Busy Camp Season Begins with…A Big Errand Run

Busy season!  17 international flights coming in to the Philip Goldsen (BZE) Airport!  Vacation!  And for us…(and particularly for Jeff) it feels like getting back to work…fully…in quite a while.  Cayo Frances Farm & Fly is pretty well booked (there are a few openings here and there) until May 2022.

The life of an off-the-grid fly-fishing and SUP camp sounds glamorous but…it’s a whole lotta running around.  10+ miles up the west side of Ambergris Caye – the nearest shop is 10+ miles away…by boat.

No shops nearby…solar power…making our own fresh water…it’s alotta work.  And some serious provisioning for a full week – that includes THANKSGIVING…at the camp.  I love Thanksigiving dinner but man…the whole thing…the prep and cooking is intense!

Remember…there is no Target or Walmart…Amazon Prime or Gold Belly (I want ALL of these Thanksgiving offerings!) in Belize.  Food shopping requires…lots of stops!  Especially when you are looking for specialty items like Stove-Top Stuffing mix (which we will zhuzh up) or turkey legs.

And a very serious, double sided list broken down by store.

Here are the pictures I took.

We started at the boat – picking up empty cases of beer (remember…down here you get bottles refilled so there is extra work there too) and empty butane cylinders (must be refilled or else there is no cooking at all)

Let’s head to E&L first…to refill the heavy butane can.

I like the logo.

And the mudflap underneath the big butane truck…made me wonder about these guys…if they’d be surprised to see their faces on Ambergris Caye, Belize.

Maybe not…the company has been around since 1922!

Onward…to our longest stop…the Belikin distributor.  To refill our 5 gallon water bottles and buy Coke and beer.

I’ve never seen it this busy!  We spent about 50 minutes from beginning to end.   Saturday is a half day and the day before, Friday, was a holiday.

Getting on line…

Next we headed south of town – to Caribbean Chicken.  A busy meat and grocery shop with the biggest range of chicken parts and turkey parts (this time of year) that I know of.  We were searching for turkey legs/thighs and turkey necks for gravy.

This is what the last three turkey leg packs that they had look like.  23lbs!  6 legs and thighs.

There were no necks – so we got a big pack of wings.  Again…for the gravy.

We grabbed some 5 gallon containers of vegetable oil – these legs will be confit-ed in cinnamon and all spice and deliciousness. And then placed on the grill for a bit of browning.  YUM.

Next stop: Sausage Factory.   Camp life requires breakfast meats (like thick cut bacon and morning sausage) and lunch meats for hearty lunches.  Many guests go out fishing from morning until dusk.

I also snagged on of their meat sticks.  SOOOO delicious and a fantastic bar snack.  Slim Jims…but homemade and made of actual meat.  They come in Mild and Spicy.  You can get them individually packed if you want to try one when you stop in.

Next stop:  The French Bakery.  For a sandwich (for an on-the-go lunch) and baguettes (for the camp sandwiches – they freeze beautifully)

I eyeballed a delicious looking almond croissant – they were just coming out of the back…freshly made.  $8bzd or $4US.  Next time!

And then around the bend to Captain Shark’s.  Home of…so much.  From snorkel masks to golf cart parts to fishing gear…

We were there for some spin fishing gear.  A guest is coming who is not a fly-fisherman/woman.  Some hooks and lines were needed…

We then stopped at Castillo’s Hardware and…I was starting to lose focus.  My stamina is low…we haven’t done such a huge shop in a while!

Next…Caye Mart – the grocery store where we do the most shopping.  Tino and his BBQ were outside going strong.

We got the last 2 boxes of Turkey Stove Top (there had been about 30 boxes the day before – I was told one woman bought it all!) and lots of other stuff…

Time to head home.  3.5 hours of shopping is my limit.  There is lots more to do today.  And then Monday morning…fruits and veggies, paper products…all kinds of stuff.

Over the bridge…stopping just once for ice…all that turkey was spending the night in a cooler before heading up to the camp this morning.

It’s going to be a busy busy week.