February 9, 2011 (Placencia Village, Belize)

I woke up a little late this morning (about eight) but the weather was still fine for a nice run around Placencia Village. I ran all around the village for about an hour and took the opportunity to explore everything. The area still amazed me because of the wide range of development-- from virtual slums in the older part of the village to new and expensive private projects at the southern tip of the peninsula. The beach wasn't as good as Hopkins for running because it was extremely "slanted" (like a velodrome) but there were still plenty of beautiful places to walk and jog. After my run and shower I had the "Big Breakfast" at the Paradise Resort restaurant, after which I poked around on the Internet (using the restaurant's convenient WIFI hookup) before heading out to continue my exploration of Placencia Village. I took a number of photos such as the ones below:

One of the Beautiful new Projects at the Southern Tip of the Placencia Peninsula

Keeping the Riffraff Out in Placencia

Early in the afternoon I came across a cool looking dude ("Roy") smoking a big stogie and trying to fish off the dock in front of the resort. I asked him if anything was biting, which led to a nice long chat and my introduction to his wife ("Cindy"). Roy and Cindy had been in Belize for several weeks and were heading from Placencia to Hopkins (and maybe even Tobacco Caye). They were also my neighbors back in the U.S. as they lived in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin (home of the original Playboy Resort many years ago).

This Is Roy Smoking His Big Cigar and Fishing Off the Dock in Placencia

Roy and Cindy were planning to visit San Ignacio after Hopkins, so I gave them the names of several of my new friends in both towns and told them to make sure they hook up with Manny (the "mayor of San Ignacio") when they got to town. I also recommended the Tropicool Hotel in San Ignacio if they were looking for very basic but inexpensive lodging. Cindy was also just starting her "early retirement" so we had a great time talking about that as well. She became my "Facebook Friend" so I was able to read a couple of her stories after she and Roy returned to the USA in the spring. According to Cindy's Facebook posts they enjoyed Belize as much as I did!

That afternoon I went back out exploring thre village and ended up visiting the Purple Space Monkey I had noticed the previous day. I met a couple of great young kids there who were divers from Canada, and who raved about the famous island of Roatan off the coast of Honduras (definitely being added to my "need to go there" list). They had some great stories about their trip to Roatan (which reminds me that I need to bring a tape recorder on my next trip).


If You Tilt Your Head You Can See the Purple Space Monkey Sign

I subsequently met the new owner of the Monkey (the Canadian) and his very hot wife, and I dined on a nice (and inexpensive) dinner of snapper. According to the young barkeep-- a local gal-- the Monkey had only been open since December 17, 2010. I mentioned my concern about very little traffic in Placencia --- especially in comparison to San Pedro-- and she said it had been pretty slow in Placencia all winter. All my exploration of Placencia made me wonder if there would be enough buyers and customers to support all the projects already operating in the village-- let alone all those that were currently "on the drawing board"??