Wednesday, August 31, 2011

A Fish Tale

I must apologize for being lackadaisical about the blog lately. We're in between adventures, and I'm not particularly inspired with any new photos or tales.

Yesterday, we realized if we were going to take advantage of our frequent flier miles to score a free ticket this winter, we needed to act. We'd been on the fence for a few months trying to decide on a new destination. We're not abandoning Isla Mujeres by any means since we're headed there for a month in mid-November, but we feel the urge to explore more. So, we decided on Belize for our February trip. I've been captivated by the photos on a blog listed on my sidebar -- Picture Belize, by AJ Baxter. Once we get back from our September trip to Florida, I'll start cementing our plans. Right now we're thinking about spending time in multiple destinations -- Ambergris Caye, Caye Caulker, and Placencia.

All this planning made me think about some favorite moments from our travel to Yelapa last year. Yelapa had an air of innocence and eagerness about it that was so refreshing. For example, the first afternoon we arrived after dropping our bags at the house, we started walking the village trying to find our way to the town waterfall. As we passed the lower bridge down by the beach, a young boy who was fishing in the stream eagerly yelled, Are you lost? What are you looking for? Can I show you the way?

Before we could even answer, he was out of the stream and by our side. He ran up the path leading us through all the turns until we were headed in the right direction. Before we had time to offer him a few pesos and thank him, he was running back down the path with a smile on his face. A few days later, he discovered us searching for Tacos y Mas. Once again, the smiling boy ran ahead to show us the way, then quickly skipped back to where he came from. I wish I had a photo of him to post! If you've ever visited Yelapa, I bet you know him!


Yelapa is also the kind of place where waiters eagerly bring out the fresh fish for show and tell when you're looking at their menu. We had just settled into chairs one day at a palapa on the main swimming beach when this eager man dashed out to show us his fresh fish. We weren't hungry since we'd just consumed breakfast burritos, but ended up ordering guacamole and chips just because the waiter was so eager to please us. We also ate a piece of chocolate coconut pie purchased from atop the Pie Lady's head, but that's a whole 'nuther story!

I need to add, when the property manager was helping us wheel our bags down the cobblestone path to the main village pier the day we left, locals we'd never met sitting at the little tienda a few doors down bid us adios and eagerly inquired if we enjoyed our visit and would be returning someday. Ahhhhhh.

Cheers to all the eager friendly smiling faces of the world!




8 comments:

Ann said...

We went to Belize 10+ years ago--a one day thing from a cruise ship. It was interesting. We went to Zunantunich & got to see alot of the country on a bus ride from Belize City up to the San Ignacio area. Have talked about placencia & other beach towns, but have never made it back! I will live vicariously through you!

drgeo said...

Pie Lady head pie--- yum!

AJ Baxter said...

Great to hear you will be visiting Belize. Sounds like you are following a beach theme?

One non-beach consideration is San Ignacio in Cayo District. We have a driver pick us up at the Belize airport and drive to San Ignacio (< 2hrs). Great spot for small town feel and maya archaeology.

E-mail me if you need more ideas or suggestions.

Life's a Beach! said...

Ann, now that Craig's got more time to explore, we've decided to take advantage of it.

drgeo, believe me, that's some amazing pie the woman carries around on her head! We also saw an older woman walking through the village one evening with a large bowl of fruit balanced on her head.

AJ, we do want to spend some time touring ruins and some of the non-beach locations. I'll probably have some questions for you once I get into the planning!

Vee said...

Sounds like a great trip, Becky!

drgeo said...

Good to know head pie is nothing like head cheese.

Katalina said...

Becky, do you mind if I put a link to this post on Facebook? I know a ton of people who would LOVE to see it! Great story!!

Life's a Beach! said...

Katalina, that's would be fine! Vee, hoping Belize will be another fun adventure! drgeo, ask Katalina. She will tell you the pie that comes from that woman's head is delicious! Ha!