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Who says it is low season??? Not Placencia!

Tonight, Thursday night, July 9th:-All you can eat spaghetti at Flying Pig, 6pm, $15bz

-Rumfish-Live Music @ Rumfish y Vino with Steve Fasano. Blues, Rock, Folk, Pop, Jazz & more. From 7:00 to 9:00 PM. Reservations and info @ 523-3293

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rumfish-y-vino/121087497902121

-Turtle Inn–Indonesian Rijstaffel Dinner at Turtle Inn tonight.A tasting platter of the rich food culture from the island nation of Indonesia stretching from Sumatra to Timor. They serve 18 small servings on a “Lazy Susan” at BZ$64 per person. Call for reservations-523-3244

Tomorrow, Friday the 10th:

Sushi Lunch from Go Sushi–call 600 5498 to order, pick up at Eucalypto

https://www.facebook.com/gosushiBelize

-Un Wine’d Wine Shop, Los Porticos Villas– tasting plates and wine 2-6! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Un-Wined-Wine-Shop-at-Los-Porticos-Villas/100834830256472

-FREE Zumba 7-9 Tipsy Tuna with Hayley!

https://hayleyh.zumba.com/

-Paradise Resort-This Friday Night Starting at 7 PM, Paradise Resort Welcomes:

“PROYECTANDO Y CIRQUEANDO ANDO”!!!

New to Placencia from Italy, this Troupe will be Performing Their Circus Acts and Fire Dancing On Our Beachfront!!! Come Early and Enjoy Our $10 Menu Special of the Day ~ Our Homemade Deep-Fried Chicken Bites Served with Our Hand-Cut Fries and Coleslaw!!!

Don’t Forget Happy Hour Starts at 5 PM!!! $1 Off All Local Beer and Rum!!!

Saturday the 11th:

-Tranquilo-Pirate party! Costume contest, the Lost Reefers are playing, games, $20 pirate punch. 4pm-?

-Pickled Parrot-Live Music @ The Pickled Parrot with HOT PAPAYA. Placencia landmark and long time local favorite, the Pickled Parrot offers a cool, laid back Caribbean experience with a full bar, good food (killer burgers) great people and cool music.

NEXT WEEKEND…..

The Belize International Film Festival!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/BELIZE-INTERNATIONAL-FILM-FESTIVAL/99617944315

Friday-Red Carpet, movies and fun all weekend!

**all pics courtesy of the establishments listed 🙂

1.) Before you get here, while you are planning your fun, I just found out something interesting this week. BTB–Belize Tourism Board, which is the board who asks for your passport info, and who makes the magazines you see, and promotes tourism here, collects money with each hotel guest. Part of what they give back, is a FREE service to incoming guests…..they will send you a bunch of information to your home for FREE if you sign up here:

https://www.travelbelize.org/request-brochure

And, you can actually FOR FREE call them and ask them any questions you want (and enjoy the charming Belize accent!)…the only caveat is you get 10 minutes per call and then you have to call back 🙂 But, this is a really nice service if you have some exotic questions that you can’t find answers to! Here is the FREE number!

Toll free info–from the US–1-800-624-0686

These are the guys that came up with the cute logo for the country!

2.) I will try to be as nice as I can for #2 :)…..Guatemala is known for their coffee, right? I am not sure if this is something Belize is really known for. What I know is, there is coffee bags available at all the stores. I have tried all.of.them. Some are really expensive and some are cheap, but this has little to do with the taste. BIG TIP here…..I am noticing a lot of guests buy the Belize coffee in the green bag, and then leave almost the whole bag in their cabana when they leave.

The long break in blogs is due to friends’ visits, weddings, being BUSY here, and I have been in the US for a lot of the last couple months, leaving my husband Dave in paradise to work :). Thanks to his efforts, there have been a lot of great changes to our place, and many of them are going to be very exciting for upcoming guests!!One of the great changes….we just upgraded our wifi so that it is STRONG!! you will be able to get a strong signal throughout and even out past our property now–even in the water (not recommended :))! This is quite a feat in Belize, where you have to ship in everything you need 🙂 Dave was “excited” to learn all that programming 🙂

We also have two brand new bikes for guests to use! Two of them are old fashioned beach cruisers that have baskets for groceries, and the other two are great for longer journeys up the peninsula.

