February 8, 2011 (Leaving Tobacco Caye for Placencia: Part 3)

One of my favorite features of Placencia Village is their famous "mile long sidewalk" - also known as the "narrowest road in the world"-- which winds through the center of everything. It is supposedly one of the longest continuous sidewalks in the world. And it helps avoid getting sand in your sandals! During my visit, Placencia struck me as a land of contradiction-- as it is common to see a multi-million dollar project literally next door to a group of unpainted wooden shacks. The villagers occupy the same space as the tourists, and there is always an interesting mix of things going on about town. During my visit my observation was that Placencia was - for the most part- dead as a doornail during what I had expected to be the peak of the tourist season (February 8 - 10, 2011). It was eerie to see dozens of very nice and enticing bars and restaurants - many with spectacular views of the Caribbean - virtually empty during the peak evening hours. It was a marked contrast to the excitement and crowds I had seen in San Pedro I observed a baseball game on a dirt field right in the middle of the "downtown" area in which the local kids were playing with a wooden stick rather than an actual baseball bat.

The Dirt Field Where the Kids Were Playing Stickball

One of the most interesting places I visited was a bar/restaurant called the Purple Space Monkey. It had recently been opened by a Canadian to replace a previous venture that was unable to make it. At the time of my visit it had only been open for several weeks. As I compared the activity going on in Placencia with what I had seen in San Pedro earlier, I kept wondering if perhaps tourists prefer chaos and action to tranquility and laid back?

The Hippest Place in Placencia: The Purple Space Monkey