Conch Ceviche

Tomas, Javier and Suyapa (all employees of our "hotel") have given us fantastic suggestions for all things Belize, from food to trips to the length of time it takes a coconut to reach its ideal ripeness.  Tomas told us yesterday about a small bakery nearby that makes all of the bread on the island along with many sweets!  We visited this evening to buy some sweets for a quick breakfast tomorrow AM prior to our fishing trip.  WOW!!  What a place!  Everything looked simply delectable and we each ended up buying two items. 

If there has been one thing that has stood out to us since we landed on the island is the ease at which you can talk with the locals.  Most everyone is bilingual and speaks fairly fluent English and they are ALL extremely friendly.  During the last 25 years, the island has morphed from strictly a small fishing village to the travel destination it is today and the locals are embracing it with open arms.  I cannot stress more the level of pure friendship that is displayed immediately followed by a wide smile welcoming you to a conversation.

Last evening and this afternoon we walked to Wayo's, a small bar/restaurant/internet cafe (8 outside bar seats max) along the water, for some Belliken (Matthew) and Rum Punches (Carly).  Edguardo is the owner/bartender, as nice as can be, entertaining and always ready to slap another cold beer on the bar.  Last night, after quite a few rounds (who's counting anyways?), Edguardo, Matt (a 40-50ish Aussie living in the US), Antonio (local), Kathy (cant remember much about her), Carly and I started gambling on a simple dice game.  After many laughs and pretty much an even $$ split throughout the evening, Matt took us for a quick spin around town on his golf cart to get us acquainted with area.  We stopped at another bar along the trip for what we thought was the final round of the night and then Matt brought us back to Wayo's for the LAST round of the night followed by a short walk back to our cabana.  Phew!  After having been awake since 1:45 AM to catch the flight, we pretty muched collapsed in bed somewhere around 8:30 local time (9:30 EST). 

This afternoon at Wayo's turned out to be another interesting time.  Some of Edguardo's friends showed up and were trading mind teasers back and forth with each other.  After being introduced, Joshua decided it'd be okay to let me in on the game and I proceeded to nail down one of the brain teasers they couldn't figure out.  I guess they thought me a worthy opponent and the brain games got harder and harder until I gave them one and stumped them for about 30 min.  Back and forth we went for a few entertaining hours until we walked back to the cabana to relax with book in hand before dinner. 

After a long day of riding the bikes, reading, drinking and conversing with the locals, we decided to go grab some dinner for the first time on the island.  We decided to try out The Reef Restaurant in town after it was suggested to us by some fellow travelers we met at the hotel from Canada. 

Neither of us had ever had conch OR ceviche so why not try both in one dish, right?.  Simply Delicious!  And we can't wait to have more!  Also included on the night's menu were shrimp bites and lobster burgers flushed down by a cool margarita.  Everything was fantastic along with the atmosphere...laid back service on a floor of sand.  It doesn't get much better than this.  A short bike ride back to the cabana and here I sit while Carly sleeps, writing the post. 

Tomorrow, 7 AM we depart for the reef with fishing rods in hand for a day of fishing, snorkeling and beach BBQing.

Love,
Carly and Matthew