Belize is pretty cool. I just stayed in Belize for 10 Days, heres what I learned:
While at the International Airport there are two sides, one side has most of teh international airlines (AA, Delta etc..) The other side has Maya Air, Tropic Air and Continental.
If you're like me and you flew in American Airlines, there will be a crap load of people getting on the flight to Miami with you, and the lineup through customs will be ridiculous. Just walk over to the other terminal and go through customs there, there is only one waiting room that both terminals share.
Also if you eat at the restaurant at the airport, i recommend the steak strips, cheese and bacon burger. you wont regret it.
There are rolling blackouts now though because the power company was refused a rate hike of 15% by the government. While I was there everyones Computers and stereos fried from power surges. If you're bringing a laptop, bring a sure protector.
While I was there the first tropical Storm of 2008 was a direct hit on San Pedro... A little disturbing but not really that scary, just really wet mostly haha
San Pedro
Stay at the Sun Breeze in San Pedro. Its expensive 120-200/night. But the rooms are nice, they have a wooden deck and pool with attached Blue Water Grill that has really good food, and its all right on the beach, AND you could literally throw a rock and hit the airport. Walking into town is easy and fast. All the dive shops are right there. Very convenient place to stay.
You can go up and down the island and find hotels and condos for rent. Most are quite expensive.
If you are willing to sacrifice a little charm and new paint you can get into a sketchier place like the Spindrift or Lucies Hotel right on the beach in town for around 50-70/night for a basic AC room. You can find lots of others that are nicer on teh beach, but only Sun Breeze and Ramones have a pool and a pool is worth it, trust me.
Oh yeah, its HOT. I was tanned when I went, lotioned up everyday, got a wicked tan, then went without lotion for 1 hour at the pool and cried for 3 days after. Bring lots of solarcaine. Get your anti-malarial if youa re planning a jungle trip. Watch out for teh Bots Fly. If you get a mosquito bite that hurts for a long time you probably have a worm growing inside you....
Rum is really cheap.
If you are buying beer at a store and are paying more than 3 BZE per beer, you are getting ripped off.
Most bars will charge 5 BZE for a Belikin Beer.
Comes in Regular and Stout. I found both quite tasty. You can also get Red Stripe Light there, but the bars will charge 6-7 BZE for one of those.
Check out Fido's Sand bar way down in the south at 4:00pm. They feed chicken to a crocodile and the locals get on it and ride it and do all sorts of crazy stuff.
Rent a golf cart if you're going to go touring around. Riding a bike sucks if you go too far south and meet the horse flies that come out of the lagoon. You will be bleeding on the first bite...
Also I ran over a huge black snake there. I think I caught air in the golf cart to give you an idea of how big it was.... And it didnt even phase the snake. So watch out for those too.
Right outside the reef is world class scuba diving. Tuffy Canyon, Esmeralda, to name a few are only 5 minutes away. You can catch a 1-3 hour boat ride that will cost 100-200 dollars for th day for a couple tanks or to snorkel out to turneffe island and the lighthouse reef bluehole.
Hol Chan marine reserve was full of rays and sharks and fish and coral.
My first dive at Esmerelda we dropped to 60ft and there were about 20 big ass nurse sharks there, it was like being in a fish tank. Visibility was amazing outside the reef. There were tonnes of eels and sharks, and rays. Turtles are also very common, everyone at the hotel on the next boat over would always be talking about turtles it seemed.
Water taxi from Belize City to San Pedro will be around 10 US or 20 BZE. ITs 1. hours. But it will be a 25 Dollar US cab ride from the international airport to get to the Water Taxi Terminal. So if you're like me, you might just want to pny up the extra 20 bucks and take a55 dollar US flight to San Pedro (17 minute flight vs 2 hours commute)
FOOD
Woww
The food was amazing, i was stuffing myself all day everyday because there was always something good to eat.
For those on a budget, try out the mexican dishes at Caramaba, the Lunch menu at Calientes is cheap too and the portions are big and the food is top notch. I recommend the Gordittas ;-)
If you want to eat even cheaper you can buy BBQ chicken, hamburgers and hotdogs off sketchy street vendors cooking on a steel drum. Its pretty good and you can get 2 burritos or 1 hamburger for 5 BZE.
Also check out the chinese chicken stand by the airport. Its just a tiny nook with a cart of chicken under a heat lamp, but its soooo good. The BBQ is my favorite.
And of course if you want you can spend 20-50 BZE on a meal at Fidos but it wont be as filling or as tasty.
Also check out this place on the main street called Elvi's Kitchen. They had amazing Seafood. I had two of teh best sea food dishes in my life there. I ordered fresh snapper (catch of the day) cooked in roasted garlic and the next time I chose Conch cooked the same way. Both were excellent and teh portions were big.
Fidos in San Pedors seems to be the best place to meet up with people around 9-11. They have a Live band 'Felix' on the weekends that is pretty good.
Check out the 'Island Perk' right across the street from Fidos, they have 2 for 1 drinks during happy hour, thats 2 for 1 pina colladas, and all the fancy pretty drinks you are still paying 6-8 dollars US for.
Check out the 'Pier Lounge' on Wednesdays for the world famous 'Chicken Drop'. They set up a board in a cage and have a chicken run around. Everyone bets on which square the chicken is going to crap on. If you choose the right square you win! Its aweird locals only bar during normal nights however.
They do day trips to Tical in Guatemala, you can choose to stay teh night as well. Keep in mind everytime you leave you have to pay 35 dollars US exit fee to leave the country.
Also they have trips for river/cave tubing and visitng Altun Ha ruins, and the zoo/zip lining. I've heard the zip lining is kind of lame. and that trip will run 150-230 dollars US per person because you have to fly off the island.
Its an island because theres a river and a bridge. The bridge is a toll bridge (if you are white or obviously a tourist) 10 BZE for a golf cart, and 5 BZE by bike me thinks.
Theres good deep sea fishing for game fish, and you can fish the lagoon for Bone fish too.
Checkout teh Sunset Grill on the Lagoon Side of town, they feed the baby tarpan every couple of hours and its worth a look.
Oh yeah, shop around for your Open Water course if thats what you're down there for. We got ours for 350 with everything included, but some shops wanted 450.
If i think of more i'll post it up.....
and heres a video i geeked out on today of my snorkeling and scuba diving.
enjoy!
TRUTH: it's the new hate speech. In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - Orwell
Man - I miss Belikin! Both the Stout and the Lager were fantastic. Its been a few years since I have been in Belize, but its good to know that beer is still only 3 BZE!
Sounds like a great trip.
Originally posted by 01RedDX
Eye for an eye should apply to both, like if you raped a cat, you would get raped by a bigger cat. Counselling doesn't work on animal rapists you clown.
Belize Review
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