January 21, 2011 (San Pedro and Ambergris Caye: Day 1)

Friday morning, January 21 was my first "wake up" in Belize and it was once again a lovely sunny day. Our very "basic" hotel in Corozol Town apparently did not provide bath towels, so I skipped my shower and quickly packed my bag (again). After paying the innkeeper I was told that my new "girlfriend" (Karin) had "ditched" me and was already on her way to the nearby boat dock. I grabbed my bag, strapped on my small backback and headed out the pier. When I arrived a few minutes later I realized I had forgotten to leave my room key with the innkeeper. I asked a fellow working at a small snack shop near the pier if I had time to run back with my key, but he offered to return it for me. I decided to hand him the key, and wondered later whether or not that was a prudent decision. Who knows? While standing on the pier waiting for the water taxi to get loaded with luggage and people I met a Canadian named Kirby Cornwall, who unbenownst to either of us was destined to become my "Belize travel buddy" for the better part of the next three weeks. It is great to have a travel buddy on these types of trips for a number of reasons. First, you can save a lot of money by splitting the cost of taxi rides and hotel rooms. Second, it is wonderful to have someone you know (and trust) to help explore all the amazing adventures that are available who also "has your back" and helps make the trip a bit safer. Although I would have preferred a more curvaceous and "attractive" travel buddy than Kirby the Canuck, he was very compatible in many ways and shared my enthusiam for exploring Maya ruins and water sports such as snorkeling. Kirby was also staying in Belize for almost a month and he was interested in the possibilities of starting a business or buying property in Belize and maybe even moving to Belize in the future.



Kirby the Canuck

Kirby had seen a 25 acre orange farm in central Belize listed on the Internet for sale for US$45,000.00, and he was planning to visit the farm and perhaps meet up with the owner (who was an Englishman). I told him I might want to check it out with him as it sounded interesting.

 During the boat ride to San Pedro Town I asked Kirby if he had reserved a room and he said he had found a very reasonable room in San Pedro at a place called "Pedro's Inn" on a web site he had used extensively to plan his trip. (http://www.toucantrailbelize.com/). I told him I would follow him there and check the place out -- since I had made absolutely no plan at all for accommodations (a pattern I followed religiously for the duration of my voyage). Although it is really a peninsula (a short man-made canal being the only thing separating it from the mainland), Ambergris Caye is widely known as Belize's largest and most developed island and the birthplace of the country's tourism industry. It is located 36 miles from Belize City and only a short distance (about a one hour boat ride) from Corazol Town.
When Kirby, Karin and I arrived at the pier in San Pedro, Karin told us she was going to wait for another water taxi to nearby Caye Caulker, so we bid farewell and I headed off by (regular) taxi with Kirby to find the nearby "Pedro's Inn". After checking things out I decided to pay extra for a private room with its own bathroom at Pedro's, so my room was US$50.00 per night (a bit pricey for Belize considering that the room was kind of a "pit") whereas Kirby was only paying about US$20.00 for his "hostel-type" room with a shared bathroom. But I also had A/C-- an I am a bit of a germaphobe. Pedro's had a small swimming pool and its own built-in bar, and - for some reason- it had attracted a flock of pretty cool people who made our stay there very fun and memorable. The Town of San Pedro -- which had cobblestone streets and a wide variety of shops, bars, restaurants, and tour operators-- was also pretty interesting. Many Americans - including a couple of my good friends - would undoubtedly prefer San Pedro because it features a lot of ACTION-- including a pretty lively night life! The tradeoff is that it is a little too much like Florida -- while still being just minutes from one of the world's premier sites for snorkeling, scuba diving, fishing and swimming.

Our first morning in San Pedro, Kirby and I had breakfast at a fabulous place known as Estel's Dine by the Sea owned by Charles and Estelle Worthington. Estel's has a great location and a great menu (written on a blackboard which you read and tell the staff what you want). I had an excellent omelette with toast, coffee and juice, and enjoyed a spectacular view of the sea. After breakfast, we explored the town for a bit and ended up just hanging out at the Pedro's Inn swimming pool all afternoon and drinking bottle after bottle of Belikin. There was a group of people doing the same thing that afternoon --and we quickly became good friends. First, there were Amy (a librarian) and her husband Mike (a forest service firefighter) from Wyoming. They were both scuba diving fanatics, and it was fun to watch them enjoy their vacation together as a couple over the next few days. It was neat to see a couple who obviously loved each other and who were both passionate about the same thing-- in their case scuba diving. They were doing double dives day in and day out and still had the energy to party and have fun the rest of the day (and evening) as well.

Mike and Amy: Scuba Fanatics and the Cutest Couple EVER!

Next, there was a cool and fun young lady from Canada named "Danielle" who was on her way to Nicaragua. More about her later. There was Kirby of course, and yet another Canadian named "John" (unfortunately drunk 24/7 -- more about him later as well) and a couple other guys including Tyrone, another John, Stafano (from Italy), another Mike, Stacy (a long-time UPS employee from the US), "Texas" (from Harlingen) and Marco (the German who looked like a male model).

Friday night, Peter, the innkeeper at Pedro's Inn, and his first mate Cindy organized a very nice Indian curry dinner event where about twenty hotel guests drank more Belikin, feasted on a ton of delicious food, and got to hear a lot of great stories and get to know one another a bit. One of the guests even regaled us with his interesing stories about serving a number of years in prison for armed robbery! It was quite a night.