Snapshots from Hopkins, Belize – Let’s Get Ready for Mangos!

After weeks and weeks of blazing hot sun, yesterday I awoke to cool clouds over Ambergris Caye.  Sigh…

Couldn’t it have waited just one more day?

Nope.  I was off to Hopkins, Belize.  The annual mango festival waits for no man!  A celebration of the summer fruit that explodes all over mainland Belize is the summer months.  Trees are literally bursting with them.

Grey skies overhead – I took the easiest and fastest route to southern Belize.  Flying with Tropic Air.

Flying from Ambergris Caye to Belize City.

And then from Municipal Airport to Dangriga.

From there it is 21 miles to tiny Hopkins village.  Some hotels provide transfers, you can take a taxi (about $40USD) or you can head to the bus station…

Let me lead with the most exciting news about Hopkins for those who visit frequently.  The road through the village has finally been paved!   No more puddles and bumps…

Here are of my late afternoon photos around the village – and my hotel for the night.  My cabin at Jungle Jeanie’s.  Half price for Mango Festival – a beach from cabana of my own for $50bzd.  It’s hard to beat it.  And with no AC, the cool cloudy weather is perfection.

It really is a jungle right on the beach.

My cabin to the right…

And out my front door.

Though only 100 miles away from Ambergris Caye, Hopkins is SO different.  As you approach the village, there are mountains behind you and gorgeous savannahs to both sides.  The broad beach is made of river rock, rather than coral sand.  Coarser and deep, it is a serious calf workout to take a stroll on the beach.

The reef is a few miles out but the ease of visiting the orange orchards, mountains and waterfalls is pretty…awesome.

And everything just seems so lush and GREEN!  Flying over mainland Belize is a thing of beauty.

And with that…I am off on a bike (EEEEK!) to explore the village, to find some coffee and to get ready for mango-mania.  Slipper mangoes, number 11 mangoes, hairy mangos, black mango…yum.

Hopefully I have some room for hudut.

And this afternoon I switch to a new location – one of the most beautiful resorts in Belize.  I can’t wait!

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