PlanetEye

March 20th, 2008

Placencia, Belize

Brendan

The Global Nomad

If you like Caye Caulker, you’ll definitely like Placencia.

Sitting at the end of a long, narrow strip of sand in southern Belize, Placencia is far enough out of the way that it requires an effort to get to. (If you don’t have a ton of time, check out the Flying Belize post, soon to be up after this)

Perhaps this explains why so many people who do make it tend to stick around longer than they expected. Like 10 years longer.

Blessed with beautiful beaches and affordable accommodation, Placencia is a great place to kick back and do sweet f**k all. Aside from the beaches its claim to fame is the narrowest main street in the world: a footpath leading through the sand for the length of the village, originally built for wheelbarrows full of fish. However, if you are looking to leave the hammock (to say, eat) here are some cool things to keep you occupied:

Beer and Mexican-Belizean fusion at the Barefoot Bar. Location, location, location. Barefoot is more than just a name. A beachfront location, quick service and great soft tacos. A popular hangout for the long-timers.

Breakfast at the De-Tatch Café. If your system can handle it, go for the grease-laden fryjacks, then pull up a beach chair and…you know. Also has internet access and wireless.

Karaoke at the Purple Space Monkey. Join the battle—for serious cash (like USD$250!) once a week at this great restaurant. Service isn’t great actually, but they have good food, a row of computers or customers to use, and wireless for those with laptops.

Darts at the Pickled Parrot. One of our favourite spots to have a Belikin or five, the PP is run by two Canadian sisters who cook up some serious comfort food. Once a week they have an impromptu, but vicious, darts tourney.

Do a boat trip. The water is impossibly blue, and chances are good you might run into anything from dolphins to manta rays to nurse sharks. There are several options, but the coolest one is to take a catamaran—you can take your rum punch and go sit in the net between the pontoons between bouts of snorkelling.

Next Wave Sailing
USD$90 gets you a full day, including drinks, lunch and snorkelling gear.
http://www.nextwavesailing.com/

Of course, longer charters are available from several companies—why not take a boat trip for a week?

Tags: Belize, Catamaran, Placencia

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