A Ferry Tale - Caye Caulker, Belize
"Ever had a beer made with tequila in it?"
More on this later...
Caye Caulker is vibrant, charming and full of life. It is a tiny island off the coast of Belize. Stretching only five miles long and less than a mile wide. This island is full of local characters and people proud to show off their tiny slice of paradise.
The theme of the island was 'Go Slow'
And let me tell you, these people took this wicked serious!!
Literally got yelled at multiple times by locals "Slow down, you are walking too fast"
This made me laugh, even back home in Chicago my sister Kathleen and I get yelled at for walking too fast.
(Kathleen, if we were together here I think they would have kicked us off the island!!)
HOWEVER, I think my favorite part of my visit to Caye Caulker may have been the ferry ride there from Mexico.
3 reasons have led me to this conclusion...
Back to this beer made with tequila..
On the ferry I was seated across from a man wearing a United States Marine Corps hat with a rather large bucket of beer next to him.
He noticed I was wearing my Chicago Cubs hat, he used to live in Chicago and took the opportunity to lean over and say
"I used to live in Chicago, hey ever had a beer made with Tequila in it?"
I replied "no"
"Well, your about too"
Introducing Mr. John Kennedy...
He used to work in Chicago for McDonalds marketing before moving and starting his own business in Caye Caulker, Belize. He is the owner of all the ATM's on the island. He was quite the character and seemed to know everyone and everything Belize. He told us all about the island, where to eat, where to hang out, what to do. All the while reloading us with tequila beer after tequila beer after tequila beer. For those of you wondering.. the tequila beer turned out to be deliciousness! Probably a little too good. I could not get over how many beers he had in this industrial sized bucket, wasn't his first rodeo. Tequila beer and this extremely bumpy 2 hour ferry ride may not have been the best combo but hey, when in Belize! Thanks John!
The lovely woman named Karen and her beautiful 13 year old daughter I met.
My alopecia, as you can imagine, has come up quite a few times on this trip. Just like home, people are curious and just like home I am more than happy to share all about it!
The topic was being discussed on the ferry when a Belizean woman and her daughter leaned over and asked "How long have you had Alopecia?"
Turns out she has a niece, I think around my age, who has Alopecia as well! She told me all about her and showed me pictures. Her name is Adeline and she is beautiful. She works at a bank in San Pedro, Belize and has a wig that she tends to wear often, but not always. Her aunt said she tends to wear the wig simply because she is the only person around there with Alopecia. She said as far as they know Adeline is the only person in Belize who has alopecia. None of the doctors they have been too anywhere in the country have seen another case of it. That surprised me, but I guess goes to show how tiny Belize is.
This woman and her 13 year old daughter were such wonderful and warm people. We spent a significant amount of time discussing my experiences with Alopecia and what I have learned from losing my hair, as well as the positivity this woman feels has been brought into Adeline's life because of alopecia.
I really wish I would have been able to visit San Pedro to meet Adeline and the rest of her family, but unfortunately my schedule did not permit. It was just so wonderful to talk with these people, it's like no matter where you are in the world, people are just people. They are kind and curious and empathetic.
Meeting the cutest group of 4 best girlfriends from Ireland
That I would end up spending a lot of my time on the Island with dancing the night away, sipping on cocktails and hanging at the split (the area where Caye Caulker got split in half after a hurricane in the 60's). I met them on the ferry and they too had the pleasure of sipping on some of Mr. Kennedys tequila beer. They were the CUTEST with their little Irish accents. I was obsessed. I probably scared them. They are going to read this and think 'wow she really was obsessed with us...'
Aside from my Irish galpals, I had met a handful of people in Bacalar that were headed to Caye Caulker next. Three girls and a guy each traveling alone and 2 New Zealand girls. Together we made quite the crew and took Belize by storm! Here we are below at the 'Sports Bar' aka THE bar to be at in Caye Caulker..
And guess who else was there?! Micha, my German friend that I had mentioned in my Lake Bacalar post. I left Bacalar a day or two before him but we planned to book the same Hostel in Caye Caulker. Micha is SO tall, like 2 meters (6'6") .. here he is leaving our mark on the Sports Bar along with our new friend Stijn.
Caye Caulker was a ton of fun, unique and super beautiful. We caught some amazing sunsets, soaked up the sun, drank a lot of 2 for 1 rum punch and danced the night away at the R&R bar. It only takes about 24 hours to meet and know everyone on the island. After my first night out everyone and their mother came up to me and said 'oh I know you, I saw you last night at the bar, you are the one with the headband." Yup, that would be me. On and island full of long dark dread locks.. one can say I stood out a bit.
I must say, in my experience there was one down side of Caye Caulker. Foreign women encountered a lot of cat calling from the locals, myself included. Everyday, day, afternoon and night, constantly. I would be lying if I said it did not put a bit of a damper on my experience. There were times when I did not want to walk down the street because I was sick of being called 'sexy lady', 'hey pretty pretty baby' 'what is your name mamacita I love you' & 'my pretty pretty bald princess' ..okay I kind of liked that last one (only because I'd like to think it's true..) but still! There was one guy in particular. When he would see me he would follow me on his bike as I walked. They were never unkind but it was just too much for me.
There was one local, named William. He followed me one day and would not stop trying to convince me he could 'fix my hair problem' if I came to live with him for 3 months. "I only need 3 months, please come, I have a special diet I will feed you and your hair will grow back my beautiful lady" He also told me to rub an egg yolk on my head every morning.. thanks for the advice William, maybe next time...
In no way would I let this deter you from visiting this magical island! Simply an observation of my own experience.
Thank you Caye Caulker, you were very good to me!
Now... I set out on my 3 day sail & snorkeling trip with Raggamuffin !!
Feel free to send me a message in the below contact box! What was your favorite part of this post? I would love to hear from you!
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