MORE RAMBLES

AROUND BELIZE

2005-2006-2008

By LAN SLUDER

© Copyright 2005, 2006, 2008 by Lan Sluder

Rambles Around Belize

2008

Reports and Opinions

By LAN SLUDER

Banging Around Belize

I’m not an old Belize hand like many of you, but I’ve been banging around Belize for going on 18 years.  On my latest visit, in January and February, I put nearly 1,500 miles on a rental car and many rough miles on a golf cart, along with flying. The rental car this trip was a Toyota Prado diesel from Avis.  It proved to be a pleasure to drive, even on rough roads.  For the first time, diesel fuel prices in Belize and the U.S. are about the same.

My daughter, Rose, in between stints in Bolivia and Argentina, came along for the entire trip, and my son, Brooks, flew in from Harvard Yard for a few days of R&R in Placencia and Toledo.

Much of this visit was devoted to updating, revising and expanding Fodor’s Belize for 2009.  For this, I stayed at almost 20 different hotels and toured scores of other ones.  Most of these I’d seen or stayed at before; a few were new to me.  Fodor’s Belize 2009, published by Random House/Fodor’s Travel, will be out in late summer of this year.

I didn’t get everywhere I wanted to visit in Belize, but I did travel from the northern tip of the country  – Corozal Town, Copper Bank, Sarteneja – to Orange Walk Town, Indian Church, Blue Creek and Gallon Jug, over to Belmopan, San Ignacio and the Mountain Pine Ridge, with some time in Belize City, and then down to Dangriga, Hopkins, Placencia and on to Toledo before going out to the cayes.  I appreciate the gracious hospitality and friendship of so many – sometimes I think I know more people in Belize than in my home country of the USA – and I apologize for missing out on seeing other people and other places I should have seen.  Maybe next time.

I’d like to share with you a few of the things I saw and heard on my latest rambles around Belize.

What’s New?

Tourism is Up … and Down:  As always, the well-run places with something unique to offer, such as Victoria House, Chan Chich, Hidden Valley Inn, Blancaneaux, Turtle Inn, Hamanasi, Jaguar Reef and Inn at Robert’s Grove, were heavily booked and doing well.  In January, many other places were slow.  There’s always a dip in January, but even so this dip was a little deeper than usual, and besides, with the high season so short this year (Easter is early), nobody can afford a slow month.  February and March are much better for most places, but two or three months of strong bookings is not enough. 

What’s we’ve got here, as the fellow says, is a failure to communicate.  In my opinion, Belize is just not marketing itself and its hotels as it should.  Maybe the new Belize Tourism Board and Tourism Ministry folks will do a better job than in the past.  Resorts are too small to do the job on their own; Belize needs a better cooperative promotional strategy.  There are too many new hotel rooms, especially new condotels and lodges.  The pie is the same size, but it’s being sliced thinner.  Belize is not getting the new airlift it needs, especially not from Canada, the U.K. or Europe, and so far as I can tell the promises of new foreign air service will simply not materialize anytime soon.  Finally, and I hate to say it because one of the things I love about Belize is its many small, owner-run inns and lodges, but Belize needs some international hotel brands – major flags that are recognized worldwide, that can help bring in new tourists and even new air service.

Bunch of New Lodges in Cayo:  Several new moderate-level lodges that have opened around San Ignacio. A couple of others are under construction.  I stayed at a couple of these (Mariposa Jungle Lodge and La Casa del Caballo Blanco) and visited most of the rest.  I'm not sure how they're all going to make it, given the locations and the fact that some don't offer a real differential advantage, something unique in price, setting, service, food, activities, etc. compared to existing lodges in the area.  There are several new lodges on the Cristo Rey Road on the way to or just beyond San Antonio village. These include Table Rock Lodge, Macaw Bank, Mango Walk and Mariposa. Of these, Table Rock and Mariposa are the more upscale. Mariposa is asking US$155 a night for lodging in attractive thatch cabanas, but food (over BZ$60 for dinner) is pretty expensive.  On the Chiquibul Road (Mountain Pine Ridge Road) from Georgeville, Gumbo Limbo Village Resort opened a few months ago. I would say it offers more for less - nice new rooms (not thatch) for US$120 a night in-season, US$85 off, a swimming pool and decent prices at the restaurant.  Up near Mountain Equestrian Trails is Moonracer Farm, which will have a unit or two, and near Macaw Bank will be a new lodge with a projected 20 cabanas.  On the newly paved Bullet Tree Road, about 1 1/3 miles west of San Ignacio, is La Casa del Caballo Blanco (House of the White Horse, named after a horse belonging to the previous owner, which remains on the property). Though close to the road, the setting on a hill offers great views of San Ignacio, and the Unique Selling Proposition here is that it has a bird rehab center on-site.  Though not a lodge, Ka’ana Boutique Resort and Spa on the Benque Road just west of San Ignacio is an interesting experiment in upscale accommodations.  The new owners, associated with Belize Natural Energy, have turned a failed roadside hotel into a charming top end property.  You’ll enjoy it, but you won’t get out of here cheap; for example, a regular breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant is US$20.  The owners here are also planning to open a large new resort in Placencia, on the site of the old Luba Hati and some adjoining properties.

Upscaling the Upscale:  As has been the case for years, Belize tourism is continuing to move upscale.  Everybody is adding a swimming pool, or a second or third pool.  For example, Blancaneaux just added a new infinity pool, to supplement their heated pool and several private splash pools.  The Lodge at Chaa Creek is closing for a month in September to build a pool near the conference center.  There are new spas everywhere, even if in name only.  More places have fancy designer toiletries in the baths.  Happily, there are still places that just offer good accommodations at a fair price.  For example, Hickatee Cottages near Punta Gorda.  Or Coral House Inn on the waterfront in PG.   Or D’Nest Inn in Belize City.    Maxhapan Cabanas on Caulker.  All of these have attractive rooms at prices in the US$65 to $85 range, or less.  And, they’re run by people who enjoy what they’re doing, which makes a big difference.

Impact of the U.S. Recession:  That the U.S. is now in recession is clear.  What’s not clear yet is what impact that will have on Belize.  The link between the U.S. dollar and the Belize dollar is a plus, because for American tourists the weak U.S. dollar means little when they visit Belize.  Americans will continue to visit Belize, though I don’t think we’ll see any growth in tourism in 2008 or 2009, and likely there will be some contraction in U.S. visits.  Possibly this will be offset by increased tourism from Canada, Europe and Latin America, though without additional air service from these areas a significant increase is unlikely.  The U.S. slowdown, however, certainly will impact real estate sales in Belize.  It’s a fantasy to think that a recession, plus the housing bust in Belize’s largest supplier of property buyers won’t have a considerable impact on sales. 

Condomania Continues:  In the face of the U.S., Canadian and U.K. housing problems, developers in Belize continue to pour concrete for new condo developments, especially on Ambergris Caye and in Placencia.  They’re also building bigger projects.  For example, Grand Caribe on North Ambergris is doing 74 condo units, Las Terrazas (a project of the Journey’s End owners) is building 78 units in two phases, Placencia Resort has asked for approval to do 152 units just north of the Inn at Roberts Grove, and Bella Maya in Placencia with 60 units has finally opened (though 30 of the units are incomplete).  The controversial Ara Macao in Placencia is going to build 50,000 units (or something ridiculous like that.)   And the list goes on and on.   Real estate agents and developers tell me that sales were pretty good until a few months ago, when they started slowing down, in some cases significantly.   This obviously is the impact of the U.S. economic problems.  My gut is that Belize is going to see a glut of condos over the next couple of years.  Expect some bargains, much like what we’re seeing in Florida now, with discounts of 20% to 30% off the original asking prices. 

Hotel Highlights

Without exception, the places where I stayed this trip were delightful.  If I had to single out a few spots, it would be these:

Blancaneaux Lodge (www.blancaneaux.com) looks better than ever.  It has a gorgeous new pool, where the croquet lawn used to be.  There’s also a new, dinner-by-reservation only, Guatemalteca restaurant next to the pool. The “Enchanted Cottage” is a lovely tile-roofed stone house that will open soon, a bit away from the main lodge grounds.

Chan Chich Lodge (www.chanchich.com).  It had been several years since I was last at Chan Chich.  All I can say is that the lodge has only gotten better under the management of Ben and Amanda Dodge, who before taking this assignment were teachers at a nearby village school.  The new two-bedroom villa (complete with air-conditioning) is a nice addition for families or a two couples traveling together.  Meals at the lodge are superb.  The setting, as ever, is wonderful.

Inn at Robert’s Grove (www.robertsgrove.com) thrives by understanding what their guests want and by delivering it flawlessly.  While I was enjoying luxurious beachside digs at Robert’s Grove, owners Robert and Risa Frackman traveled to Belize City to accept the Belize Tourism Industry Association’s top honor – being named Hotel of the Year for 2008.  Much deserved!  This is truly one of the most enjoyable and best-run beach resorts in the region.

D’Nest Inn (www.dnestinn.com) is the kind of place you wish Belize City, and indeed Belize, had more of.  It’s well run, safe, fairly priced and very comfortable. You get little extras like a full breakfast, cable TV and free wireless. Gaby and Oty make their guests feel welcome, and it’s no wonder D’Nest Inn stays busy.

Brits Ian and Kate Morton opened Hickatee Cottages (www.hickatee.com), located about a mile from PG, in 2005. This little lodge is living proof that you don’t need to stay in a big, fancy resort at high prices to have a great vacation experience.  Rates for the three cottage rooms, set in lush foliage, are an affordable US$70 to $85, plus hotel tax, and include airport transfer and continental breakfast. There’s a small swimming pool – actually, more of a splash pool.  Delicious meals made with fruits and vegetables from the owners' organic nurseries next door are available (dinner is around US$15).  A special treat: On Wednesdays and Saturdays, you can go with Ian to visit the nearby Fallen Stones butterfly farm, which he manages.  Fallen Stones is one of the largest commercial butterfly operations in Central America, and closed to the public, except for guests of Hickatee. 

At Hidden Valley Inn  (www.hiddenvalleyinn), guests in just 12 cottages have access to 7,200 private acres.  That’s perhaps 300 private acres per person, with miles of trails to explore and hidden waterfalls to discover.   How cool is that?  I first stayed at Hidden Valley years ago, when Mr. Bull Headley owned it.  I didn’t know him well but did break bread with him a time or two, and he was quite a colorful character.  (His son still lives near the lodge.)  The prominent Roe family of Belize City bought the lodge in 2001 and made many small but important improvements, including adding a gorgeous swimming pool.  New in 2007 is an airstrip.  The new GM, Flavien Daguise, appears to be doing an excellent job.

Azul Resort (www.azulbelize.com) about 5 miles north of San Pedro is in that rarified category of small resorts for those guests for whom, as it’s said, money is no object.   For a price, your every expectation is met:  There’s a gorgeous stretch of beach, a circular pool shared by just two beach villas.  And what beach villas these are, with 3,000 sq. ft. of luxury and good design.  They have flat-screen plasma TV, a projection TV to turn your villa into your own movie theater, and a Bose sound system.  Beyond the electronics they have two luscious bedrooms with king beds with Egyptian cotton linens.  They also have a private hot tub, day bed and dining area on the roof, with amazing views of the water.  Of course, you’re just steps from perhaps the best restaurant in Belize, Rojo Lounge.  You could wake up here and think you were in St. Barths, playground of multimillionaires and billionaires.  Yet, I have to say that there’s a nice, down-to-earth touch at Azul.  Nobody’s putting on airs.  The owners’ sizable menagerie of dogs and cats seem to enjoy the place as much as the guests. 

At Victoria House (www.victoria-house.com) south of San Pedro, we stayed in one of the new condo villas, which are gorgeous.  Victoria House is peaceful, serene, beautiful, everything that an island resort should be.

At Cotton Tree Lodge (www.cottontreelodge.com) near Punta Gorda, you can play Tarzan and swing into the Moho River on a rope swing.  Opened in late 2006, Cotton Tree is right beside the river about 15 miles from PG. Guests are usually brought in by boat, though you also come by road, and stay in one of 10 thatch cabañas set among wild fig trees along the river's edge. You walk around the property on raised walkways. I’ve not been there in the summer rainy season, when the Moho floods, but it’s got to be an interesting experience, with the lodge grounds becoming a large lake, water lapping at the walkways.  There are still some rough edges here, but I suspect it will make it, thanks to the dramatic riverside location.

La Casa del Caballo Blanco (www.casacaballoblanco.com) in San Ignacio, with its bird rehab and birding focus, may find its niche.  The owners were away when I was there, but the friendly staff did a good job.  And, as I say, the setting on a hill overlooking San Ignacio and nearby hills offers lovely views.

Mariposa Jungle Lodge (www.mariposajunglelodge.com), near San Antonio village on the way to the Mountain Pine Ridge, was built by two attorneys who retired to the adventure of running a lodge.  The cabanas are very attractive, and the owners provide personal attention and customized activities.

Belize’s Best Eating

Restaurants in Belize keep getting better and better.  Here are some of my most memorable meals from this visit.  Riverside Tavern in Belize City has the best burgers in Belize.  Period.  The dining room isn’t open to the public, but if you want a great breakfast in Belize City, I know where you can get it – at D’Nest Inn.   Oty is a great cook.  In Corozal Town, I still love Patti’s Bistro and the Y Not Grill at Tony’s Inn (the fajitas are great, as is the bayside atmosphere), but the new RD’s (aka R’nD’s) near Patti’s is also excellent.  At the half dozen or so lodges where I stayed this trip, the best meal I had was at Chan Chich Lodge, and a close runner-up for best lodge meal was at Blancaneaux Lodge, where we had a wonderful dinner with the beautiful Anne Wood, who heads up Mr. Coppola’s growing hotel operations.   In Placencia, the best meal I had was … at Tutti-Frutti.  Start with a cup of banana gelato, then a double scoop cone of mango and coconut, and for dessert a scoop of tiramisu.  Tutti-Frutti has moved up a few doors to the new center across from the Purple Space Monkey (where breakfast was excellent) and just in front of the new BTIA office.  Tiziana and Laurent’s authentic Italian ices are alone worth a special trip to Placencia.  The Saturday poolside barbecue at Robert’s Grove was fantastic, as usual.  Maya Beach Hotel Bistro was bustling, and I like the expanded new menu at this charming spot, though I can’t recommend the Lobster Shooter – sorry, Ellen and John, but I don’t get off drinking lobster-flavored tequila!  In Punta Gorda, I was happy to find out that an old favorite, Mangrove Inn, had reopened after an absence of several years, but this time on the second floor of Casa Bonita, up at Cattle Landing.  Iconie Williams is still the culinary force behind it.  The best meals of the entire trip were at Rojo Lounge, 5 miles north of San Pedro on North Ambergris.  Oh, those crab cakes, those guava-glazed baby back ribs, that rich, thick hummus.  Owners Jeff Speigel, a former punk rock record producer and self-taught chef, runs the back of the house, and Vivian Yu runs the front.  The one place I wished I would never have to leave was breakfast next to the pool at Victoria House.  With a view of the sea and the barrier reef, with a gentle breeze form the water, it was idyllic.  The third time’s the charm for Capricorn.  On its third set of owners, the restaurant has regained its sea legs and is again one of the top restaurants on the island.  Reservations are essential.  By chance, I was at Capricorn the day its original owners, Clarence and Annabel, held their grand opening party.  There’s also a lot of buzz about the new Blue Lotus, on what is being called the “bayside” of San Pedro.  The word is that it has Indian food, top-flight service and a stunning setting.

Up-and-Coming Sarteneja

We arrived by car in Sarteneja on a rainy, cold day.  A norther had swept in, causing heavy rains and chilled temps.  For a while, I put on a cotton sweater.  But when the sun came out, the little village of Sarteneja came to life.   Kids play on the dirt streets or swim off the docks.  Villagers hang out on the porches or yards of small, plain, but well-maintained houses, speaking Spanish, or stroll down for a cheap bite to eat at Robie’s.

This is Belize like it used to be.  Safe.  Friendly.  Inexpensive.  A picturesque setting on the water. 

There’s not much to see or do here, except for the Shipstern Reserve.  The crocodile crèche has closed, due to the death of its founder, and the baby crocs have been released.  Sarteneja is a place just to hang and maybe finish that novel you’ve been working on.

Sarteneja has only a few small guesthouses, a handful of restaurants.   We stayed this trip at Candalie’s Sunset Cabañas (email candaliescabanas@yahoo.com), next door to Krisami’s Guesthouse and owned by members of the same family.  For value and comfort, you can’t beat Candalie’s.  A roomy cottage, perched just a few feet from the sea, with cable TV and A/C, is only US$40 double.  The owner of Fernando’s Guesthouse, down the street also on the water, has done some upgrading of the rooms there.   Backpackers Paradise (www.cabansbelize.com) has funky little cabins for budget-minded travelers.  The double beds take up almost all the space, and the baths are outside and shared, but they’re a deal at US$10 double.  The owners are a Canadian-Swiss couple.

In my opinion, Sarteneja is Belize’s next Hopkins.  It’s already attracting attention from real estate buyers.  The only thing that’s holding it back is that it still takes a little effort to get there.  The route from Corozal Town is a little faster these days, now that there is a second hand-pulled ferry over Laguna Seca, but it’s still a long sloshy drive, especially after rains.  There are several buses a day from Orange Walk Town, and one from Chetumal and Corozal Town.  Tropic Air has a scheduled flight (if there’s demand) to Sarteneja’s airstrip, and the twice-daily Thunderbolt water taxi between San Pedro and Corozal Town stops, on request, at Sarteneja.  You can also take a skiff from Chetumal to Sarteneja, and have your passport stamped at the police station.

Tiny’s is the new Internet café in Sarteneja.

PG Is Peachy

Peaches may not grow in Toledo, but nonetheless Punta Gorda is peachy.  The town has such a lovely waterside setting, comparable to Corozal Town.  It’s small, it’s friendly, it’s safe, it’s pretty. There’s so much to do around Toledo – caving, hiking, visiting the many Maya sites – and offshore, where the permit and other fishing is world-class, and where the reefs and water are virtually pristine.  It’s a shame more visitors don’t come down and discover it.

Blue Belize Guest House (www.bluebelize.com) is a welcome new addition to the list of PG hotels.  It has views of the water, and rates are an affordable US$55 (plus 9% hotel tax) for a double.  There’s also a new small guesthouse on Front Street next to Beya Suites.  It’s called Tropics Inn B&B, but it was never open when I went by.  Another guesthouse is opening in town soon.  If you can believe it, it combines guest rooms and a pit bull kennel.  Yeah.

My favorite hotel in PG proper is Coral House Inn (www.coralhouseinn.net)  You’ll recognize it by the vintage VW van parked in front. Americans Rick and Darla Mallory renovated this 1938 British colonial-era house and turned it into one of the best small guesthouses in the country. It's near the sea at the end of Front Street.  The four guest rooms – rates US$82.50 to $100 -- have tile floors, excellent beds, A/C and Wi-Fi.  There's a small pool, recently upgraded. Breakfast is included in rates.  The owners also manage a nearby, newly renovated private rental home, available for US$100 to $125 nightly, depending on length of stay, plus tax. 

For those driving down, work on preparing the last 9 miles of the Southern Highway for paving has actually begun.

Don’t Cry for Me, Placencia

Those of us who have been going to Placencia for 15 or 20 years, who remember when the peninsula was a little bit of the South Pacific in Central America, the changes in Placencia are disconcerting.  Everybody and his brother have plans to build condos or sell building lots.  But, with the best beaches on the mainland, it had to happen.  I just hope that development occurs with sensible, long-range planning for reliable infrastructure, building codes and restrictions, tasteful signage rules and limitations on how the lagoon and sea beaches can be developed.

A model for this is Stewart Krohn’s Coco Plum development.  It’s a blueprint for what a well-conceived and well-executed development should be.   The paved roads are amazing.  There are only a few houses built there as of now.  Katie Valk (www.belize-trips.com) just moved into her stunning new beachfront house, and Krohn has a new house farther inland.

Unfortunately, on most of the peninsula I don’t see this kind of project being repeated. There is a hodge-podge of development.  There is no master plan.  It’s a free enterprise free-for-all.

As to the infamous Placencia road, every year the word is “we’ve got the money, we’re letting bids, work will start later this year.”  Yep, that’s the word again in 2008.  Maybe it will actually happen this year.  But don’t hold your breath.

San Pedro Sizzles

I’ve written a guidebook to San Pedro and have been reporting on Ambergris Caye for 15 years, but I can’t keep up with all the changes on the island.  New condos are going up everywhere you look.  Dear old Front Street and also Coconut Drive, down to Victoria House, is now paved with concrete cobblestones down.  There’s a brand new gas station south of town – a gas station, just like in the ‘burbs!  Driving past the airstrip and the high dark walls Ramon’s Village has put up to shield the resort from street noise and up the drive, the traffic is terrible, and I feel like I’m in the middle of a concrete canyon.

But there’s an energy in San Pedro that’s missing in most other tourist destinations in Belize.  Every block there’s a new shop or a new bar or a new restaurant.  Not everything works, but a lot of people are making money. 

Handicap Access

This may come as a surprise to some of you, but I’m not as young as I used to be.  (I know it surprises me.)  Neither am I exactly a poster child for the South Beach Diet. 

On the positive side, this gives me a new insight into the issues of handicap access in Belize.  On this trip, touring hotels and moving from one hotel to another every day or so, it seems like I spent half my time climbing up and down stairs.  Steep stairs.  Stairs up four or five stories, in some cases.  Steps up the side of hills.  “Easy” hiking trails that rise and fall hundreds of feet in a mile or so.  Boats that dock three feet below the level of the pier.  Little airplanes that require you to bend double to get down the aisle.

The fact is, most of Belize simply isn’t accessible for people with limited mobility.  Or just for those of us who aren’t as spry as we used to be. 

Hotels almost invariably are built elevated from ground level.  Walkways at jungle lodges or even at regular hotels are cobblestone or rough boards or loose gravel.  Often the best rooms, those with the views, are on the top floors, up several flights of stairs. 

I can count the number of hotels in Belize with handicap-accessible rooms on the arthritic fingers of one hand – Calico Jack’s in Placencia, the original SunBreeze in San Pedro, Hok’ol K’in in Corozal Town, and maybe a couple of others.  Aside from elevators in the high-rise hotels in Belize City, the Radisson Fort George, Renaissance Tower and the Princess, and the little one at Corona del Mar in San Pedro, here are almost no elevators anywhere in the country. 

Even the new condo developments in Placencia and Ambergris Caye are going up two, three or four stories without elevators.  (Surely, developers will figure out the average buyer of a US$600,000 condo is not going to be a 20-something marathon runner, but more like a retired couple with a hip replacement or two?)

I understand the problems of building in a hurricane- and flood-prone environment, on sand, on remote hillsides.  I realize there are no laws requiring access for those with less than perfect mobility.

In today’s world of aging Baby Boomers with bum knees, though, there’s a market for hotels and condos with easy access.  Somebody is going to figure out that wide doors, access ramps and elevators sell.  (In one of the guidebooks I write, Fodor’s Belize, a standard requirement now is to state whether or a not a listed hotel has an elevator.)  Even if it’s not mandated by law, it can make good economic sense to make new construction in Belize accessible to everyone.

Election:  Fi U, Fi Me, Fi All o We

My rambles around Belize coincided with the run-up to the general election, and to the election itself on February 7, which saw the United Democratic Party sweep back into power, winning 25 of 31 House seats.  As I’m not a Belizean citizen, I stay out of Belizean politics, but I have to congratulate Belize and all Belizeans on the election.  It was peaceful, fair, well run and as full of political vim and vigor as any election I’ve ever seen.  This was an election run by and for Belizeans – no need for a bunch of outside political consultants.  It’s a sign that Belizean democracy has matured.  Almost three-fourths of registered voters participated, an involvement rate that Americans and many others should envy.

As I traveled around Belize before the election talking to both Belizeans and expats, I did hear a lot of nonsense – about how it was going to be a close race, about what the PUP would do or the UDP would do, about how violence would rip through the country after the election.  But one guy who had it all figured out was Stewart Krohn of Channel 5 TV.  Three weeks before the election, over dinner one night, he quietly explained what would happen in the election.  He said flatly that the PUP at most might win six or seven seats, and he was dead right.  Hey, Stewart has his own Wikipedia entry – I’m impressed!

I can only hope that the U.S. presidential election turns out half as well.  George W. Bush and his incompetent pals have done their pathetic best to destroy the economy, the military, the moral power and the great democratic traditions of America.  After near eight years of Bush-Cheney, the dollar is the world’s 98-pound weakling, the trade and budget deficits are at historical highs, the housing and credit markets are in tatters, the stock market is tanking, the economy has entered a scary recession, we’re in an energy crisis, we’re trapped in an endless three trillion dollar war, and most of the six billion people in the world are disgusted with the U.S.  Bush doubtless will rank with Buchanan and Harding as the worst president in U.S. history.

Trip Advisor:  Power and Problems

Trip Advisor (www.tripadvisor.com) has become a force in the hospitality industry.  A series of top reviews of a hotel can boost its occupancy considerably; several bad reviews can really hurt it.

While Trip Advisor is a great resource for travelers, there are problems with it.  It’s no secret that some, perhaps many, of the reviews are spiked.  Some glowing reviews are put by the hotel owner or by friends of the owner.  Hotel operators take pains to encourage happy guests to post reviews, which skews the statistics.  Owners of units in condotels juice their investment by posting anonymous glowing reviews.  On the other side of the coin, some negative reviews are posted by competitors.  Sometimes, a bad review is just the way a vindictive guest has of getting back at a hotel that didn’t live up to perhaps unrealistic expectations.

But aside from these issues, you have to take some of the reviews with a grain of salt.  Many are extremely detailed and helpful.  But others show a total lack of knowledge about the area.  If anything, many of the reviews are overly positive.  Guests ooh and aah over the view of the barrier reef, say, or the fact that the hotel puts decorative flowers on the bed.  The reviewer may not know that scores of hotels in Belize put fresh flowers out (it’s still a nice touch, of course), and that nearly all the resorts on the northern cayes have views of the reef.  But it’s the lack of comparative knowledge and lack of context that makes many of the reviews less valuable than they otherwise would be. 

Look at the hotel properties that are currently (the popularity index does change frequently) listed as the “most popular” on Ambergris Caye.  The top three in “specialty lodging” of 17 properties are, in this order, Pedro’s Inn, Belize Tradewinds Paradise Villas, and The Palms condotel.  Wow, what a group!  I don’t know what “specialty lodging” actually is, but I can’t imagine comparing Pedro’s and The Palms. 

