Placencia, Belize and the HIE...

Placencia was a whole different experience.  I guessed correctly, and it took about two hours to drive the ninety odd miles from Punta Gorda passing more banana fields and citrus orchards along the way.  I knew immediately that I had arrived on the peninsula as there was water on both sides of the road and at some points it wasn’t more than 100 feet or so from the lagoon to the Caribbean.  It was soon after beginning my drive down the peninsula through Siene Bight into Placencia proper that I had a momentary fit of insanity and total loss of common sense; I picked up a hitch-hiker.  This would NEVER have happened had Andrea been with me because she was much more cautious than I.

Beach at the Sea Spray Hotel

In my defense, I had read that hitching was common in Belize and had seen a few others along the way, but this time I decided to offer a lift to a young woman who was going all the way to Placencia.  I figured I would be there soon anyway, so what could go wrong?  Within a few minutes she launched into hair-raising stories of how her ex-boyfriend or husband beat her, and how her and her two-year old son had to flee and he later ended up in jail for who-knows-what and when he got out and caught up with her, he cut her on her stomach (envision her shirt being lifted up at this point to display the scar as proof of her lurid tale), but she is rid of him now and quite proud of the fact that she got thin again shortly after giving birth and she has no stretch marks like some of her friends.  TMI !!!

Now, you can imagine the things running through my mind while we are driving:  first and foremost, I am in idiot; second, when will this nightmare end; and third, will she roll down the window and start screaming bloody murder just as we go past the police station?  Oh, did I mention the part about how she can’t get a job and would do a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g for money?  Yes… it was an absolute stroke of genius to pick her up.  It fortunately ended well when she asked to be let out just past the Chinese grocery store as we drove into Placencia and I quickly drove the remaining block to the turn-off for the Sea Spray Hotel.

Good advice from the Tipsy Tuna

So -- I located the Sea Spray Hotel that I found through Trip Advisor and checked in.  To say that my room was basic is to understate the case dramatically.  After the wonderful accommodations in Punta Gorda, this was a bit of a letdown.  The ventilation was not very good so I had to sleep with the AC on, which was inches above my head and quite noisy.  The bed was hard as a rock (I like a very firm bed, but this was ridiculous) and I did not sleep well, waking with an uncomfortable knot in my shoulder.  But… the room was clean and right on the beach.

Very nice -- but unaffordable

One of the charming things about Placencia is the concrete walkways that run up and down the beach separating the various buildings.  I found the Tipsy Tuna restaurant down the walkway a bit and had (take a good guess) a Belikin or two while breathing in the sea air and getting a good view of the beach from my stool.  After a couple beers I began to recover from my Hitchhiker Insanity Event (HIE) and went for a walk around town.The tourist section of town is not that large so I covered the area between the Chinese store and the fishing pier at a leisurely pace in about an hour or so.  This is a pleasant town with plenty of restaurants and small shops.

Just what I am looking for -- but not for sale

I stopped by a real estate office on the main street and spent some time chatting with the British expat who runs the office.  I quickly learned that my assumptions were right, that most properties cost above what I am willing and/or capable of spending.  The type of property I am looking for (condo in a development or small beach house) is available on the northern end of the peninsula, but too pricey.  There are half-finished properties for sale in the beach area but this would require navigating the building permit process, hiring contractors, etc., which I am loathe to do. 

I also learned that she deals with a bank in Belize City that offers rates in the 7-8% range and she promised to email me the information.  She also confirmed for me that my suspicions regarding many of the developments are true.  Most (but not all) developments are lots with roads and utilities in place, but very little actually built.  Promises and grandiose plans abound, but the reality is that many plots remain undeveloped because the financing disappeared when the recession hit or because the backing never materialized to begin with.  I also looked at the pictures in the window of the ReMax office in town and confirmed that the vast majority of properties are bare ground and the houses available far exceeded my modest budget.

Hurricane disaster waiting to happen

I drove back up the peninsula to check out what I did not notice coming into town due to the HIE.  There are some very nice houses built on both sides of the peninsula and at least one development that has some buildings already completed or in the midst of active construction.

It now struck me that 99% of the peninsula is a hurricane disaster just waiting to happen.  Nearly all of the land is two to four feet above sea level.  One place had sea walls built along what appeared to be man-made canals and these sea walls topped out at no more than two feet above the water.  I learned a thing or two about sea walls while living on Clearwater Beach.  If the sea wall isn't constructed correctly it is a nightmare to repair and extremely expensive.

I was living in Key West in '98 when category three hurricane Georges hit.  My property there was a whopping eleven feet above sea level.  With the house sitting on piers it was probably at about thirteen feet.  I was quite taken aback after the storm when I discovered debris in the street washed up in front of my house.  I can only imagine what would happen here if a medium-sized storm or larger were to hit.  I immediately decided that Placencia was not the place for me.  I know people who were fighting for years after Georges with their insurance company and FEMA about their losses, so I am fairly certain it would be even worse in Belize.  After all, this is a country that moved their capital from Belize City inland to Belmopan after a big hurricane.

Placencia Sunrise

Having come to that conclusion I drove back past the airstrip to the Sea Spray.  The road follows a hairpin loop around the airstrip and when planes are landing, there is a traffic barrier that is lowered until the plane has landed.  I haven't seen anything like that other than in Gibralter.  Once back at the hotel I went for a swim and then downloaded the last couple days of pictures to my netbook before showering and heading back to the Tipsy Tuna for dinner.

Following a swim in the Caribbean, breakfast and yet another glorious sunrise the next day, I put Placencia in my rear view mirror and took off for Dandriga, about an hour down the road.