One HOT Day in Beautiful Placencia Village – Taking Things Slow

My taxi driver in Independence/Mango Creek called for rain.  The rest of the week, he said with authority, SHOWERS.  Quite the bold statement when it basically hasn’t rained for months in San Pedro or Placencia – and the official weather report down here is about as reliable as BTL internet service down here.  But I am a sucker for anything said with command AND I hadn’t packed an umbrella, so maybe it could…

Just a 3 minute taxi ride or a 10 minute stroll north of the village, I check into the very cutest spot and most homey, Casa Placencia.

A labor of love – each room filled with color and art and personal touches.  Mosaic tiles everywhere done personally by the owner – Jackie – in her over 30 years in Belize.  I took so many pictures but I’ll save them for later.

And I slept soundly – to put it mildly.  A 9 hour travel day (from San Pedro to Placencia) and a large crab dinner is exhausting.

Up early the next day, I set out to find some coffee, breakfast and to take some pictures before the serious heat set in.  There wasn’t a rain cloud in the sky.

The Placencia Peninsula is a 16 mile long sand bar that until a few years ago, was accessible by the dirt/sand road.  Much was undeveloped but that is changing rapidly.  In Placencia village proper, there are quite a few signs and offices for large developments, some mega-mansions, on this space.

Wild Orchid has their sale shop.

This very cute sign for Manatee Inn.

I stopped for my first latte at Brewed Awakens.  Lovely LOVELY people and some very good coffee and seaweed shakes.  The place keeps growing each time I visit Placencia.

Open and ready to serve at 6:30am.  It’s a good thing.

Sipping my latte, I kept walking south and spotted a huge but dim rainbow over the gas station/Hokey Pokey water taxi terminal on the lagoon side.

Basically in the photo?  Nothing.

But you can see what a pretty RAIN FREE DAY it was going to be.

Further down on the street, the former Purple Space Monkey Restaurant.  It was a super cute wooden building and now is now turning into a fairly ugly, charmless, artless block.  Otherwise known now as Coldwell Banker…

They get no bonus points for sticking with the cute colorful village theme.

I was ready for Above Grounds Coffee…my usual latte, bagel and blogging site.  And found that, cruelly, they are closed on Wednesday.

And got thinking about the endless coffee play on-word-cafe names you can come up with.  Brewed Awakenings is a great one.  Above Grounds is perfect for this place.

Caye Caulker’s Ice & Beans.  Conveniently there is a website with these clever names…Brew Ha Ha (ugh), Cup-A-Cabana (LOVE), the Latte-Tude Cafe, Espresso Yourself.  Puns are good times!

Especially if you own a hot dog stand called “Weiner Take All” – this website has some gems.  Gems that have NOTHING to do with Placencia.  So I’ll continue…

Coffee shop closed, I headed just across the street to another favorite, Wendy’s Creole for some coffee, some internet and my very favorite…the coconut flan.  A picture of my gorgeous dessert/breakfast.

I walked to the tip of the Placencia (not far at all) and out to the fancy municipal pier.

Here’s a simple map, a bit outdated, but gives you a feel for the  shape of the village.

Walking around the end…from the South Water Resort area to Trade WInds Hotel (another spot I need to check out – super private cute cabanas on a very pretty beach.)

Placencia Peninsula to the left, Placencia Caye to the right.  (I’d do some more exploring of that Caye later in the day.)

The breeze was coming off the lagoon side and the beach was HOT – even at 930am.  Shoes are a must.

Looking back to the pier…

Perfect Stand Up Paddleboard or snorkeling weather.  Perfect.

I made my way to The Sidewalk.  The two main thoroughfares in the village are “The Road” and “The Sidewalk”.

The conch carvers table.  After years in Caye Caulker, the conch breasts have moved down south.

One of my regular stops, 2 Can Be Sweet, has closed.  A great porch to drink their giant glasses of cold coconut water.

The pretty entrance way to Westwind Hotel.

This pretty hammock in the sea grapes looked good…

Village messages…good ones all.

I stumbled down this sidewalk looking for something cold to drink.

DEFINITELY not this.

Barefoot Bar is just a color explosion.

One million chalk boards, strong drinks, fun specials…there are lots of reasons to love this spot.

And reasons that everyone ends up here at some point during their trip.

Too many pictures.  I will have to continue this later because now?  I must decided between a homemade bagel with cream cheese and lox of the world’s best cinnamon roll french toast at my favorite, favorite restaurant in Belize – Maya Beach Bistro.

Life is very cruel sometimes.

AND…NO RAIN.