In a different category, of Ambergris Caye’s 45 hotels reviewed, White Sands Cove and Xanadu both receive # 1 ratings for popularity.   Not sure how that’s possible, as they’re not shown as tied, just both # 1.  Not to be picky, but why wouldn’t Paradise Villas, The Palms, Xanadu and White Sands Cove all be in the same category?  They’re all properties that have individually owned condo units, managed by a management company.   Both White Sands Cove and Xanadu are excellent, well-run properties, but if you were betting on the “most popular” hotel on the entire island, would you say it was White Sands Cove?  In Trip Advisor’s Ambergris Caye B&B category, Salamander Hideaway, Caye Casa, Blue Tang Inn, Changes in Latitudes and Turtleman’s House are the five listed B&Bs.  Huh? 

Bottom line for me:  Trip Advisor is a powerful tool, but it is run by people who know almost nothing about hotels in Belize or how to group them.  The reviewing process is inherently skewed by competing commercial interests and by the self-selected nature of the reviewers.  As more and more people do reviews, Trip Advisor will become more valuable and reliable.  You can throw out the very negative and very positive reviews, along with the obviously naïve ones, and get a good feel for the sense of the majority of guests.  But judging hotels based on a handful of reviews (most Caye Caulker hotels, for example, have fewer than 10 reviews and three of 18 hotels listed have only one review each) is not necessarily a good idea.

Andy Palacio

I shouldn’t have been, but I was surprised at the outpouring of feeling of so many Belizeans at the untimely death of Andy Palacio.  Thousands came out to mourn him, and at his funeral the population of Barranco probably tripled.

Helicopters

Astrum Helicopters (www.astrumhelicopters.com), based at the Cisco Yard at Mile 3 ½ of the Western Highway, is run by a hard-working family from Guatemala.  They are making this business work, offering transfers to resorts like Cayo Espanto and Azul Resort (US$1,200 to $2,250 for four to six people), real estate tours, and sightseeing tours for cruise ship passengers and tourists.  They operate dependable Bell 206 equipment, including a new 7-place Bell 206 L Long Ranger.

Value Rant

Pardon me while I rant for a moment on the problem of value in Belize tourism.  Belize has a reputation, partly undeserved and partly deserved, for being an expensive destination.

Belize has many great tourism buys.  I’ve mentioned a few in this Ramble – places like Candalie’s Seaside Cabanas in Sarteneja, where a big cottage with A/C and cable TV is just US$40 for two. Or many of the budget hotels and B&Bs you’ll find in Caye Caulker, Placencia, Belize City, Corozal Town, Orange Walk Town or downtown San Ignacio.  Or little local restaurants, such as Patti’s Bistro in Corozal Town or Anijitos Santelmo on Ambergris Caye, where you can get a tasty full meal for a few bucks.

But to prospective visitors and to those who come to Belize, some costs stand out like an ugly sore thumb.  Examples:  US$200 for a one-way transfer from Belize City to Cayo.  Sure, it’s for up to four people, which on a per-person basis isn’t bad, but the fact is that most come to Belize as a couple, so they’re pay US$200 round-trip just to get to a lodge. 

Or the jungle lodge that charges US$35 to $40 for dinner, plus 10% service and maybe 10% tax.  The dinner might be great, or it might be mediocre.  The guest without a rental car really doesn’t have an option, and so feels ripped off.  The guest-focused lodge would provide an alternative, much as concessionaires at U.S. national parks do, with a snack bar or other less expensive option for those that don’t want to pay US$100 a couple for dinner and drinks.

Too many Belize hotel owners figure if they’re not making money, they’ve got to raise rates and prices.  Every year, I look at hotel prices, and rates at many spots go up 5, 10 or 15%.  The operators complain about the high cost of food, the high cost of gas, the burden of social security taxes.  So, start your own organic gardens and get a hybrid that gets 50 miles per gallon.  Belize labor costs are still dirt cheap compared with the developed world, so don’t complain about that.

For too long, when the question is value, the answer has been to raise prices instead of finding a way to cut costs and to become more competitive.  The result is Belize’s current reputation as the most expensive destination in the region.  Increasingly, even in comparison with the U.S. and Canada, Belize is seen as expensive.  Hotel rates, meals, gas, groceries and car rentals are viewed as MORE EXPENSIVE than in the average U.S. destination.  That, my friend, is not good!

On the other side of the coin, if a hotel operator can’t or won’t cut rates, at least he or she should try to offer a real differential advantage.  Too many Belize properties are “just good enough.”  They don’t offer something unique and special, in place, people, price or product that is totally superior to that the guest can get anywhere else.  Chan Chich, to use an obvious example, is expensive, yet due to its location, its setting, its unique style, its unmatched birding and animal spotting, guests feel they get value for the money.

Wild Creatures in Cages

I finally had a chance to see Croc-O-Dile Isle, which is a few miles off the Southern Highway, on a dirt road near Silk Grass village.  Although I had a pleasant meal at the Snap Jaws restaurant there, I was a little taken aback by the crocodile displays. The whole place reminded me a little of some roadside alligator zoo in 1950s Florida.  A few pathetic-looking small crocs lay in the sun in small ponds of muddy water.  I don’t recommend it.

In late January, I also stopped at Indian Creek Lodge and met Ken Karas, who runs this and the other Belize Lodge and Excursions’ three lodges in Toledo.  That’s another story, but Mr. Karas did show me Balaam Na, which means “House of the Jaguar” in K'etchi Maya.  It is about a 10-minute drive from Indian Creek.  Balaam Na has attractive, upscale suites in a lodge that is built over a fenced enclosure where, I was told, two jaguars would be placed. The idea is that guests can look down from their suites or the raised walkway and see the jaguars.   When I was there construction was still going on in at least one of the suites.  Supposedly, according to the web site, this place has been open for a while, but it obviously wasn't open when I visited. 

When we finished the Balaam Na tour Ken Karas asked if my daughter and I wanted to see the two jaguars.  We said yes.  The jaguars, beautiful young males, one black and one spotted, are being kept in a small cage at Indian Creek Lodge.  So far as I can see, they have no place to exercise, no way to be out in the open.   Now, I understand the idea is that at some point they will be put in the fenced enclosure at Balaam Na.  When I don't know.  But even to be kept in such a cage for a few weeks or few months -- I have no idea how long they've been in there, but it hasn't been just a few days -- is disturbing. 

Lan Sluder is the author of more than half a dozen books on Belize, including Fodor’s Belize, Living Abroad in Belize and San Pedro Cool.  He also has done other travel guides for Frommer’s and Fodor’s.  His travel articles have appeared in many magazines and newspapers, including Caribbean Travel and Life, The New York Times, Where to Retire, Globe & Mail, and the Chicago Tribune.  He founded Belize First Magazine, now available as a free Internet magazine at www.belizefirst.com.   Sluder can be reached at lansluder@gmail.com.

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Times They Are A'Changing Here are some of the changes I’ve seen in 2005 and 2006:

Invasion of the Boomer Snatchers We've been talking about it for years:  How the wave of retiring Baby Boomers - the first of us hit 60 in 2006 - will flood the warmer climes with bazillions of young codgers waving cash and looking for a bit of tropical real estate.  I pooh-poohed that for years, but it's finally, actually happening.  In Belize, they've just about bought up the affordable seafront land, and now they're plopping down deposits in developments like Progresso Heights and Cerros Sands in Corozal, Sanctuary Bay near Hopkins, Coco Plum on the Placencia peninsula, and others.   Whether they'll end up staying and building or buying, or, faced with the frustrations of daily life in a developing country, head back to St. Petersburg with tails between their legs, it's probably too soon to tell. If the Belize Experience pattern were to hold true, the developers who are building all these fancy subdivisions, condos, and timeshares for the Boomer Snatchers will end up broke and out of business.  Yet, maybe this time things are different.  If the Boomers really end up coming to Belize en masse, enough of them will stick it out, and the developers will end up doing okay at last.

TOURISM FOLKS SINGING THE BLUES

“September and October are always bad, but it’s been a long time since it was this bad.”

 “We had a record June, but then things went south in July – it wasn’t this bad after the hurricanes.”

 “Everything looked great … until July and August.”

“August, September and October were really slow. November hasn’t picked up much.”

Those are just some of the comments I heard from hotel, lodge and resort owners around Cayo, Placencia, Corozal, Belize City and San Pedro.   Almost everyone I talked with said the same thing: The first half of the year was excellent, but in the early summer the bottom fell out.

Tourism operators have various explanations: 

The bandit incidents in Cayo of course had a major impact there, but they spilled over into other areas, including Placencia.  First-timers to Belize don’t really have a good grasp of Belize geography, so if they hear of crime in one area they may decide to cancel or postpone a trip to anywhere in the country.  One lodge owner said they lost US$150,000 in cancellations, so they were ready and willing to contribute to the fund to get the Guatemalans responsible out of Guate and into a Belizean jail.

The U.S. Department of State travel advisory that remains in effect clearly is hurting business.  You can see the advisory, posted July 18, 2006, at http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1055.html. 

I’m told that a meeting set up with the U.S. embassy in Belize to discuss this didn’t come off because representatives from the Belize Tourism Board didn’t show up.

Others thought that the election in the U.S. might have kept some Americans at home.  Some ascribed the problem to lack of European tourists -- Europeans hate to have to go through the U.S. to get to their final destination.  Still others think the residual fear of terrorist attacks in the U.S. and Britain has an impact on international travel.  Some think that rate increases at hotels and the general increase in prices in Belize, in part due to the GST, play a role.  A few said they thought the increase in the number of condos in Placencia and on Ambergris Caye was hurting hotel and restaurant business, as owners now stay in their condos and prepare meals there.

Probably it’s a combination of reasons, but personally I think the biggest cause is the perception of crime, and the cautionary advisory about the Cayo bandit incidents and other crime in Belize posted since July on the U.S. Department of State web site.

The good news:  Bookings for the Christmas season seem excellent everywhere.  Most hotels report good, though not record, bookings for the rest of the high season.

As always, some hotels are doing well even as others struggle.  When I was in Placencia in mid-November, Turtle Inn was 100% booked and the larger Robert’s Grove was about 75% full.  Victoria House in San Pedro was bustling with guests, especially in the gorgeous new villas section, and places like Banana Beach in San Pedro also were doing a good business.  At the more modest end of the scale, Martha’s Guesthouse in San Ignacio said its new annex was already 100% booked for January through April.

IS CONDO BUBBLE ABOUT TO BURST?

Anyone who returns to Placencia or San Pedro after being away for a year or so will be amazed by the number of condominiums going up.  More than 500 condo units are currently under construction on North Ambergris Caye alone.  Reef Village, Las Terrazas, The Phoenix. Pelican Reef, Grand Caribe, Mirador, Belize Legacy and Blue Reef are just a few among the many projects currently under way on the island.  The Placencia peninsula, as I reported in my last Rambles, has some 1,500 units either under construction or planned.  I don’t expect all of the Placencia condos to actually get built, but from the talk you hear San Pedro is going to get dozens of more projects in the next year or two.  Hopkins is also getting a wave of new condos.  Even Caye Caulker is getting a couple.

Developers are doing business plans and projections on the backs of envelopes, and the excavators and dump trucks are running full out.

To me, it looks like a classic bubble that’s about to burst.  Already, I’m hearing about condo projects that are hitting up their owners for extra bucks, special assessments and higher monthly maintenance fees just to keep things afloat.  I think many of the condos will sell, and some have been pre-sold, but not many owners plan to live in Belize full time.  Most will use the units just a few weeks a year.  The owners are buying on the expectations of getting cash from the management company for their share of rental fees from the rental pool.  But unless Belize gets a lot more tourist boots on the beach, these condos are going stay empty much of the time, and the owners can take the rental income projections with a grain of salt.

I’m also hearing about some serious softening in prices.  Units that were going to sell for six hundred grand are now available for $395K, and when you look at the listings in the windows of real estate offices you’ll see a lot of markdowns.  Yet, in my op, they’re still overpriced on any rational ROI basis, though in the long run the owners may get price appreciation, especially on beachfront property.

New condo buyers are hit with the 10% GST and 5% stamp duty upfront, so a buyer of a US$300,000 condo has to fork up US$45,000 in cash on top of that.  The real estate guys say that doesn’t have a big impact on sales.  Yeah, right -- the average middle class family has US$45K in cash laying around that they’re just going to hand over to the Belize government to give away to its pals and cronies.

Mark my words:  Look for a fire sale on condos in the next couple of years.  And if you’re buying a condo, don’t book on paying the mortgage with income from the rental pool for a while.

PRICE/VALUE ISSUES

Belize has a reputation as the most expensive destination in Central America, but you can still find some excellent values in Belize, both in travel and in real estate.  In fact, in many cases it is actually cheaper to travel or live in Belize – at a level of health, hygiene and amenities that are acceptable to most Americans or Canadians – than in some other countries in the region.  Sure, you can travel or live cheaper in Nicaragua or Guatemala than in Belize, but you’re living or traveling on a different level than in Belize. 

Corozal Town, for instance, remains a good value.  You can get a hotel room in a new or completely renovated hotel for 40 to 60 bucks, complete with a new bed, A/C and cable TV.  You can get a delicious dinner for under US$10.  Real estate is also still affordably priced.  You can rent a nice house for US$250 to $600 a month, and buy a building lot for around US$15,000 to $25,000 or an attractive, modern house for US$100,000 to $200,000.

Cayo, Toledo and Caye Caulker in many ways offer similar value for the money.

However, I’m seeing more hotels, resorts and lodges that are raising their rates by 20% or 30% or 40% or more.  Places that use to cost US$150 are now $300, and some are getting up into stratospheric rate territory, US$400 to $800 a night.  Simple breakfasts at hotels often are US$10 or $12, dinners $30 or more. The average tour is now approaching $100 or more per person, and many are twice that.  Hotels try to hit you up for US$10 to $15 for internet access, I was at a modest restaurant in San Pedro, the kind where you sit on stools, the other night and the dinner special was BZ$65.  In a grocery, a fifth of One Barrel was US$12 and Belikin was near US$10 for six bottles.  A car rental costs US$90 a day, plus 10% tax and various other charges, and gas is still near $5 a gallon.

Many visitors can pay those rates, but it’s also the case that the vast majority of Americans and Canadians, and presumably Europeans as well, don’t pay those kinds of prices back home.  When they travel, they stay at places like Fairfield Inn or Hampton Inn, where a big, recently refurbished room with king bed, cable, free broadband internet, free local calls, free included breakfast runs around US$100, and no service charge.  They eat at restaurants where they might pay US$10 to $14 for a full dinner, or at McDonald’s where you can get a double cheeseburger and fries for US$2 from the value menu.  Beer is under four bucks a six-pack.  A car rental is usually US$30 to $50 a day, and gas is US$2.10.

If Belize can offer a truly special experience, visitors may be willing to pay extra for it.  Frankly, though, I’m getting concerned that too many places are trying to increase revenues simply by raising rates without offering a better product.  If the experience isn’t there, and the value isn’t there, Belize is going to lose business.

Likewise, developers are asking the U.S. prices for condos and building lots.  They may get a few suckers to buy at these prices, but anybody who spends time in Belize doing due diligence will figure out that US$200 to $400 a square foot for a condo or house borders on the obscene. Taxopan? The U.S. may have its “tax-and-spend liberals,” but Belize seems to specialize in grab-and-tax politicos. New taxes are blooming in Belize like bougainvillea on a wall. Businesses that are suspected of making a little money are being audited right and left by the tax guys.  Maybe the name of Belize's capital should be changed to Taxopan City.  The Goods and Services Tax (GST) of 10% impacts just about everybody. The GST went into effect in mid-2006.  I happened to be in Canada when the GST was implemented there in the 1990s, and the impact on business was considerable, because consumers saw the price of restaurant meals, store merchandise and nearly every item they bought suddenly increased.  With the GST, the selling price of most items includes the tax, rather than being added on as a sales tax at the cash register, so buyers perceive it as a price increase.

More Motos Used to be, I rarely saw a motorcycle on the roads in Belize.  Now, they're fairly common, especially around Belize City and on the main, paved roads.  I guess the price of gas, which reached more than US$5 a gallon before it fell back a bit recently, is driving the interest in motorcycles.

Everybody's a Real Estate Agent Every time I look around, there are more real estate agents in Belize.  It's rare for a week to go by without somebody opening a new office.  Some of them are gringos trying to make a buck while waiting for a real job.  But a lot of the real estate agents are Belizeans.  Do they actually sell anything?  I don't know.  Some do, I assume.  There’s even a new Multiple Listing Service, of sorts, in Belize.  I take the mushrooming growth of real estate offices as a bad sign.  It's a leading indicator of a real estate bust.

Internet Everywhere Belize has been wired for a long time, but now the internet is ubiquitous in Belize.  Cybercafés seemingly are on every corner.  It's the rare hotel that doesn't offer internet access in some fashion, whether wireless or via a DSL Ethernet network or broadband satellite.  Even the smallest places offer connections.  For example, D'Nest Inn in Belize City with just three rooms and Coral House Inn in Punta Gorda, with four, both offer free and speedy wireless (and at D'Nest Inn you can also plug into their DSL Ethernet hub).  BTL is even promoting its WiFi Hot Spot at the international airport (there's a fee, of course).

Blowing Cold Air A few years ago, hotels started putting in swimming pools.  Now, everybody is putting in air conditioning.  Even the jungle lodges. Maruba and Jaguar Paw have had A/C for years.  Now, even fairly rustic lodges such as Lamanai Outpost Lodge offer cold air in at least some rooms.  Mopan River Resort has added A/C in all its units.  Air conditioning has long been a staple in the upmarket hotels in San Pedro, Belize City and Placencia.  But, now, even budget hotels routinely have A/C.

Anger Management It seems to me that Belize is becoming an angrier place than it used to be.  Belize has a reputation for being laid back, accepting, a no-shoes, no-shirt, no-problem kind of place.  In some ways, I fear, that's changing.  The guy robbing a store in Belize City gets the money and then blows away the shopkeeper, for no reason.  Drivers blow their horns to warn other drivers to get moving.  And have you seen the terrible blow offs and rants that go on over the internet?  Post a question on a Belize bulletin board and you risk that half a dozen irate, but anonymous, boarders jump on the poster, accusing you of every ecological, economic, and anti-Belizean crime on the books.

Things I Thought I'd Never See in Belize Bridge Over the River Channel to North Ambergris Caye Belize City Cleaned Up Broadband Internet in the Bush Traffic Jams in San Pedro Million Dollar (US dollars) Homes on Ambergris Caye Upmarket Restaurants and a Resort with a Swimming Pool on Caye Caulker Real Estate Subdivisions in Sarteneja A Night on the Town in San Pedro with Dinner and Drinks, US$200 for Two Four Cruise Ships Berthed Off Belize City at One Time

Mas Fino en Belice Here are some of my picks for the best in Belize, in a variety of categories.  Your mileage may vary:

Best Destinations to Stretch Your Dollars:  Caye Caulker; Tobacco Caye; Corozal Town; Placencia Village

Most-for-Your-Money Budget Lodging:  The Trek Stop, Cayo; Hotel de la Fuente, Orange Walk Town; Casa Blanca Guest House, San Ignacio;  Martha's Guest House, San Ignacio;  Hotel Aguada, Santa Elena, Cayo;  Lydia’s Guest House, Placencia

Top Jungle Lodges:  Chan Chich Lodge, Gallon Jug, Northern Belize; The Lodge at Chaa Creek, Cayo; Blancaneaux Lodge, Mountain Pine Ridge; Hidden Valley Inn, Mountain Pine Ridge

Top Jungle Lodges for Not a Ton of Money:  Black Rock Lodge, Cayo; Pook's Hill Lodge, Belmopan;  The Lodge at Big Falls, Toledo;  Five Sisters, Mountain Pine Ridge;  duPlooy’s, Cayo

Greenest Eco-Lodges:  duPlooy's Lodge, Cayo; Mama Noots, near Dangriga;  Black Rock Lodge, Cayo

Most Romantic Hotels:  Turtle Inn, Placencia; Blancaneaux Lodge, Mountain Pine Ridge; Victoria House, Ambergris Caye; Portofino, North Ambergris Caye

Most Romantic Restaurants:  Rojo Lounge, North Ambergris Caye; Capricorn, North Ambergris Caye; Harbour View, Belize City; Rendezvous, North Ambergris Caye

Most Upscale Condotels:  Chabil Mar Villas, Placencia; The Phoenix, Ambergris Caye;  Grand Colony, Ambergris Caye;  Bella Maya, Placencia;  Sueno del Mar, North Ambergris Caye

Most Atmospheric Bars: Sugar Reef, Placencia; I&I, Caye Caulker;  Palapa Bar, North Ambergris Caye;  Rojo Lounge, North Ambergris Caye;  Putt-Putt, Belize City

Most Charming Small Hotels:  Coral House Inn, Punta Gorda;  Casa Blanca by the Sea, Consejo, Northern Belize;  Iguana Reef Inn, Caye Caulker;  Seaside Cabanas, Caye Caulker

Best Restaurants:  The Bistro at Maya Beach Hotel, Placencia; Rendezvous, North Ambergris Caye;  Rojo Lounge, North Ambergris Caye;  Harbour View, Belize City;  Chon Saan Palace, Belize City

Most Deluxe Accommodations:  Azul Resort, North Ambergris Caye; Seascape Villas, North Ambergris Caye; Caye Chapel Island Resort (villas), Caye Chapel; Grand Colony, Ambergris Caye; Cayo Espanto, near Ambergris Caye

Best B&Bs:  D'Nest Inn, Belize City; Villa Boscardi, Belize City;  Lazy Iguana B&B, Caye Caulker

Best Snorkeling:  Glover's Atoll; Hol Chan Marine Reserve, Ambergris Caye;  Silk Cayes, Southern Belize

Best Diving:  Turneffe Atoll; Glover's Atoll; Lighthouse Reef Atoll

Worst Roads:  Peninsula Road to Placencia; parts of the Old Northern Highway;  golf cart path on North Ambergris

Best Beaches That Don't Take Forever to Reach:  South Water Caye; Placencia Peninsula; North Ambergris Caye

Postcard-Perfect Little Islands:  Silk Cayes, Southern Belize; South Water Caye, off Dangriga;  Half Moon Caye, Lighthouse Reef Atoll

Most Memorable Belize Experiences (not requiring extreme physical effort):  Caving at Actun Tunichil Muknal; snorkeling with nurse sharks and sting rays at Shark-Ray Alley; diving with whale sharks at Gladden Spit; seeing the barrier reef for the first time

Uniquely Belizean Experiences:  Belize Zoo; Belize Botanic Gardens, duPlooy's;  cave tubing, Caves Branch River

Best Gift Shops:  Caesar’s Place, Cayo;  National Handicraft Centre, Belize City; Maya Centre Women’s Co-op, Maya Centre

Greatest Adventures:  Hiking to the top of Victoria Peak, Cockscomb Preserve; skydiving into the Blue Hole, Lighthouse Reef;  going on Lost World adventure trip with Caves Branch Adventure Co.;  exploring the Columbia River Forest on the Maya Divide trip

Most Knowledgeable Travel Agents:  Katie Valk, Belize Trips;  Barbara Kasak,  Barb’s Belize

Best-Run Hotels:  Banana Beach, Ambergris Caye; Lodge at Chaa Creek, Cayo;  Inn at Robert’s Grove, Placencia

Best Birding:  Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, Northern Belize; Chan Chich Lodge, Gallon Jug, Northern Belize; New River Lagoon, Northern Belize

Best Wildlife Spotting:  Belize Zoo;  Chan Chich Lodge, Gallon Jug, Northern Belize; Programme for Belize, Northern Belize;  (also, in the Petén, Tikal Park) 

Most Astounding Views: Views into Guatemala from El Castillo, Xunantunich; the Blue Hole, Lighthouse Reef Atoll, seen from above; views around Baldy Beacon area, Mountain Pine Ridge; also, panoramic jungle views from Temple IV, Tikal

Best Fishing Lodges:  Machacha Lodge, Punta Gorda; El Pescador, North Ambergris Caye; Turneffe Flats, Turneffe Atoll Scenic Drives:  Hummingbird Highway; through the Mountain Pine Ridge to Caracol; through Programme for Belize and Gallon Jug lands

Most Colorful Local Markets:  San Ignacio (Saturday); Punta Gorda (Wednesday, Saturday);  Belmopan (the old market, daily except Sunday)

Don't-Miss Mayan Sites:  Caracol, Lamanai, Xunantunich (plus Tikal in Guatemala, of course)

Interesting Off-the-Beaten-Track Spots:  Sarteneja Village, Northern Belize; Blue Creek Village, Northern Belize; Blue Creek Village, Southern Belize

Friendliest Villages:  Hopkins; Sarteneja; Crooked Tree

Banging Around Belize:  What’s New and Different? Here are some of the highlights of my time in several areas of Belize in 2005 and 2006: Corozal Town

Corozal is still as sleepy as ever, but things are happening at the margins.  The Las Vegas Casino is open, joining the two other casinos at the border adjoining the Free Zone.  I understand it’s not doing as well as expected, but perhaps with the season starting things will perk up.  Las Vegas has broken ground on a new 300+-room hotel, which if it opens will be the largest hotel in Belize by far.  The casino’s market is almost entirely Mexican, as to visit the casino tourists in Belize have to go through the border exit process and pay US$18.75.  So a couple pays nearly 40 bucks just to go gamble – what sense does that make? 

While Corozal sleeps, Chetumal prospers.  A new Sam’s Club has just opened, and the city’s restaurants and hotels are doing boom business.

The new Mirador Hotel near the site of the old market in Corozal has amazing views of Corozal Bay from its fifth floor patio, but you better spend some time on your Stairmaster before you visit, as there’s no elevator, and the stairs are steep and narrow.  The rooms are comfortable and affordable (US$35 to $90), with A/C and cable TV, and new furniture from the owners’ furniture store.  Some have good views of the bay, though I can’t figure out why the stairs are on the bay side of the building, taking some of the best views.  Indeed, I can’t figure out why you’d spend this much on a five-story hotel and not put in an elevator. A Chinese restaurant will open at the hotel shortly.  Currently, there’s street parking only, but the hotel may get the use of a nearby vacant lot for parking.

I toured Las Palmas again, and it’s looking great.  Charlie, who was a chiropractor back in the States, and his beautiful espousa Marina, have done a fine job with this property.  Basically, the old Nestor’s hotel has been rebuilt from scratch, from the foundation up.  The rooms, as at Mirador, all have A/C and cable.  Priced at US$45 to $55 double, this is one of the best values in town.  The restaurant space is being totally renovated, and a new restaurant will also open here soon.

