Life in a year full of Saturdays: La Cubana

CAYE CAULKER (BELIZE)
21 February - 24 February 2017

And to think, Caye Caulker almost didn’t make our itinerary. It was in and out like a cheap highway diner in Nebraska, never truly making its presence felt, never delivering an overwhelming statement or value proposition as to why we needed to be there. It stood like an outcast, a nobody within our mix of ‘must do’ places on our Central American escapade.

In the end Caye Caulker turned out to be the most unexpected and memorable stop that we made. On the back of Cayeans (or is it the Caulkans?) fundamental philosophy of life, ‘No shirt, no shoes…no problem’ and a relentless breeze that can sway your hammock into a Caribbean induced coma, we loosely played with the feelings of Caye Caulker and now that makes me feel slightly ashamed. I was un-learned, un-schooled in the ways of the Cayes, but now I have had my life improved significantly.

Caye Caulker - Belize

La Cubana Hostel - Caye Caulker - Belize

Not a bad location for a hostel huh :)

One of the main streets on Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker - Belize

If the place is hammock ready then Inga loves it!

Caye Caulker - Belize

Sitting pretty some 35kms north-east of one of the most ordinary of world capitals, Belize City, Caye Caulker is a place where you’re greeted with a balmy breeze, palm trees, soft sand and low, bright multi-coloured buildings as you step off the main pier. It’s the epitome of reggae, just in Belize fashion. Lonely Planet says that the easy going nature is due in part to the strong Creole presence on the island, which pulses to the classic reggae beat, forming a more than suitable home to those translated Rastafarians.

Shoes are redundant here. Walking barefoot is almost obligatory and getting dressed up for the night means pulling out your best ‘flip flops’, or as Australians would put it, thongs. Golf carts transport new arrivals to their lodgings around the small town (and really, a car here would not even be a waste, it would be pure stupidity), there are no traffic lights, street signs or any real association a town of any real size. This is the ‘chill zone’ where island time is as serious as you want to make it. And there you have the beauty of Caye Caulker, a paradise without the massive crowds, without the high rises, with the beautiful calm water of the Caribbean and your beck & call. Bliss would be the classic understatement.

Caye Caulker - Belize

Take your pick

Caye Caulker - Belize

We didn’t have any accommodation booked on arrival but managed to quickly find the La Cubana hostel, located almost at the end of the pier for the San Pedro-Belize express ferry. A small, clean but occasionally inconvenient hostel, it was an ok place to stay, made bearable at night only by the presence of an air conditioner – which unfortunately we did not have for our first two evenings. Oh well, the small pains of paradise.

The Caye itself is 8kms long, split right in the middle by a little channel cut by cyclone Hattie in 1961. The ever present cut, known by all as “The Split” is at the northern end of the southern island of the Caye and provides a good swimming opportunity for all those revellers taking up a position at the fabulous Lazy Lizard bar for the day.

Caye Caulker - Belize

Out on the reef with a few stingrays - Caye Caulker - Belize

Caye Caulker - Belize

Par for the course - Smirnoffs at the ready

Caye Caulker - Belize

Walking around on sand all day, heading from bar to bar, i.e., Ana Genie, Bryce’s Beach BBQ, the Lazy Lizard, we could have been forgiven having our time occupied just by doing that…but no, we had the want and desire to do more, like watching the fabulous sunsets on the western side of the island each afternoon, taking some SUP’s out for an attempted circumnavigation which didn’t quite make the great and partaking in the cuisine which ended up being mostly quesadillas, pork and whatever else could wash that down, which as this point in time was Smirnoff Double Black Zero’s…and really, how good a place is it that you can just buy a bottle of alcohol, open it right in the shop and walk barefoot on the sand streets without a care in the world!?