We purchased two huge inner tubes for using in the water…the type that you generally see on excursions. They allow you to really sit up and float in the sea (for those like me, who are a bit wary of creatures!)

I have been working on a ton of new art, and Dave built a large new welcome wall as guests enter the property. We are going to work hard to recycle bottles and make art out of them!

Thanks to Keith and Lacey’s wedding, we now have an arch to incorporate into the entrance….

We have redone our signs, both at the entrance to the main street and at the sidewalk….

We also LOVE the wood carvings that the locals make, so we will be adding a whole new family of animals to the landscaping! Including a lizard that I love!!

There will be even more improvements as we move forward…..we are so excited to make Caribbean Beach Cabanas the first micro resort that is walking distance to the village!!

The water has been GREAT…although rainy season is upon us :). Rainy season consists of night showers, short bursts, awesome skies, fun thunder at times….and a bit more muggy. Here are some recent totally undoctored pictures of the sea!!

The biggest change is that we are working on a large new unit in the back of the property! The walls are up and it is starting to look like a house! Our guests during this transition have been wonderful. We hope they all return to see the final product! The outside of the house will be done in July but the inside will take a bit longer of course. Here are some images from the back of the property, in chronological order!

In no particular order….these restaurants, excursions, and activities are the ones most consistently highly rated by guests as their best memories in Placencia, Belize!

(images are a mix of my own pictures and pictures from facebook and google!)

Restaurants:

Tranquilo…..takes the #1 spot right now. Between Geof’s hospitality, the beautiful sunsets, the great food, and the fun little boat ride, this is a very unique and vacation-ey way to spend an evening. Many of our guests go back multiple times!

https://www.facebook.com/TranquiloPlacenciaCaye

Rumfish–Always a crowd favorite with John and Pam being great hosts…..the food and the pre-made awesome drinks make everyone happy 🙂

https://www.rumfishyvino.com/

Secret Garden--the sleeper! Our recent guests have RAVED about how great their dinners have been and how much they have enjoyed the tropical garden setting.

https://www.secretgardenplacencia.com/secret_garden_placencia.html

Maya Bistro–When guests make it up to Maya Beach, they love the Maya Bistro…still considered one of the best!

https://www.mayabeachhotel.com/tag/bistro/

Turtle Inn–Mondays and Thursdays there is an Indonesian 16 course dinner for about $32 us…..our recent guests had their rehearsal dinner there on the beach. For an additional $25 us, Turtle Inn will set you up with a private table on the sea, with a private server and tiki torches…..awesome for a special event!

https://www.coppolaresorts.com/turtleinn/food-drink/the-mare-restaurant

De’tatch–another crowd favorite. Their atmosphere for breakfast, and their awesome fish, make this pretty much a multiple outing restaurant for most guests.

https://www.seasprayhotel.com/detatch_cafe.html

Tiger–Don’t overlook this place….we took guests here who said it was the best Indian food they had ever had! Worth the 10 minute cab ride, such an exotic atmosphere too.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tiger-Beach-Club/1432713346995283?sk=app_254084314702229

Sweet Mama’s–Thursday night Garifula drumming at Sweet Mama’s-Robert’s Grove–Our guests have had a BLAST dancing along to the Garifuna drumming, and Sweet Mama’s has awesome barbecue for less than $10 us. Robert’s Grove will also even pick you up to take you there if you call in advance!

https://www.facebook.com/placenciabelizeresort

Excursions:

Monkey River/Barebones Tours–Percy from Barebones Tours has gotten rave reviews from our guests. He had Jack Hannah on his tour and our guests raved about their experiences!

https://www.barebonestours.com

Cockscomb Jaguar Preserve–You get to do rainforest hiking, waterfall swim, river tubing, and rock slides all on one tour! Doyle gets consistently high rating and people say this was one of the highlights of their trip….

https://www.facebook.com/dtourz

Silk or Laughingbird Caye Snorkeling–Two of the famous cayes in Placencia…about 30-45 minutes away, Laughingbird Caye you will see lots of coral and tropical fish–possibly a nurse shark or two! At Silk Caye you can swim with turtles the size of cars, 8 foot sting rays, and lots of nurse sharks! Our guests have had great experiences with all the tours, including Splash, Nite Wind, Pirates Point, and Ocean Motion.