All my old favorite places to stay  – Smuggler’s, Corozal Bay Inn, Coco Banana and Tony’s – are still good and one-third the price of comparable lodging in San Pedro.  Casablanca in Consejo was closed when I went by, but it’ll reopen soon.  Casablanca has one of the most romantic and lovely locations in Belize – too bad it doesn’t get more business.

Patti’s Bistro is still the best restaurant in town, and the best value.  Cactus still has cheap, tasty Mexican food.  The fajitas and other dishes at the palapa bar at Tony’s Inn are as good as ever.  Tony’s is popular, and the setting can’t be beat.

Quite a bit is going on around Consejo.  Bill Wildman’s Consejo Shores is still my pick for the best residential development in Belize. What a quiet, beautiful area!   Bill says more houses have been built at Consejo Shores in the past couple of years than in the previous two decades.  Mayan Seaside and Wagner’s Landing both are seeing some activity and building, and a lot of other bayfront property in the area has been sold, though few homes have been built so far.

The golf course at Xaibe may actually be built one  day, I’m told, and the little 9-hole course at Consejo Shores is looking good.

Two of Corozal's best-known expats, Rick Zahniser (he started the www.belizenorth.com  web site) and Margaret Briggs, (www.localgringos.com) got the heck out of Dodge in 2005, Rick going to Arkansas and Margaret to New Mexico.  They indicated they were fed up with crime, anti-gringo sentiment, and just generally with Belize, although other factors may also have been behind the moves. Across the New River on the shores of Corozal Bay is the charming little village of Copper Bank, which now has a real hotel, the Copper Bank Inn.  The Last Resort, a locally well-known collection of simple cabanas and a popular restaurant on the bay, has been sold. A new restaurant has opened near Cerros, and the owners plan four new cabañas.  The former owners of The Last Resort are opening a new lodge near Cerros.  Near Progresso village, on the shores of the Progresso Lagoon, is another small resort, Fantasy Point, which is currently for sale.

Orange Walk The new bypass around Orange Walk Town saves a little time and avoids some of the sugar cane truck slowdowns, but it’s still worth driving through town once in a while.  Not too much has changed in Orange Walk, but here are a couple of notable additions: I enjoyed the newish El Establo Bar & Grill, a friendly, family-run eatery near the northern end of the Orange Walk bypass.  It’s run by Albino and Ada Vargas.  The escabeche was delicious!  Indian Hill, Northern Hwy; tel 501/322-0094. Orlando de la Fuente's and his wife have opened Hotel de la Fuente,  a nice addition to the very limited hotel scene in Orange Walk Town. The low rates (around US$25 to $40) put it among the best values in Northern Belize.  All 8 rooms have air-conditioning and DSL broadband, and there are also 2 suites with kitchenettes.  The lobby doubles as a pawn shop, handy if you need a little extra cash. 14 Main St., Orange Walk Town;  tel. 501/322-2290;  www.hoteldelafuente.com.

Out in the country, Lamanai Outpost Lodge, with its beautiful setting on the New River Lagoon, has switched to a near-all inclusive plan with all meals and activities, such as boat trips to catch and tag crocodiles, included, and rates are concomitantly higher.  One change that concerns me is the addition of airboats for trips on the lagoon -- they are insanely LOUD. 

Lamanai South Lodge is a new spot that is a less-expensive option for overnighting near the Lamanai ruins.  On 52 acres right at the edge of New River Lagoon, the lodge has four rooms in a coral-colored building.  Rooms are around US$150 double.  Indian Church Village, tel. 501/615-1892; www.lamanaisouth.com.

Ambergris Caye Ambergris Caye remains the most popular destination in Belize, and I guess the question is:  Is it getting too popular?  Every time I come back there are lots of new houses and condos and way too many cars.  Just look at all the development that’s going on, mostly condos and houses:  Sueno del Mar, the “fractional ownership” upscale membership development, The Phoenix condos where the old Paradise Resort used to be at the north end of town, Grand Colony south of town, Blue Reef Island Resort up north, Tranquility Bay, and others. There’s still plenty of room to spread out and develop, but, especially south of town, some of the development looks ill planned.   The island has the potential to become one of the great visitor destinations in the Caribbean, but it’s going to take local leadership to achieve that.  Organizations like the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce are doing a lot of good work, and some of the individual developments are first-rate, so perhaps the basis for strong economic leadership is already in place. With the new bridge open to the north, in my opinion now’s the time to implement logical, well-thought out land use planning systems for the miles of North Ambergris territory, to make this the best island it can be. I still miss the hard-packed sand streets downtown.  The paving stones I’m sure are a big improvement after rains, but a little of the unique charm of San Pedro has been lost for me.  With all the taxis and cars on the streets, it’s getting dangerous to walk or even drive a golf cart, especially on that stretch of Coconut Drive at the airstrip.   

I had a great dinner at Rendezvous, one of the very best restaurants on the island.  I also enjoyed El Divino at Banana Beach, especially the terrific Mexican-style ceviche, Papi’s, Casa Picasso, and many of my old favorites on the island, including Elvi’s, Caliente (with a new branch up north), JamBel Jerk (with a second location at the Coral Beach Hotel), Cocina Caramba,  and Blue Water Grill are still going strong.  I haven’t yet had a chance to eat at the new Wild Mango’s, where chef Amy Knox, who moved north from Victoria House, has taken over, but I hear great things about it--great food, big portions, fair prices. Sweet Basil has closed.

Capricorn has new owners.  Let’s hope they can bring it back to its former glory.

El Fogon opened with a bang, as did the San Pedro outpost of Chon Saan Palace, but locals say both seem to have failed to live up to their early promise. The same family that owns El Fogon also operates Hacal Kiik, a bakery that has great local breaks and buns.  I’m still mourning the closing of Jade Garden and Taste of Thailand, two of my fave eateries on the island.

The breakfasts are still marvelous at Estel’s, where I shared a table with Josh Berman, who is updating the excellent Moon Belize Handbook, and Marty Casado, of AmbergrisCaye.com and BelizeSearch.com fame.

Tim Jeffers of Banana Beach and Peter Lawrence of Pedro’s tried to lure me into a poker game at Pedro’s Sports Bar, but I didn’t bite.  I did enjoy a rum and tonic or two at Peter’s bar, which has become quite a spot to hang out.  More than one person told me that Pedro’s now has the best pizza in town.  Pedro also is adding some air-conditioned rooms to his hostel.

I understand Victoria House is getting a new chef, a young man from Japan.  The resort itself finally has the physical facilities to match the service and setting.  The new villas are among the most beautiful beach accommodations I’ve seen in Belize, and there’s a new infinity pool with black marble (so there are now two main pools at the resort, plus two private pools at individual villas.)   Even the old casitas have been redone, and they look lovely.  Brent and Janet have done a first-rate job with this property.

Some of the new developments on Ambergris Caye: Seascape Villas is a group of six luxury homes on four beachfront acres, built by Bob and Diane Campbell.  Each villa has around 3,000 square feet, with a sunken living room, slate floors, outdoor garden with hot tub, and unobstructed views of the sea.   There’s a gorgeous swimming pool.  To rent one of these babies you’ll pay around US$900 a day.  The villa colony has no restaurant, but you can have meals prepared and served in your beach house. North Ambergris, 4 miles north of San Pedro, tel. 501/226-5203; www.seascapebelizevillas.com.   Azul Resort is where I’d like to stay if I had the money -- about US$700 a day.  This new resort has only two beach villas, but, man, they are nice. The two-level villas have 20-foot ceilings with beams of mylady wood.  Custom kitchens feature Viking appliances, and the cabinets and most of the furniture are made of zericote wood. Each villa has a Mac computer, 50" plasma flat-screen TV, and Bose theater system. On the rooftop, you can relax in your own hot tub.  The two beach houses share a beautiful pool, 400 feet of beach, and about 10 acres of prime property.  Rojo Lounge, run by the same couple, Vivian and Jeff, is next door for drinks in a romantic beachside setting and some of the best food on the island.  Conch pizza is US$19 and grouper stuffed with cashew-crusted lobster is US$31. Killer mojitos are US$8.  Not cheap, but then this is probably the hippest restaurant on the island, if not in all of Belize.  North Ambergris, 4 miles north of San Pedro, tel. 501/226-4012; www.azulbelize.com.  Grand Colony Villas, built by the Paz dynasty that also did Villas at Banyan Bay and other projects, are among the most upscale condos on the island.  The 21 two-bedroom, two-bath apartments, ranging from 1,100 to 1,900 square feet, rent for US$500 to $900 a day.  The tony condos have 10-foot ceilings, marble and  hardwood floors, and mahogany doors and cabinets.   Coconut Dr., 1 1/2 miles south of San Pedro tel. 501/226-3739; www.grandcolonyvillas.com.   The little yellow cabins lined up in rows at the Royal Caribbean Resort remind a lot of people of army barracks, or DFC by the Sea, but inside the 45 rooms are fairly spacious, with tile floors, wicker furniture, and kitchenettes.  There's a pool and 400 feet of beach next door (south) to Victoria House.  The price, US$125 double, is attracting some guests. Coconut Dr., 2  1/4 miles mi south of town; tel. 501/226-4220;  www.ambergriscaye.com/royalcaribbean/. 

Caye Caulker With Ambergris Caye on steroids, ballooning to some 10,000 in population and new buildings going up right and left, for anyone yearning for the slower-paced, more traditional Caribbean, Caye Caulker is looking better and better.  Here you’ll still find sandy streets and almost no cars. Caye Caulker isn’t just for backpackers anymore.  It has new restaurants and some new and improved lodging.  Food and hotel prices here generally are one-third to one-half less than in San Pedro. The newly rebuilt Seaside Cabanas turned out beautifully, I think.  It’s nice to at last have a hotel with a swimming pool on the island, and the little private rooftop nookeries on four of the units are a great idea. You can own the hotel, as it’s now for sale for US$2.4 mil.  Here and at Iguana Reef you can get an upscale experience at a Filene’s Basement price, only a little over US$100 double.  And there are many other excellent lodging choices on the island. A few of my favorites in the low-moderate to midscale range: Caye Caulker Condos, Tree Tops, Da Real Macaw, Auxillou Beach Suites, Morning Star Guesthouse, Lazy Lizard B&B.  Plus vacation home rentals, of which there are an increasing number, are a real bargain.  And you can eat well on Caulker.  It’s hard to imagine a nicer over-the-water atmosphere than the Rainbow Grill & Bar, and the fish is excellent.  Habaneros, Don Corleone’s and Rasta Pasta are first-rate, and some of the old-time places like the Sandbox and Syd’s are well worth your time.

Cayo Cayo is an interesting situation now.  It still offers great natural beauty, fabulous caving, and wide open spaces.  It has some of the great treasures of Belize, including the biggest forest reserve in the country, the Mountain Pine Ridge, the fabulous Actun Tunichil Muknal cave, the Mopan and Macal rivers, Caracol, Xunantunich, and El Pilar Mayan sites, a collection of remarkable jungle lodges including the Lodge at Chaa Creek, duPlooy’s, Hidden Valley Inn, and Blancaneaux,  and several wonderful attractions including Green Hills Butterfly Farm, the Belize Botanic Gardens, and the quirky Poustinia Land Art Park.  The discovery of oil in Spanish Lookout adds a new twist, though the amount that actually will be pumped there is still not clear. I also worry what will happen to Spanish Lookout if avian flu ever hits Belize.  Belizeans are fools for chicken, and the Mennonites raise most of them. On the other hand, this inland area is not getting the tourism investment of the cayes and coast.  As beautiful as much of Cayo is, foreigners want to be on or near the water.  (Maybe one day the Chalillo Dam lake will actually prove to be a tourism asset.)  The perception that crime is spilling over from Guatemala into Cayo also works against the district. There hasn’t been a major new lodge or hotel built in Cayo since Mopan River Resort opened in 1999, and this highly successful all-inclusive is now for sale.  Several small lodges have opened, one hotel in Belmopan, the Chinese-owned Yim Saan, several budget places in San Ignacio Town, including an annex for Martha’s Guest House.  A few places, including Chaa Creek, Blancaneaux, Hidden Valley Inn,  and the San Ignacio Resort Hotel, have expanded or upgraded, but no big-time tourism investment has been made here for years. Among the tourism properties for sale in Cayo are: Mopan River Resort, Benque Viejo, US$2,850,000 Eva’s, San Ignacio, US$150,000 Parrot Nest, Bullet Tree Falls, Cayo, US$460,000 Roaring River Lodge, US$250,000 duPlooy’s Lodge, Cayo, US$1,300,000 Five Sisters Lodge, Mountain Pine Ridge, US$1,998,000 Casa Maya Eco-Lodge, San Ignacio, US$900,000 Los Cedros Lodge, Cayo, US$340,000 Touch of Class, Santa Elena, US$750,000

Tourism in Cayo is still feeling the impact of the bandit incidents.  Although the last incident was almost six months ago, and two of the ringleaders are in jail in Belize, occupancy is still way down at most hotels. 

San Ignacio town, which for a while was going through a restaurant and hotel boom, has lost some tourism businesses. You wouldn’t know it, though, by the number of cars and the trouble you’ll have finding a parking place.  The Royal Indian has closed.  Serendib has changed hands, but the food is still about the same as always. Bob Jones at Eva’s is still there, dispensing cold beer, hot food and good advice, and the buyer of the famed tourist info center and restaurant, the former owner of the Tikal Inn, will be around soon to learn the ropes. Jones says he looks forward to more time for fishing and seeing parts of Belize he hasn’t had time to see.   Hode’s and Sanny’s are still popular dining spots (Sanny’s is only open for dinner now.)  Well-run downtown hotels such as Casa Blanca Guest House and Martha’s seem to as busy as ever.

The Saturday market in San Ignacio is my pick for the best market in Belize.

Outside of town, lodges have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars of business due to the U.S. State Department travel advisory and the perception that crime is a concern.  In fact, driving around Cayo I’ve never felt safer.  It’s a beautiful area, with little reason for tourists to worry. 

Congratulations to Lucy Fleming of Chaa Creek, outgoing president of the BTIA.  She had a rough year, to say the least.  Chaa Creek, by the way, has never looked better, and the lodge has upgraded several of its duplex cottages into gorgeous new suites.

I visited a spell with John and Judy at The Trek Stop, which has 10 popular budget cabins in San José Succotz.  They say they are restarting the shuttle between Belize City and San Ignacio and may even add another van, so they can meet more flights.  Advance booking is necessary.

Spanish Lookout gets more and more amazing. Where San Ignacio looks like a typically rundown Central American town, Spanish Lookout looks like a prosperous part of western Pennsylvania. Route 30, the road from near Georgeville to the Mennonite settlement, is a gorgeous paved highway, and many of the roads around Spanish Lookout are also paved.  The Mennonites do their own paving. The stores and small shopping centers are doing a land office business, and even gas is cheaper in Spanish Lookout than in San Ignacio.

Up in the Mountain Pine Ridge, Blancaneaux still looks lovely. Craig and Lisa are no more at Hidden Valley Inn; the new managers are a couple who ran the bookstore in San Pedro for a short time. Hidden Valley was on the track to become a top lodge, and I hope we’re not back to musical chairs again.  The convoy system is still in effect for trips to Caracol.  There’s a lot of dissatisfaction with the system, which involves two or three convoys daily escorted by the BDF, because it’s not very flexible – for example, for birders who want to get to Caracol early it’s not ideal.  I drove on my own around the Pine Ridge and felt completely safe, though I only saw two other vehicles and no BDF.

One of the under-appreciated assets of Cayo is the town of Benque Viejo del Carmen.  The Benque House of Culture there is just one of the little places that deserve more attention, not to mention Che Chem Ha and Poustinia.  On the way to Benque, do stop and have lunch at Benny’s Kitchen, near Xunantunich.  This little open-air restaurant, not far from one of my favorite budget spots in Belize, The Trek Stop (which now has the first “disc golf course” in the country) serves hearty Mayan and Belizean dishes at low prices. Most items on the menu are US$4 or less, including chilimole (chicken with mole sauce), cow foot soup, escabeche, and stewed pork with rice and beans and plantains.  San José Succotz village, across Benque Rd.  from the ferry to Xunantunich. Turn south just west of the ferry and follow signs about 3 blocks;  tel. 501/823-2541.

Since I started coming to Belize almost 16 years ago, only San Pedro and Placencia have changed more than Belmopan.  Belmopan has turned into a bustling small city, with an increasing number of stores and restaurants.  The University of Belize campus and the growing government presence have helped transform the area. 

Have you seen the new United States embassy in Belmopan? The old embassy in Belize City was an old wooden building brought from New England in the 19th century.  The new embassy on Floral Park Road in Belmopan near the hospital is a huge fenced and gated compound, massive and brutalist (though, I grant you, not as ugly as some of the Belizean government buildings in Belmopan).  It cost US$50 million to construct. 

Placencia Peninsula The Placencia peninsula is hot, hot, hot ... at least in the real estate end.  Lots sales are booming, and people are actually starting to build houses and condos. If all the plans announced for condo developments in Placencia are actually built, the peninsula will have more than 1,500 condo units at The Placencia, Bella Maya, Chabil Mar, Coco Plum, Ara Macao, Laru Beya and others.  Chabil Mar, The Placencia and Laru Beya are already operating, and Bella Maya is working on the first phases of its plans.  I doubt some other projects will go forward in their present form, however. Bella Maya is being developed by a company in London that specializes in "emerging market" real estate, with other projects in Latvia, Bulgaria, and Brazil.  Bella Maya is expected to eventually have a total of 60 condominium apartments, most available for nightly rental. The 1100 sq. ft. apartments go for US$270,000 to $450,000, with one-quarter fractional ownership available for around US$86,000.   Opening has been delayed until sometime in 2007. Ara Macao, ironically named for the endangered Scarlet Macaw, says it is a 582-acre master planned community on part of The Plantation lands at the north end of the peninsula.  If the project comes to fruition – it is still awaiting final Belize government approval -- it will have 456 upscale beachfront condos, 296 villas, 260 seaview condos, and 59 golf course home sites.  The master plan calls for a marina, casino, an 18-hole golf course, multiple swimming pools, several restaurants, a spa, and retail and commercial space.  The developer is ioVest Development LLC, a low-profile Chicago company with some ties to EKRK, a Czech real estate organization.  The president is Paul Goguen. Many local people and expats have opposed the mega-development on environmental grounds, and also that such a massive project is out of character with the rest of the peninsula.

I will say that Coco Plum II is one project that has put its money where its mouth is.  Stewart Krohn (who also owns Channel 5 TV in Belize City) has paved the project’s peninsula road frontage, and this road and the internal roads are absolutely fantastic.  Krohn himself has a house on the peninsula, has been visiting there for over 30 years, long before there was a road or airstrip, and I think is going to build another house there.  This long-term connection to the peninsula makes a difference, I think, and I wish more developers (hey, like Ara Macao and Bella Maya) had closer connections to the peninsula than just dollar signs.

Anybody who is not brain dead would have to worry about the future of the peninsula.  The McMansions being built on filled swamp land at the north end of the peninsula don’t look like sustainable development to me, any more than does a 1,000-unit project on a peninsula with a current population of only a couple of thousand.  New, high-density condo projects are planned for several areas.  That’s in the face of the fact that, with a few exceptions, most of the existing condo developments and hotels stay empty much of the time, especially in the summer and fall.  Even if they can sell out these projects, who is going to stay there?  The owners aren’t going to live there full-time, and unless the BTB gets its act together and Belize gets more air service from Canada and direct service from Europe, there will be a lot more empty properties like The Placencia.  I have stayed there and visited there many times and rarely see more than a handful of guests rattling around this big property.  I asked the guy on the front desk why that is the case.  He said, “It takes eight or ten years to build an image for a new hotel and get people to try it.”  Tell that to the investors.  We will build them, and they will come?  Maybe not.

There’s little infrastructure in place on the peninsula, and yet here are all these foreign developers ready to put up multi-million dollar projects.  The peninsula road is pretty bad, but not as bad as it was a few weeks ago in the rainy season, when at times it literally was impassable, even for four-wheel drives.   Some of the larger hotels with guests coming by road are bringing them into Independence and boating them over the lagoon.  There is talk again of paving the road, with a loan from the Caribbean Development Bank.  Maybe it will happen this time, but we’ve all heard that many times before.

Wendy’s in the village has expanded again and is still a wonderful place for local food at a good price.  Yoli’s, on a pier Bakader near Harry’s Cozy Cabañas, is the hot new nightspot.  Food is prepared at Merlene’s nearby and brought out the pier to Yoli’s, which is a terrific place to enjoy a Belikin and the sea breeze.  Afterwards, stop by Tutti Fruiti for a real gelato.  This is still the best ice cream in all of Belize.

There weren’t many tourists on the peninsula while I was there, but Turtle Inn and the Inn at Robert’s Grove were both bustling.  Robert’s Grove was hosting a group of travel writers (a tour set up by the BTB), and the grounds and suites look fantastic, as always.  Turtle Inn is completing a new group of cottages plus a new swimming pool and restaurant.  When completed shortly, Turtle Inn will have 25 units, with three pools and three restaurants.

Jenny Wildman is opening a new art and crafts gallery in Maya Beach.  It will be called Spectarte (www.spectarte.com, 501-523-8019).  I’m happy to see more galleries opening in Belize – this is the kind of business the country needs, instead of more souvenir shops.

Punta Gorda and Toledo Every time I visit PG I think tourism here is finally going to take off.  There’s so much to see here, it’s so beautiful, the town of PG is so friendly and pleasant, with a gorgeous setting on the Bay of Honduras, and the Southern Highway, once a hellish road, is now the best highway in Belize, beautifully paved for all but 9 miles near Big Falls.  Prices are also far lower than in more popular resort areas of Belize. Things may be picking up a little in tourism, and there are several new lodging choices, but it’s a slow row to hoe. For some reason, PG is just not on the radar of most visitors to Belize. I guess it’s the lack of beaches and the perception that it’s remote. One thing that may help a little is that a group of tour operators and hotel owners have banded together to offer a regular series of fixed tours around Toledo, with specific tours and trips always running on specific days of the week, as long as there is a minimum of two persons (three or four persons for a few trips).   This way, visitors to Toledo are assured there will be tours every day.  Hotels and tour operators involved in this program include TIDE Tours, TASTEE Tours, Sun Creek Lodge, Sea Front Inn, the Lodge at Big Falls, and others.  Contact any of these for details or to book.  The full-day trips usually involve a mix of activities, such as snorkeling and fishing.  The specific tours are as follows, although the days, rates and tour descriptions may change: Monday:  Port Honduras Marine Reserve, with manatee and dolphin spotting, snorkeling, swimming, and fishing; US$93 per person Tuesday: Blue Creek, with cave swimming and hiking; US$76 per person Wednesday: Same as Monday Thursday:  Pueblo Viejo Mayan village, hiking, visiting a waterfall and Dem Dat's Doin' botanical gardens; US$84 per person Friday:  Canoe trip on Moho River, with visit to the Garifuna village of Barranco; US$80 per person Saturday:  Visit to Lubaantun Mayan site and Rio Blanco Park; US$84 per person Sunday: Sapodilla Cayes, with snorkeling, fishing, and beach swimming; US$97 per person. Two new lodging places I love in PG are Coral House Inn and Hickatee Cottages. Americans Rick and Darla Mallory bought and renovated a 1938 colonial-era house and turned it into one of the coolest guesthouses in Belize.  You'll recognize the Coral House Inn it by the coral-color and the vintage red and white VW van parked in front.  There are Confederate graves in the cemetery next door, a legacy of the Confederate immigration to Toledo after the U.S. Civil War. The four guest rooms, US$75 to $95, have tile floors, good beds, air-conditioning and wireless high speed internet. There's a small swimming pool. 151 Front St., Punta Gorda; tel. 501/722-2878; www.coralhouseinn.com.   A British couple, Ian and Kate Morton, built Hickatee Cottages lodge, a little over a mile south of PG.  It opened in late 2005.  The three Caribbean-style cottages, with zinc roofs and private porches, are nestled in lush foliage.  Rates are an affordable US$60 double.  Meals are available (dinner is US$15, and full AP is US$25 per person), with fruits and vegetables from the owners' organic nursery next door.  A hickatee, by the way, is a river turtle, Dermatemys mawii.  Ex-Servicemen Rd., Punta Gorda; tel. 501/662-4475; www.hickatee.com.  Another addition to the hotel scene in PG is Beya Suites.  You can’t miss it -- it’s painted a bright pink.  It’s Belizean-owned and very nice, with six rooms with air-conditioning and TVs.   Rates are around US$75 to $90 double.  Front St., #6 Hopeville, Punta Gorda; tel. 501/722-2188; www.beyasuites.com. El Pescador PG has changed hands and its name.  The fishing lodge near Punta Gorda, is now being operated by a U.S. company, Outpost International.  The name has been changed to Machaca Hill Lodge.  Manager Jim Scott has moved on to the Radisson in Belize City. The original El Pescador on Ambergris Caye remains with Ali Gentry Flota and her family. Outpost International says it plans to add more activities beyond permit fishing, including sea kayaking, biking and diving, and also will make the lodge more attractive to families and couples.  The company says it also has acquired Nicholas Caye in the Sapodilla Marine Reserve and plans to develop it as a "safari-style" lodge.  Emery Restaurant and Grace’s are still good places to eat. I stopped by Sun Creek Lodge, which I had not seen before.  I missed Bruno Kuppinger but met his beautiful Belizean wife, Melissa.   Bruno, from Germany, runs tours, including a new high-adventure tour to the remote Columbia River Forest Reserve, called Maya Divide.   Melissa focuses on the lodge and does the cooking, and I’m told she’s an excellent chef.  The thatch cabanas at this budget-level lodge are simple but look comfortable, with outdoor showers surrounded by plants.  The grounds are nicely landscaped. Car rentals available.  14 miles from Punta Gorda, off Mile 86, Southern Hwy.; tel. 501/604-2124; www.belizenet.de. Farther north, The Lodge at Big Falls has added a swimming pool.  This is a wonderful little lodge, with six thatch cabanas, a great spot for birding and wildlife spotting.  Owners Marta and Rob Hirons are working hard to make this lodge successful.  In-season rates are US$155 double, plus US$44 per person for three meals.  Off Mile 79, Southern Hwy.; tel. 888/865-3369 in U.S. and Canada; www.thelodgeatbigfalls.com. Belize City Belize City still has a bad rep among tourists, and even among some Belizeans.  True, crime continues to be a problem in some areas of the city, but, surprisingly, visitors actually have a lower risk of crime in Belize City than in some popular tourist areas of Belize.  With hundreds of thousands of cruise ship daytrippers, plus many overnight visitors on their way to somewhere else, the tourist and regular police have done a good job making the Fort George and surrounding sections a safer place.  The city is also looking better these days, with new paint, cleaner streets, and lots of directional signs.  There are plenty of great dining options, from the upscale places like the Smokey Mermaid at The Great House and the romantic Harbour Inn to budget eateries like Big Daddy’s Diner and Nerie’s to touristy but good spots like the Wet Lizard. 

