I left the island paradise of San Pedro not the way I arrived, on a tiny plane, but by ferry. I wanted to have both experiences: one flying above the technicolor blue waters and the other skimming on top of them. I preferred the plane, but the ferry was cheap (about $30 US) and convenient.
I boarded at the San Pedro Ferry Express terminal on San Pedro Island. I bought my ticket online ahead of time for the 7am departure and picked it up in person. I queued up with the other travellers. The boat was close to sold out and the seating was first come first serve and if you end up in the back of the queue you might end up on the upper deck or on the sides, in which case you would be in the sun the entire time. Not fancying melanoma, I got a seat in the middle. (It looks like there might be different types of boats, but the one I was on had two levels and was open on the sides and on top.) It isn’t particularly comfortable; just a hard seat to sit in for the 90 minute journey. The sea air was nice, but there wasn’t much to see and it was loud. The plane was more fun, but I was very happy to arrive at the ferry terminal in downtown Belize City. No need of taxis or buses, I was able to walk to my accommodations.
But first a breakfast by the water.
I walked to my hotel, the charming One South Place Hotel. It is in an old house just steps from the water, and I had a room on the top floor with a private patio and view of the sunrise. I would only be there for one night, but it was a nice place to spend time.
I had only about 24 hours, so I had to make the most of it. I started walking. Reading about Belize City there really were not any major attractions I wanted to see. There weren’t even any minor ones. But the day started out promising. I walked through my neighbourhood back to the downtown centre. It was sunny and I was in a good mood. On the way I was delighted by the large sea-worn houses with accents and showing the ravages of time. The streets were pretty. Flowering bushes. Cats and dogs.
The closer I got to the centre of the city, the buildings became a little grander and there were statues of people that I was unfamiliar with. It also got busier. Belize City feels a bit like a poor city. There is no fancy or modern downtown core. The whole place feels a little bit rough, but lively during the day. I walked past people playing checkers and groups of people buying food from street vendors and sitting in parks passing the time. I visited a cute little bookstore slash café (Bricks & Books), how could I resist that? Even if Belize City was not postcard pretty, it was colourful.
Belize City, with a population of just under 65,000 people, is the biggest city in the country. It was founded in the 1600s by the British. I assume there were already people living there. Although Belize City is the largest city in the country, it is not the capital. That honour goes to a small city called Belmopan, more in the centre of Belize and with only about 20,000 residents. Apparently it was some planned community from the 1970s. Being the biggest municipality, Belize City should Have a little more going on than it seemed to. It was, in my opinion, a bit sleepy. Maybe it’s because I was there on the weekend, but it felt very quiet.
I made my way over to the Museum of Belize, which was the only attraction that I had planned to go to. If you’re in Belize City and passing time, the museum is worth a visit – but just barely. It’s small and not particularly interesting. It did not have too much on display and I was a bit disappointed, but still there are some nice and interesting things to look at and it was good to be out of the heat for a short time.
I walked around the neighbourhoods more. The thing that I did like about Belize City was all of the dilapidated buildings. You could see that a lot of them were quite lovely at one point in time. For example, one had balcony railings with swans carved into them and others had delicate wooden trim around the rooftops like gingerbread houses, but they were all in pretty poor repair, some of them maybe even abandoned. They still had a certain beauty. I also liked all the various colourful end differently designed breeze-blocks that added interest to even basic buildings. Essential in a climate like this.
After several hours of mostly aimless wandering, I really had nothing else that I wanted to do, except that Carlos at the Havana Cigars store in San Pedro had told me about a good place to enjoy a cigar on a patio, and so that is where I went next. The Cork Street Whisky Bar might be my new favourite place, at least in Belize City. It was in what I can only assume was once a mansion just across the street from the sea, set on a green yard with a big patio. The inside was beautiful like an old library or a men’s club; all outfitted in leather and mahogany. But I had my sights set on the patio, which was sheltered from the sun and off the ground and had lots of comfortable seating options. I settled into a wicker chair and had two cocktails and two cigars and watched the waves crash in. Very relaxing.
I went back to my hotel room for a bit and then decided that I was starving and I wanted to get something to eat. I was a little bit nervous because I had heard nothing but bad things about the safety situation in Belize City. It felt fine during the day, but night was a different question and I wasn’t exactly right in the centre. I decided to go out but just to stick to the main streets; and it did seem fine although the streets were quite empty. I walked a little ways until I found a restaurant that was open and I had a completely uninspiring vegetarian burrito sitting by the canal where they wouldn’t let me smoke a cigar because they said people would complain, notwithstanding that everyone else was smoking cigarettes.
I walked back to my room, passing some particularly interesting murals along the way.
The next morning, I had a little bit of time before I had to head to the airport, and so I went out for a nice breakfast and a walk.
Belize City is barely worth a visit. I hate to say that. I hate to be mean but, it was not that interesting. Spending a day and a night there was perfect; any longer and I would have struggled to find things to do. I am glad that I visited it as I think it would have been a shame if all I saw of Belize was San Pedro. I wouldn’t object to going back to Belize and seeing some of its jungles or Mayan ruins, but it is not high on my list; San Pedro however will continue to live in my memory fondly.
And so ended my workation to Belize.
My next trip would be just a couple of weeks later and will keep me closer to home. A cigar weekend in Detroit.
