March 15, 2026
Spring break was coming up for me and we didn't have a trip planned. We decided rather last minute to take a trip to Guatemala, a country I've wanted to visit ever since I went to Mexico on a summer study abroad program in college. Bob connected with a tour company called Kimkim to work out the details. We decided to start in Belize as an entry point closer to Tikal, the place I was most interested in visiting.
We left for LAX at 5:15 AM on March 15 and flew 4 hours and 40 minutes to Belize City, a relatively short flight for us. Belize City is the capital and largest city in Belize.
We were picked up at the airport by a driver who took us to the Golden Bay Hotel, a 30 minute drive. The hotel employee checking us in said, "Oh, looks like you got an upgrade."
That was an understatement.
Our very large door (on the right below) should have given us a clue as to what was inside, but we only noticed that later.
Walking into the room was like Dorothy stepping out of her gray house into the technicolor of Oz. Our expectations did not come close to matching reality. The "room" was actually a very large suite, complete with a full kitchen, dining area, and living room in addition to the requisite bedroom and bath.
Statuary filled the horizontal spaces.
The view of the Caribbean Sea from our living room window was not bad either.
And imagine my delight when instead of two small chocolates on our pillows, there were two full-sized gourmet chocolate bars! However, I have to say that this was one of the driest, most powdery, yuckiest chocolate bars I have ever nibbled on. Yuck.
Oh well, it's the thought that counts, right? False. It's the chocolate that counts. Who am I kidding?
We went to the roof for dinner in the hotel restaurant, Vino Tinto. I had the shrimp stir fry and Bob had the rib-eye steak. Both were very good.
We slept well and were up early for our breakfast in the Vino Tinto Restaurant. It was not as good as dinner, not that the food was bad, but more because we discovered we did not care for the traditional Belizean breakfast of fry jacks (deep-fried dough that comes out hollow in the center--not as good as it sounds) and weirdly-flavored black beans.
After breakfast we checked out (But I wanted to live like a Russian Czarina for another night!😢) and were driven to the pier, where we got on a water taxi to go to our first true destination, Caye Caulker.
As soon as we set foot on the island, we felt the Caribbean vibe. Caye Caulker (pronounced "key cocker") is much more like Jamaica than it is like Guatemala. Measuring 5 miles in length and 1 mile in width, it is beach living/tourist central extraordinaire--plenty of water, sand, sun, and alcohol.
We grabbed a local cab, a vehicle like a golf cart, for a short ride to our hotel, where we dropped off our bags and headed back to the pier to join a snorkeling tour to the Belize Barrier Reef.
At 190 miles in length, the Belize Barrier Reef is the second largest coral reef system in the world after Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Unfortunately, the water taxi ride from the mainland followed so closely by the speedboat ride to the reef on choppy waters brought on my nemesis: motion sickness.
In spite of taking medication, I was incredibly green by the time we reached the reef. I thought that if I got out and into the cold water, I would get over it. I did okay for about 15 or 20 minutes, but the undulating water ultimately made me feel even worse. After throwing up a few times in the water and feeling very dizzy, I had to get back onto the boat and lie down. Everyone kept telling me to go up top where there was a breeze, but I had to stay down where the motion was minimized and where I could lie down in the shade. It was a long day of total misery.
Bob, however, had a blast. He saw sea turtles, nurse sharks, various kinds of rays, a moray eel, and lots of different kinds of fish. It was such a bummer to miss out on all the fun.
I had to be grateful that I saw these tarpon that people were feeding off the side of the dock.
Cute little boat (not ours). It looks so placid and pleasant. Sigh.
After we got back from the snorkeling expedition and my stomach had some time to calm down, we went out looking for dinner. Caye Caulker has a unique personality.
Having been devasted by hurricanes and flooding in the past, it's no surprise that most of the homes are on stilts.
Bob had scoped out a restaurant called Reina's that we were able to walk to. It looked like a hole-in-the-wall place, but it is supposed to have the best jerk snapper and jerk chicken on the island.
Bob had the jerk snapper. He doesn't remember it being anything special.
I went light with chicken, veggies, and rice. The ice cream from another shop we found on our way home was the best thing I had to eat all day.
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