How to Celebrate Your 51st Birthday: Driving 51 Miles Up and Down Ambergris Caye

Yesterday was my 51st birthday. Just typing that number is still a bit jarring. But there is something about wearing shorts and sandals, warm weather and golf cart on an island in the Caribbean that can give you a bit of a Peter Pan complex. It’s more of an “expat denial”.

Expat Denial (as coined by me) occurs when you move to a beautiful new country, life is fresh and exciting, the weather gorgeous, you are tan, always wearing shorts and flip-flops, you feel younger so…some of that “real-world stuff” can just…slip your mind. Like medical check-ups…age…those sorts of things.

But let me talk about my birthday. Jeff and I celebrated the night before with a delicious dinner, some crazy great slices of cheesecake (one Oreo and one pistachio) from Charmaine’s Cafe in downtown San Pedro.

Early to bed because we had a big birthday planned – lots of errands and LOTS of driving. In a golf cart, on quite-bad to very bad roads. Here’s what we did.

8am departure from home to pick up Biscuit at SAGA Humane Society – to pick up our newest camp dog, Biscuit! This poor, young lady showed up at our camp about a month ago. I believe she was brought to the cost guard station north of Rocky Point and abandoned. She is soooo loving and sweet. She loves swimming and attention and digging a hole in the sand and napping. We were unsure about keeping here for a while…could we…should we get another dog? But she is absolutely irresistable. The purest strain of Belizean Potlicker: loyal, polite, scrappy, loves a golf cart ride more than anything on earth…a total love bug.

We dropped her off on Tuesday – it was her first trip to town ever! And she was spayed, vaccinated and tested for tick fever and heart worm all for FREE (donations very welcomed) as part of a 4-day clinic they were running. AMAZING. Her surgery went well but she does have heart worm. It is quite common on the island for unmedicated animals, as is tick fever.

She was given 30-days of 2-a-day antibiotics and will come back to SAGA once a month for 6 months for an injection. Hopefully that will get rid of the heart worm. (Don’t tell her she needs to go to town again!0

Biscuit was SOOOO happy to see us.

Miles bumping along in golf cart driven: Our house to SAGA – 9 miles

Next: Bringing Biscuit from SAGA to her home at Rocky Point Permit Camp

We spent a few hours up north – it wasn’t the most beautiful day…a bit windy and overcast but the camp cook, Raul made delicious curry chicken for the crew and Biscuit was SOOO happy to be home.

A recent drone shot of the area by our friend and super-talent Jesse Males.

I wonder if those bands/partitions in the Cantena Lagoon are man (Maya) made. The flats used hundreds and hundreds of years ago to make salt. Incredible.

Mid-afternoon we headed back home.

Miles REALLY bumping along in golf cart driven: SAGA to RPPC – 18 miles

Next: Quick shower and change and head to town for a meeting by Belize’s Fisheries Department about the expansion of protected areas in Belize. 5-8pm. Started at about 6pm.

Belize is on a tight schedule to meet the deadlines for The Nature Conservancy’s/Blue Bond deal and by November of this year, 25% of Belize’s ocean (all 33,367.89 sq km in all) will be designated as a Conservation Zone.

While you’ve got to applaud the expansion of Bacalar Chico to protect some very deep ocean areas, I’d love to see a bit more concentration protecting current conservation zones in our backyard.

I’m going to leave it at that.

Another 18 miles added to our pretend “odometer” – there’s not even a gas gauge OR a speedometer on a golf cart.

A productive, exhausting and rough day on the cart. Maybe I can get a hip replacement for my 52nd! 😉

For more posts on My Expat life, check out: How to Be a Good Expat and 16 Things No One Told You About Living in Belize and more.