This Week’s Good Things, 1.12.21

This is the week I am planning to go to Caye Caulker.   Today was the day. The overnight bag was all packed.  (By “all packed up” I mean 2 t-shirts, PJs, a few pairs of clean undergarments, a few extra masks, and a bushel of tangled wires and cords for devices – the necessities)

My trusty Laura Ashley (circa 1991) overnight bag that’s been with me everywhere.  Here she is in Placencia in 2013 waiting for the dawn bus.

8 Tips for Traveling by Bus in Belize  

The bag has laid dormant for months – emerging only once since March for a dreamy weekend getaway to the mountains.  Yes mountains of Belize.

We left the house early…it takes about 35 minutes on the golf cart to get the town – to catch the 10am water taxi.  It was drizzling.  The weather forecast was mixed – but it’s been mixed for the last week.  (Here is the only reliable one that I can find)

This symbol is very hard to interpret when planning a trip.

At about 930…still crap weather.  I decided to make plans for another day.  So instead of my GOOD THINGS FOR THIS WEEK post starting with I’M IN CAYE CAULKER!  I’ll have to start it here.

1. I’m Heading To Caye Caulker!  To stay on the north side of the island at a small spot called Happy Destiny.  THE perfect spot to rent out for a group…I can wait to show the place to you.  But it’s gotta be weather perfection.

The wait shouldn’t be long.  Plus…I hear that North Caye Caulker has been growing quite a bit over the last year.  Here are my pictures from February 2020.  It’s GORGEOUS and quiet. 

If I need more action…I can hop aboard a small water taxi that take me across the Split to the Lazy Lizard.

ALL safety precautions will be employed during this trip – from wearing a mask to distancing on the open-air water taxi.

2. While the Weather is Mixed, the Good is Really Good

Some photos from yesterday – which started out grey and turned out gorgeous.  Just dog walking pictures in “our front yard”

I love that a chuck of “our” little beach is undeveloped and is still grassy.  Looks so pretty.

3.  You Guys are awesome:  In my last post I wrote about a phenomenal service on Ambergris Caye called Triple R Response Team.  An on-island ambulance service coordinating emergency response on land and at sea.

It all came from a terrible tragedy – a jet ski accident on the Back Side of Ambergris Caye about 4 years ago…and friends and family that rallied to do something incredible for the island.

You guys donated over $750US to help the effort.  THANK YOU SOOOO much!  And please consider donating if you haven’t had a chance.

4. Truck Stop’s Potlicker Dog Show – Man do I love a dog show.  Especially the one that airs on Thanksgiving Day.  The events are both extremely beautiful (who does not love prancing, perfectly groomed dogs) and extremely odd (prancing dog-people and judges) all at once.  The pseudo-documentary Best in Show kind of says it all.

In fact, I now have just a few days to rewatch that because everyone’s favorite spot, the Truck Stop, is doing a Potlicker Dog Show this weekend and…I can’t wait to be there.

The potlicker is an amazing dog.  Accidently bred to be street smart and watchful, protective of their owners and generally just sweet.  They are broken down into a bunch of different “breeds”.  Or maybe that is just in our household.  We have a banana terrier named Frannie, a Belizean ridgeback named Mocha and a Molasses Hound named Elsie.

Ode to the Belizean Potlicker:  Mocha’s Dozen During Quarantine

If I was a better prancer, owned sensible low heels and a polyester suit with a calf length skirt, I’d enter for sure.  Instead…I’ll take pictures.

But I’m hoping for categories like: Chasing Men on Bicycles!  Hopping on and Off (Slowly) Moving Golf Carts!  Carrying Take-Away Bags from Trash to Secure location and more…

5. Lounging in the Pods at Matachica Resort – A few weeks ago, I wrote about my day lounging by the sea at gorgeous, made-for-honeymoons Matachica Resort.  They are offering day passes – for singles and couples.

Now the day passes include USE of the kayaks, the paddleboards AND…best of all…the lounging pods on the dock.  (They were full over the holiday week and were unable to offer these at the end of December)

So may I suggest…a day pass at Matachica for lunch…perhaps a massage…and…this view!

Oh…and maybe you can stay just a little bit longer…

Details here from Matachica – call for a reservation.

*** Quick add:  I got asked what “mata” means.  Here on the island we have Matachica Resort…we have the Mata Grande neighborhood.  It means “tree”.  So Matachica = little tree and Mata Grande…well…big tree.  Interesting!

6. Great Book and Fun Show:

Everyone I know is watching (or already burned through) the Netflix show Bridgerton.  It’s a fun, light, silly and surprisingly steamy period with mother’s trying to marry off their daughters to dukes and viscounts.  It’s kinda like Gossip Girls meets Jane Austen.

It’s fantasy.  Not for everyone (if my description turned you off, trust that instinct) but I’m loving it right now.

I’m reading American Dirt – a pretty amazing novel about the plight of a mother and son escaping cartel run Acapulco Mexico after a horrific tragedy.  If you are one of those people who thinks Central American immigrants need to “go back to where they came from and do things the right way”  – this read might move you a bit.  Plus…it is both emotional and RIVETING.