I Belize In A Thing Called Love

Warning: This blog post contains content that some readers may find vomit inducing.

As we arrive on the Caribbean island, we’re greeted by a huge ‘Welcome to Caye Caulker’ sign adorning the pier. Surrounding us are beautiful green palm trees, turquoise waters and white sands. I can already feel that this is the right place for my romantic intentions. Alex doesn’t have a clue!

Instead of staying a night in Belize City first (which we overheard was a bit on the sketchy side) we’ve got here a day earlier than planned for a bonus day. On the way to our one-night accomodation, I stop by Martinez’s Street Food. It doesn’t look like much, just a window of a non-descript house opening out onto the street, but it has come highly recommended. By late afternoon they’d ran out of their famous jerk chicken, but luckily they still had some beef, and it was delicious.

We get settled into the Blue Wave Guesthouse and as Alex is feeling a bit ropey still I suggest she has a rest while I go to the “barbers”. I actually go to the Pelican Sunset Bar, which is one of the potential proposal spots for tomorrow. It is not quite how I’d pictured it, no beach, a bit of a shack and far too touristy. I scratch it off the list. I order a Happy Hour cocktail and sit on a stool overlooking the bay. I inhale half the cocktail as soon as it arrives and with my heart rate at over 130, I make the call to Alex’s Mum, Diana. There’s no going back now! She must have been worried seeing a call coming from me and assumed something bad had happened. I reassure her it’s a happy call and let her know my intentions for tomorrow. Diana gives me her blessing and wishes me luck along with many kind words and love. The nerves and the cocktail mean I can’t fully remember the conversation, but I’m glad I called her even if it is a slightly dated tradition.

I then try to genuinely get a haircut, but for some reason the majority of the barber shops are closed today, and the one that is open has a massive queue of shouty locals. I return home and explain I waited a while but wanted to come back and have an explore of the island with Alex. She buys it and the plans are safe for now. We walk out onto the pier opposite our hostel and immediately spot a giant stingray gliding through the shallow waters. Next up, a huge starfish clinging to the wooden pier pillar. It sets us in good standing for our snorkelling tour tomorrow.

For our evening treat, as we’ve agreed this will be a ‘holiday’ within our travelling trip, we head to the Lazy Lizard I’ve read so much about online. Despite Google saying it’s open until midnight, there’s not a soul around at 7pm and it has shut-up shop for the day. Hmm, plan B. There’s a taphouse back in town so we head there instead. We enjoy live music by the band “Greg” as I have a couple of beers and Alex has a cranberry juice. We order ‘chips and dip’ with a basket full of chicken wings. Both of our faces drop as we realise the ‘chips’ are in fact tortilla chips, NOT the potato based delights we were hoping for. The delicious beer cheese dip they come with makes up for it though.

The Big Breakfast

Valentine’s Day, we wake up to our favourite song that I’ve set as my phone alarm, cute. The first task on the agenda is to find breakfast before we join the snorkeling trip. The Magic Cup a few doors down offers Belizian Breakfast (with my new favourite, fry jacks), fruit pancakes with syrup and Alex’s favourite drink, frappucino. I go for the Peanut Butter frappucino and Alex orders a Snickers edition, they taste exactly the same. It’s probably far too much food before a snorkelling trip but I wanted the day to start how Alex would want it, loads of food and sugar!

Worst Things Happen at Sea

After brekkie, we head to Tsunami Adventures where we’ve booked our full-day snorkelling tour. We say hello to Heather who I’ve booked the tour through and sit outside waiting a while for our tour to begin. Long story short, they didn’t have enough people to make up a tour group for Tsunami, so after some more waiting around we join another tour. We board the small vessel and are introduced to our captain and tour guide for the day, Franklin and his son Raymond. Raymond was a Valentine’s present to Franklin 16 years ago to this day. Raymond’s 16th birthday present is to spend the day working the boat with his Dad.

On our way across the ocean, we pause near a protected mangrove swamp. They used to let tourists in here to see the crocodiles, but too many tour operators fed them chicken (the crocodiles, not the tourists) and it upset the ecosystem. The result is that it’s now totally banned for anyone to enter the swamp while the ecosystem recovers.

The first stop is Hol Chan where Alex and I decide to take the offer of optional life vests for extra buoyancy in the choppy waters. Here we see Red Snappers, Barracudas, Angel Fish, Parrot Fish and coral. Franklin has a camera and takes on responsibility for photos as well as guide:

At some points, huge schools of forty or more fish all hide under the protection of a rock, humorously unable to tell we can easily see them in their hiding spots. Franklin bobs around in the water and shouts to us when there’s something worth looking at below him. At one point he takes a deep dive down through a gap in the coral reef and out the other side, it’s a pretty impressive feat, but no one else is brave enough to follow his lead. It’s quite hard work in the water and with the life vests constantly dragging us back up it’s difficult to focus on what’s under the surface.