Katie Valk of Belize Trips took me to the Riverside Tavern, on Mapp Street just off Freetown Road, the restaurant and bar owned by Barry Bowen.  This new spot, opened in mid-2006, is a big success.  One reason is that it has plenty of safe parking – the lot is fenced and guarded.  Another is that it has the best hamburgers in town. Since the restaurant expanded its kitchen, it will be upscaling its menu a bit, with more steaks and prime rib from Bowen’s farm. There are also plans to add more outdoor seating on the river.  Where’s the beef?  At the Riverside.

It’s not Disney World, but Belize City is worth exploring, and it’s the kind of place where Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, or Joseph Conrad might have felt at home. There’s a lot going on in Belize City, and also along the Western and Northern highways near the city, notably Old Belize, Gran’s Farm, and Orchid Garden west of the city, but let me tell you about two nice and fairly new lodging options in the northern “suburbs.” D’Nest Inn is a B&B run by Gaby and Oty Ake. Gaby is a retired Belize banker, and Oty is originally from Chetumal. The two-story, Caribbean-style house is on a canal 50 feet from the Belize River. It’s in an area called Belama Phase 2, a safe, middle-class section between the international airport and downtown. Oty’s gardens around the house are filled with hibiscus, roses, and other blossoming plants. The three guest rooms are furnished with antiques such as a hand-carved, four-poster bed, but they also have modcons like wireless internet, air-conditioning, and cable TV. With a private entrance and your own key, you come and go as you like.  Rates are US$60 to $70 double and include a delicious full breakfast. 475 Cedar St. (from the Northern Hwy., turn west on Chetumal St., turn right at the police station, go 1 block and turn left, then turn right on Cedar St. ); tel. 501/223-5416; www.dnestinn.com.

If you have an early morning flight out or you’re overnighting en route somewhere else, the Global Village Hotel (actually it’s more of a motel than a hotel) is a good new choice near the international airport.  The 40 rooms are sparkling clean and modern and are only US$50 double.  This Chinese-owned place is located just south of the turnoff to the international airport, and the hotel has a free shuttle to and from the airport.  You can also arrange to leave your car in the hotel’s fenced parking lot with 24-hour security.  Mile 8 1/2, Northern Hwy.; tel. 501/225-2555; www.globalhotel-bz.com. Not too far away, on the way to Bermudian Landing via the Boom Road, Belize ‘R Us is an attractive, Belizean-owned restaurant and hotel on the Belize River.

LAN SLUDER is the author of several books on Belize, including Living Abroad in Belize,  Fodor’s Belize 2007, Adapter Kit Belize, San Pedro Cool, and Belize First Guide to Mainland Belize.  He also has written other guidebooks for Frommer’s and Fodor’s and has contributed to many magazines and newspapers around the world, including The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Caribbean Travel & Life, Where to Retire, St. Petersburg Times, Globe and Mail, and Bangkok Post.  He founded Belize First Magazine and runs the www.belizefirst.com web site.

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Rambling the Coast
and Cayes of Belize: 2004

By LAN SLUDER

On this visit to Belize, in July and August 2004, I spent most of my time rambling the coast and cayes. I was in Hopkins, Placencia, Belize City and Corozal on the mainland, and in San Pedro, Caye Chapel and a couple of small islands off Stann Creek. I also revisited San Ignacio and Belmopan, Spanish Lookout and Orange Walk Town.

My family and I stayed at 11 different hotels. Over the last 15 years, I’ve probably stayed in about 100 different hotels, resorts, lodges, and guesthouses in Belize, maybe more, and I’ve visited and toured another 150 or 200.

THE BEST AND BADDEST BELIZE HOTELS
One of these days, I’ll get around to updating my Belize Book of Lists, which listed the top 10 everything in Belize. In the meantime, here’s my take on the best and baddest of Belize hotels, in several categories.

MOST LUXE My vote has to go to the villas at Caye Chapel Island Resort. These 3,800 sq. ft. villas have marble floors, incredible wide screen views of the Caribbean just steps away, furnishings out of Architectural Digest, ice-cold A/C and of course all the golf you can stand at Belize’s only 18-hole golf course. The Caye Chapel villas soon will have some serious competition from the new villas Nadia and Philippe of Mata Chica are building just north of their present resort. La Perla del Caribe will probably open around March 2005. Among other top luxury digs: the private villas at Cayo Espanto, where I stayed last summer, the two-bedroom villas at Francis Ford Coppola’s Blancaneaux Lodge and Turtle Inn, the deluxe condos at Robert’s Grove, and the suites at Hamanasi.  The two-bedroom condos at Villas at Banyan Bay and the villas at Victoria House, both south of San Pedro town, are also in the running.

TOP VALUES Belize gets a bum rap for being an expensive place to visit. Fact is, you can sleep and eat well in Belize for not much money. True, Belize doesn’t have the dirt-cheap spots that Nicaragua has, but it has plenty of clean, affordable guesthouses and hotels. Some of my picks for top value: Hotel Aguada in San Ignacio, or rather, in its sister town, Santa Elena. When you can get a clean, modern room with A/C, a pool to swim in and a good restaurant, all for around US$30 double, go for it. No wonder it is often full. Also in and around San Ignacio, The Trek Stop (US$10 a person) has tiny but nice cabins, and Martha’s and Casa Blanca Guesthouse offer excellent rooms in San Ignacio town at highly affordable prices. In Bullet Tree, not far away, there’s the Parrot’s Nest and several other good-value country lodges. Even in pricey San Pedro, you can stay for a song, or US$12.50 a person (and not much more for a couple, off season) at Pedro’s Backpacker Inn. And, for the money you can’t go wrong at Ruby’s or the newly renovated rooms at Coral Beach. My son and daughter recently stayed in the standard rooms in the new section of Banana Beach, and I thought they were great, with attractive furnishings, cold A/C, cable TV and phones, considering the rate was only US$81 double in low season. Another top value in San Pedro is Corona del Mar, with regular rooms in the summer from just US$55 double and seafront rooms at US$95 (plus tax and 10% service).  On Caye Caulker you've got a whole bunch of great values.  Tree Tops is at the top of my list.

JUNGLE LODGES FOR THOSE WHO LIKE THEIR COMFORTS The great thing about jungle lodges in Belize is that, after a hard day in the bush, you can get a cold beer and even a Cuban cigar. My picks for top comfort in the jungle include the Lodge at Chaa Creek, the queen of jungle lodges with its new honeymoon suites and Orchid Villa, and Blancaneaux Lodge in the Mountain Pine Ridge, when you can drink Coppola-Niebaum wine and enjoy handmade pasta. You’ll lack no creature comforts, either, at Hidden Valley Inn in the Pine Ridge, now with refurbished cottages and a dashing new pool. If you must have air-conditioning, Jaguar Paw does the trick, and though it’s not a luxury lodge, some of the units at Banana Bank Lodge now are air-conditioned, too. Barry Bowen’s Chan Chich, though not as luxe as some, is extremely comfortable, with an incredible setting and unmatched opportunities for birding and wildlife spotting.

HOTELS I STILL MISS Hotels come and go. Of those in Belize that have gone, I still miss Four Fort Street Guesthouse in Belize City, with its Colonial-era ambiance and good food. It closed in 2001. I have to bemoan the conversion, earlier this year, of Colton House in Belize City to a private residence. People still ask me about Bill Wildman’s old Adventure Inn in Consejo, closed now for over 10 years. In July, I looked at one of the original Adventure Inn cabañas, with about 66 feet of beachfront on the bay, which was for sale for US$66,000. It sold a few days after I visited it.

HOTELS THAT HAVE NEVER LIVED UP TO THEIR POTENTIAL At the top of my list is the Princess Hotel & Casino. The public areas and the casino are pretty nice, but the rooms are third-rate with leftover furnishings from its previous two hotel incarnations.

NEW HOTELS The burst of new hotel construction of the late 1990s has slowed a bit, but new places are opening here and there. One of the most impressive is La Perla del Caribe on North Ambergris, by the folks who brought you Mata Chica. It should open in Spring 2005. Zeboz on the Placencia peninsula, a modern condo-style property that opened in late 2003, has plans to eventually grow to 144 units. The Inn at Robert’s Grove has just opened its “Bora Bora” style cabanas at Robert’s Caye, a little dab of sand 10 miles off the coast of Placencia. Then there’s Royal Caribbean Resort south of San Pedro, which is a story in itself.

ALL-INCLUSIVES I’m not a big fan of all-inclusives, but I’ve got to say that with rates for meals and tours and such going up, up and up, some of the all-inclusives are looking pretty good. Mopan River Resort remains for me the best value of the bunch. For a rate that works out to about US$350 double per night, you get everything included, from a lovely room and good food to tours (even to Tikal), transport, taxes and tips. Kanantik between Hopkins and Placencia is a gorgeous all-inclusive on the beach.

BEACH RESORTS Belize has too many to begin to list, but among my top 10 are Caye Chapel Island Resort, Turtle Inn, Inn at Robert’s Grove, Hamanasi, Victoria House, Villas at Banyan Bay, Banana Beach, Portofino, Kitty’s Place, Kanantik, Jaguar Reef. Hey, that’s already more than 10, so I’ll stop there.


COROZAL
There are two ways of looking at Corozal Town and environs: Either it’s still a sleepy small town, where very little has changed in the past 15 or 20 years, or else it’s a place about ready to take off, at the edge of the booming Yucatán, with big-time gaming on the way and a bunch of new retirees moving in. You can argue either side, and in Corozal you do get both views, and sometimes from the same fellow.

On the surface at least, not a lot has changed. True, a couple of new hotels have opened (see below), but some of the other hotels in town are either for sale or barely have their doors open. One of the biggest changes, in 2003, was that the new Gabriel Hoare Market replaced the old vegetable market. I sorta liked the old one, myself. On the other hand, some things are definitely moving in Corozal. The Free Zone is still rolling along. It consists of more than 200 acres, with another 200 acres available for development. There are over 250 businesses in the Zone, including five gas stations, employing over a thousand people. One small casino is open, and the new Las Vegas Hotel & Casino (architects Lee & Sakahara, contractor El Dorado Investments, Ltd.) adjoining the Zone is supposed to eventually have 300 hotel rooms. How much all this has benefited local residents is hard to say. It has generated jobs, but as one Corozaleño put it, “Pumping gas in the Free Zone is not a career.”

One reason Corozal may rock ‘n roll, if it does, is its next-door neighbor, Chetumal. The Mexican government and private investors have poured billions into development along the Cancun-Tulum corridor, and now they’re moving farther south. Cruise ships now dock several times a week at Majahual.

Chetumal, a city with a population nearly equal to that of the entire country of Belize, may at long last get an international airport. Already, it has a U.S.-style shopping mall, La Plaza de las Americas, which sports ultra-chilled air and a 10-screen cineplex (most movies are in English with Spanish subtitles.) The mall is anchored by a large Chedraui store and by Liverpool department store.

Supposedly, Wal-Mart will also open in Chetumal. You can get a Big Mac at one of the McDonald’s in Chet and buy your office supplies at Office Depot. If you need to see a doc, you can get first-rate medical care. Dental, too. All at very reasonable prices. Of course, for non-citizens and nonresidents of Belize, the Belize government’s US$18.75 exit fee is a deterrent to crossing the border. Which I guess is the idea.

One expat couple who retired to Corozal, Roger and Deema Kay Thompson, make this point, however: “We used to do a lot more shopping outside of Corozal—Belize City and Orange Walk along with Chetumal and even vacations to Cancun to pick up some items. But Corozal now boasts three new fully stocked, locally owned grocery stores. Also, back in Corozal after an absence of one year is A&R Variety Store. With these stores close at hand there is no need to go out of Corozal for more than a couple of items.” They note that as residents they don’t have to pay the exit fee.

On another front, the area is also generating more interest from would-be retirees. The authors (under pseudonyms) of Belize Retirement Guide still live in Corozal. In my own guides to living and retiring in Belize — Adapter Kit: Belize and my new eBook, Easy Belize — I’ve always touted the Corozal area as the best place in Belize for affordable, safe and comfortable living. Despite what you may have heard, there’s plenty of real estate still available, at relatively inexpensive prices, compared both to the rest of Belize and certainly to the U.S. and Costa Rica, though Nicaragua and parts of Honduras and Panama are far cheaper. The road to Consejo is still lined with undeveloped land. Granted, though, a few places have actually been selling lots. Smuggler’s Den reportedly has only one seafront lot left (contact Ray Wagner at wagnerslanding@belizeweb.com or call + 501-614-8146). Art Higgins’ Mayan Seaside next door has sold quite a few lots. Lots (not on the water) there have been offered for as little at US$9,000 to $10,000, with financing. There are a couple of little houses already built. Higgins was in Houston when I there, so I didn’t get a chance to talk with him. You can probably reach him at arhigs@attglobal.net.

I did get to see Bill Wildman, Belize’s best surveyor, real estate guy extraordinaire and overall fine fellow who developed Consejo Shores many years ago. Bill, by the way, is recuperating from some serious surgery, which was done in Belize City at the Universal Medical Services hospital. He raves about the people and medical care there. Jenny Wildman is in Placencia handling real estate sales on the peninsula. They have a new address in Placencia: Bayshore Limited, 100 Embarcadero Rd., Maya Beach, Stann Creek District, tel. 501-523-8019; www.bayshorebelize.com, e-mail jwildman@lincsat.com. There are three or four houses under construction there now at Consejo Shores, to go with the several hands full of homes that are already there. There’s even a new little 9-hole golf course under construction at Consejo Shores. The only beachfront lots remaining are a couple of re-sales up near Consejo village, but there are some lovely big lots with water views in the US$20,000 range. I think of all the places I’ve seen in Belize over the years, I still like Consejo Shores the best. I don’t know why I’ve never bought a lot there. Maybe I will, one of these days.

Next to Consejo Shores, at the site of the old Don Quixote Hotel, a new fertility and genetics clinic, Reproductive Genetics Institute, is being built. It’s one of some 20 clinics in the U.S. (Chicago, Boston, Denver and elsewhere) and around the world (Russia, Cyprus, Belarus and elsewhere). RGI performs in vitro fertilization and embryo transfers, preimplantation and preconception genetics diagnosis for families at high risk for producing children with genetic disorders and other testing for genetic disorders. A principal of RGI is Uri Velinsky, based in Chicago.

Charming Charlotte Zahniser at Charlotte’s Web cybercafé and used book exchange on Fifth Ave. (which is for sale, by the way, if you’ve ever wanted to own an Internet café in Belize) runs a little side business locating rental houses for expats. She says the cheapies, US$200 to $300 a month, are the most in demand, and that such places are still available, at least off-season. And there are plenty of more upmarket houses in the US$400-$700 range.


COROZAL DINING
The food scene in Coro hasn’t changed much. Café Kelá on First Ave. across the street from the bay is still the best in town, although this summer, due to an addition to the owner’s household, hubby Stefan is holding down the fort and the restaurant is open only by advance reservation. You can eat well there for under US$10. Tony’s is still pretty good (fajitas are the way to go here), and the seaside setting is pleasant. We are saddened to hear of the death in August of longtime owner Tony Castillo. Next door, Corozal Bay Inn’s outdoor restaurant gets a good bit of business for drinks and meals, and there’s a new waterfall backdrop for the restaurant. One of my favorite joints, Cactus Plaza, on 6th St. South is renovating and adding another floor and appears, unfortunately, to be moving more towards being a bar and nightclub than a restaurant. TJ’s restaurant wasn’t open when I stopped by, but I’m told it serves breakfast and lunch six days a week and attracts a good number of foreign retirees for morning coffee. The guesthouse and restaurant are for sale.

My family and I had a huge, filling dinner with multiple appetizers, drinks and main dishes for almost nothing at Patti’s Bistro, next to the undertakers. But don’t worry — the food is good and a real bargain. Out in Consejo, Smugger’s Den still gets some activity on weekend nights.

COROZAL LODGING
Yes, you’ll find a few changes in the lodging end in Corozal Town: Central Guesthouse has closed. Hok’ol K’in Guesthouse, TJ’s and the Hotel Maya are up for sale, most at what I consider somewhat unrealistic prices. TJ’s is asking US$650,000 (on a cash flow basis, probably worth one-third to one-half of that), and Hok’ol K’in has been reduced to US$760,000. With the death of Tony Castillo, I don’t know exactly what will happen with the estate, but Tony’s Inn has been at least informally on the market for several millions. Rosita May of Maya’s also has a campground now. Nestor’s has changed hands again, and the rooms are undergoing a major renovation. I’m told a nice young couple now owns it, and we wish them well, but frankly, I don’t quite get it. You’re not going to be able to ask much more for rooms at that location in the middle of town, away from the water. But the renovations will be an improvement. I also don’t get the upscale B&B at the South End, Villa Americas, with rates of US$315 a night in-season — who in the world would pay prices like that in Corozal?!

Also in the same South End area as Tony’s, (sometimes called Gringo Trail), there are several welcome additions to the lodging inventory in Corozal:

Corozal Bay Inn, Almond Dr., P.O. Box 1, Corozal Town; tel. 501-422-2691, fax 800-836-9188 in the U.S. and Canada; e-mail relax@corozalbayinn.com; www.corozalbayinn.com. Rates: US$80 double (with possible discounts off-season) plus 7% tax. V and MC accepted. Corozal Bay Inn has been around for several years, but owners Doug and Marie Podzun sold their original funky units (now renovated, called Hotel Paradise, and offered up by the new owner, locally known as “Herman the German,” as mostly weekly or longer-term accommodations, at affordable rates) and have created a charming new cabaña colony by the bay. Doug and Maria — she’s originally from Mexico, and he’s a Canadian by birth of German heritage who moved to Belize with his family when he was a youngster — have built 10 attractive cabañas on the water. The cabañas, painted in colorful tropical pastels, are surprisingly spacious and have bay thatch roofs. While most of them are situated to catch the breeze from the bay, they do have air-conditioning (though on a hot day the A/C units may struggle to cool all that open space under the thatch), tile baths, two comfortable beds in each cabaña, and 27” TVs with cable. Two units at the back connect, making them ideal for families. Doug had several hundred dump truck loads of sand brought in and created a tropical beach on the bay. There is a seawall, but you’ll love the water view and the concrete pier. You can sit by the pool, sip something cold in the redone outdoor restaurant and bar and, if you have a wireless laptop, check your e-mail, as Corozal Bay Inn boasts one of the only hot spots in Belize. All in all, the Podzuns have turned their place into one of the nicest spots to stay in northern Belize.

Copa Banana Guesthouse by the Bay, 409 Corozal Bay Rd., P.O. Box 226, Corozal Town, tel. 501-422-0284, fax 422-2710; e-mail relax@copabanana.bz; www.copabanana.bz. Rates: US$55 double/US$350 week, plus 7% tax. V and MC accepted. If you’re in town shopping for property around Corozal, or staying awhile en route farther south, you couldn’t do much better than this guesthouse, new in early 2004. The rates are affordable, you can cook meals in the common kitchen, complete with dishware, stove, coffee maker, microwave and fridge, and the owners even run a real estate business, Belize North Real Estate Ltd. Connie and her partner, Gregg, have done up two banana-yellow one-story, ranch-style concrete houses, with a total of five guest rooms (some with queen beds, some with two twins) across the street from their expansive home on the water. The house where my family and I stayed had three bedrooms, each with en suite bath and cable TV, plus a modern kitchen, dining area and living room, so guests have private bedrooms but share the common space. As it happened, there were no other guests when we stayed there, so in effect we had our own private house. It would be a little different if there were other guests. It would be a little like spending the night at your cousin Joe’s house, sharing a hallway and living area with other folks who happen to be in town. They also have a car or two for rent for US$70 a day, and scooters for US$8 an hour. There’s no pool, and you’re not directly on the water, but there is a view of the bay, and the owners are bringing in sand from the bay for a beach area. Water toys such as boogie boards, rafts and inner tubes are available for guests.


HOPKINS
It always makes me feel good to be back in Hopkins. Folks are so friendly, and there’s always something quirky or funny or engaging in the village to make you smile. The two big (well, big by Belize standards) resorts here, Jaguar Reef and Hamanasi, are both looking great. Hamanasi’s grounds are now nicely filled out with tropical plantings, and I like the way the new entrance is set up.

I’ve stayed at Jaguar Reef several times, but this trip we spent the night at Cocoplum Caye, (tel. 501-520-7040 or in the U.S. and Canada 800-289-5756, fax 501-520-7091;
www.cocoplumcay.com) a 16-acre island which Bruce Foerster, head honcho at Jaguar Reef, leases from a prominent Belizean businessman. Cocoplum is about 35 or 40 minutes by boat from Jaguar Reef. Rates are US$346 per night, double, off-season and US$397 in-season on an all-inclusive basis (all meals, tours, boat transfers, taxes, tips and beer, liquor and soft drinks included). Dive packages are only a little more. There’s a three-day minimum. We enjoyed our brief stay. Meals are served in a thatch cabana at water’s edge — a delicious lobster was the entree the night we were there. Snorkeling around the island is better than from the mainland shore, but for the best snorkeling and diving you still need to take a boat to the reef. We didn’t see it, but I’m told there’s a sea cow (a manatee) that visits the island most afternoons. The pastel-colored wood cottages, built before Jaguar Reef took over management of the island, are comfortable, and they have air-conditioning. When the wind dies down, sand flies can be a nuisance. The A/C went off in the cottage where the kids were staying and, not thinking clearly, I suggested they open the windows. Bad idea. They woke up covered in bites, as the pesky critters are small enough to get in through screens, even though the cottages are up on pilings. My wife and I slept like babies though, with the A/C blowing out some of the coldest air in southern Belize.

Next door to Jaguar Reef is Belizean Dreams Villas. These are three-bedroom, three-bath condos, which sold out at US$300,000 to $440,000, according to Ron Forrester at Belize Development Company, which is selling lots in Sittee Point and elsewhere. You can rent units in these condos for US$150 to $340 a night; for information, call 800-456-7150. It’s hard for me to imagine what Hopkins residents think about all this. The village didn’t even get telephone service until the mid-1990s.

Speaking of lots, Ron Forrester must be a good salesman. Most of the beachfront lots marketed by Belize Development Company have been sold. The few remaining beach lots in section 4 start at around US$85,000 for 75 feet of beachfront, with a few in section 2 for around US$55,000. That works out to a little over US$1,100 a front foot. Sittee river front lots start at around US$25,000. Lots with beach and canal frontage are around US$100,000. Some houses have been built, but it’s not yet what you’d call a heavily built-up area.

PLACENCIA
Placencia, like the rest of Belize, has grown up. Back when Ted Williams (no, not that Ted Williams) had the first real hotel on the peninsula, or when Rum Point Inn first opened, Placencia truly was a “little bit of the South Pacific in Central America,” as one pioneering travel writer put it. Now you have sophisticated resorts like the Inn at Robert’s Grove and Turtle Inn and another 65 hotels and guesthouses dotting the peninsula. You can get good fresh-made pasta (at Trattoria Placencia) and delicious Italian gelati (at Tutti Frutti). The internet is seemingly everywhere. Scotia Bank has built a fancy new office in Placencia village. Both TMM and The Moorings now do sailboat charters out of Placencia. Homes on the peninsula formerly all were little wood cottages and shacks. Now we’re seeing big new reinforced concrete houses. The actual number of new vacation and second homes built is still fairly small, especially compared with Ambergris Caye, but every month sees new homes going up, from little Mennonite prefabs to 5,000 sq. ft. beauties.

I understand that there’s a new coffee house opening soon in Placencia. The fact that Belize now has specialty coffee houses (in San Pedro, Belize City, and elsewhere, too) got me thinking about how Belize has changed. When I first started visiting Belize about all you could get was instant coffee. Even the best restaurants in Belize City served instant coffee.

Even though Belize formerly was a British colony, there’s really no excuse for serving bad coffee in Belize, given that Guatemala next door has some of the best high-grown coffees in the world. As the best strictly hard bean Arabica coffees are grown at high altitude, generally over 3,500 ft. and as high as 8,000 or 9,000 ft. in North Africa where coffee first developed, you can’t grow truly great coffee in Belize. Barry Bowen’s Gallon Jug brand is the only commercial coffee operation in Belize, and it’s not bad at all. Some of the lodges in the Mountain Pine Ridge, including Hidden Valley Inn and Blancaneaux, grow coffee for guests at the lodges.

Hotels are getting bigger. One of the owners of Zeboz, the new condotel north of Maya Beach, says he plans eventually to have 144 units. According to some reports, another large resort at the north end of the peninsula is in the works for a tract of The Plantation land. I did stay the night at Zeboz. One of the most impressive things about Zeboz is the size of the swimming pool. It’s like a lake. Without question, this is the biggest pool in Belize. I only ate breakfast at the restaurant, so I can’t report firsthand on the food, but the dining room is large and pleasantly proportioned. It is lined all around with big windows, so you enjoy a wonderful view of the Caribbean. The beach is a very good one. If you like a condo-style place with ice-cold A/C, jacuzzis, kitchenettes and that jumbo pool, you’ll probably like Zeboz, though you may not like all the development that's going on up here, with land being cleared for all kinds of new places.   Zeboz Caribbean Resort, Placencia, Stann Creek District; tel. 501-520-4110, fax 520-4112; e-mail info@zeboz.com, www.zeboz.com. Rates: US$175-$225 year-round, with some packages available. Meal plan is US$65 per day per person.

I have stayed at the Inn at Robert’s Grove three or four times since it opened in 1997, and like a good cabernet it just seems to improve over the years. This time, in the so-called off-season in July, the hotel was almost completely booked, and I think it was 100% full one night. Robert and Risa Frackman truly have their fingers on the pulse of their market. They understand what upscale travelers want, and they deliver the entire package: beach, sports (water toys are free, and there’s a fitness room and tennis courts, plus fly fishing center and dive shop), spa, tours (they’ve added horseback riding through Little Hill Bill Ranch in San Roman village) and good food. They’ve had the same chef for years, Frank daSilva. Indeed, each time I return I see many of the same hotel staff, always a good sign. A highlight of the week is the Saturday evening poolside barbecue, with all you-can-eat lobster, fish, chicken and shrimp. My son, in his last year at Harvard (and thank the tuition gods for that) would travel to Belize just for this one meal. For 2005, Robert’s Grove is adding room service.

