Days 12 & 13 - Caye Caulker/Bus to Merida

LISA: Our last day in Caye Caulker was another relaxing day. When we were planning our honeymoon we set it up so the last days would be calm and rejuvenating. So this has been good for us. In the morning we went to a restaurant/store/spa place called Coco Plum. It's on a very secluded part of the island surrounded by palm trees and other tropical plants. Here is a picture of the path leading to it:



The place was very interesting. The food was delicious and the space was beautiful -- unfortunately the owner also made some comments that were pretty biased and offensive toward Belizeans. It's late (for me, not Greg, who loves to stay up) and I don't have the energy to give details, but I will share at another time. I might even write an article about it. We also saw more of the island and its people but I'll let Greg tell you more about that.

GREG: Caye Caulker is a tiny island -- the inhabited part is only a mile long, and it's only wide enough for four streets: Front Street, Middle Street, Back Street, and Back Back Street. Most of the guest houses, restaurants, and tour operators are on Front Street, but if you venture to the other side of the island you get more of a view of how life is lived by those who call this place home. Belize has an interesting mix of cultural groups (descendants of Africans, Mayans, English, and various mixtures of those three, plus large communities of East Indians, Chinese, and Mennonites), and most of them are present here on Caye Caulker. Since there are no cars, bikes and golf carts (mostly bikes) are the vehicles of choice, though you can walk anywhere on the island in about 15-20 minutes.




We spent a good chunk of Monday afternoon reading on the porch of our guest house. It faces east, so by 1:00 it's in full shade for the rest of the day (really nice when it's 95 outside). Lisa just finished reading The Soul of Money, and I'm trying to finish Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope, which I started months ago but have never found the time to finish. Lisa reads about four times faster than I do, so seeing her start and finish books in the time it takes me to read a few chapters can get quite annoying.


GREG: Yesterday (Tuesday) was another long travel day. First we took a water taxi from Caye Caulker to Belize City, then a bus from there to Chetumal, Mexico, and then another bus from Chetumal to Merida. We were on the road (or the water) from 6:30 am until about 7:30 pm. The most interesting leg of the trip was the bus from Belize City to Chetumal. We took a "second-class" bus because it left 90 minutes earlier than the "first-class" bus, so we thought it might get us there quicker. It's also a little cheaper. The downside is that it is an uncomfortable bus , and it stops about every hundred yards to pick somebody up or drop somebody off. So what would've been a 2 1/2 hour drive took about 4 1/2 hours. It was like driving from Chicago to St. Louis on a school bus route. The upside was that we got to see a lot of the Belizean countryside, and it was interesting to see all the different people who used the bus as their means of getting where they need to go.

We arrived in Merida late -- only had time for dinner (after a lunch of hot cereal and chocolate chip cookies). But the place we're staying here is really beautiful. We'll have some pictures of it for our next post.