Getting to Punta Gorda, Belize...

Prior to leaving San Pedro I asked Mike to present an offer on a condo.  The asking price is $189K and I said to offer $169K, with $100K down and the balance financed over 10 years at 10% with the first payments beginning one year after closing.  This would give me time to sell my house and buy the condo on the water I’ve been looking at nearby, which will substantially lower my living costs and make a second mortgage a possibility.  If I can rent the SP condo out half the time, this could work.  We’ll see.

Coming into Caye Caulker

Tuesday morning I caught the 7:00 am water taxi to Belize City where I was picked up by Budget car rental and driven to the airport to pick up my vehicle, a Suzuki Jimmy.  It is about a 6-7 hour drive to Punta Gorda, which is almost on the Guatemala border.

The water taxi left late because the three genius deck hands couldn’t figure out how to get the mooring line off of the dock post; everything they tried just made it tighter until one of the future engineering prodigies managed to use a claw hammer to loosen it up.  I would guess there were about 50 people aboard.  I sat at the back, which was not enclosed.  As we pulled away from the dock we were backing into the east wind and the waves caused a number of sprays that got several of us square in the face; a bracing way to start the day.  Despite three-foot seas driven by the morning wind, the taxi sliced through them and the ride was quite comfortable.

I was glad that we stopped for a few minutes at Caye Caulker to take on a couple of passengers, because I at least was able to see what the island looked like from the shore line.  All in all, it took about an hour and a half to get to Belize City.  My driver was about 15 minutes late, but he was a fairly pleasant young guy who gave me a bit of geography and history lesson of BC as we went.

On the road from Belmopan to Punta Gorda

It only took about five hours to get to Punta Gorda; not the six to seven I anticipated.  It helped that I was doing about 120 on all the straight stretches (KPH, not MPH).  The area from BC to Belmopan was fairly flat and arid.  As I approached Belmopan there were a lot more hills and the scenery became more interesting.  There is a lot of agricultural activity ranging from cattle to corn to oranges and bananas.  I stopped for gas at a Texaco station on the outskirts of Belmopan, which reminded me of when I was a kid… the attendant with a big star on his red polo shirt filled the tank and told me how much to pay the lady inside the station -- $10.13 BZ per gallon – or $5.065 USD; about what I expected to pay.  Not knowing how often I would find a gas station, I filled up again when I got to Punta Gorda and the price was a full BZ dollar more.

The distance from Belmopan to PG was filled with miles upon miles of orange groves and banana fields.  As I got closer to PG, the poverty of the native Mayans became more striking.  Many of their houses are made totally of thatch or of rough hewn lumber that is not planed to width to make the boards even, so there are one to two inch cracks between the boards and from what I could tell at a distance, most houses were built on grade with dirt floors.

I finally became accustomed to the signs announcing bumps in the road as the signal to slow down because I was approaching yet another town or village or cluster of homes.  Following the bumps were “Pedestrian Ramps” – Belizean for ginormous speed bumps.  These things are about eight feet across and about nine or ten inches high.  As I got closer to PG I was thinking that it must still be quite a distance because I was still in the midst of the hills, but the hills actually come down almost to the ocean so it was a pleasant surprise when I rounded a corner to see the Caribbean dead in front of me.

Looking towards Guatemala from PG

Punta Gorda is an interesting town.  Sadly, the first thing I noticed is that it is filthy.  It reminded me a bit of some neighborhoods of Bangkok; garbage was everywhere.  Styrofoam take-out containers, plastic bags and even disposable diapers were along the road or between buildings in sections away from the downtown area.

I found the Blue Belize Guest House and got settled in.  The owner is a marine biologist specializing in studying sharks and was away on business, so her research assistant got me checked in.

The room was very nice. It was on the second floor of one of the two houses that made up the property and opened out onto a huge, half-covered veranda with hooks for hanging the hammocks found in each room.  I found myself wishing I was staying longer.  As a former B&B owner, I really appreciated the thought that went into each aspect of the room.

Sign for Barber/Financial Adviser/Tutor/Accountant office

The main room was a combination living room and kitchen.  A very comfortable couch was accompanied by a low table facing the flat screen TV.  The large jalousie windows had floor length curtains with tie-backs to allow the maximum amount of sea breeze to flow through the room.  While I found the AC a necessity in San Pedro, the ceiling fan was more than sufficient here because of the constant ocean breeze. The kitchen was arranged along the wall between the bedroom and living area and had a toaster oven, microwave, coffee maker and counter high refrigerator.  The drawers and cupboards revealed a full complement of cooking utensils, pots, pans, silverware and dishes.  The bedroom had nice, locally made tables on either side of the bed and plenty of hanger/storage space.  The bathroom was likewise well thought out and I noticed the tile work was expertly done.  The quality and level of detail far surpassed the Banana Beach.

I took a long walk about town, going up and down each of the main streets at least once.  I came across a chocolate shop whose smell alone made me wish I could move here immediately.  This shop grinds the beans, separates the oil from the mixture and makes the most wonderful chocolate imaginable.  The proprietor gave me a spoonful from the large milk chocolate batch she was making.  I wish I could have brought some home but the heat it would have to endure over the next several days made that impractical.  I did buy one bar that, in the interest of avoiding a melted brown mess, I consumed immediately.  I also bought a chocolate swirl soap bar for my crazy cat lady cat sitter, Melly.  I looked over sidewalk menus of several restaurants before settling on the Olympia Restaurant and Bar, and I’m glad I did.  I had the curried fish with salad, beans and tortillas and it was excellent.  The owner said she had finished the renovations about six months ago and she did a very nice job.