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My Journey From San Ignacio to Placencia, the 2014 Art & Music Festival and Chelsea Handler!

Feb 17, 2014|Southern Belize

Friday afternoon I attended a gorgeous wedding at the magical Cahal Pech Maya site and Saturday morning I needed to be up before dawn to travel. From San Ignacio in Western Belize to Placencia, south over the Maya Mountains to the southern coast.

The travel route: early morning taxi ride from San Ignacio to Belmopan (a friend taxi driver gave me a great rate of $50bzd, an extra 45 minutes of sleep and HOPEFULLY reprieve from the horrible Belmopan push onto the bus. The capital of Belize is my most dreaded bus station. Always crowded with a HUGE line for the bus. Read about all of my bus tips in this post.

No reprieve. In fact, it was the busiest bus I’ve ever been on. We left the station with about 20 people crouching on the floor so as not to be spotted by the “inspectors”. I felt like a “coyote” was taking us to swim the Rio Grande.

I ended up sitting on the motor/gear box for half the 4 hour ride. Can’t complain much. The view out the door was gorgeous.

This bus from Belmopan to Independence (labelled Big Creek on the map above) is $15bzd. Two more steps to get to Placencia…first, my taxi driver Karl gave me a lift from the bus station to the boat.

I met Karl on my last trip to Independence a few weeks ago. I can ask him to stop for 2 minutes so that I can run into a store and get a soda. When I get back, he is always napping. Funny guy.

Or maybe he is just posing. Perhaps he thinks I am shooting the 2015 Belikin calendar or the centerfold for Belize Taxi Driver Magazine. $5-8bzd.

Next, the very short boat trip on the Hokey Pokey Water Taxi from Independence/Mango Creek (Big Creek is the name of the deep water port there) to Placencia. $10bzd.

Gorgeous day. This very cute kid pushed us off…

And I arrived in Placencia.

And the view from the Barefoot Bar.

The Tipsy Tuna right next door.

The Tipsy Tuna which later had a HUGE crowd…

And EVEN LATER hosted CHELSEA HANDLER! The hilarious comedian and author from my home state of New Jersey. She was TWO BUILDINGS over from me and I was…SLEEPING. Ridiculous. I should hand in my Scooperazzi pass right now. Here’s a picture snapped by the Tipsy Tuna management.

Word on the sidewalk the next day was that she was having a fabulous time drinking and dancing and even wearing a “Tipsy Tuna” t-shirt. Nothing mentioned about her sidekick Chewy Aka Her Lil Nugget. I MISSED IT!

Ok…back to Placencia.

I love these purple flowers that drip over porches and homes in southern Belize. Do we have these in San Pedro?

And right next door to Barefoot Bar…my cutie cutie hotel. So what if it is next to two bars that will have DJs and music until 2am? It’s $75bzd a night for my own cabin on the beach. 2 double beds, incredible sea breeze and? I sleep like the dead.

I hope Julia’s Cabanas NEVER changes this sign. And I hope the guy next to the sign never stops walking the sidewalk in his Speedo.

See how close I am to the Barefoot? On the left? The office for Julia’s…on the right, the Barefoot Bar.

I decided to take my first pass on the sidewalk. Two days of art and music. Two of my favorite things…

I couldn’t help noticing the gentleman in the pink crop top with the Disney Princess on the front. Arty! And this post is getting too long already! Pictures of the art, food and jewelry tomorrow. I’ll just leave you with my ONE purchase.