This trip, my family and I had one of the deluxe two-bedroom condo units, and it was a delight. The Frackmans have purchased the property just south of the resort, adding another 200 ft. of beachfront. Under construction on this land are two new “haciendas,” each of which will have two ground-floor two-bedroom condos and on the second floor a three-bedroom unit, which as I understand it will be a flex unit which can be rented in various configurations. Bob and Risa also are building a third swimming pool for these new units. Several hotels in Belize have two pools, including the Radisson Fort George, Turtle Inn and Banana Beach, but this will be the first with three. Robert’s Grove is shooting for completion of the new haciendas and pool late this year. Robert’s Grove has also upgraded its regular rooms, with a new paint scheme and other improvements. They look 100% better, and I can now say that even if you don’t choose a suite you’ll be happy with Robert’s Grove.

After a stay in Placencia, we headed out to the resort’s new private island option, Robert’s Caye, about 10 miles off Placencia. We were one of the first to try it out, and I’m happy to say we enjoyed it. Perched around on the island “Bora Bora style” are four newly built thatch cabañas. They’re situated partly over the water, so you can actually enter the sea from your cabañas for swimming or snorkeling. If you swim out a little ways there’s a good bit of patch coral, and you can expect to see a variety of fish, lobsters, starfish and other sea life. Yes, the island is small, hardly more than a spit of sand, and the cabins aren’t air-conditioned, but there’s hot and cold running water and most of the units enjoy a stiff sea breeze to cool them down. Packages include all meals, boat transfers, use of kayaks and snorkel equipment, and drinks and beer, so all you have to worry about is not getting sunburned. The Frackmans own Robert’s Caye, and they still lease another island, Ranguana, which has three cabins (with newly installed bathrooms). Ranguana is larger and has a fabulous setting on the reef, about 18 miles out from Placencia.

Inn at Robert’s Grove, Placencia, Stann Creek District; tel. 501-523-3565
or 800-565-9757, fax 501-523-3567; e-mail info@robertsgrove.com, www.robertsgrove.com. Rates at the main resort: US$179-$500 double in-season, US$130 to $300 off-season. Meal plan is another US$55 per person per day. At Robert’s Caye, all-inclusive rates (all meals, drinks, transportation) are US$347 per person for one night, with discounts for longer stays; at Ranguana the rate is US$323 per person all-inclusive.

Even with all the changes on the peninsula, most of which I applaud, I still like some of the old style places. Wendy’s restaurant, for example, in the village. While it hasn’t been in Placencia too long, Wendy’s reminds me of the old Belize dining rooms. Atmosphere it has none, and on a hot night it can be stuffy despite the air-conditioning. But the service is friendly as pie. I do believe I had the best meal of the entire trip there. It was just a simple grilled fish, but oh so tasty, and even with some beer well under US$10.

Up north in Maya Beach, there is new management at Mango's and a bunch of changes going on.

PLACENCIA ODDS AND ENDS
To pave or not to pave — that is the question. Until recently, it was a “firm thing” that the road from the Southern Highway to Placencia would be paved in Spring 2005. Now, with the budget crisis, apparently it’s not so firm after all. The paving has been postponed. Currently, only short sections of the road at Seine Bight and Placencia villages are surfaced. • The new “owners” of Luba Hati took off unexpectedly. Franco is back. The hotel is temporarily closed. • Septic tanks are out; sewers are in. Word is that no more septic tanks will be allowed for new commercial or multi-lot building projects on the peninsula. • The troubled Serenity resort has been closed by order of the government. • Ellen Lee and her husband bought the Maya Beach Hotel in April and are upgrading it. In October the hotel has plans to open the Maya Beach Hotel Bistro, serving meals to guests and the public. Double rooms goes for US$65-$85 in low season and US$ 85 to $105 in high. • Lost Reef at Riversdale is open under new management. Rooms and grounds have been upgraded, a swimming pool has been added, and there’s a pleasant bar and restaurant. Each of the five cabins goes for US$89 double. • Nautical Inn has a new operator. • Rum Point Inn is for sale for US$3.5 million. Among other hotels and resorts reportedly for sale on the peninsula are Kitty’s Place, Manatee Inn, Maya Breeze Inn and Green Parrot. • Kitty’s, by the way, looks incredibly good these days. What a beautiful pool Kitty has added, and the beach remains in my opinion one of the two or three best on the entire peninsula. Next door, Mariposa is also looking great. It’s a charming little place.• For up-to-date info on Placencia, your best bet by far is Mary Toy's Web site -- www.destinationsbelize.com. What a great site!


CAYO
I didn’t get to spend as much time in Cayo as I wanted to. Cayo District, and specifically the area around San Ignacio Town, is nearly everybody’s favorite part of mainland Belize. As well it should be.

It’s the land of M&Ms, with a delightful mix of Mestizos, Mayas and Mennonites and the beautiful Macal and Mopan rivers. The Mountain Pine Ridge is cool and green. The Maya sites of Caracol, Cahal Pech, Xunantunich and El Pilar are wonderful, and you’re only a hop, skip and a bus ride to Tikal. The caving isn’t an M, except for Actun Tunichil Muknal, but it’s amazing, too.

We spent one night at Banana Bank Lodge. John and Carolyn Carr are engaging hosts, as always, and the air conditioning in the new chateau units is welcome after a hot day of traveling. The Carrs told me adding A/C has expanded their base of guests, so that visitors who wouldn’t normally stay in a jungle lodge stop off for a few nights of cool relaxation on the banks of the Belize River. By the way, the new bridge over the river is complete and should be open soon. So now you can easily drive to Banana Bank without either waiting for the hand-pulled ferry or crossing the river by boat.


I spent part of an enjoyable morning in Carolyn’s atelier. Her paintings (available on-line and in galleries and shops in Belize as lithographs, giclees or enhanced giclees) offer a remarkable window into Belize, especially the old Belize of open markets, turtle shell bands and Zebra brand “fish.” Much of this Belize is quickly disappearing. Carolyn now is working on a large painting of the horse races at Burrell Boom. I’m reminded that at one time (but no longer) horse races were held regularly at Banana Bank.

The atmosphere at Banana Bank is homey rather than tony. You dine on simple but filling home cooking, family-style. Dinner might be lasagna and a simple salad. Many guests come here for the riding — more than 50 horses, mostly quarter horses, are available for riding trips on the ranch’s 4,000 acres.

At Banana Bank, you will also see Tika, a jaguar from Guatemala the Carrs have kept since 1982, along with various exotic birds, a spider monkey and, while we were there, a brockett deer fawn.

Banana Bank guests now have access to a swimming pool, at the Belize Jungle Dome guesthouse (info at www.greendragonbelize.com) built by a young European couple who bought a piece of land from the Carrs. They also offer rooms.

Banana Bank Lodge & Jungle Equestrian Adventure: Box 48, Belmopan, tel. 501-820-2020, fax 820-2026; www.bananabank.com, e-mail bbl@starband.net. Rates US$100 to $135 double, breakfast included. Lunch is US$10 and dinner, US$15.

We also overnighted at one of my favorite lodges in Belize — Ek’Tun Lodge, on the Macal River 12 miles upstream from San Ignacio. Owner Phyllis Lane is the feisty, opinionated lady who has created a most interesting place to stay, though it isn’t for everyone. To get to the lodge, you have to cross the Macal by boat. There are only two cabañas, rustic but nicely done with traditional thatch roofs. Lighting (except in the main lodge) is by kerosene lamps. Guests need be able to walk actively, as you’ll be trekking up and down hills and rough trails. Since I was last at Ek’Tun, an orphaned howler monkey has come aboard. The monkey — it has no name as Phyllis thinks naming it would be inappropriate — has the run of the lodge now. At times it seems that it runs the lodge. The lodge has a beautiful setting, and a refreshing dip in the swimming pool, carved out of a native limestone, is one of the great treats in western Belize.

Ek’Tun Lodge: Tel. 501-820-3002; www.ektunbelize.com, e-mail info@ektunbelize.com. (E-mailing is the preferred way to reach Phyllis.) Rates: US$226 double, including breakfast and dinner.

A special treat for me in Cayo was getting to meet Ray Auxillou in person. Previously, I had only known him via the Internet. Ray is one of the great characters of Belize. The author of several novels and books on Belize, with a colorful history as a tourism pioneer on Caye Caulker and a host of enthusiasms from finance to ultralight flying, Ray has a strong opinion on everything and everybody. How an irascible old codger like Ray ended up a beautiful family and a lovely wife is hard to understand. He now has a place in Hillview, near Santa Elena, which he plans to run as hostel beginning in early 2005. The hostel is called Falconview, with rates tentatively set at just US$7 a person.

On a more touristy note, I revisited the gift shop at Caesar’s Place, at Mile 60 on the Western Highway before you get to San Ignacio. I have to say that this is by far the best gift shop in Belize. Julian Sherrard has the widest selection — really a huge inventory — and the lowest prices of anywhere in Belize. If you want handicrafts, from zericote woodcarvings to handmade hardwood boxes to Belizean junque and Guatemalan stuff, this is the place to load up. One of the better ideas I’ve seen recently in souvenirs from Belize are the cutting boards made from a selection of tropical hardwoods. They’re unusual, practical and beautiful. They come in several sizes. I think I paid around US$25 for ones I brought back.

I also spent a little time in the Spanish Lookout area. Most of my family hadn’t been there before and were interested to see all the “American-style” cornfields, chicken farms, feed stores and other businesses. I did some comparison shopping for Mennonite prefab houses at Linda Vista, Plett’s, Midwest and other lumberyards and builders. In general I thought the quality of construction was decent, given the relatively low price (US$10 to $25 a square foot, depending on the size and degree of finish, which if you like can include wiring, plumbing, sinks and other fixtures.) Framing and floors are of Santa Maria and other hardwoods. You can buy “off the shelf” or have the house built to your custom specs, usually with your choice of roofing materials (zinc, asphalt shingles or metal) and wood or glass louvered windows. They’ll deliver to your lot and set it up on posts. The work is done quickly, and you can usually have a house built and set up on your lot in six weeks or so. The Mennonite builders in Little Belize also do prefab houses. Of course, concrete is the preferred building material if you have the time and money.

ODDS AND ENDS IN CAYO: • With the completion of the new, improved road, Caracol (admission is now US$7.50, and admission rates to most of the other Maya sites have been increased to US$5) soon will be a lot easier to reach, even on day trips from Belize City. • Blancaneaux Lodge has a new pool and spa, and the Coppola stable of hotels (Blancaneaux, La Lancha near Tikal and Turtle Inn in Placencia) have a new Web site. Very hip stuff. • Look for a major expansion of tours to Aktun Tunichil Muknal cave. About 50 guides recently completed training to offer tours of the fabulous cave. • Black Rock Lodge has staged a real comeback. After an unfortunate incident a few years ago, I didn’t know what would become of the lodge. But with new on-site management, and its stunning location above the Macal River, Black Rock is getting excellent reviews from guests who like its easy-going style and its prices.


BELIZE CITY
Much of what is happening in and around Belize City now is somehow connected with the cruise industry. Belize will get about 900,000 cruise day trippers this year. Over 450,000 arrived in the first six months of the year, a 72% increase from the same period in 2003. Belize has limited cruise ships to no more than 8,000 visitors a day, but that’s a huge number given that on the average day fewer than 1,000 overnight visitors arrive by air. When (and if) the new US$50 million Carnival cruise ship dock and pier opens in early 2006, we’ll see an even bigger impact on Belize. Carnival reportedly is now backing and filling on its plan to build the cruise dock, probably to try to wring more concessions out of Belize government and to get a freer hand to bring in more passengers for less money.

Numbers like these can mean big bucks, but only for a handful of operators. Hotels, restaurants and the average small tourist operators get very little from the cruise ship business. In fact, as we’ve already seen, popular cruise excursion destinations like Goff’s Caye soon get trashed by hordes of palefaces from the ships.

Several new places are opening around Belize City to capitalize on the cruise tours. Among them: Gran’s Farm, at about Mile 14 of the Western Highway, tel. 501-227-0406, offers swimming in a swimming pool, a restaurant and bar, picnic area, hiking on trails, and canoeing in Hector’s Creek. The “package price” is US$25 for the day. I was there on a weekday and saw nobody taking advantage of this package. Orchid Gardens, at Mile 14 1/2 of the Western Highway, tel. 501-225-6991, has a restaurant, a gallery showing some of Carolyn Carr’s work, gift shop, and a small museum where part of Emory King’s wonderful antique bottle collection is on display. Most significantly, the Old Belize Cultural and Historical Centre at Cucumber Beach, at Mile 5 of the Western Highway, opened in August. it is housed in an 18,000 sq. ft. building on a 14-acre site where 40 years ago farmers used to load their cucumbers to ship to the U.S. The Woods family, of Cisco Construction fame, has reconstructed part of Belize City’s North Front Street, a Maya village, and Garifuna kitchen and other displays about different periods in Belize history. Admission is a fairly steep US$15. Don’t confuse this with the Museum of Belize in the Central Bank Building downtown. Also at Cucumber Beach is a much-needed new marina. In this area of the Western Highway is another new attraction, airboat rides similar to the airboats in the Florida Everglades.

A few other notes: Our favorite guesthouse, Colton House, is no longer a hotel. It’s a private residence. Alan and Ondina Colton are retired to Consejo Shores. Our favorite B&B, Villa Boscardi, is on the market. I met the real estate agent and a prospect.


DIESEL DRIVING
Again this trip I rented a diesel. For most of the mainland portion I had a Land Rover Defender — the classic Land Rover that to my knowledge is not sold in the U.S. I rented this one from Budget. JMA Motors, which is operated by the same folks as Budget is the Land Rover dealer in Belize. I had previously rented a Suzuki Vitara diesel from Budget. As always, Budget provided helpful and highly professional service.

I think diesels are the way to go in Belize. Too bad more of them aren’t offered for rent. Diesel fuel is available at almost all stations and costs about one-third less than gas, and diesels typical get better mileage than gas vehicles. With gas at over US$4 a gallon, the mileage you get definitely is a factor. I’m not that much of a Land Rover fan, except for the old Series II Land Rovers from the 1960s, but I have to admit the Defender was a strong horse. As they say, nothing stops a Defender. And it got me a lot of extra respect from parking lot attendants.


CAYE CHAPEL
Caye Chapel Island Resort, Caye Chapel (Mailing address: P.O. Box 5059, Ashland, KY 41105 USA); tel. 800-901-8938 or 501-226-8250, fax 501-226-8201; e-mail golf@cayechapel.com, www.belizegolf.cc

Rates: Villas: In-season, US$399 per person, per day, based on four people to the villa, (US$100 more at Christmas), US$329 off-season. Casitas: US$279 per person in-season and US$229 off-season, based on two people per casita. Rates include all meals, unlimited golf and the use of golf carts and clubs but do not include a total of 20% service and tax, drinks (a regular Belikin is US$2, piña colada US$7), snorkeling, fishing or other tours, or transport to the island from Belize City. (The resort arranges transport by air for US$100 per person, or you can go by water taxi — water taxis to Caulker and Ambergris stop at Chapel on request). All major credit cards. Some package plans may be available.

To paraphrase a famous comment from Mae West, “I’ve stayed in dumps, and I’ve stayed in luxury, and believe me luxury is better.” In Belize, the villas at Caye Chapel Island Resort are about as luxe as they come. The villas at Blancaneaux, Turtle Inn and Victoria House are fantastic, the private villas at Cayo Espanto, with their foldaway walls, are incredible, and the deluxe suites at Robert’s Grove and Hamanasi are terrific, but the seaside villas at Caye Chapel are the choicest digs in Belize. Or just about anywhere, for that matter. They’re almost 4,000 sq. ft. of upscale living right out of the pages of fancy shelter magazine. Marble floors, soaring ceilings, bedrooms big enough to play soccer in, supersized bathrooms, walk-in closets, industrial-grade air-conditioning that really gets the job done, expensive furnishings and bedding, and even your own laundry room with washer and dryer. It’s all here, with broad expanses of glass to better enjoy the sea, and a private rooftop patio, just steps from your own stretch of beach and a short putt from the only 18-hole golf course in Belize.

All of this comes at a price, of course: In-season, the villas are priced US$399 per person per day, based on four people. So a week’s stay for a family of four would come to almost US$13,500, not including drinks, tours, or transportation to Belize or from Belize City to the island. But that does include all meals, unlimited golf, and the use of golf carts. Our family had three carts full-time, handy to run back and forth to the clubhouse for meals, or to the swimming pool, and even for a little golf. Our stay on the island coincided with a full moon, and each night we’d go out for a beautiful moonlight ride around the island.

If you like golf, you’ll be in hog heaven here. I’m not a duffer, but my son enjoyed the 7,000-yard course. With the sea on both sides of the 2 1/2-mile long island and all the water traps, he went through a bag of a balls a day. It is strongly recommended that you not jump in the lagoons to retrieve balls, as sizable crocs make their homes there. In fact, when you register, each member of the party has to sign a statement acknowledging he or she has been informed of the risk. Otherwise, though, the island seems as carefree and safe as any place you’ll find in Belize. You don’t even lock the doors to your villa when you go out.

If you aren’t staying on the island, you can come over and play golf, again for a pretty penny. The daily package, including unlimited golf from 9 until 4, lunch, use of the island’s swimming pool and beach, cart and club rental, is US$200 per person, plus transport by air or water taxi.

The marina-view casitas, at 700 sq. ft., are quite nice, and at US$279 per person a bit cheaper, and are based on double occupancy rather than requiring four persons, but they don’t even begin to compare with the villas. It’s no wonder that the villas are far more popular than the casitas.

You take meals in what I’d describe as a country-club setting, in the expansive second-floor dining room of the clubhouse. I thought the meals were excellent, though not quite up to the cuisine of Cayo Espanto, where a chef prepares meals to your order and you dine at your villa. The resort GM, Cynthia Ringgold, and her staff provide guest services that are friendly and competent, but not obsequious, a service style that I think most guests prefer.

The entire island of Caye Chapel, except for one home owned by a lady from Belize City, is the fiefdom of Larry Addington, chairman and CEO of AEI Resources, based in Ashland, KY. AEI is one of the largest coal companies in the U.S. In the 90s, Addington, a big player in Republican Party circles, developed the island into a golf resort. The resort initially focused on the corporate retreat market, but now it also welcomes private guests. It would be an astoundingly great place for a wedding. When I first started coming to Belize, Caye Chapel was home to a modest resort that was favored as weekend getaway for British Army squaddies. Lordy, they ought to see it now.

Nobody asked me, but if I were a consultant to Caye Chapel, my recommendation would be to tear down the casitas, put up a dozen more villas, cut the rates, add more non-golf activities, make most everything a la carte and promote the heck out of the place. You’d have a waiting list to get on the island, because Caye Chapel has the potential to be one of the most remarkable resorts in the world.

If Caye Chapel sounds like your kind of place, and you happen to have an extra US$50 million or so, you can own it. It was put on the market last year for US$55 million. Last time it was for sale, before the golf course and other development, the asking price was US$11 million, if I recall correctly.


SAN PEDRO
Over the years I have been visiting Ambergris Caye, the face of San Pedro has changed dramatically, and the psychological tenor of the island has changed, too. Until the mid-1990s, Ambergris was still a sleepy island, with the flavor of both Mexico and Belize. Even then its fishing village days were past, but the style and pace of the old times remained in evidence.

Most anyone who came in the 90s and has revisited San Pedro recently well knows the physical changes. San Pedro town proper, if we ignore the new bank buildings and other developments along Front Street and don’t look too closely, still resembles its former self. The big changes have come south of town, where Coconut Drive has lost much of its open space and, with the condos and fences abutting the roadway, is beginning to look closed in. And on North Ambergris, where the number of new homes on the beach amazes me. I can’t imagine what North Ambergris will be like when a bridge is finally built across the river channel.

To me, however, what has changed more is atmosphere of the island. The pace of daily life is faster. People walk faster. Drivers of golf carts and the ever-multiplying cars seem more intent on getting to where they’re going. I’ve even seen a few mild instances of road rage.

How many people are on the island? The population was 4,499, according to the 2000 Belize census. But surely the number is much larger, especially if you include construction workers, folks from the mainland living with relatives, and part-time expats. Closer to 7,500, I’d say, and growing every day.

A lot of Sanpedranos are making money. Most hotel owners and tourism operators are doing well. Annual occupancy at some popular resorts is 80%, an unheard-of rate in Belize, where 40% used to be considered great. Business people are flying in and out. They’re e-mailing right and left. San Pedro has always been one of the most prosperous places in Belize. Now the money that’s starting to pour into the island is showing up in tangible ways. In new boats and cars. In US$400,000 and US$500,000 condos and houses.

Real estate prices like these aren’t even remarkable any more. They’re just accepted, as they are in Atlanta or San Diego. Tourists shop for real estate, and there’s an edge to their looking. “Are we coming in too late? Are there still some deals on beachfront?”

And the visitors to San Pedro are changing. Most of the tourists I see remind me of the ones I used to see in Sint Maarten and Anguilla in the 1970s and 80s. They expect to pay a couple of hundred bucks a night, or more, for a hotel room. They expect to dine well, and they don’t mind paying twenty or thirty bucks for dinner. They drink tequila, even though it costs several times what a local rum costs. Most of them are snorkelers, not divers. They’ve been to St. Thomas. They’ve been to Cozumel. They’ve been to Key West. Now they’re trying San Pedro.

You can probably get a sense of the types of folks attracted to San Pedro now by visiting the forums on www.ambergriscaye.com. By and large, it’s a different crowd than those who come to Belize for birding, ecotouring or adventuring, though of course there is some overlap and many who visit San Pedro also spend time on the mainland. The questions on the Ambergris Caye forum are often about panty rippers (the drink made from coconut rum), where to go to dinner and which condotel is the best deal. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s exactly the same kind of chitchat you hear in conversations about Honolulu or Playa del Carmen.

San Pedro has not one but two wine stores — Wine Devine, in a new location at Vilma Linda Plaza on Tarpon Street and the new Premium Wine & Spirits at AquaMarina Suites shops. Plus, Rendezvous restaurant makes and sells wines. A bottle of Beaujolais-Villages from Georges du Boeuf goes for around US$11, just two or three bucks more than in North Carolina. Groceries are well stocked, too. You can buy almost anything you can back home, but on the other hand very few items on the shelves are unique to Belize or anywhere in the region.

I’m not saying all these changes are bad. The booming tourist economy has provided a lot of decent jobs. Not a few Sanpedranos have become wealthy from real estate, contracting or running a business. For visitors, the island offers a lot more of everything — more and better restaurants, a much wider choice of accommodations, and plenty to do, whether partying or touring. Ambergris Caye remains a very special place, and comparison with so much of the world, it is still relatively uncommercialized and undeveloped. The beauty of the reef and the sea will never fail to amaze me.

What I do think, though, is that San Pedro has already reached the threshold of major change. There’s no turning back. Barring an economic slowdown in the U.S., we’re going to see an acceleration of growth on Ambergris Caye. While we’ll continue to see some new resort development, and perhaps a casino or three, the driver will be real estate, with hundreds of new condos, vacation homes and retirement homes going up over the next few years. The key is whether local government and local business leaders can manage that growth and provide for infrastructure, or whether the island will turn into a smaller, sprawling version of parts of Mexico’s Costa Maya.

DINING
Most visitors are probably pleasantly surprised to find so many good restaurants on one little island. Belize doesn’t have a rep as a great eating destination, but I can easily gain 10 pounds per visit to San Pedro. Most of my old favorites are still well worth revisiting. Elvi’s is as busy as ever. Many probably miss Clarence and Annabelle (who returned to Africa, I’m told, and bought 20 acres on the ocean), but the food at Capricorn seems to be as good as ever. Jam-Bel still serves hot and tasty jerk in that incomparably funky rooftop setting. Blue Water Grill still draws big crowds.

Some of the new places are packed, too. We had to wait 20 minutes on a weeknight for a table at Caramba! Restaurant. No wonder Rene Reye’s place is popular — the food is well prepared and well priced, and the service is fast and friendly. A whole grilled snapper with rice and beans and salad is US$7.50, fried chicken is US$5 and a rum and tonic is US$2. Wow!

The list of good places to eat at fair prices goes on and on: Casa Picasso, Caliente, Papi’s, Tastes of Thailand. And there are still plenty of cheap places where you can fill up for very little — Antojito’s Santelmo, Ruby’s (for breakfast), the vendors at Central Park (now there’s a little row of takeout places.) You’d need at least two weeks on the island just to sample them all. Even the hotel restaurants on Ambergris are usually pretty good. Cases in point: the restaurants at Victoria House, Mata Chica, Banana Beach and Caribe Island, among others.

LODGING
This trip I stayed at two hotels on Ambergris Caye, Banana Beach and Mata Chica, and revisited a number of others. I’ve had the pleasure of staying at Tim Jeffers’ Banana Beach a number of times, and I’m glad to report that it is as good as ever. The staff is still pleasant, perky and professional. My wife and I stayed in a seafront one-bedroom suite in the older section, but my kids tried out the regular rooms in the newer addition. I’m impressed by the value you get with these rooms. Double rates off-season are US$81 and US$114 in high season, and that includes breakfast. The rooms are new and bright, with quality furnishings, either a king or two twin beds, cable TV, phone, safe and of course A/C and en suite bath. The breakfast deal works with way: You get a voucher good for the Banana Beach breakfast (usually scrambled eggs, fresh cinnamon rolls, fruit and coffee, plenty for most people) or if you want extras the voucher is good for US$5 toward anything on the menu. It’s served in the new El Divino restaurant. I didn’t get a chance to eat dinner there, but I can attest to the fact that it has killer martinis. Banana Beach, Coconut Drive (Box 94), San Pedro; tel. 501-226-3890, fax 226-3891; www.bananabeach.com, e-mail info@bananabeach.com.

