Belize Vacation

It is hard to say why we decided to go to Belize for vacation, as it was not initially on our radar. We were looking for a nice relaxing getaway where we could unplug and de-stress. We considered Costa Rica and Hawaii, but after reading a New York Times review of the Francis Ford Coppola resorts in Belize we became very interested. My first inclination was that we would not be able to afford what seemed to be the playground for the rich and famous, but when Barbara's brother David and his wife Meg joined us we found a two bedroom beach front bungalow was within our price range.

I have to say making the arrangements is a little old school. Your e-mails are not immediately returned and there is some faxing back and forth, but all in all pretty painless. Getting to Belize is fairly painless too, it was only two hours from Houston or Atlanta. Once there we took a small plane (11 seats) to Placencia, the town 10 minutes from the Turtle Inn resort where we were staying for seven nights.

Arriving at the resort I had one of those great modern travel moments - the place actually looks as good as it did on the web site. Our bungalow was on the beach, as advertised. The place was beautiful, 10 steps to the water and not too many more to the pool and restaurant. They also had plenty of bikes for us to peddle 15 minutes into town where we stocked up on water and Belkin, the local beer. While the food and in-room refrigerator were great, it was nice to be able to economize a little by going into town.

On to the unplugging and de-stressing. There are no TVs, computers, newspapers, cell phones, etc. in the rooms at the resort, so you can really forget about the outside world. There is a Internet cafe in town and I am sure you can get on the hotel's computer if you had to, but we were all about reading books, swimming, eating good meals and basically being lazy. To that end we didn't participate in any of the array of cool events they offer at the resort until Thursday (day 6).

When we finally got going we signed up for the boat trip along the Monkey River. It was a great trip that highlighted the wildlife and vegetation of Belize. Our guide told us this was the river that they shot some of the movie Apocalypse Now on and why Coppola fell in love with Belize. We saw a ton of amazing birds, a few crocodiles and the highlight of the trip was when we stopped and hiked a little way into the jungle to see the howler monkeys. We came upon a family of five monkeys and when they started screaming you felt like you could hear them a mile away. Another neat part of the trip was encountering a group of manatees on the way back to the resort. Amazingly beautiful animals.

On Friday, David and Meg did the snorkel/scuba trip which they said was one of the best they have ever done (and they are pretty experienced). There are several other tours that are offered through the hotel or that you can arrange in town. Although we didn't participate in any others, we heard good reviews from the other travellers we talked to.

There are also several good restaurants in town, so you don't feel like you have to eat at the resort every night. We took a cab there as we didn't feel safe riding the bikes at night - there are no lights and people drive pretty fast. If you have a chance to go we can recommend the French Connection, a relatively new place that offers upscale seafood and french inspired dishes. It is owned by a nice young couple from England. You should also check out the Tratatoria for some of the best old school Italian food I have had in a while. The portions are huge and very reasonably priced, plus the guy who owns the place is a whacked out old hippy who will keep you entertained.

Come Saturday we were very sad to leave. Belize was a great experience that is made even easier by the fact that everyone speaks English and is happy to take US dollars. If you get to the Belize City airport early enough you can close out your trip with the Belize Special at the airport restaurant and a rum punch at Jet's Bar. A good way to go out.