Las Terrazas
A wonderful new hotel on the north side of the island. The rooms are beautiful, the grounds are nice. They are new and still under construction so they are working some things out. The staff was very friendly, although sometimes it was hard to get what you asked for. The restaurant is not open yet, but it was hardly a problem with places all near that you can walk to. Once they work out all of their kinks this place will be great.
If you like taking cooking classes-- ask them to contact Sherlette at the Upper Deck and she will be happy to teach you Belizean food. I would not miss this!
Thursday
I am waiting to get a massage so I figured it was a good time to spend a few minutes writing. It is really beautiful in Belize this time of year-- although it is very hot. This time we are staying on the north side of the island and I must say I like it much better. It is so barefoot and relaxed here. I have not had one thing bad to eat since I have been here. Luckily they do not offer a full breakfast at this hotel-- it is a continental breakfast. I am actually quite glad about this, considering the morning meals I ate in Mexico on my last stay. How can anyone resist such good food, this time I am opting simply for fresh fruit. It took me two weeks to fit back in my pants, even slightly, after my Mexico trip. I have however not missed one dessert with my meals, I may be eating seafood salad, but someone better give this girl her dessert! I might take out the Hobie Cat today. I have not sailed in a while so we will see how that goes. Erick is scared already :P
Evening
My day consisted of lazing around the beach feeling the wind run across my skin and reading my last vampire book. I did manage to find the gym, which was conveniently located one door away from my room. I paid a short penance for my indulgences and then moved on. We took the golf cart down a very bumpy dirt road to lunch spot called Capricorn. They were out of pretty much everything on the menu except the crab claws, the spot was so beautiful that sand would have tasted good. Needless to say the crab claws were fab. Apparently they get the claws from Caye Caulker which is 25 minutes away. The meal ended with a slice of coconut cream pie which was no less than 10 inches in height. An artist was there teaching a painting lesson to one of his friends. I felt like taking one of his canvases and a pulling up a chair beside them to paint. After my 3:00 lunch I headed back to the beach for some more power lazing. There are lots of dogs around here. They like to play in the water :)
Friday
Started out with a Fresh Fruit breakfast of watermelon and Cantaloupe. Thinking of the gym-but thats as far as its gotten. I wanted to take a cooking class here but when I looked around and asked no one knew of any. While eating at the Belizean Breeze the other night, it did not skip our attention that the food was good. We asked to talk to the chef and she was happy to offer me a cooking class. YAY! So on Saturday I will learn to cook a traditional Belizean meal of stewed chicken, coconut rice, beans and plantains-- oh and a lemon meringue pie ;)
Off to the Gym-- maybe...
Things I have learned today~
1)Riding a bike in the sand is very difficult, riding a bike on the beach at the end of a grapefruit daiquiri day is even more difficult, riding a bike in the sand on the beach after grapefruit daiquiris, in a dress, is just plain stooopid.
2) Belizeans are hard working people. The work non-stop in the heat and some I have seen over the days with two and three jobs. They are also typically pretty thin. Im sure due to way of life and the food they eat.
3) So far Rosalie Cullin is beesh
4) A last thing I noticed this evening is that even surrounded by trash, flowers continue to bloom.
Saturday
So today was the day for my cooking class. Sherlette was supposed to meet me here at 1:00 and cooking was to begin. Just like all things Belizean-- that did not work out. After an hour of waiting on her, I called and found out that she had missed her ferry. Plan changed to me meeting her at her work at 4:00. Since I had some time to kill-- I hopped on a golf cart with E and went down the way to a place called Rojo Lounge. No lie-- it was Rojo. I ordered the fish tacos and was pretty disappointed that the fish was fried. I am kind of a seafood purist. I don't believe in it being fried unless a)You are at Long John Silvers-- which could only be palatable once every 3 years or b) you are at a place where you can not get fresh seafood. I picked the fried part off which left me with an inch nugget of fish which I did eat. Another major Sh*t to the whole thing was that Rojo was about a mile and a half down the dirt jungle road and since our mode of transport was a golf cart we were dive bombed by mosquitos. If I told you that E also ran me into a bush to escape another golf cart -- would you sympathies with my whole scenario... After this whole annoying event I came home and then walked over to Sherlettes work. I spent a couple of really HOT hours with her in the kitchen and she taught me some Belizean recipes. She dropped me back to my place with food in tow. Once she left I uncovered all the food pans, and the savory smells immediately filled the room. At this point I was not hungry-- but who could, or if they were in their right mind, would-- pass up this delicious looking food... Let me just say I started out with a small portion, and I went back again, and again, and ehum, again. This food was so good, when I ate it Im sure a steel drum started playing somewhere. It is probably one of the yummiest things I have ever eaten. I can tell you with all honestly that I will gladly step my running up to accommodate this heroin meal.
Here is the recipe I learned today:
Rice and Beans
½ pound red kidney beans
2 cups rice
1 cup thick coconut milk
1 medium onion (sliced)
½ bell (green) pepper
1 clove garlic (optional)
1½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
METHOD / DIRECTIONS:
Cover beans in water, and soak overnight. Put beans in pot; add onions, bell pepper, garlic, and enough water to boil until beans are tender and whole. Add coconut milk, and seasonings. Add rice to beans, and cook over gentle heat until liquid is absorbed. Stir gently with a fork, and add a little water as necessary, until rice is cooked.
