Chillaxin! Caye Caulker, Belize
Our last day full day in Central America was spent doing nothing -- no buses, no traveling, no searching, no activities, no sites -- nothing but eating, walking around and taking a dip in the ocean. Yes, all this rest made me a little uncomfortable.
It also gave me a chance to take advantage of the glorious array of seafood restaurants around Caye Caulker. Be aware though -- a lot of the food turned out to be pretty dissapointing. Our first meal in town was at the 2nd floor restaurant next to Edith's. I've forgotten the name, but I do remember that the dirt cheap Lobster and Eggs breakfast was a downright offensively bland mash of sad eggs and tiny lobster bits. I had a decently-priced-for-seafood lobster ceviche at the Happy Lobster, which turned out to be cooked, warm bits of lobster and fish dumped over nachos and a salsa.
On the other hand, there were some gastronomical highlights as well. Firstly, there's a lady that sells barbecue out of her backyard at lunchtime. Her house is between Edith's and the seaside graveyard, on the south side of the island.
Another highlight was the seafood soup at Herbal Tribe, a restaurant with a stupid name, not-too-cheap prices and limited menu, but a seafood soup that is stacked with giant chunks of super fresh fish, lobster and crab. Atousa and I had a mixed experience t Habanero's, one of the more fine dining places on the island -- My lobster ravioli was perfection and I wanted to order the whole menu, but she hated her soup and said it tasted like overseasoned ramen.
Other than eating, we also walked to the north end of the island to the Split, narrow channel of water that splits the two ends of Caye Caulker, which used to be one island before Hurricane Hattie. The swimming area was pretty crowded but it was nice to take a dip in the warm waters.
Sunset on the island is beautiful, although there isn't much on the west side of the island.
At night, we went to The Sports Bar, a pub that was fun if only because of the group of regulars clustered on the other side of the bar that looked like they were either from Texas or Maine -- as in they either looked like grizzle fishermen or grizzled cowboys.
So why am I giving this place such a good review? Because they have the most awesome seafood soup ever. EVER. It's pricey compared to other places in town, but it's sooo worth it. My friend went on a seafood soup streak, so we witnessed several variations of the dish throughout town, and this place was definitely the best. The stew was definitely made from seafood, instead of throwing lobster chunks into an unknown broth like other places did. It came stocked with all kinds of seafood -- fish, lobster, plump shrimp, veggies and even a whole crab claw.
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The barbecue chicken is home made and yummy in itself, but the real treat is the side of breadfruit fries that comes with it. The breadfruit comes fresh from a big tree in the backyard -- They taste like a giant, starchy french fries. Yum! You also get a side of home made cole slaw with your meal. All this for about $3. She has coconut trees too, and she'll cut or juice coconuts for you on request.
The lady does hairbraiding too, if your interested in that kind of stuff, but she might leave you half braded to go serve someone else her barbecue.
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