Next up is a stop called Shark Reef, it doesn’t take long for us to work out why. At the side of our boat is a shiver of nurse sharks, they’re pretty big beasts but we’re assured they’re friendly and won’t harm any humans. “Don’t be scared guys, get in already” Franklin instructs as we all nervously put our masks, snorkels and flippers back on. We all plop into the water one by one. The sharks are much more interested in the morsels of sardines being fed to them by Raymond back on the boat. Once we get used to the sharks we notice Franklin gently playing with a stingray that’s come to say hello. He later tells us that it’s his “girlfriend” and that he once helped it as it had a fisherman’s hook stuck in it’s mouth. It now comes to play with him in the water everyday and make his wife jealous, or so the story goes!

The water is really choppy here and the currents are stronger than usual, it makes it hard work climbing back into the boat and a few of us start to feel a bit sea sick. Unfortunately Alex seems to be feeling it the worst and sits on the boat all cold and shivering. I don’t often worry about her but she looks quite unwell and I’m concerned she won’t recover in time for my evening plans.

I was hoping we’d stop for lunch on one of the sandy Caribbean islands but no, we have our lunch rocking and swaying around in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean. Most people eat a couple of bites and leave the rest due to their nausea. I, of course, eat both mine and Alex’s lunches, no food will go to waste on my watch!

The third stop is a ship wreck of an old cargo vessel that sank here during a storm many years ago. It’s super cool to see the giant rusted ship at the bottom of the ocean with the coral starting to claim it back. Fishes bob in and out of the various jagged holes carved into what was once the cargo hold. Sadly Alex wasn’t able to get into the water here as she was still recovering on the boat.

Our final stop for diving is the Coral Garden. Plenty more going on under the sea here and my highlight was seeing a massive school of at least one hundred black and blue fish, I swam right up behind them and they seemed none the wiser. On my way back to the boat I saw a large moray eel slithering across the ocean floor, super cool to see, especially from a safe distance.

As we make our way back to the mainland, Alex starts to feel better and is more like her normal self again, laughing and chatting with everyone on board. We stop by a place where we see Tarpon fish that can grow up to 300 lbs/136 kgs!! They’re absolute monsters, you would not want to be swimming next to one of these even if you knew they were harmless. Sardines are dangled above the water to tempt the huge beasts to jump up and out, like less glamorous dolphins! A couple of people in our group feed the huge seagull like birds by holding a fish on the end of their finger. For once Alex and I are happy to let everyone else partake in the tourist activities while we sit out. Meanwhile a group of pelicans look at us longingly, not getting a look in with the sardines being thrown into the air and snapped up by the gulls.

To get home, we pass through “The Split”, a divide in the island originally created by fisherman for a shorter journey, but widened by various hurricanes over the years.

The Caye Moment

Alright then, the part you’ve all been waiting for… We pick up our luggage and head to what I hope is a peaceful, romantic and quiet Airbnb on the edge of town, Birdhouses.

We’ve been looking for a special place or excursion to spend some Christmas money Diana kindly gifted us, and this seems the perfect time to use it.

Lucrecia greets us at the gates and it soon becomes clear it’s all I’d hoped for and more, the perfect spot. She gives us a long intro and I’m quite concerned she’ll give the game away not realizing I haven’t asked Alex yet. Luckily she doesn’t, and I tell Alex to have an hour’s rest to feel better, then get ready to go out and watch the sunset. I head back into town to try once more to get a haircut so I can look my best for the big moment. However, everywhere is appointment only or again very busy. I can’t be late to my own proposal and I don’t want to miss the golden hour. I rush back to find Alex still in a towel and relaxing on the bed. Hmm, how can I rush her to get ready when she’s not feeling great from the tour. I pretend our dinner reservation is earlier than it actually is and suggest we need to hurry. I go for a shower and dig the ring out of its hiding place, here we go.

I’m relieved that Alex is feeling better enough to join me for a beer out on the private bit of land overlooking the ocean. We pull two seats up next to each other and crack open a beer while watching the white and grey egrets relaxing in the tree in front of us. I put on our travel playlist and “Time of my life” from Dirty Dancing comes on, which we both sing along to. Alex smiles along with no idea what’s coming next. I ask her to stand up while I say a few words to ‘mark the occasion of Valentine’s Day‘. After managing a small speech reminiscing about our four years together, I ask her if she can guess where this is going yet… “no?” She curiously asks. I make it obvious by pulling the ring case out of my pocket and getting down onto one knee. I’ll remember her reaction for the rest of my life, as her hands come up to her face as she’s overcome with joy, excitement and emotion. I’d no idea if she knew this was coming or expected it, but her reaction is so pure, raw and genuine I figured not. I pop the famous question and don’t have to wait long for a resounding yes. We have a big hug and a kiss before I realize I haven’t actually put the ring on her finger yet, back down I go. We then sit down in a slight state of shock to take in the moment. It feels for a few moments like we’re the only two people in the world as we watch the sunset over the ocean and sit in absolute bliss.