Mata Chica is a place I’ve visited many times but never as an overnight guest. My family stayed in a two-bedroom villa. Like everything at Mata Chica, the villas have style and, although they are back a ways from the water, a nicely tropical view of the grounds and sea. Staying at Mata Chica was very nice, but what has my motor running is the new La Perla del Caribe, the new villa colony Mata Chica’s owners are building a little ways north of their existing resort. These are truly mansions by the sea. They’re expected to open around March 2005. Mata Chica, (North Ambergris Caye), San Pedro; tel. 501-220-5010, fax 220-5012; www.matachica.com, e-mail matachica@btl.net.

At the other extreme is what apparently will be called Royal Caribbean Resort, a little south of Victoria House. This is a collection of little thatch huts, all jammed up together in a totally unappealing way. I call it DFC South. Who knows what plans Bob Witte has for this place? It supposedly will have 50 units. A casino, maybe?

ODDS AND ENDS
The Belize Social Security Board, already swamped in red ink and bad loans, reportedly is looking at 2,000 acres on North Ambergris. • Barges are still coming in at municipal pier. The new marina, which was expected to handle barge traffic, apparently has some problems — it’s not deep or wide enough • San Pedro is trying to clean up its beaches. You’re no longer supposed to take golf carts on the beach, and boat owners are supposed to remove their skiffs. But walking up North Ambergris I came across enough old shoes, cans, bottles and other garbage on the beaches to fill a city dump. • The first elevator on the island is now in operation at Corona del Mar. It takes guests up to the third floor rooms. • San Pedro now has a tourism information center — it’s located on Front Street at the Town Hall.



Lan Sluder is the author or co-author of a number of books on Belize, including Adapter Kit: Belize, Fodor’s Belize & Guatemala, San Pedro Cool and Belize First Guide to Mainland Belize. He also wrote the e-Book Easy Belize and is editor and publisher of Belize First Magazine at www.belizefirst.com.

TIGER WOODS SLEPT HERE:
MORE RAMBLES AROUND BELIZE

By LAN SLUDER

On my latest trip around Belize, I swam in the private pool of Francis Ford Coppola, slept in Tiger Woods' bed (okay, I'll explain that in a minute) and ate lobster til it came out my ears. I drove again to Caracol, which is a wonder, explored remote areas of the Mountain Pine Ridge which look like parts of Scotland, got to see several great new hotels and revisited many others. I renewed acquaintances with lots of folks and met a bunch of people. Belizeans, whether roots Belizean or new to the country, were as always almost invariably friendly and hospitable.

Despite it being the green season, the weather was terrific, with as much sun as we could take. At the beach, we enjoyed cooling breezes from the sea and, inland, the occasional crisp morning at the higher elevations. We saw a good deal of wildlife, from a baby croc beside the Macal River to a baby brockett deer in the Pine Ridge to otters and quash and a friendly snake, probably some kind of a green racer, who was on its way to check in at a hotel near PG. Birds, of course, everywhere: oscellated turkeys, raptors of all varieties, pelagic birds. And, as often the case in the summer, butterflies in profusion on back roads, especially en route to Caracol. Flowers? Never seen so many as this trip. I'm pleased to discover that more Belize hotels, even moderate and budget ones, are gathering local flowers and putting them in guest rooms. It's such a nice touch.

BELIZE TRAVELIN'
Traveling around Belize continues to get easier and more comfortable. Time was, you needed to bring your own personal chiropractor, and it took twice as long as you thought it would to get from anywhere to nowhere.

This trip, we rented a nearly new diesel mini-SUV from Budget ( www.budget-belize.com ). I loved the diesel. The diesel version of the Suzuki Grand Vitari runs like a Rolex. It has plenty of pep and gets better mileage than its gas-fed brothers. A big plus is that diesel fuel in Belize is about one-third less than unleaded gas -- around US$2.60 versus dangerously close to four bucks for premium. I understand Budget, and maybe some of the other renters in Belize City, are adding diesel vehicles to their fleets.

Despite putting a gazillion miles on the Vitari, we didn't have a single flat tire. We also never got lost ... well, except once or twice around PG. That's in part thanks to the new and improved signage. Most of the main roads a visitor is likely to take, and many of the secondary roads such as those in the Mountain Pine Ridge, now have clear directional signs. The road signs around Belize City, on the Western Highway and on the Southern Highway look just like the signs back in the USA.

Speaking of the Southern Highway, for those of you who remember the old highway, with its car-eating mud in the rainy season and huge clouds of dust in the dry, the new Southern Highway is nothing short of a miracle. It's completely paved now, except for a nine-mile stretch just south of Golden Stream to near Big Falls, and that will be finished soon. So you can drive all the way from the Mexico border in Corozal on the Northern Highway to Belize City (if you don't take the Boom short-cut, which now comes out at a spiffy new roundabout on the Western Highway) and then on the Western Highway to the Guatemala border at Benque, and then double back to Belmopan, down the beautiful Hummingbird Highway, and thence down the Southern Highway all the way to Punta Gorda without once leaving the pavement, except for that nine-mile bit between Golden Stream and Big Falls.

The cutoffs to Hopkins and to Sittee are now paved, too. At least, partly so. Only the cutoff to Placencia remains unsurfaced, except for the short sections through Seine Bight and Placencia villages. Even Belize's more notorious unpaved roads, such as the Cristo Rey and Georgeville roads, are in as good a condition now as I've ever seen them. The Chial Road, once a tire-chomper (to Chaa Creek and environs) is almost like a limestone expressway these days. The roads through the Mountain Pine Ridge, and to Caracol, are in remarkable shape. And goodness gracious, even the golf cart path on North Ambergris is a pleasure to drive. I toured the North End by cart all the way to Mata Chica and Portofino, and my only mishap was that I ran out of juice, or current as Belizeans say, coming back. (But not to worry: I called Moncho's on my cell phone and arranged to swap carts at Caye Mart at Essene Way.)

The cell phone came in handy a number of times. I rented it from Budget for US$5 a day (you can also get one from other car renters or from BTL, picked up a BZE$20 phone card from the BTL office at the international airport parking lot, and, presto, I was in business. BTL, the company Belizeans all love to hate, may not be cheap, but I like the new "digital roamingÓ DigiCell GSM cell service. People say the old cell service was better, at least in terms of access, but I found we had service even in pretty remote areas of the Ridge and in the far north Ambergris.

On the airline front, I'm impressed with what's been happening at Maya Island Air. The new owners obviously have put some bucks into the local airline. The new Maya Island terminals at Belize City Municipal and at Placencia are really nice, and the Cessna 14-seaters I flew were newish and appeared to be in top condition.

BELIZEAN ZEITGEIST: THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGING
I've been banging around Belize for more than dozen years. ("Hey," I can hear some folks say, "Isn't it time Lan Sluder moved on and started bugging somebody else?") Over that those short years, so much in Belize has changed, especially in ways that impact visitors. Let me give a few examples:

COFFEE. Time was, when a good cup of coffee in Belize meant instant Nescafe with condensed milk. And OJ was Tang. Now, better restaurants and hotels serve good, rich Guatemalan with real milk or cream, and the orange juice is fresh-squeezed. Gallon Jug puts out a decent bean, though elevations in Belize are too low to grow the wonderful coffees of Costa Rica and Guatemala. And some lodges, including Hidden Valley Inn, grow and roast their own coffee.

AWARENESS. "Where the Hell is Belize?" used to be Belize's semiofficial slogan. Now just about everybody has heard of Belize, and Old Navy sells Belize tee shirts. A lot of it has to do with the Web. These days, Belize is wired, nearly every hotel has e-mail and visionary Web pioneers like Marty Casado and Tony Rath have done more to raise awareness for Belize than all the ad campaigns ever run by the BTB. Still, Belize lags behind some of its neighbors in awareness and visitation. Costa Rica gets three times as many international visitors, and the hotel zone of smarmy Cancun gets nearly as many tourists in an in-season month than all of Belize gets in a year. Come to think of it, that's not such a bad thing. I'm not one of those neo tree huggers who think that the only good destination is a destination with no tourists. A lot of areas of Belize would really benefit from doubling the number of visitors. At the same time, I'm concerned that the wrong kind of tourism is at best a short-term band-aid. Cruise tourism is booming in Belize, but it seems to benefit very few Belizeans, mostly those with good political connections.

COMFORT. Used to be, you'd check into the typical hotel in Belize, and you'd find linoleum on the floor and furnishings that looked like they came from a Good Will store. The bed mattress was foam rubber, and air conditioning and swimming pools were as rare as toucan teeth. If you were at a jungle lodge, the light was from kerosene lamps and the current came from a generator. Then, starting in the early and mid-1990s, there was an explosion of hotel construction. Most of it was at the middle or upper end.

Today, hotels and resorts in Belize take a back seat to nobody in the comfort zone. Beach hotels and condotels like Banyan Bay, Inn at Robert's Grove, Banana Beach, Mata Chica, Hamanasi, Jaguar Reef, Kanatik, Cayo Espanto, Caye Chapel Golf Resort, Luba Hati, Ramon's, Victoria House, Turtle Inn, Portofino and others are the equals or betters of even the tonier resorts of the Caribbean, Mexico and Costa Rica. Lodges and other mainland hotels also offer most of the creature comforts: Lodge at Chaa Creek, Chan Chich, Blancaneaux, Jaguar Paw, Ek'Tun, duPlooy's, Radisson Fort George, The Great House, Hidden Valley Inn, El Pescador PG, Mopan River and others. Nearly all of the hotels on Ambergris Caye now have air-conditioning and about half have swimming pools, and even remote jungle lodges are putting in pools. While many lodges still use generators, more are on the grid and a handful, such as Jaguar Paw, have air conditioning.

My kids, Brooks and Rose, have swim-tested most of the swimming pools in Belize. They tell me their top picks include the pools at Ek'Tun (the gorgeous natural pool), Turtle Inn, Hamanasi and Chan Chich.

The biggest comfort improvement for me has been in bedding. Most of Belize's upscale hotels import high-quality mattresses. The older I get, the more important I consider a thick, firm mattress. Traveler's wisdom used to be "Sleep hard, eat well.Ó Now I'll leave the hard sleeping to the youngsters and backpackers. Some of my favorite beds in Belize: Mopan River Resort, Hamanasi, Inn at Robert's Grove, Cayo Espanto, Lodge at Chaa Creek, Turtle Inn, Radisson Fort George and Blancaneaux.

VARIETY. At one time, Belize was known for its diving and little else. Now, there's so much to do in Belize. No matter what your interests, regardless of whether you're pretty much a couch potato like me or into triathlons and extreme sports, you'll easily find something to occupy your days and nights in Belize: For the outdoors-oriented, there's caving, sea kayaking, canoeing, cave tubing, fishing (deep sea, reef, flats and river), mountain biking, horseback riding and hiking of course. Don't forget birding and wildlife spotting, some of the best in the hemisphere. You'll never forget a boat ride up the New River or a guided night walk around a jungle lodge -- watch out for those Red-rumped Tarantulas! For culture freaks, in Belize you've got thousands of years of Maya history and a surprising number of small but interesting museums and education centres. Don't miss the Museum of Belize in Belize City.

SAFETY. "Is Belize safe?" That's a question that I still get asked many times a week. The issue is driven by the unsavory reputation of Belize City, a reputation that -- while in some ways justified -- is in fact much worse than the reality. My answer is still, "Sure, Belize is safe, and in some ways it's safer than ever, but like any place in the world these days Belize has crack and crime and a few bad people, and the usual traveler's precautions are in order." In all my travels around Belize over the years, I've not once experienced a single incident of violent crime and only one time have I had a problem with theft. That was a bungled attempt to break into my rental car in Cayo, and the only thing I lost was fifty bucks to pay for the broken lock on the car. But I do hear from visitors occasionally who had a problem, a mugging on a dark street in San Ignacio or an unlit beach somewhere, or a theft in San Pedro or Placencia. Remember, even a backpacker traveler may look like wealthy to a guy who is looking to score some quick cash, so don't leave your common sense back home.

HOTELS, GRAND AND OTHERWISE
The Sluder Theory of Travel Writing states that hotel reviews are the most important part of a guidebook. You can ask locals after you arrive about the best places to eat and generally figger out tours and shopping on your own, but in many cases you have to make a decision about hotels before you arrive. Often you have to pay in advance.

I've stayed at, or at least toured, close to 300 hotels, lodges and inns in Belize. This trip, I tried to revisit as many as I could and I saw several great new places. Here's my take on some of the highlight properties. Remember, your mileage may vary. For more of the same, see my new Best Belize Hotels, coming soon to a bookstore near you.

CAYO
Our first stop was Hidden Valley Inn in the Mountain Pine Ridge. I had visited several times before and stayed there a few years ago, having a nice dinner with the owner, Bull Headley, who, sadly, recently passed away. With its thousands of acres of surrounding property, private waterfalls and great birding, Hidden Valley Inn always has had the potential to be one of the best lodges in Belize. But, lacking attention, Hidden Valley had been in a decline for years. Now, with new ownership (the Roe family, who also are involved in the SunBreeze in San Pedro, the Biltmore in Belize City and who have many other interests in Belize) and new management, Hidden Valley is quickly moving back to top form. Managers Craig and Lisa Milner, originally from South Africa, are doing a fine job.

The 12 private cottages, each with a bedroom (queens or two doubles), living room and tiled bath, are not your traditional thatch but marl daub with zinc roofs. They've been spruced up a bit. All have salt tile floors and comfortable furnishings, and the fireplaces come in handy in the winter. There's a beautiful new swimming pool and a hot tub, in a grand setting beside the main lodge building. We had several delicious meals, prepared by the new chef brought in by Craig and Lisa. At dinner, you select from a couple of entrees, with appetizers, soup or salad and dessert. I especially enjoyed the beef tenderloin, from Running W ranch in San Ignacio. It's wonderful to wake up early in the invigorating air of the Pine Ridge and walk some of the trails around the lodge. I'm told there are 90 miles of trails, several leading to waterfalls that are open only to Hidden Valley guests. Honeymooners or even old married folks can reserve Butterfly Falls or other falls for your own private day at a waterfall, complete with champagne. You can also walk through a small coffee finca -- the lodge grows and roasts its own coffee. Yes, many of the Mountain Pines in this area have succumbed to the pine beetle infestation, but the pines are quickly regenerating. We saw many that are already eight or ten feet tall. The birding is actually better than ever here, as it's now much easier to spot the little feathered friends. A sizable percentage of Hidden Valley Inn guests are birders, who want to add to their life lists rare birds such as the Orange-breasted Falcon, King Vulture and Keel-billed Motmot. Rates at Hidden Valley: US$247 for a double in-season, US$229 off, including breakfast and dinner, taxes and service charge. Packages are available, and the hotel offers many tours and trips. Check out www.hiddenvalleyinn.com or tel. 501-822-3320, fax 822-3334. Or get in touch with my friend, Katie Valk, with Maya Travel Services in Belize City (www.mayatravelservices.com, telephone 501-223-1623, fax 223-0585). Katie can also help you with most any kind of travel arrangements in Belize, and she's there to give you a hand should you need it.

Back around San Ignacio, I got a peek at the new treetop suites at Chaa Creek. When I was there, co-owner Mick Fleming was in England recuperating from hip surgery, and Lucy was in Belize City, but as usual the lodge was purring like a Bentley. The new suites, at the far edge of the caba–a compound, are spacious multilevel units with a nice deck. I hear they're popular with honeymooners, but frankly, I still love the garden suites. Chaa Creek has bought the Rainforest Medicine Trail from Rosita Arvigo and is reopening that to the public.

My family and I had lunch at Clarissa Falls, and lunch there beside the Mopan was a treat as always. And cheap. The four of us ate tacos and other delicious down-home food for about US$5. I ran into Phyllis Dart, who owns the small but glorious Ek' Tun Lodge, at the grocery in San Ignacio. She said she'd had a busy season. The delightful French couple that owned Green Heaven Lodge have sold it, I'm told. Aguada remains my pick for value if you don't need to be out in the country -- at around US$30 double for a newish room with air-conditioning, and a pool, it's a money-stretcher. Martha's is another great in-town choice. If you want some country air, Parrot's Nest (same owners, new management) is a good budget option.

Back a bit toward Belmopan, I stopped in at Roaring River Lodge, off the Western Highway at Mile 50 1/4 near Camalote Village. It's been open for a good while, but I hadn't had a chance to see it until now. This lodge isn't yet well known and isn't in most guidebooks. The grounds are lovely, with lots of flowers and a symphony of birds. There's a pool (being repaired while I was there), and you're just steps from Roaring Creek (or River), for a cool relaxing dip. For value, this place is hard to beat: The three comfy, spic Ôn span caba–as go for US$40 double off-season, US$50 in-season. And there's an even cheaper lodge accommodation for backpackers, with shared bath, at US$20 double in-season. Rates include breakfast. The managers, Wim and Chantal Decoster, from Belgium, seem to be doing a great job. The Web site is www.roaringriverbelize.com or e-mail rorivlodge@btl.net or call 501-820-2037. [Note: In early August 2003, we learned that Roaring River Lodge has, at least temporarily, closed.]

Not too far away is Roaring River Golf Course, Belize's first public golf course. After you turn south off the Western Highway at Camalote, a right turn on the dirt road takes you to Roaring River Lodge, left to the golf course. This nine-hole, 1,959-yard, par-32 jungle course (watch out for the crocs in the water trap) is the one of the eccentric delights of Belize. I say eccentric because where else but Belize would you find a golf course out in the bush? It's the pet project of an expat South African, Paul Martin, who found himself with some extra time and a lot of heavy earth moving equipment on his hands. Before long, he'd carved out the greens and fairways. It's not Pebble Beach, but it's a heck of a lot of fun. Affordable, too. Rates start at around US$15, and less if you live in Belize. After a round of golf, you can sip a Belikin at the "club houseÓ and then jump in the Roaring River for a refreshing swim.

PLACENCIA
This trip, I got to test drive the new Turtle Inn. The original Turtle Inn was a fixture for many years in Placencia, when the late Skip White ran it. A couple of years ago, it was bought by Francis Ford Coppola and soon reopened as Blancaneaux's Turtle Inn. Then, in October 2001, a nasty lady named Iris paid a visit to Placencia, and Turtle Inn was virtually blown away. After a complete rebuild, Turtle Inn reopened around the turn of the year. The first few months of operation weren't exactly smooth, and I heard quite a few complaints about ongoing construction and reservation foul-ups, though others raved about the Balinese design.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but I can tell you the new Turtle Inn knocked me out. My family and I had a two-bedroom sea front villa, and you couldn't ask for anything nicer or more stylish. The villas and many of the single caba–as sit just feet from the sea, so the gentle lap-lap of the Caribbean soothes you, and the prevailing offshore breeze keeps you cool. (There is at present no air-conditioning, so on a calm summer day I do fear it can get pretty warm.)

Our villa was a pure delight. In some ways, the villas at Turtle Inn remind me of those at Blancaneaux Lodge: The bay-thatch ceiling soars high, there's a wide screened porch across the front, and the main living area has comfy seating and a fridge. The two bathrooms are in the Japanese-style, with both showers and tiled square tubs (there also are outdoor garden showers, which are more fun than you'd think.) But, unlike Blancaneaux, the villas and cabanas at Turtle Inn are Balinese in inspiration, with wonderful art and furnishing, and even the doors, picked out personally, I'm told, in Indonesia by Mr. Coppola and his wife, and imported in 14 container loads.

We also got a tour of Mr. Coppola's personal villa, the Pavilion, which is available for hotel guests when the director isn't there. It has several extra touches, such as saunas in the bathrooms, not in the regular villas. Pavilion also comes with its own private pool. We sneaked a swim in the Coppola pool, though normally it is reserved for use by the party in the Pavilion Villa. But even if you don't stay in the Pavilion Villa, you'll be very happy with the main pool. The large turtle-shaped, zero-effect pool, between the restaurant and the beach, is one of the best in Belize. The beach itself is one of the better ones on the peninsula. There's no pier, but Turtle Inn has plans for a marina on the lagoon side.

I found the food, service, amenities and staff responsiveness all very accommodating. A new manager, Ian Lizarraga, came on board about the same time we arrived. Ian is Belizean, young but with a lot of experience in hotel management at Chaa Creek and Cayo Espanto. The upscale made-in-Belize bath soaps, shampoos and lotions delighted my wife and daughter, who also were given Balinese sarongs. We had a walk-talkie to hail our "housemanÓ should we need anything. The open-air restaurant with a sunken sand floor is as tropical as you could want. The restaurant features seafood and Italian specialties. Like Blancaneaux, Turtle Inn has a wood-burning pizza oven and serves excellent wines from the Niebaum-Coppla winery. Every meal I had at Turtle Inn was excellent, though not cheap. A continental breakfast of fresh-baked breads and fruits is included in the room rate.

Off-season (May 1 to December 19), Turtle Inn caba–as are US$175 to $200 double, and villas US$300 to $400 (the Pavilion Villa is US$600.) Winter rates are US$275 to $300 for caba–as, US$400 to $575 for villas (US$1,000 for Pavilion.) Christmas rates slightly higher. Rates are plus 7% hotel tax and 10% service. For information, see www.blancaneaux.com or call 1-800-746-3743 or 501-824-4914, fax 501-824-4913.

If you want something more intimate and personal than a hotel, let me tell you about Mariposa. This is the private home of Marcia and Peter Fox, a charming couple who moved to Placencia several years ago from Marin County, California. They offer two ground-floor suites, each with a bedroom, bath and full kitchen. Although several good restaurants are within walking distance, if you prefer to cook in, the Foxes can arrange to stock groceries and fresh fruits and vegetables ready for when you arrive. The suites have folding doors that open for a great view. Each suite has its own little thatch palapa on the private beach. The suites are nicely decorated, too; check out the Maya glyphs, hand-painted by the artist who did the murals at Jaguar Paw, along the top of the walls. The grounds are beautiful, and the location is convenient, next door to Kitty's. There's also a small casita around back, though it doesn't enjoy the cooling breezes from the water. Rates: US$110 double off-season and US$125 in winter, plus 7% tax and 10% service. Check out www.mariposabelize.com or e-mail foxbuddy@btl.net, call 501-523-4069, fax 523-4076.

Speaking of eating -- one of my favorite subjects -- Robert Frackman invited us to the Saturday night barbecue at the Inn at Robert's Grove. All I can say is: Fantastic!! There was a big crowd gathered around the pool, and Bob said the hotel was full. We stuffed ourselves with delicious lobster, shrimp and fish. Robert's Grove looks as wonderful as ever, and it remains one of the best and most popular beach resorts in the western Caribbean. If you stay here, I highly recommend you spend the extra bucks for a deluxe suite (one or two-bedrooms). They're huge, beautifully furnished, with phones and cable TV, and the air-conditioning really works.

I also did quick visits to a number of other hotels on the peninsula: Rum Point, where there's a new manager, Sheila Knox. Corol Bevier is still in residence (George Bevier, one of the pioneers of Belize tourism, sadly passed away last year); Green Parrot, Barnacle Bill's, Nautical Inn and several other of my favorite places.

There's a lot going on in Placencia these days. We hear talk of a new international airport across the lagoon -- maybe, possibly, some day -- and more immediate plans to extend the present Placencia airstrip out into the Caribbean. The new Maya Island terminal makes the airstrip look like a real airport. Now, if they could just get that damn road paved.

A lot of the activity is at the north end of the peninsula: The Plantation keeps expanding and making big plans. We hear there are one, or perhaps two, 18-hole golf courses planned or at least proposed. Calico Jack's has a new manager, Robert Marlin, son-in-law of the developer. I'll reserve comment (for now) on the Zeboz condo/timeshare development next door. It's supposed to open later this year, with condo suites, tennis courts and a 10,000 square foot seafood restaurant. In-season rates have been set for US$185.

Seems like there's a for-sale sign every few yards in Placencia these days. Building lots are for sale all up and down the peninsula, though many have already sold to foreigners who want a piece of the Caribbean. Luba Hati has sold, I'm told, though owners Franco and Mariucci are said to be staying on in Placencia. Kitty's is still on the market (believe it's nearly sold twice, but things didn't work out.) This resort looks better than ever. Among other hotels for sale: Soulshine, Nautical Inn, Maya Breeze Inn, Singing Sands and Placencia Lagoon Resort. Mango's, the restaurant in Maya Beach, is also for sale. The former Seine Bight Hotel/Bahai Laguna is rotting away.

Someone asked me recently why so many places are for sale in Placencia. I'm not sure myself. Part of it has to do with the seasonal nature of business in Placencia. Summer can be pretty dead, and it's tough to make a resort pay when you have to get most of your income in the winter. Iris, of course, had an impact. But a lot of it has to do with the fact that many resort operators come to Placencia with a dream but not much practical experience in the hotel business.

If you want to catch up on all the news of Placencia, the best place (besides Wallen's store) is Mary Toy's Destinations Belize Web site (www.destinationsbelize.com). This trip, I ran into Mary at Lobster Fest, where she womanning the Humane Society Booth.

TOLEDO
On our drive south to Punta Gorda, we stopped at a couple of new lodges. One is disappointing; the other is exciting. The disappointment was Belize Lodge & Excursions, part of a complex of southern Belize accommodations and tours that have been in the planning and construction process for years. Eventually, besides the lodge at Indian Creek, about 23 miles north of PG, there's supposed to be a camp at Golden Stream and a lodge on Moho Caye. It took me awhile to talk my way into the fortress-like grounds of Indian Creek Lodge. The security guards didn't seem keen on having anyone come in and look around, but finally they allowed as how it would be okay. I was told that a few guests had come to the lodge, but that it wasn't open right now. It took another half hour for someone to come up with a key to one of the 12 cabins. They are small but have nice views from a hilltop. Near the entrance are the reception area, restaurant and bar. There's a man-made lake and airstrip under construction. I hope this outfit will finally get its act together, and maybe it will. The lodge's Web site claims that it will open in November for the 2003-2004 season. For info: www.belizelodge.com or get in touch with the lodge's Belize City office, tel./fax 501-223-6324.

I was more impressed by the Lodge at Big Falls. This new lodge, on about 30 acres on the banks of the Rio Grande River near the village of Big Falls, opened in March. The owners, Americans who lived for years in England, are Rob and Marta Hirons. They've done a good job developing the lodge property. The accommodations are what most visitors are looking for in a lodge -- thatch caba–as, but nice ones, with tile floors and private baths. The main lodge building has a restaurant, library and computer with satellite Internet access. Kerosene lamps provide the light. There are plans to add a swimming pool. The Hironses did what many new hotel operators in Belize don't do: They hired a marketing consultant with local knowledge and invested in a business and marketing plan. Whether Toledo has the tourism base for a jungle lodge in this area is another matter, one that only time will decide. Fallen Stones Lodge nearby, for example, has closed, although the butterfly farm is still open. Blue Creek Lodge has reopened after rebuilding from Iris, but the jungle canopy walk isn't back up. For info, visit www.thelodgeatbigfalls.com . Current rates: May to October, US$110 double; rest of year, US$135. Breakfast and lunch are US$8 each, dinner US$24. Tours of Lubaantun and Nim Il Punit each cost US$45 for two, and other tours are available. Transfer from the PG airport is US$40 for up to four people.