STEWED CHICKEN
1 Chicken; cut in serving
1/2 ts White pepper
1 TS of Garlic Powder
1TS of Chicken Bullion Granules
2 Balls recado (can substitute for Paprika) But I think this is what makes the dish-- it is a Belizean Spice
1 Sliced onion
1 Tomato
3 Stalks Cilantro
Hot oil
2 c Water
Cut chicken in serving pieces and season with Garlic powder, Bullion Granules, white pepper, recado, and sliced onion and a cup of water. Let chicken sit in this mixture for 30 min. Next brown chicken in hot oil, braise slowly until well browned. Pour off excess fat. Cook over low heat adding and water, onion, tomato, cilantro, and juices chicken was marinating in. In the last 10 minutes you can ad a small mixture of cornstarch to thicken. Pour chicken and sauce over rice and beans. Serve with potato salad and fried plantain
Sunday
Kinda tired today. I had my watermelon breakfast and now debating on what to do next. I may try the gym for 20 minutes then go lay by the beach. In my mind it sounds like a good plan. Tomorrow is a sailing day-- we will take a Catamaran to Caye Caulker.
Later on
We did take out the Hobie Cat. Luckily there was not too much wind-- so I was able to ease back into the rhythm of things. I taught E his first sailing lesson, and I think he liked it. It is especially nice to have someone else man the boat while you sit in the front dangling your legs in the water. There is a lot of sea kelp here so most of the time you cant see what is really underneath you-- this was not good for my sharkaniod psyche. We ate again at the Upper Deck and their food was once again delicious. I had a seafood skewer and veg. On a side note the mosquitoes here can be profoundly bad at night. I was careful to spray all over before we walked the beach-- what I did not count on was one of the little bastards making its way to the sole of my foot. Yow! And I mean YOW! The mosquitoes here hurt- but the one on the bottom of my foot is positively cuss worthy.
Monday
We took a Catamaran on a snorkel trip to the reef and then to Caye Caulker today. I still feel like I am waving a bit from riding on the boat all day. I saw lots of fish, a sea turtle, and an eel. I can say with all certainty that catamaran life is not for me though. The wet surfaces without shoes make me cringe and the bathrooms are grody. All tolerable for a day ;). We met some fun people and had lunch at a place called Bamboo. Erick's burrito was the biggest I have ever seen, it was larger than the plate. I managed to find the Recado spice I needed to make Belizean stew so I was a happy camper. Time now to decompress and finish the last of the laundry.
Will be coming home tomorrow. I have had a relaxed fun time in Belize. If you are looking for a place to travel that is close to home Belize is a great place.
Victoria House
Tropical island breeze all of nature wild and free this is where I long to be La Isla Bonita. Now I know why that song was written.
San Pedro is as close to barefoot and carefree as you get with still having all the modern luxuries. First of all there were relatively no cars on this island. The preferred method of transportation was golf carts, which I loved. It kind of made it feel like the whole island was your resort.
Victoria House was beautiful. We had a one bedroom suite that was huge. It had a kitchen and living room downstairs with a patio and the bedroom, bathroom, and balcony were all upstairs. The decor was modern Hemingway, plantation chic if you will. The soaps and shampoos were all made on the island and smelled wonderful. I had a massage almost every day on my balcony and I had previously read on trip adviser to ask for Roxy. Whoever wrote that, thank you. Roxy is the person you need if you are going to have a massage. The food at the restaurant was delicious.
There were NO phones in the rooms, that means no room service, and no calling the front desk if you have a problem. They really need to have phones to call the front desk with. Another thing I did not like was that it was hard to get in the water from their beach because there was seaweed ? or something that covered the entire water area.
If you stay in a suite with a kitchen you can buy your own food, snacks and drinks and keep them in the refrigerator. This is very convenient.
Xanadu Island Resort
Run for your LIFE! How this is number one on trip advisor is mind bogeling. The only thing I could think is that they are having their friends write reviews. The pictures on their home page looked NOTHING like the hotel itself. I would be hard pressed to call this place a resort. The outside lookes like a bad trailer park. My room smelled, which they explained was due to the fact that I asked them to clean with bleach instead of perfumed spray-- Um what? I guess they need the perfume spary to get the stench out. The rooms were old and dilpidated. I did not spend one night there-- I could not get out fast enough. I asked for a refund because it was a total bait and switch. They informed me that the pictures were of the resort-- ok-- maybe 20 years ago, and they would not be refunding ANY of my money. Well all I have to say is take it up with my card company!
On a side note I am now at Las Terrazas and it is fabulous. Beautiful, Clean, New, and guess what-- it is CHEAPER than Xanastydu. I will be posting a full review when I get home.
Belize Legacy Resort
Go for 7 nights get 2 free, go 5 nights get one free from May 1st to August 31st.
Listed as #5 on Trip Adviser for Ambergris Caye
http://www.belizelegacy.com/html2/
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