Hopkins. Below is our itinerary. 

After a small detour in Miami the night of the 3rd that I won't get into here (thanks, American Airlines), we were on our way on August 4th, unfazed by the crimp in our plans and that much more excited to go. The flight to Belize is worth mentioning—we sat next to a very disheveled, brightly cheeked man who, over the course of our flight, we learned works as a clown for cruise ships. It seems he was once very trim and agile (having gained a few clown pounds over the years), juggling machetes as he balanced on the top rung of a ladder or coerced a volunteer from the audience to sit on his shoulders while he rode around the stage on a unicycle pretending to nearly careen over the edge much to the audience member's horror and delight. To our new friend's credit, he is still fairly agile and limber and can still do many of these tricks (as he showed us on a recent video of him performing). He graduated from the Ringling brothers' clown college many years ago ("My parents are so proud") and has been working as a clown ever since. As we chatted he poured clear liquid from four small, travel-sized bottles into his orange juice, getting progressively louder and more enthusiastic in his storytelling as he did... 

Views from above

This is apparently a comfortable sleeping position for Garrett.

After we landed in Belize City, we caught a water taxi heading to Caye Caulker (pronounced "Key Caulker"), one of the islands along the coast. Caye Caulker is a small island that measures about five miles by one mile and is host to some extraordinary marine life as well as about 1300 permanent residents. The village mantra here is “go slow” and you feel that vibe almost immediately upon getting off the boat and stepping foot onto the island. There are no cars, so the only motorized sounds for miles are those of boats taking tourists on trips to the reef. Walking around the island (barefoot, of course) you're serenaded by the pulse of soft reggae and wind rustling the palm fronds. You see red dirt roads, houses on stilts, small shacks where street food like enchiladas, tacos, and rice and beans are sold along with fruit like mangos and (giant!) avocados. Dogs lazily stretch out in the middle of the roads for an afternoon (or morning) nap and people ride bikes around the island at a leisurely pace, taking care to avoid potholes.

Enjoying my first mid-day Belikan as we waited for the water taxi to Caye Caulker

Garrecc and I were so excited to arrive on the island.

These adorable swans and flowers greeted us as we walked through the door! 

It was already mid-afternoon by the time we got to Caye Caulker so we took it easy, hanging out at a private dock near our guesthouse and chatting with the owner Luciana (a spunky Italian woman from Milan), and our neighbors Steven and Emmy who were nearing the end of their trip through Guatemala and Belize. That evening we came across a guide who leads snorkeling trips so we planned to go out with him the following morning.

Sometimes we are cute and normal.

The next day, we woke up at 6 AM as one does in the tropics where the sun is high in the sky at this point and you find yourself laying wide awake in bed, ready for the day. We headed out to find “Errolyn’s House of Fry Jacks,” which we had read high praise for in our Lonely Planet. “What are fry jacks,” you ask? Well, lucky for you I am here to tell you about them: a fry jack is a magical piece of fried dough, folded sort of like an empanada with delicious things stuffed inside like beans and cheese, eggs and chicken, or all of the above. They are perfectly golden and crispy on the outside, and soft and chewy on the inside and are best enjoyed with a few dashes of Marie Sharp’s hot sauce.

A beautiful fry jack stuffed with beans, cheese, and eggs.

The infamous Marie Sharp's hot sauce. You can and are encouraged to use this on pretty much every kind of Belizean food- there are four levels of heat and even the first level is intense with its base of habaneros.

Iguana outside of our guesthouse

After breakfast we went to meet our guide Keith and his girlfriend Joanna at “Stressless Tours” where we met two other couples going on the tour—one from France and one from Spain. As we piled onto the boat and got ready to leave, we saw some dark clouds starting to form in front of us; our guide seemed unfazed by this, however, so we continued on to our first stop where we saw spotted eagle rays, southern sting rays, blue tang fish (otherwise known as Dory), yellow damselfish, and angelfish among many others. The second stop was an abandoned shipwreck where we were able to see more marine life swimming in and out of the old hull that’s long been buried in the sand. We made our way to Hol Chan Marine Reserve as the sky got even darker and it began to pour rain... There was a bolt of lightning that seemed way too close for comfort: “What a unique experience you are getting, little ones!!” our soaked and grinning, increasingly maniacal-seeming guide said from his spot standing on the rocking boat.

The captain of our ship, Keith, otherwise known as "Dice" explaining some safety measures 

Keith's brother Josh, manning the front of the boat

I know I look amazingly cool with my snorkel gear. It's okay to be intimidated.

Double the cool.

In this video you can see a few of the different kinds of fish, sting rays, and nurse sharks we saw on the trip

Over the next couple of hours as the storm intensified and receded, we stopped to see different kinds of brightly colored coral, nurse sharks (which we pet!), and many other aquatic beauties while rain pattered sometimes pleasantly, sometimes painfully on our backs. It was definitely a unique experience and one we will not soon forget.

In the afternoon we took it easy, getting lunch at our favorite street food stand and hanging out on the beach, getting some quality hammock time in and taking in the beautiful azure views before retiring to our guesthouse for live Cuban guitar playing by a friend of Luciana’s. By sunset of the following day, we had achieved maximum island bliss, the memory of which would serve us well as we faced the next couple days of travel…

So clear! 