Spear Fishing/Mayan history–We recently met Mark from Cayequest–highly recommend him as a tour guide. He is kind, funny, and interesting, with a ton of stories and insights. He does a range of tours, including one our guests recently went on, where they got to snorkel, fish, and watch as Mark speared a fish for their lunch! He also has a highly rated chocolate tour, Marie Sharps tour, and more….

https://cayequestadventures.blogspot.com/

Xunantunich Mayan Ruins/Inland Blue Hole--Trip N Travel recently took our guests to Xunantunich and the Inland Blue Hole tour. The drive is LONG…over 2 hours…but you do get to see a lot of Belize on your way, and Xunantunich is the best Mayan ruins in Belize. The drive back is made shorter by stops for ice cream, the Inland Blue Hole, and a couple other surprises!

Cave’s Branch Cave Tubing–Ian Anderson has private land less then 2 hours away, and there is a great cave tubing/Mayan history tour where you can even touch 1500 year old Mayan pottery fragments! Our guests had a great experience and this is recommended…

https://www.cavesbranch.com/belize-cave-tubing

Activities:

Fusion Beach Pool--Becoming a guest favorite, walk to the beach out front, take a left, and walk a few minutes on the beach to Fusion Beach. It is a Miami-beach style pool and bar. The view is incredible, great music, relaxing, and wonderful mojitos and small plate food!

https://www.facebook.com/fusionbeach

Belize Ocean Club--always a favorite, BOC offer Sunday pool parties, free kayaks and paddleboarding, and now they have movies on the beach on Saturday nights! They even offer free shuttles from the village…

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Belize-Ocean-Club/147461978762029

Tutti Frutti gelato…another classic favorite of guests….100% happy customers and you can walk there from CBC! They are #1 on TripAdvisor!

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g291977-d1092180-Reviews-Tutti_Frutti-Placencia_Stann_Creek.html

Tipsy Tuna/Barefoot Bar–these two beach bars are the highlight of the beach bar scene here. Day and night, these two places are a guaranteed fun time. They often have big screens on the beach for sporting events, live music, games, horseshoes, and great happy hours. They advertise their daily activities on chalkboards throughout the village, these are always a can’t miss! (2 minute walk from CBC!)

Tipsy Tuna Beach Bar in Placencia, Belize

https://www.facebook.com/BarefootBarPlacenciaBelize

Kayaking and biking--it is always great to take advantage of free fun, and at CBC we offer complimentary bikes and kayaks for guest use. You can kayak over to Tranquilo, or to Placencia Caye, and bike as far North as you can, stopping at many of the places listed above! here are a couple of our guests enjoying the kayaks…

I am currently in the area of St Pete/Clearwater, Florida, to visit with family and friends, and it has made me think–is it worth going outside the US for a beach vacation?? I will try to put together an unbiased list of what seem to be the pros and cons of each, to help you decide if it is worth it for YOU!What is awesome about staying in the US for your vacation? (Note, some are really obvious:) ) Please enjoy the recent pics I have been taking of the Florida beaches as you read 🙂 (and some stolen from google to enhance certain opinions :))

–You don’t need a passport of course!

–You can generally get to your place in a couple hours at most, more cheaply than flying internationally.

–You kind of know what to expect….less stress in packing and planning. You KNOW you are going to see the Wings store, a Margaritaville type restaurant, mini golf, movie theaters, chain restaurants, CVS, etc.

–You can pretty much count on knowing that the place you stay will be up to first world expectations.

–You can be pretty assured that you will be comfortable and have everything you need in a short distance, including emergency services.

–You can probably do it pretty cheaply and know that that 2 star hotel will probably be ok 🙂

–It is not as hard to find traveling mates as it is just not that much of a commitment.

–Beach vacations in the US are pretty clean, well organized, and are so used to having tourists that you can feel pretty safe and secure about your experience whether you are going to Myrtle Beach.Hilton Head, etc.

–No major planning ahead of time, you can pretty much picture the whole trip before it happens (if you have had even one beach vacation, you get it. You know what they look and feel like.)

–No dealing with customs or that long trip, long lines, being uncomfortable at times, that scary feeling when you show up at an international airport and don’t know what the hell to do next, having to learn a new way of doing things, feeling rigid and or dumb the first time you do anything 🙂

Ooooook. SO given all that comfort, familiarity, low stress, why go somewhere else???