One new lodge in Toledo that seems to be doing well, exceeding its projections for the first year, is El Pescador PG. Of course El Pescador is a niche property, a fishing lodge, and it was able to build on its base of guests from El Pescador on North Ambergris. El Pescador was closed when I was in PG, but the co-manager, Jim Scott (Jim's wife, Debbie, also is manager), was kind enough to let us stay overnight anyway. The lodge is set on a steep hill, called Big Hill for the farm that was originally here, on 470 acres above the Rio Grande. A small tram takes guests down to the boats docked on the river at the base of the hill. Up top, on a clear day, you have views of the Gulf of Honduras, with Guatemala and Honduras in the distance. I didn't see or hear any, but I'm told troops of howler monkeys come by frequently. Accommodations are in 12 identical cottages, nicely outfitted with tile floors, private baths, and air-conditioning. The focus here is on permit fishing, with one of the best permit fisheries in the world, although the lodge guides can also take you out for tarpon, bonefish or snook. The lodge restaurant serves vegetables, fruit and herbs from the lodge's farm. There's a nice pool, too. Packages here reflect the angling orientation and include room, three meals a day, transfers, taxes and fishing. Per-person rates start at US$1,520 for three nights with two days of fishing (two people per room, two in a boat) and go up to $8,695 for 14 nights (one person per room and per boat.) Non-fishing rates start at US$990 double for three nights. Logan Gentry who with his sister, Ali, ran El Pescador on Ambergris and helped start El Pescador PG, died in a San Pedro boating accident last year. For information on El Pescador PG, see www.elpescadorpg.com or phone 501-722-0050 or 800-242-2017, or fax 501-722-0051.

The news all over Belize while I was there was about the tragic death June 23 of Cheney Roberts, co-owner of Tranquility Lodge in Jacintoville near PG. Cheney designed and built the lodge and restaurant. A number of people have asked about the future of Tranquility Lodge. Peter Eltringham, a special friend of Cheney's and author of the wonderful Rough Guide to Belize (which he is now updating) and updater of Insight Belize guide, writes to say that, yes, Tranquility will remain open. Penney Leonard, Cheney's business partner, will be managing the lodge. Peter continues:

"We're in a peaceful, secluded setting on 20 acres of former farmland and pasture, with over half the area in secondary growth rainforest. There's a large, safe parking area. A short trail from the gardens leads to beautiful, rock-lined Jacinto Creek, with a simply gorgeous and safe swimming hole. No one lives upstream so the water is utterly pristine! Accommodation is on the ground floor, in four very spacious, tiled rooms with ceiling fans and remote control a/c. All have a private bathroom with hot shower and there's a tiled sitting area to enjoy the gardens. Upstairs is a large screened, dining room, thatched with 9,000 bay palm leaves, and a comfortable lounge area with all round views. Our guests enjoy relaxing up here, reading books on Belize, watching birds and simply making themselves at home. The bird watching here is wonderful, with a total list of over 200 species seen on the property Ð 111 were recorded in just one week around last Christmas. At the western edge of the lodge there's more forest, with another small creek. Just up the road just up the road lie the Maya villages and Maya ruins of Toledo, framed by the magnificent Maya Mountains. Also, we're only seven miles from the sea, with the Port Honduras and Sapodilla Cayes Marine Reserves offshore. There's a lot to offer in this "forgotten cornerÓ of Belize! Rates are US$50 for a double room, including a full breakfast (plus 7% hotel tax). There's also a US$20 "backpacker" option for those arriving by bus. Healthy meals, served family style, are prepared to satisfy individual preferences. Dinner is US$12.50 per person, and includes dessert and beverage. For more information or to make a booking, please e-mail Penny Leonard, mspennyl@yahoo.com or me, peter.eltringham@ukonline.co.uk. The web site is www.tranquility-lodge.com ."

Despite the near-completion of the Southern Highway surfacing, Punta Gorda Town seems as sleepy as ever. Several of the better restaurants in town, including the one that most people say is the best, Earth Running, were closed for the summer, and some, including Punta Caliente, appear closed permanently. Someday, maybe, Toledo will be a major tourist destination, but in my opinion that time is still a long way off. Still, for those who want to get off the beaten path a bit and explore a truly untouristy part of the world, PG and all of Toledo are green and wonderful.

On the way back north from PG we stopped off briefly in Hopkins and Sittee River. Love those paved roads! I did a quick re-tour of Jaguar Reef. You couldn't tell there had been a fire there a few months ago -- everything is rebuilt and looks almost exactly like it did before the fire. Hamanasi is also looking great.

COROZAL
Due to time constraints, I didn't get to Northern Belize this trip, but I hear Corozal Town, one of my favorite places in all of Belize, is changing quite a bit. Some of it is not to good, such as the recent crime wave, but a good bit of new development is under way. I understand the two-bedroom apartments at Corozal Bay Inn are being upgraded. For all the latest information and advice on Corozal, your best source is www.belizenorth.com . It's run by Rick & Charlotte Zahniser, transplants from Colorado who have been in Corozal Town for over four years. They run Charlotte's Web, a cyber cafŽ (with some of Belize's lowest rates, US$1 for the first 10 minutes, a nickel a minute after that) and book exchange on Fifth Avenue.

AMBERGRIS CAYE
Cayo Espanto. You've heard about it. You've seen photos of it in the glossy travel mags -- most recently on the cover of Travel & Leisure. You've looked at the prices, and perhaps gasped. Cayo Espanto is definitely not for everyone, and it's definitely not the Belize most of us know, but having now stayed there a few gloriously slothful and relaxing days, I can better appreciate its raison d'?tre and why honeymooners or a stressed-out exec would stay here.

The thing that strikes me most about Cayo Espanto is the level of service. It's truly unmatched in Belize, and possibly anywhere in the region. A few small examples: When you leave the island, say for a visit to San Pedro or for a snorkel trip, when you get ready to come back, the boat captain bringing you back radios to the hotel your exact time of arrival, down to the minute. Awaiting you at the dock is your houseman (or butler) and a few other staff. They have your favorite drink waiting for you at the dock and offer you a face cloth to refresh yourself. And not just a face cloth, but your choice of a hot or a cold face cloth. Or both. And, of course, on the boat trip out and back you don't have to sit on the hot plastic seat. There's a folded towel on the seat to protect your sensitive fanny.

Cayo Espanto sends you a detailed guest survey before you arrive, to determine your preferences in food, drink and such. And, at the resort, the staff does pay close attention to what you like and don't like. One day we used the paddle boats (complimentary, as are sea kayaks), and we discovered each boat was furnished with a cooler, which had been stocked only with the drinks that the houseman noticed we had favored - red Fanta, Diet Coke and Belikin.

As at Turtle Inn, upon arrival you're given a walkie-talkie, and you can call your houseman who stands ready about anytime night or day to bring you whatever your heart desires -- your favorite cocktail, a snack, fruit, ice. Not, to my knowledge, dancing girls, but, short of that, most anything.

Meals are mostly served at your villa, overlooking the water. Before dinner the chef comes by to inquire about your preferences for the evening. There are usually a couple of entree suggestions, but if you'd rather have something else, the chef can whip it up for you. Your own personal menu is printed, and you're welcome to take it with you as a memento. One evening the menu was thus: an appetizer of seared scallops with rice-stuffed cabbage rolls, and a choice of Belizean lobster tail smothered in mango butter with a green papaya salad, or charred strip loin with shoestring potatoes and tequila mango salsa (I had both, of course), and for dessert coconut cake with pineapple chutney and mango coulisse.

Though the private island is quite small, and there are five villas on the island, privacy really is the watchword. Most of the time we were there the island was near its capacity of around 14 people, but we rarely saw another guest, except from a distance on an adjoining villa's private pier.

We stayed in Casa Estrella. The star house. Ahh!

The villas are airy, with cleverly designed doors that fold back almost completely to provide panoramic views of the water. These are very pleasant spaces, but the villas furnishings are not extraordinary, nor are the finishings remarkably luxurious. The floor first floor of our villa, for example, was a kind of finished concrete, which is understandable given how close the houses are to the sea -- literally only a few feet. Our villa was more like a comfortable, well-designed beach house, rather than a designer home. I did love the upstairs bedroom, with its king bed, Egyptian cotton sheets and lovely down comforter. With the folding doors pulled back, the view was glorious.

And, yes, this is the bed that Tiger Woods slept in when he was at Cayo Espanto. Or so I was told. As I understand it, Woods was at Cayo Espanto only one night, spending the rest of his Belize trip time on his private yacht anchored off Lighthouse atoll.

At night, if you like, the staff will go around and close all the folding doors, shut the windows and turn on the air-conditioning. Air-conditioning is available only at night, as A/C tends to trip the island's smaller daytime generator. Although Cayo Espanto is on the back side of Ambergris, in the lagoon rather than in the main Caribbean, there was a good breeze all the time we were there, and it was cool enough without air-conditioning.

Each villa, except one, has its own zero-effect plunge pool. These are indeed splash or plunge pools, more the size of a hot tub than a swimming pool. But they're fun, and private. The swimming in the lagoon here, however, is not so good. The water is shallow and there are often sea leeches.

All this privacy, service and personal attention comes at a price: US$895 to $1,750 per day year-round in 2003, except Christmas when rates are a little higher. Rates are going up $100 a day for each villa in 2004. Usually there's a five-night minimum stay. These rates are plus 21.5% service and tax. Lodge, meals and most drinks are included, but not champagne, wines and cognacs. Fishing, diving, snorkeling and most other trips and activities are extra. For information, see www.aprivateisland.com or telephone toll-free 888-666-4282.

Now, back to reality:

San Pedro and Ambergris Caye were, as they have been on my last few visits, bustling with visitors. Tourism to Belize is up, and Ambergris Caye, as the most popular destination in Belize seems to be getting much of the benefit from that increase. I talked with several hotel managers who said that their occupancy rates had been 70 and 80% and higher almost all year, except for June which traditionally sees a fall off. The island seems more prosperous than ever, with new condos, new buildings on Front Street and other new construction going on everywhere. I never thought I'd see the day when there was a tennis and fitness club on the island, but there it is. If you're in tourism and can't make money in San Pedro, you need to rethink your business plan.

I did a whirlwind tour of many of my favorite digs on the island. Banana Beach looks fantastic these days. I love what Tim Jeffers has done there. It's still a great value for what you get. The staff is so friendly and helpful, and the new restaurant is wonderful. I saw Wil and Susan Lala at Caribbean Villas. They're delightful people and have done so much for tourism and for San Pedro and Sanpedranos. Villas at Banyan Bay, always my first recommendation if you want spacious, upscale condo-type two-bedroom accommodations, looks as beautiful as ever, and I'm told the new condos next door by Se–or Paz have sold well, at prices around a cool half million U.S. I hear the Hideaway has sold, with new condos planned for that space. The grounds of Victoria House are amazingly beautiful now, and I understand VH has added some more suites in a villa a bit south of the resort. Caribe Island is looking as pink and pretty as always. Butch was on the same Maya Island flight as I was, but I didn't get to say hello to him. It looks like construction is still going on at Xanadu. The spruced-up Coconuts costs a good bit more than it used to but is still a pretty good buy in the moderate category. For about the last ten years every time I'm in this area I'm told about the barge dock finally moving -- is that really going to happen?!?. In the value department, Corona del Mar is hard to beat.

In town, Front Street is looking more like a sandy Fifth Avenue these days, with all the new shops and bank buildings. Wish I'd had time this trip to stay at Mayan Princess, my pick for in-town space and value. I'm a pretty tough critic of hotels, but it's really hard to go wrong with almost any hotel in any price range on Ambergris Caye, and having written about travel to many different parts of the world, I can tell you there aren't many places about which you can say that. The few bad ones have either sold or aren't hotels any more.

I only saw it from the outside, but San Pedro's first hostel-type guesthouse, Pedro's Backpackers Inn, is brought to you by the inimitable Peter. His new place, a short hike south of town, is designed to appeal to Euro-style travelers. Rates start at US$12.50 for a dorm bed. Peter, who also runs Coconet Internet cafŽ and is involved in publishing the Green Guide to Ambergris Caye, is British. Moi, I think it's great that San Pedro can have a big variety of places, from glitzy Cayo Espanto to spots for travelers on a budget. Diversity is in, guys. For information on Pedro's Backpackers Inn, visit www.backpackersbelize.com or e-mail pedroback2000@yahoo.com or call 501-226-3825.

North Ambergris is growing, too. There are lots of new houses under construction, and the North resorts seem to be sharing in the island's prosperity. I got the cook's tour of Portofino, and it's a jewel. Jan Van Noord and his lovely bride are doing a fantastic job here. Don't miss the gorgeous view and the frozen lime pie at Portofino's restaurant. I've visited Mata Chica on several occasions, but I'd never before seen inside two-bedroom villas, and they are special. They would be my choice if I were staying at Mata Chica. I'm told that Philippe and Nadia are building several new houses nearby, which will be sold and then managed as vacation rentals when the owners aren't in residence. Belizean Shores is still looking fine and dandy, and I like the casual, barefoot ambiance of SunDiver. I hear that, at last, maybe some good things are going to be happening at the former Avalon/Casa Caribe. Let's hope that it works out. I got another tour of Journey's End. Sad to say, it just doesn't have the sparkle of some of the other resorts on the island.

I'm biased, but I believe San Pedro is unique, one of the truly original resort destinations in the region. I hear all these people talking about going to Cancun or Playa del Carmen, and I think, God, what do they see in those places? They're packed with cruise ship daytrippers and jammed with American franchises. Is that what tourists want, to be somewhere that looks like a little Orlando with beaches? Why don't they take a chance and try a place with a real personality? Like Ambergris Caye.

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Lan Sluder has been banging around Belize for a dozen years. He's the founder, editor and publisher of Belize First (Web edition at www.belizefirst.com ). Sluder has written or co-written many books on the country, including Adapter Kit: Belize, San Pedro Cool, Fodor's Belize & Guatemala Guide and Belize First Guide to Mainland Belize. Best Belize Hotels will be out soon.
”

By SHARON BONIEK

Holly, Michigan, May 2002

"When you say 'We need a vacation', We BELIZE you! You'd better BELIZE IT!"

When Ruth called me in North Dakota while I was there with my Dad after his stroke and said we needed to take a trip to Belize during her time off the after Mother's Day, it seemed to good to be true! But she said, "Consider it a Mother's Day/Birthday gift!"

I had been getting BELIZE FIRST Magazine (more like a book!) since 1998 about Belize written by a "foremost authority on the country" and had dreamed of going there! It sounded perfect since I love anything tropical!

After my return to Michigan from 2 weeks in N.D., I talked to Elmer and he was agreeable, so we packed to go! We flew to Texas on Mother's Day after church after a late start (and having to wait for the next plane) and was greeted at the DFW airport by #1 grandson Alex! We spent the night with Ruth and family, and on Monday, the unbelizable dream came true!!

It was a bit of a surprise to see so many other people also flying to Belize. Ruth sat in a seat in front of us next to a young black-skinned woman with a tiny, 5-week-old baby, and we sat next to a Belizean woman who was VERY talkative and FUll of good advice. She seemed so eager to tell us all about the country and what we should see and do! It was very helpful. She was retired, a former teacher, and was expecting her children to visit her for a family reunion, just a "coconut's throw" from the Belize international airport!

It was exciting looking out the plane's window and seeing the country below - the Carribbean coastline, the palm trees.......

At the airport, a couple gentlemen talked to us while we were in line at customs. One had a "cure for malaria" which sounded interesting. We exchanged names and phone numbers. The two were there for the first time like us checking out the country, and visiting a doctor who used the malaria cure.

There was a whole row of car rental establishments, each one vying for our business, so we checked several for the best price and vehicle. We settled on the Crystal Agency (highly recommended by the books) and got a red Suzuki Sidekick 4x4. We packed our things into the back and headed out, taking the vendor with us back to his office in Belize City so we could have a second key. (When the last plane comes in, which was ours, the airport sort of just closes down!)

We decided to drive to the far west coast as Ruth had talked to a couple from there and it was highly recommended and we wanted to see as much of the country as we could. We left Belize City and drove the Western Highway westward. We discovered there are many "Belizibumps" near every city and little (and I mean "little"!) village to slow down the traffic!

It was interesting countryside but it was hard to believe people actually lived in those little tiny "shacks" which were their homes, wide open, with sometimes no glass in the windows, but with curtains blowing out and the doors wide open.

There were horses everywhere tied with a rope around there neck by the roadside desperately searching for a blade of grass! They were thin, but looked healthy. This was the very driest part of the year - just before the rainy season, so hopefully they would again have good eating once the rains started in June!

We didn't get into Belize airport until 2:35 p.m. Belize time (they are on Central time but do not observe daylight savings time, - thank goodness! This was for real!)
So by the time we got near San Ignacio, our first destination, it was already getting dusk. We needed a place to stay. I had done my homework, so had some places in mind, and when we saw the sign "AGUADA" we made a quick right turn, found the hotel and got a room!

As we got out of our car we were greeted by a couple gentlemen. They were most friendly and I surmised they might be the owners! Not so. A couple "pastors", they said, who just came from the Lumanai area up north and the first Promise Keepers event ever in Belize.

The Aguada was nice, modern enough, but very simple. Our room had a double bed and a single bed, a decent bathroom with hot and cold water (which isn't available everywhere), and a ceiling fan (important in this 92º temps.)

We needed dinner next. There was a restaurant on the premise and one could eat indoors or out by the pool. Of course we opted for the outdoors by the pool! It was a lovely comfortable evening! We sat under a couple Royal Palms, the most elegant breed of palm, and ordered red snapper fish dinners. Ruth ordered a plate of Nachos to take the edge off our appetitie while our dinner was prepared.

A gentleman strolled by, (everyone says hello!!) We struck up a converstation and invited him to have a chair. He talked the rest of the evening!!! Very interesting to hear his perspective on Belize. He is the owner of 14,000+ acres of land in the hills outside San Ignacio and is building a house there. He showed us photos of his "palapala" (thatched roof building) which was just constructed. He is a field engineer and raising rice to export to France.

The evening was pleasant and several hours passed over dinner. He (Oscar) ordered a cheese cake he said we had to taste. Then we said goodnight to get some sleep and be ready for a day of adventure.

The day started early. The sun rises around 5:15 a.m. here. I heard a car horn honking determinedly out our window down the road apiece, so got up to check it out. It seemed it was the mailman, because he honked at several homes and I saw a man come out and receive a letter! We saw NO mailboxes anywhere, except in an open-air post office in San Ignacio town, with the private boxes out on the sidewalk!

For breakfast we had a flour tortilla and scrambled eggs with a wedge of watermelon. While eating, it rained hard! but it was of short duration.

We drove into town and decided to get out and look around, AND to buy some fruit! We were eager for the fruit which we had heard was so plentiful! We got some of the brightest orange and most delicious-ever-tasted Papaya, cut up and ready to eat, and bananas, mango, melon and pineapple. We put it in our cooler that our car agent had given us to use! We needed a knife (since one cannot carry a knife on board a plane anymore!) to cut our fruit, so we had to go to several open-to-the-outdoors-stores before we found one to use.

We also stopped in a little gift shop and got some shot glasses for souvenirs.

Then we drove to the CAHAL PECH ruins and climbed it. This is the way the ancient Maya Indians once lived. It rained, hard again, but briefly, while we were touring the ruins. There were "hoards" of the cutest little school children, all in their neat school uniforms, also visiting. They seemed to want attention! If you said, "hi" to one, the others all wanted you to say "hi" to them, too! They were very smiley, all dark-skinned, but English-speaking.

The next stop was XUNANTUNICH (shoo-NAN- too-neech) ruins, the highest place in Belize where one could see into Guatamala from the top and a good view around the San Ignacio area. Elmer and Ruth climbed to the very top - 130 feet up! I opted not to climb this one. It was very hot by now - we'd had some fruit, some of Amber's good bread, and cheese in a shelter before we went up to the ruins, but it seemed we never got enough water to drink, even though we carried water with us at all times.

The next plan was to drive the HUMMINGBIRD HIGHWAY, said to be the most beautiful drive in all of Belize. We were not disappointed. It truly was! I have never seen so many palm trees in all my life. Forests of them! The Maya Mts. in the background, including the 3,675' VICTORIA PEAK, made it quite spectacular! There were things to see and do along the way, including the BLUE HOLE NATIONAL PARK and the BLUE HOLE swimming area, but we opted not to take the time to do either in our short visit - "Next time!!" we said!

On our way from the Western Hwy. to the Hummingbird Hwy., we decided to get some gas. We stopped at the junction near Belmopan, the capital city, and were waited on by a young male attendant who seemingly didn't speak English. He said we could use a credit card, but that was not so when paying inside. When the question was asked, "Do you have a rest room", one was pointed to the back. There it was, up 2 large concrete steps with a curtain in front of a single stool! One does not flush toilet tissue down the stool in many places here in Belize. There is a waste basket for that. This toilet didn't even flush! but there was a water spigot near by and a pail.
At least it was indoors!

At the covered-from-the-sun roadside stand where people wait for the many buses that traverse the Belizean highways, there was a young man with his thumb out needing a ride, so we stopped to pick him up. His buddy came, too, when he saw there was a ride! They were from Southampton, England, and very appreciative of a ride to the point of the Southern Highway where they would catch a bus to go down to the Toledo District. They were here to help clean up and rebuild after the hurricane that came through destroyed so much of the southern area. We had interesting conversation with Chris and Enrique as we drove the several miles to their drop off point.

We continued on to DANGRIGA and HOPKINS, little seaside villages, and Garifuna (Gah-RIF-una) settlements. The Garifuna people are Black Caribs of mixed African and Carib Indian heritage. Other nationalities of Belize include the Mestizos, persons of mixed European and Maya heritage, typically Spanish speaking; the Creoles, mostly of African heritage who speak both Creole and English; some Maya of either Yucatec, Mopan or Kekchi descent; there are many Mennonites from Canada and Mexico who farm large acreages of Belize and who speak German; as well as Lebanese, Palestinians, East Indians, Chinese and some Anglos, mostly expats from the U.S., U.K, and Canada. With considerable inter-marriage, one might see a dark-skinned Belizean with blue eyes, or Asian-looking Belizeans who speak Spanish or Creole. Race is not an issue here!

It is said of the area on this east coast, "Until you've actually been there, you haven't really been anywhere." Hugging the shoreline of the beautiful turquoise Carribbean Sea are pristine, sugary beaches of white sand. We didn't see much in Dangriga, but decided to get out and walk the beach. We were disappointed to see so much litter on such a beautiful sandy beach.

DANGRIGA is reminiscent of a seaside village along an African coast. We didn't spend any time there, but there is a lot to see and do. The villagers are descendants of the original Garifuna settlers who arrived here in the early 1800's. Dangriga means "standing water." These people excel in arts and crafts, particularly in the making of drums and musical instruments, some of which are said to have "healing powers." They have an annual Garifuna Settlement Day every Nov. 19 to which Garifuna people from all over Central America come! There is a Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Reserve here we need to see, the world's only jaguar preserve with lots of exotic birds - a real walk on the wild side, but..... " Next time!"

We back-tracked just a bit and then took a dirt road to HOPKINS village to the south.

Picture a 12-mile expanse of sugary beach bathed in golden sunlight! With cozy resorts along the shoreline under swaying coconut palms. This was Hopkins! It is a tranquil settlement on the Carribbean shores. It seemed a sleepy little Garifuna fishing village, but it is a "happening place" with lots of development starting. I could see why! I absolutely fell in LOVE with this area!!!!

One can have a choice of up-scale resort living or simple accommodations. We stopped at the TIPPLE TREE BEYA INN (beya = beach) Our dwelling was described in my book as a "beach cabin with private bathroom with hot shower, fridge, (stocked with Belize's famous BELIKIN beer!), coffee pot (and coffee!) and a microwave." There was a double bed and a futon (which the owner said she made herself!) to be made into another bed. There was a table near the kitchenette area, two chairs one could put out on the little landing at the head of the stairs which took us up to our cabin. It was her home before she built her lodge for visitors with rooms to rent on the lower level and her home up above. Anything built "up above" is definitely cooler, because it catches the sea breezes! We were glad to be up, but her main building blocked some of the breeze. While in her porch, when I paid the bill, it was definitely cooler with the sea breezes!

The owner "Trish" is from England. She lived here a year until she found what she wanted to buy. She had the Mennonites (many such communities in Belize) build the on-pillars-cabin we were using, Elmer says out of ship-lap! One could see daylight between the slats! But it was sturdy. She lived here a year and then had the main lodge built.

Her entire yard was white sand! But it was adorable!! She had conch shells and other shells sitting around everywhere, lining pathways, filled with little plants, an orchid plant was near her thatched roof garage next to our building, and other blooming plants dotted the yard. It was CLEAN as was her beach! This was a plus!
There seem to be hibiscus everywhere in Belize. I love hibiscus!!! They were in every color!

At our front door/steps was a large Cashew tree! Ripe fruit was all over the ground. Trish told us the people pick them up and make juice out of the fruit. The little cashew nut, still very green, hangs at the very tip of the yellow fruit! Next morning at 5:30 a.m. little Garifuna girls were out there with little plastic pails picking up the fruit! Ruth picked a bag full and squeezed out 3+ cupfuls of juice for us which she put in little O.J. bottles we'd saved from the day before! That would be our breakfast drink the next morning!! And it was good!! The nuts are poisonous as is, so one needs to roast them over an open fire until the oil bursts into flame, then the nut is roasted and may be eaten.

Again it was late. We'd come from the far western coast that morning to this far eastern coast! We needed to eat. Trish said "IRIS's" was good. We walked the sandy road to her little establishment. Again "little" is the operative word! It was a very small wooden building with one room with 5 small square tables and 17 chairs. A kitchen was in the back. There were only a few others dining there.

We ordered chicken and rice and beans and cole slaw - the most "typical" Belizean dinner-fare! And it was good! And only $7.00 Belize, or $3.50US!! We decided to try the BELIKIN beer. It was o.k., but we are NOT beer connoisseurs! Again, a tourist - a lady from Sweden - said hello and we invited her to sit with us. She also talked the whole time! But we learn things about the country that way!