I can't really articulate how excited I was to be reunited with green mango and chili salt. I think an interpretive dance would be the only way to express it. Ask me next time I see you and I'll try to recreate the feeling.

Ahh...

One of many delicious meals at our favorite food stand-- balliadas, enchiladas, and horchata for about 10 BZ ($5)

Laury was one of the reasons I loved going to this food stand. A very bright and engaged nine-year-old, Garrett and I would sit chatting with her as we ate our food and she asked us all kinds of questions about our camelbak, the underwater case for our phone, what we liked about Caye Caulker etc... She admired my bracelet and I told her I had another similar one I could give to her. "I really like this one..." she said as she fingered the beads. Needless to say, my wrist is now a little less adorned than it was before.

Laury's adorable nine-month old baby brother.  We fell in love, obviously.

:)

Gotta get one of those in there.

More delicious food on the beach

This guy really does not know how to unwind

My face. 

Hammocking.

With Luciana, the sweet owner of the guesthouse where we stayed.

We made lots of canine friends on our trip.

The sunsets were pretty incredible.

The next morning we ate our final fry jack, both enlivened and tortured by the impossibly crispy/soft dough, and took the water taxi back to Belize City where we’d catch a bus to Tikal in Guatemala.

The name “Tik’al” means “at the waterhole” in the Yucatec Maya language and was given to this monument after its discovery in the 1840s. Hieroglyphic inscriptions at the ruins, however, referred to the city as “Yax Mutal,” meaning “first mutal.” Tikal was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, and is both a cultural and natural wonder as it's situated in the Guatemalan rainforest. It has been described as being to Guatemala what the Great Pyramids are to Egypt and evidences what was once a great city of the Maya—with architecture dating back as far as the 4^th century BCE.

Garrett and I arrived to Tikal in the late afternoon, after about a five-hour bus ride southwest through Belize, an hour or so wait to get through customs in Guatemala, and then a 45 minute van ride. Because we arrived in the late afternoon and the park (technically) closes at 6 PM, we had the grounds mainly to ourselves with the exception of a few tourists who either arrived later like us, or stuck around for the whole day to get a true feel for this place.

To get to the monuments of Tikal, one has to hike about 20-minutes through the rainforest (more on this later), so we hiked through the jungle as the sun sank lower in the sky and spider monkeys swung through the trees above us. Finally, we arrived. I’ll let the pictures do the talking, since there was so much to see here.

We dubbed this the "tarantula tree."

Can you spot the monkey?

How about the other monkey?

There were areas of the park that were blocked off as they were in the middle of shooting a National Geographic documentary. We walked around, trying to sneak a peek at what was going on, and suddenly I saw a flash of someone I recognized. I turned to Garrett and said, “I'm pretty sure I just saw Morgan Freeman.” Garrett laughed and said, "Yeah right." We asked one of the people guarding the different blocked off areas if there was anyone famous in the documentary. “Oh yes,” he replied, furrowing his eyebrows in all seriousness. “Like Angelina Jolie?” I blurted out, the first person to enter my mind in a Tomb Raider-like setting. “Bigger than Angelina Jolie,” the guard responded solemnly, crossing him arms and raising an eyebrow impressively. Garrett and I walked away, laughing about how funny it would be if it was actually Morgan Freeman…

Oh heyyyyy

Can you see me?

Hieroglyphics in the stone

They were setting up for a traditional Mayan ceremony while we were there (probably for the Nat Geo doc) 

We spotted this little guy as we were walking around the grounds-- some kind of fox

We left the park at dusk, that 20-minute hike seeming much longer as we made our way back through the rainforest to the sounds of howler monkeys. If you’ve never heard this sound, it is something like King Kong mixed with a pterodactyl. Needless to say, it is pretty terrifying to hear if you are walking through the jungle on your own, and Garrett and I clasped each other's hands tightly as we power-walked back to the parking lot.

Howler monkey sounds...

That evening, we stayed in Flores, Guatemala. By the time we got to our hotel, it was after 8 PM so we didn't venture out too far, having dinner at the hotel restaurant. Traveling all day, hiking through the rainforest, and narrowly escaping death by howler monkeys revved up our appetites so we had creamy enchiladas with salsa verde, an Aztec soup with shredded chicken, avocado, and pieces of fried corn tortilla, as well as two margaritas apiece, all for 129 Q, or $17.

D'awwww we're married and stuff 

We explored this night market after dinner

We bought a slice of almond cake and flan for dessert but after taking one whiff of the flan thought better of it. The cake (which I picked out, btw) was still good though ;)

The next morning, we explored Flores a bit, taking in the scenes of the city and the lake on a run and wandering through alleys with brightly-colored buildings, lazy lounging kitties, and a very angry dog barking indignantly from a window sill.

Cute, right?

We really liked this blue wall, apparently. 

Papayas!

Just my typical, everyday "walking around Guatemala" face

This is the raving, lunatic dog. As you can see, he was EXTREMELY offended by our presence outside his window.

Such beautiful flora in Flores, how punny

Well, I think that is long enough for one blog post! Up next: St. Ignacio, Placencia, and Hopkins. I’ll try to be as brief as possible with the wordy words and keep up the momentum with the pictures. Thanks for reading. :)