Note–sometimes the trip I described above is exactly what we are looking for. Not every vacation needs to be an exotic, crazy experience. But, here is what I have learned about why it is TOTALLY WORTH it to push yourself a little! (also note, I am using a beach vacation in Placencia as my comparative place 🙂 )

–Let’s start with something shallow.You can drink on the beach! No one cares! In fact it is encouraged! You can drive in the back of a pick up truck while drinking! You can walk to the village with a beer from your house in your hand! This is just FUN and feels like you are really doing something somewhere fun.

–Along with that freedom….getting a sense of different culture is invaluable–even with less restrictions and rules, you realize that everyone is still alive. You are likely to see parents with their kids on the handlebars of their bike, kids running in the streets, small children selling things…and yet, you see happy smiling people who are doing just fine. You may have a realization that it is damn exhilarating to jump off the top of the booze cruise you are on, or not wear your seat belt, or think FOR YOURSELF about what level of risk you want to take.

–This can lead to….pushing your comfort level–being uncomfortable is one of best ways to grow and feel competent and confident! The world can really open up when you realize you can figure it out and get along in a completely different world.

–The expansion in your brain that happens when not knowing exactly what to expect—-from a restaurant, store, excursion, driving etc. I don’t know about the rest of the US, but I notice that we tend to do a LOT of the same experiences over and over again (chain restaurants, amusement parks, predictable activities.) When you find yourself, say, hiking in a jaguar preserve in the dark, tubing through the jungle, climbing a Mayan ruin, tasting something totally unfamiliar at a street stand….with no frame of reference….sometimes one starts to think for themselves about what is enjoyable for THEM instead of following the recipe we grow up with.

–Can I repeat this…..the same old chains and stores and predictable experience GETS OLD and mind numbing!

–It is refreshing and exhilarating to do something new….do you remember even eating the last Applebees or TGI Fridays dinner? You’ll remember eating at a roadside stand, served Gibnut (a kind of rat.) from a lovely Mayan woman!

–Something you can’t buy….smiling and connecting to someone totally different than you… makes you feel better about the world!

–You learn more about history and geography, in the most memorable ways, by traveling then by any sort of school or reading!! (IMHO.)

–You certainly get a sense of how privileged we are after visiting less well off places—we are just swathed in comfort and safety. Why leave it? You can’t buy being more worldly and having a greater perspective, and how this helps us become more wise.

–One of my personal favorites….instead of Busch gardens or Disney, you can see real historic treasures like the Blue Hole, Mayan ruins, the coral reef, see the way people actually do live in one room houses on stilts, see the actual banana farmers working, walk through a real jungle, etc.

–There is something really priceless about being less scared of things, including feeling lost/stupid/incompetent, like everyone does the first time they do something!

–When somebody says whats new….what a great conversation starter!! You can have a reason to talk about awesome places you are thinking of going and get great ideas from other people doing the same thing. People might actually WANT to see your vacation photos!!

–I have LOVED my vacation here, and especially connecting with people I care about. BUT……everything I can do in Florida I can do in Cleveland…it is warmer, salt water, etc, but the feel is the same.***

***Note. I have also LOVED having first world conveniences….I have taken full advantage of all of them…..I AM very comfortable and I am loving it!!! I am appreciating the way I can go on autopilot a bit here…I just don’t want to make a habit of it 🙂

We just finished what has been the most busy and fun 6 weeks I think I have ever had! We have had a large group of friends from Cleveland come to Placencia, one for a “babymoon”, one got engaged on our beach (see beach wedding below), another was going to get engaged here but the ring wasn’t ready (!!!), capped off by me having a visit with family in friends in Florida, only to return home and have the nearly newlyweds waiting for an awesome wedding week!

It is overwhelming to pick a vacation spot if you like the beach…if you are staying in the Western Hemisphere, there are the southern US states, all over the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central and South America to pick from. Most people get a week off so flying distance is an issue. Once you narrow it down to say 5 hours or less to get there, there are still a mountain of choices.

**Note. This post may have opinions that are quite arguable based on taste 🙂 I will try to be as unbiased as possible! Pictures are from google and represent what you will actually see.