By the time we walked back to our room, about 8 p.m., it was pitch black outside! It was also getting "buggy"!! It was either "lights out" in our cabin, or get eaten alive!
We opted for "lights out". To bed by 8 was great!

At about 4 a.m. the local roosters were crowing loudly! The hens cackled later, and by 5 I could hear activity outside our cabin. All the louvered windows had been open all night. We heard some rain during the very early morning hours, but no need to close any windows. It was wonderful!!! I saw one cockroach and one little green lizard-like fellow on a rafter, but other than the "no-see-ums" and some red-fly-like biting creature! it was okay.

At 5 I was wide awake! This was 7 a.m. body time. Time to get up and see what was going on outside!! The little girls picking the Cashew fruit, ladies outside their tiny homes with their little ones close by and the men going off to work made for a busy scene outside. We were in a little "residential area" with homes that most in the states would consider shacks. But these were people's home, where they ate and slept, babies cried and children played. One little baby last night "needed a grandma" as I always say! They need no A/C or heat! Many cook outdoors. Rainwater is often collected in barrels for cooking, drinking, bathing. Most homes are built on stilts, either low to the ground or high up.

I sat by the screen door and wrote in my journal trying not to disturb the other two still sleeping. I am NOT a morning person, but here I WAS! It was SO good to wake up early, go to bed early, and have what seemed like boundless energy all day! The air, so pure and clean, the water fresh and clear, and all the Vitamin D from the sun and enzymes from the fresh fruit - it was HEAVENLY! I SO wanted to stay!!!!

When Elmer woke up we went for a walk along the beach. One could walk for miles!
Some fishermen were pushing their boat out into the water to get the day's catch. Elmer helped them. The boat was on logs and it was rolled out into the sea. The sea seemed quite boistrous to me, but they didn't wear life jackets.

We walked 2 directions. This beach was much cleaner than Dangriga. There is a lot of seaweed that washes up, though. One Garifuna man was raking it and the litter back into the sea. Trish keeps her beach clean. I think she hires help. The Garifuna work for almost nothing $-wise! A young lady was raking her yard and doing the room cleaning.

One does NOT have a hairdo here!!!! The wind is always blowing and with my still- thick winter blood in this heat, I sweat a lot, so forget a hairdo!! I looked pretty wild the whole trip!

By 8 a.m. (the time I usually just get going at home!) we had already walked the shoreline beach 2-ways, watched fishermen push out, met an old Garifuna man on the beach who said "Hello, hello" "Walking? Walking?" I said, "Yes, walking." Then he said, "Goodbye. Goodbye." That was worth a smile!

Ruth was up and had our pineapple cut and melons ready to eat on a plate for us! A nice treat!! We sat in the chairs on the porch. Trish came out. She had rescued a baby bird which fell out of a palm tree and was looking for the red flies to feed it! We had crushed a few the night before!!!

She said she saw a Manatee in the waters from her windows. There are many Manatee in these waters! We looked for some as we walked but saw none. However, they are in those waters!!

When Ruth returned from her run on the beach, she brought me a conch shell! and some coral. I also found a piece of coral. We saw a "stash" of conch shells, but did not take one, though I was tempted! She found one washed up - this isn't usual. One usually has to get them from the fisherman. I doubt the locals think of a conch shell as do I!! I was happy to have it!

We walked back to Iris's for breakfast. We were the only ones there this time. We ordered scrambled eggs and ham for me, an omelet with bacon for the other two. And we had to have the Belizean "fry jacks!" Fried dough puffs, 3 yummy pieces! with delicious pineapple jam to put inside the pocket! Yum! A good breakfast for again about $3.50 US.

On our walk back to our cabin, we stopped at a "Super Store" - :o) An open-to-the- outside wooden building with a FEW shelves inside lined with a FEW items!! And a little girl as the clerk!! Ruth fell in love with the special hot sauce which is only made in Belize! Maria Sharp's own special recipe! It is made from Maria's farm-grown Habenero peppers near Dangriga. Maria, her husband and 3 sons and daughters work the family farm and have a family business producing this hot sauce and fruit jams, chutneys and steak sauce. The hot sauce graces EVERY table in Belize!!! Ruth had to take some home, so bought some in this little store, and some of the pineapple jam (which I bought also, along with some Pineapple Squash - a fruit-drink concentrate!)

Back at our cabin, a couple Garifuna ladies asked us to buy their hand-embroidered tablecloths and other linens, but we were conserving on cash, so declined, although they were beautifully done! I paid Trish with a credit card which adds a 4% fee to the bills. We felt it a real deal here, though, at $110 Belize/$55 US for the 3 of us for one night! Doubles run $90 Belize and Quads $120 Belize. The Belize dollar is 2 to 1 US. A good economy!

We noticed in the early morning that it was getting quite warm in our cabin. Part of that was because the power was off! Trish said she didn't know why - the village was to blame for that. We also didn't have shower water - the people use it up then it has to fill up again in the village, then there is more! We did get a shower before leaving and the power did come back on - just as we were about to leave! Ah, the joys of travel!

There are only five main highways in Belize: the Northern, the Southern, the Western, the Hummingbird, and the Coastal. The Northern, Western and Hummingbird highways are paved and very good roads. The Southern isn't complete and sometimes impassable in the rainy season. The COASTAL HIGHWAY, also, which we now drove, was not paved and very rocky and rough in our 4x4! Ruth did all the driving and did a magnificent job. There were people walking or riding bikes in the cities and towns and along other roads, with no sidewalks in places, so one had to be careful not to hit a pedestrian or a bicyclist!

Driving the Coastal Highway, we came upon a sign that said GALE'S POINT to the right. Let's go see! We had no idea what we were going to come upon. It was a tiny little Creole fishing village on a point (peninsula) where only about 300 people live. The "main street" was a narrow dirt track with little wooden homes and "businesses" of sorts on either side. But at the end of the road was this huge, colonial lodge! with the nicest, manicured grounds around it just oozing with tropical flowers and palm trees. We got out to take a look at the MANATEE LODGE.

It seemed there was no one there. Then a young man came out of the building to the side and asked if we were looking for a room. He, like all the others, was very friendly and offered to show one to us. It was up a stairs, with the most gorgeous, actual wood carving on the door, probably of mahogany for which Belize was once famous. The floors were polished hardwood. There was A/C and fine furnishings.

There was a long deck along the front of the rooms which led to a veranda at the end with a view of the bay that took one's breath away! It is said that you can sit here and enjoy the sea breeze while watching more Manatees than one sees people in this village! A long dock snuck out into the bay with a view of the mountains and land on the opposite side. This would be a place where one would want to come and just stay a good while!!! It was definitely a destination where you could unwind and relax and destress! Meals were served in a screened dining building. They even offered to go call the cook to make us a lunch!

Another young man came to talk, too. He was 29 years old, but looked much younger. It seemed he'd barely been off the peninsula, but he was a wind surfer and had won some awards doing that. He'd never been in an airplane and it seemed he longed for some adventure. He followed us back to the car - also gave Ruth a coconut to start her own tree in Texas (which she wasn't allowed to take home through customs).

He told us about the wines that are made from the fruits that grow on the different trees there, and said we could buy them at a store "in town". On our way out, we did stop to see if we could purchase a bottle of one of the fruits he mentioned, but they were sold out of that (out of season), but the old gentleman did have some blackberry wine and some cassava wine which we did buy. The "store" was simply their home! Ruth said it was very neat and clean and beautifully furnished and appointed inside, albeit very tiny. It is said that one can ask and even find a room to overnight in in these little friendly villages!

Everywhere we went, we met so many nice people. They always waved as we drove by! Or they said hello if we met in person.

We continued up the Coastal Highway. Definitely not a scenic road although there were mounds covered with trees that looked as if one might find Maya ruins underneath.

We arrived at the BELIZE ZOO c. 2 p.m. and spent a couple hours there seeing the wildlife of Belize in natural habitat. The exotic animals of Belize include the Jaguar, both spotted and black. They range from 5-6 feet long and weigh 150-250 lbs. They roam free in some areas of Belize. The puma, known in Belize as the red tiger, rarely spotted by humans in Belize but one might see its large tracks with foot and toe pads; the Baird's tapir, sometimes called the mountain cow, a really
weird looking mammal! The howler monkeys, known locally as the baboon, makes a roar more than a howl, which can be heard for miles. Coatamundi, or quash, is a member of the racoon family. We did see some of these outside the zoo elsewhere. There was also the common white-tail deer, spider monkeys, otter, crocodile, fox and many exotic birds, including my favorite, the Macaws. The national bird is the Keel-billed toucan and a very attractive bird, seen on a lot of literature and signs.

It was very warm - not a very good day to be in the zoo - and we all got a bit sun-burned, but it was enjoyable. At first we didn't see some of the animals because they were hiding, and Elmer told the keeper that we would ask for a refund for each animal we didn't get to see! Before we left, he made SURE that we saw each and every one, personally taking us to their pen/cage, so he wouldn't have to give a refund. He rather enjoyed the threat-in-jest!

From the zoo we decided to "go for it!" We'd seen a lot and covered a lot of Belize in the 3 days already, but hadn't been to the northern area yet. So we went back through Belize City and onto the NORTHERN HIGHWAY and headed for the tip of Belize near the Mexican border, or COROZAL TOWN. It might be dark by the time we get there, but we just needed a room for the night and a dinner and we could see the area in the morning before we needed to head south again to the airport! Whew!

Ruth did a splendid job of driving all this! It was over 90 miles from Belize City and we had come from the west/zoo area already! But it was a good, paved 2-lane road. There were sugarcane trucks everywhere. This was harvest time. There were also fires everywhere in spite of this being the very driest time of year here.! The whole atmosphere seemed smoky!! Sugarcane fields need to be burned down before the cane is harvested.

There were a few little villages on the way, and one larger town called ORANGE WALK, originally a refuge for Mestizos (Spanish-Maya) fleeing the Yucatan. The Mexican influence is prevalent today, with both English and Spanish widely spoken. There are also Chinese and East Indians, and we noted several Oriental eat places. There is a lot to do around here if one has time to get off the main road, a real "walk on the wild side". Again..."next time!"

The flavor of the countryside definitely changed as we headed north. Fertile land and unspoiled forests in the northwest against the Guatamalan border. Deep inland are many Mennonite camps. Corozal town is only about 9 miles from the Mexican border and many people live up here in order to go to Mexico for shopping because it is much less expensive. There is a multinational blend of Mestizo, Maya, Creole, Garifuna, Coolie, Mennonite, Asian, Mexican, and expats in Corozal. It is an ideal spot to spend a few days away from the tourist hustle and bustle. Many visitors come back to make it their home-away-from-home. They like the healthy climate of this safe, clean, English-speaking little town in the heart of the Central American tropics!! Many come here to retire and build that perfect little garden or to just relax and enjoy the sea breezes.

By the time we reached Corozal it was almost dark. We did find a nice place to stay at HOK'L K'IN GUESTHOUSE (a Yucatec Maya phrase for "coming of the rising sun") just across the street from Corozal Bay. It is run by a former Peace Corps worker/teacher and her Belizean partner. Speaking to her, she has a son in Kalamazoo, Mi. and knew about Holly! She built this motel. After working in Belize in the early 90's, she decided this is where she wanted to live.

There was a restaurant as well and Ruth sort of collapsed at a table while Elmer and I got our luggage into our room. Nice, clean white sheets on 2 queen beds, a fan overhead, a patio at one end with louvered windows to open for the sea breeze and a patio door. It was a very warm night! We needed that breeze.

We ordered our dinner before unpacking the car. The man and woman cook/team were preparing for a group of Rotarians to feed so would make ours first then work on that. We ordered a broiled red snapper/fries/salad dinner (seems to be a staple!)
and Ruth had a Belikin and ordered a plate of Nachos to share. The food was always tasty, but we were tiring of fries/fried foods and not enough greens and vegies!

The cooks were also the waiters. Their kitchen was very small! They were friendly and spent time talking with us.

We were glad to retire for the night. All the beds in Belize seem to be hard! and I missed my feather pillow! But we got a good night's sleep albeit rather a warm night. I was again awake early, which is unusual for me. I wanted to walk by the bay. Everyone else was soon up, so we dressed and took a walk.

This is a much cleaner and neater town than others we have seen. One could sense the different culture here. There were many, many fruit and vegetable stands and people were putting out there produce. It was good to see vegetables!! Was wondering if there were any in Belize!! But we were told much of that comes from Mexico. We purchased some more fruit, pineapple, mangos and bananas to have for our breakfast after our walk. WOW! We were getting wonderful enzymes here!

We walked along the bay/break-water wall and noticed nice park/playground areas as well as neat homes and yards. Not the little shacks we saw elsewhere.

We had Ruth's fresh-squeezed cashew juice from yesterday from our cooler and some fruit, packed up and drove on to a development area called CONSEJO SHORES at the very tip of Belize. We spoke to a lady in the office and got some maps and info and started to look at lots when her husband, Omar, came to show us around. We saw some really nice half-acre lots with mature trees and palms and every one on the water! Each had a break wall of sorts, some better than others. Most pieces were re-sell for someone who had purchased it some time ago. But I could see why people bought these and moved here!

A perfect, quiet place to retire! To enjoy the water, just to sit and relax or go boating, to have a garden, to have shopping nearby (Mexico) and all the fresh fruit and vegetables one would want to eat from the little markets in town! The homes were nice, the yards nice, the grass was a good variety. It seemed quite perfect.
Water and electricity were already in and the streets/roads were good, not paved but a hard, durable and non-dusty surface. On one piece, we saw a large iguana! He decided his home in a hole was the safest place to be.

We needed to get back to the airport. Our plane was scheduled to leave at 3:45 p.m.
We again encountered sugar cane trucks, caravans of them! Ruth drove around them, even taking the shoulder, or we'd still be crawling behind them! Some full wagons were being pulled by slow tractors. There were sugar cane stalks all over the streets in town - but a man was cleaning up one area - near another Belizibump!!

Near Ladyville where the airport is, we saw an eat place called the LOBSTER POT, which sounded good, so went in for dinner. No food is served on any planes anymore unless it is really cross country, and we wouldn't be home til 8, so we needed a meal. It was a simple place but with a friendly host, originally from Peoria, IL. A large menu board hung on the wall. The sign outside said "Special: Cow foot soup!" We asked about that! It is a "true delicacy" we're told. A hearty broth made with carrots, onions, garlic, cassava and other vegetables slow-cooked with a cow's foot!" We declined, and ordered a shrimp/salad/ and fries (more fries!) for Ruth and me and Elmer ordered a steak & fries. His steak was a huge T-bone! Perfectly done, and all these dinners were just $4-$4.50 US! Our waitress basically had only us to tend to and probably a good thing! She wore NON-waitress shoes that clomped on the wooden floors and had 3 inch-long bright red fingernails!! But she was nice and gave us good service.

It was HOT at the airport! We returned the car and cooler and discovered we had driven almost 500 miles around Belize!!

We had to change into travel dresses but the ladies room was SO HOT it was difficult. We found out we were in the Continental area instead of American and when we went to the other part of the terminal, we learned American's area was SO much cooler. Oh, well.

We had to walk out on the tarmac and up the steps outside the plane to board. As we left and flew over the country below, I felt a real tinge of sadness. To visit this beautiful tropical country was such a privilege and memorable experience. I had truly fallen in love with it and a dream had come true. I hope to return. There is so much still to see and do. This is truly Mother Nature's Best Kept Secret!!

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If you have read this far, thanks. I hope you enjoyed our trip vicariously. It was too wonderful not to share. We have lots of great photos!

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RAMBLES IN BELIZE: 2002

By Lan Sluder

On a quick ramble around the country in mid-June, I found hotel and tourism operators cautiously optimistic about the balance of the year and next year's high season. Since Easter, however, business at many resorts has been slower than expected. Operators see a pickup starting in late June. Resort development has slowed in Belize, with only a few places opening or expanding. Many hotels remain up for sale.

Around the country, business owners are complaining about BTL and the new seven-digit telephone dialing system. Some businesses claim the new BTL 2002 telephone directory contains a lot of errors. "The new directory is a fiasco," says Bill Wildman, a real estate developer and surveyor based in Corozal. "Every telephone and fax number of ours is incorrect both white and yellow, no e-mails even. Other people have also got similar problems. BTL does it again and nothing we can do about it but suffer the year." Other businesses are giving up on BTL's Internet access and going with Starband or another high-speed satellite Internet system, which provides DSL-speed downloads even in remote areas. Technically, these systems are still not permitted in Belize, and a U.S.-address must be given for billing.

Until the torrential rains in late June, which caused severe flooding in several areas, temporarily closing parts of the Western, Southern and Coast highways, the rainy season had been off to slow start in Belize, with only sporadic rains in most areas. Due to rains earlier in the year, however, mosquitoes were worse than usual in a number of regions.

• Belize City: Despite its serious crime problems, Belize City continues to grow and to become a more livable small city. Several new restaurants have opened in the Fort George area, including the Village Steakhouse in the Fort Point Tourist Village, the Wet Lizard and Harbor Light. Jam-Bel Jerk, which has a location in San Pedro, reportedly is opening in the old Three Amigos spot. Hotels remain fairly busy, thanks to regional business and meeting business and overnight stopovers by tourists. The owners of Colton House are thinking of selling their beautiful guesthouse across from the Radisson, with the price around US$400,000, we're told. The attractive and modern department store, Mirab, remains an asset for the city centre. The Feinstein-developed Fort Point Tourist Village (see above) is a well-executed project, but its long-term viability may depend on its ability to attract local residents as well as tourists, while keeping a damper on crime, observers say. The new Museum of Belize, on the grounds of the Belize Central Bank building in what was the former national prison, is a jewel. Currently on the first level is a historical exhibition on Belize City. The exhibition was organized by Yasser Musa, son of the Prime Minister. Upstairs on permanent exhibit are Maya artifacts from the Belize National Collection. Among the items displayed are stunning jade pieces and pottery in amazingly perfect condition. If you're in the city, the Museum is a must-see (admission US$5).

• Corozal Town: Corozal remains as laid-back as ever. More expats are discovering the area as a retirement or relocation destination, thanks to its low real estate prices and proximity to Mexico, but real estate prices in expat areas such as Consejo have had little appreciation over the past decade. A real estate/retirement tour planned by Bill and Claire Gray for mid-year was canceled. Thanks to medical mission business and other group business, established hotels in Corozal Town (but not in outlying areas) are enjoying healthy occupancies this summer. On the night we came through, Tony's Inn was full except for one non-A/C room. Overall, however, Corozal isn't even on the radar screen of most tourists visiting Belize. Sadly also, crime is increasing in Corozal, though it remains one of the friendliest and safest places in Belize. Even the Hok'ol K'in Guesthouse was held up at gunpoint earlier this year. The blue sky plans for a casino, hotel and shopping area near the Corozal Free Zone have been deconstructed and now only a casino may get built, sources say. Reportedly the old Don Quixote hotel site in Consejo is under contract and may become a fertility center. Top restaurants in town include the French-Caribbean CafŽ Kela, which is supposed to get a liquor license in August, and which has some of the best pizza in Central America, and Cactus Plaza, home of tasty bargain-priced Mexican food.

Placencia: Visitors to Placencia these days are split into two camps: those who rave about the good time they had there and urge everyone to visit despite the lingering impact of Hurricane Iris, and those, mainly budget travelers, who are put off by the state of Placencia and Seine Bight villages and, while sympathizing with the plight of the villagers, aren't pleased with the lower peninsula as a vacation destination and, in some cases, actually leave early for other budget areas such as Tobacco Caye or Caye Caulker. Has the peninsula recovered from last October? Yes and no. In Maya Beach and other areas north of around Seine Bight village, things are about back to normal. All the major resorts are fully operational, and some are doing good business. But dozens of wood homes in Seine Bight village were destroyed and have still not been rebuilt. Parts of Placencia village look quite different from pre-hurricane days, and there is still debris which has not been removed. With a few exceptions, such as Inn at Robert's Grove, where occupancies have held up reasonably well and the hotel continues to expand with a new restaurant, dive shop and small marina on the lagoon side, hotel and tourism business is down sharply for many. Luba Hati, for example, closed in late May for the summer, and except for Tradewinds and a few other places in Placencia village, there is only limited budget-level tourist activity this summer. Another exception is The Moorings, a yacht charter business in Placencia Harbor which opened right after the hurricane and by all accounts is doing a booming business. It is expanding part of its operation to Robert's Grove marina, where it will base six captained boats. Real estate continues to be a driving force of the local economy, and several large upscale homes are being built at The Plantation and in other developments. Robert's Grove has sold four condos in what is the mainland's first "condominium zone." Owners Robert and Risa Frackman plan to build other condos on the lagoon side, but only when sold and not on spec. The Southern Highway is now paved past the cut-off to Placencia, but the 25-mile road to Placencia village remains a potential hazard after heavy rains. We're happy to see, however, that one of southern Belize's prime watering holes, Sugar Reef (formerly Lagoon Saloon), stays busy, especially during happy hour. In other miscellaneous Placencia news, beginning June 1 non-Belizeans visiting Laughing Bird Caye must pay a US$4 fee. A terminal building at the airstrip is nearing completion. Despite indications that lobsters will be in less than abundant supply this year, the Placencia Lobsterfest in late June attracts visitors from all over the country. Construction and rebuilding of Turtle Inn, which will be the name of Francis Ford Coppola's beach place (instead of Blancaneaux's Turtle Inn) is well underway. Grand opening is tentatively set for mid-December. Quite a few of the lodges and hotels on the peninsula reportedly are for sale, including Soulshine, Kitty's, Nautical Inn, Luba Hati, Barracuda and Jaguar Inn, and others.

Hopkins Area: The Hopkins area has benefitted somewhat from post-Iris troubles farther south. There are now more than two dozen hotels, guesthouses and resorts in the Hopkins/Sittee Point area. A few, such as Jaguar Reef, Pleasure Cove and Hamanasi are larger properties owned by Americans or Canadians, but most are small guest houses, in many cases operated by local families. Most visitors have nothing but good things to say about the friendliness of Hopkins residents. There are now not one but two Web sites focused on Hopkins: www.hopkinsbelize.com and www.hopkinsvillage.com. Between Placencia and Hopkins is Belize's newest all-inclusive, Kanantik, built and operated by Roberto Fabbri, a former yacht salesman who was born in Italy but lived for many years in San Francisco, and his partner. Kanantik opened a couple of months ago, after seven years of planning and construction. It has 25 thatch cabanas with air-conditioning, a 1,200-ft. stretch of beach and a beautiful pool. Everything is included for one price here -- food, prepared by a chef from Guatemala, deluxe lodging, air transfers from Belize City, tours, local drinks, diving and, for the time being at least, fishing. The one price isn't cheap, US$300 per person double occupancy, and we feel it's still too early to say whether this business model will work in Belize, but we wish Roberto well.

Ambergris Caye: The hyper-development of Ambergris Caye has slowed a bit, although two large new bank buildings, one for Belize Bank and the other for Alliance Bank, are under construction on Front Street and numerous other commercial and residential buildings are going up. Seferino Paz is building some beautiful and pricey (like US$450,000) condos south of Banyan Bay. Tim Jeffers has added 31 units to his popular Banana Beach resort. The units range from regular hotel rooms to four-bedroom suites; a few may be rented on a monthly basis, starting at US$900 a month for a one-bedroom suite with the tenant paying utilities. A second pool is open here, and a new air-conditioned restaurant and gift shop are on the way. The island real estate market remains active, though the apartment rental market has softened significantly with the departure of many of the nearly 200 students at St. Matthews offshore med school, which moved in late spring to Grand Cayman. Two other schools, Medical School of the Americas, now in temporary space at the Belize Yacht Club, and St. Luke's downtown, may take up some of the slack as they add students. More hotels are for sale on the island than we've seen in a while. Among them: Hotel Del Rio, for US$580,000; Hideaway Sports Lodge, asking just under a million US; Coconuts, US$850,000 with some owner financing now possible, we understand (if we had the money, this is the place we'd probably buy); Mayas Katut, $275,000; and Caribbean Villas, US$1,875,000. A new owner may soon be in place at the Belize Yacht Club. The rumor mill has it that several other resort properties south of town are in play, with the potential buyer being a group associated with a well-connected island businessman.

El Cayo and Mountain Pine Ridge: In the Mountain Pine Ridge, there are plans to set out millions of Mountain Pines to replace those killed by the Southern Pine Beetle. A nursery near Blancaneaux is growing the seedlings. Speaking of Blancaneaux, this lodge looks better than ever despite the death of many pines on the grounds. An American crew was brought in to remove the dead trees, and landscaping highlights the remaining trees and shrubs. Although there's no denying the impact of the blighted pines, near the four lodges in the Pine Ridge are large areas of broadleaf forest unaffected by the beetles. Hidden Valley Inn has been purchased by the family that operates Belize Biltmore Plaza in Belize City and SunBreeze in San Pedro. The lodge will reopen soon, with a new pool and other improvements. Eventually, a dozen more cottages may be added. Some of the lodges and hotels in San Ignacio have suffered from the slowdown in tourism, and several are for sale. The nearly new Mayaland Villas near San Ignacio is being sold at public auction.


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RAMBLES IN BELIZE: 2001

Rambles in Belize, 1998

• My daughter learning to snorkel and swimming with the rays and nurse sharks at Shark-Ray Alley.
• The night boat trip on the New River and New River Lagoon.
• The pool at the SunBreeze Hotel in San Pedro (kudos to Julia Edwards for the many improvements at SunBreeze, including the new pool with its coco palms left for delicious shade).
• Drives along the undeveloped east coast of the island of Cozumel.
• Cheap groceries, beer and pharmacy items at big modern stores in Cozumel and Chetumal.
• Peace and quiet in the jungle at Chan Chich Lodge.
• Being "rich for a day" in a luxurious villa at Blancaneaux.
• Excellent meals at Four Fort Street, Rasta Pasta, Green Parrot, Celi's, Elvi's, Kitty's, Tony's, Radisson Fort George, and elsewhere.
• Meeting so many nice, friendly Belizeans.
• Breakfast with Emory King and with the Belize Retirement Guide authors.
• An afternoon at the Belize Zoo (where we were late leaving and were temporarily locked in with the howler monkeys and warries, a perfect place for me according to some of my critics!).
• Driving the Hummingbird (though a stop at the Blue Hole was disappointing, as this time the water was a murky green, not the luminous blue I've seen before, probably due to recent rains).
• Lazing around San Pedro Town.

Lan Sluder
Editor & Publisher
Belize First Magazine