“No shirt, no shoes, no problem”

It’s hard to believe we’ve been on Caye Caulker, a small island in Belize, for almost a week already.  More Caribbean than Central American in feel, the motto here is “Go Slow” and people take it pretty seriously.  We’ve slipped into the rhythm ourselves, and the days have slid away like pearls on a string.

We all laughed with delight when we got off the ferry here and saw the tropical paradise: streets made of white sand, lined with palm trees and brightly-colored buildings, with the impossibly turquoise sea stretching out beyond.  Better yet, Caye Caulker is also a safe and friendly place.  We ride our bike around the car-less streets, weaving among pedestrians and golf carts.  Rastafarians smile and shout out greetings from roadside shops, and we smile and wave back.  Everyone seems to know everyone on this tiny island, and it feels like if you stayed for a few weeks you’d know everyone too.  It’s a far cry from other places I’ve been in the Caribbean, where wealthy tourists are barricaded into their resorts to prevent any possibility of contact with the native population.

Rush hour

We have a lovely house with a pool, and our friends the Brookses have the same a couple of blocks away.  We’ve spent much of our time swimming — in the pools, in the ocean at “the Split” (where a channel cuts the island in two), off the dock that our house has access to — and biking around town.

THEY NEVER STOP EATING

Less happily, we also seem to spend a great deal of time thinking about our next meal and running to the store, since feeding 12 people is not a casual endeavor.  Fortunately we found vendors of fresh tortillas, and no one has complained about frequent meals composed of some variation on tortillas, cheese, salsa, and guacamole.  It seems like one meal is barely finished before they want to eat AGAIN.

Luckily we’ve also been able to sneak out for a few adults-only restaurant meals.  The other day the kids were very excited to create their own “restaurant” and cook while we went out.  Preparations were elaborate and they lived up to their agreement to clean up afterwards, so everyone was happy.

Today we split up into two groups.  Zoe and Nadia joined most of the Brookses for an adventure that they will be describing in the future, while Bob and I took Lanie and Ganya on a tubing trip.  We were pulled along behind a boat through the clear, blue-green waters around the perimeter of the island, with juice and rum punch being passed back to us at frequent intervals on a surfboard.  A good time was had by all.

Tomorrow we sadly say goodbye to Caye Caulker, heading back to the mainland and into the western mountains.  We also say goodbye to the Brookses, but not for long — we’ll be heading home in just over a week!  It seems hard to believe.  Two more stops in Belize and then we’re done.