For those who have it narrowed down to Mexico or Belize, on the Caribbean side (note: the Caribbean islands are all awesome. Let’s say you decided you wanted to do a place that was not an island, but on the mainland—why the mainland? Authentic character, easier/cheaper to get to, and the places in this blog are awesome!). Three great places to choose from are Playa del Carmen and Tulum in Mexico, and Placencia, Belize. See my post HERE for a comparison between Placencia and Ambergris Caye, Belize, and Roatan, Honduras (the latter two being islands).

Playa del Carmen and Tulum are in Quintana Roo, MX, on the Caribbean Sea. They are South of Cancun and you need to take a bus or puddle jumper to get there. There is a great bus service called ADO that gets great reviews. They are about 45-90 minutes away from Cancun.

Here is a brief overview and description of each place, compared to each other, from one traveler’s (my!) point of view:

Playa del Carmen:

-Biggest, most developed of the three places

-HUGE pedestrian street…5th Ave…with bars, restaurants, and shops as far as the eye can see

-Super fun area on 12th where “clubby” nightlife is centered

-Pretty much all the American-ized choices you could ever want. (Starbucks, McDonalds, etc.)

-more to do than any one person could do on vacation!

-gorgeous beaches with soft white sand

Tulum

-great Mayan ruins in walking distance to town

-unique, beautiful rocky beaches, cliffs in areas

-the most charming, unique stretch of beachfront resorts you could imagine–I can’t stress this enough. I could not begin to describe the amazing job the developers did with their beachfront properties. It is so overwhelming to take in one cute eco resort, restaurant, cafe, etc….NO CHAINS! Very nice, welcome feel, you can walk down most stretches of beach, none of the resorts there are the mega resorts you see in most places.

-Great city planning and clear areas where there are more local flair vs. tourism, you can easily get from one place to another with a bike.

Placencia

-small, warm, welcoming village where within a day you will recognize people and beach dogs, you will feel a part of town by the end of your trip

-you can get around town just by walking-no car or bike needed

-you will not feel overwhelmed or like you are missing out on something….there are a handful of comfortable beach bars and places where everyone is, no guesswork or cabbing around to find the fun

-Very authentic, no chains of any kind, no mega resorts in the village, everything is open to all

-You can drink the water!!

Benefits all three have, they all feel safe, they all have great beaches (admittedly……….Tulum and Playa’s beaches—- at least when I was there–are a bit more stunning in color and landscape than Placencia), all have access to snorkeling, ruins, etc. You can do more first world stuff in Mexico, like theme parks and huge Sea World like places. The aesthetics of Mexico are more advanced and stunning than Belize. They are decades ahead tourism wise. BUT at times I wasn’t sure what to do with myself, feeling like a small fish in a big ocean.

I imagine there would be some vacationers who might feel a bit overwhelmed and even overstimulated by the environments in Mexico. It is beautiful, exciting, tons of energy, tons to do…picture a bit of Vegas on the beach. SO many choices. Sometimes this is exactly the right type of trip. Other times, you may want a relaxed, predictable, warm, and easy vacation where you connect with locals and actually talk to and connect to others; you are not one of 1000’s of other tourists, and where you only have to choose between a couple events each night, not 100’s.

So, on one hand, I can say that scientific studies show that less choices=more satisfaction and higher levels of happiness. But, sometimes I just want all of the choices/energy/craziness that big crowds bring. Overall—most exciting and stimulating award goes to Playa. Most charming goes to Tulum. Most warm/welcoming/relaxing goes to Placencia 🙂 Hope this helps you pick what you are looking for!!

This post may trick you into thinking you are looking at a 12 month calendar of tropical places. That was what our group kept saying during our tour of the Cayes this past week…..we took an hour boat ride out to Ranguana Caye…..we saw dolphins on the way…

Then arrived at a jaw dropping island….I mean, the island of our collectice dreams. It was AMAZING! You can stay on Ranguana in rustic, stilted cabanas for $100us a night, or visit for the day, and snorkel with bonefish, lay out with the pelicans, and enjoy the most clear water and eye candy environment imaginable!

**Note, these are courtesy of google images, but this is exactly what you will see!

We then stopped at Hatchet Caye for a beer and ceviche, and had more great views!

This was an amazing outing that I suggest, most tour operators will be happy to arrange it!!

This week marks one year since Dave and my first visit to Placencia. I can see why we never left….February is so pretty here! The water has been great, perfect weather….great sunrises…here are some recent pics….