It’s a big relief for me to get to this moment, weeks in the planning, sleepless nights thinking it all through and worried about letting it slip. Now we can both relax and enjoy this huge moment in our lives. If nothing else we’ve now got something new to think and talk about for the second half of our big trip! Oh and that ‘Valentine’s Day’ card I snuck off to get in Flores was in fact the engagement ring…

Recreating the moment:

Engagement Evening

I’ve booked dinner at The Wine Bar and Bistro. In Flores, I was secretly communicating with them on Whatsapp letting them know that it will be an extra special evening. They’ve got the message and greet us with big congratulations and a private table tucked away from the rest of the diners. We take a few photos and order a bottle of prosecco, it’s time to celebrate!

Typically you can’t help the weather and a tropical storm opens above us just after we finish our heart shaped bread! As a consolation it’s a lovely atmosphere inside the bistro and we’re serenaded by cheesy love songs all night long. The starter is watermelon, feta and cucumber salad. Followed by tenderloin steak, lobster tail and potato gratin. Desert is a lovely rich chocolate tart with whipped cream and a cherry flan too. We excitedly discuss future plans and how much we’re looking forward to telling everyone our news.

After our relaxing meal, we head back to Birdhouses and play a YouTube quiz and finish a crossword puzzle together before bed. Two staples of our relationship. Having confirmed the good news to Diana earlier on, around midnight UK time, we are surprised to receive a lovely voice message congratulating us. We go to sleep excited to call our friends and loved ones in the morning.

The Morning After The Night Before

We wake up and are back to our usual breakfast of porridge, granola, fruit and peanut butter. What a view though as we look out over the ocean from our Birdhouse balcony. Our two chairs perched next to each other from last night. As we get ready to call everyone back home the WiFi stops working and there’s no answer from our hosts to reset it. Doh.

After waiting a while we can’t hold on any longer and decide to head into town and find a cafe with good WiFi. We cycle on bikes provided by our Airbnb and find The Magic Grill (not the same place as yesterday). I order an iced tea and we call friends and family back home to tell them the happy news. There’s a few clairvoyants out there who “knew” this was coming, especially Romi who brands herself a witch for her foresight. It’s heartwarming to tell my folks who beam smiles and congratulations back at us, before swiftly segwaying back into asking for technical support 😂

We have a bit of an explore of the island on our bikes and I finally manage to get a haircut. I’ve been desperate to get one in Belize as they’ll speak English, especially after a couple of difficult encounters with Spanish speaking barbers.

Returning to our Airbnb we don our Chasing Lights gear and take a picture to share with the group. Immediately after that I post on Instagram and now the whole world knows. Time to relax.

For lunch I cycle up to Martinez’ street food stall, this time there’s plenty of chicken left so I get a couple for Alex and I to share. Mine is, of course, covered in the hot pepper sauce. As I’m waiting in line, the heavens open and a downpour has the locals worrying about the weather. “Don’t worry, it’ll pass. It’s a passover shower, the clouds are high” a local guy says. According to his logic when the clouds are low, the rain will stay, when the clouds are high, it’s a passing shower. A few minutes later and his theory is correct, it stops raining and doesn’t rain again that day.

In the evening we cycle around the small airport to the South of the island and watch the sunset from the dock. We return to town and buy a couple of souvenirs to mark this special location.

For dinner we make proper chips and dip with a mountain of homemade fries and guacamole. We enjoy eating them on our balcony overlooking the spot where we got engaged 24h ago and wishing we could stay here forever.

Vamos a la México

All good things must come to an end, and sadly it’s time for us to depart this wonderful island that will remain significant to us for the rest of our lives. We take some final photos of our favourite spot, collect some mementos and say goodbye to the lovely Lucrecia, who is over the moon for us.

We come crashing back down to the reality of backpacking as we join a huge queue of gringos waiting to board the ferry. For some reason even though we already have tickets, we need to check them in along with dozens of other confused and frustrated people. A drunk American woman queue jumps, pisses everyone off by barging past them, then asks Alex and I what language we are speaking! Back to the madness of travelling…

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Adventure – Cycling around the island along the sandy roads, avoiding the various golf carts. Snorkelling with sharks. Watching the sunset from a jetty while a group of locals play football behind us.

Excitement – Seeing a sunken shipwreck. Nervous phonecall to kick things into motion. The build up to getting down on one knee and the feeling of relief and joy once it was all over. Waking up to an ocean view from a gigantic bed. Sharing our news with everyone and receiving lovely comments.

Trauma – Feeling sea sick.