We got to the Portland Airport at 9:30pm (Doella, thanks for driving us!), to find our flight had been delayed. We were supposed to leave at midnight, and finally flew out at 2am. We got to Houston, Texas, at 7:30am local time. We flew out of there at 9:30am, and got to Belize City, Belize, at about 11:30am local time (1 hour ahead of us-- they are central time, but don't participate in daylight savings). After a long, sticky line in customs, we got through to wait for our little hopper plane to get to Placencia. It was supposed to leave at 1pm, but they had to go to the gas station for more gas to fill up the plane. So we were finally off at 1:30pm. The flight is about 30 minutes , and after all that traveling, I wasn't feeling too good! (The little planes bob around much more than a large one, for sure!). We finally got to the hotel at about 2:30pm.
Woohoo!! After 16 hours of travel, we were finally there!
The view of the hotel from the palapa (little landing at the end of the dock with a bar, a few tables, and some lounge chairs.
This is our room. Number 17!
There were 6 rooms on our building, and on top of each building there was a hot tub! These are the stairs up to the hot tub. The flowers were so beautiful!
This is the view from the hot tub rooftop patio. There were two chairs up there, too. We went up a few times-- during the day-- and always had it to ourselves. It was great!
There were 3 hammocks tied to palm trees in front of the main part of the hotel. They were awesome! Paul had a big soft spot for hanging in the hammocks. Especially after getting sunburned! Great way to be on the beach but in the shade.
This is one of the three pools the hotel has. They were never crowded, and they all had great views of the ocean!
This is the view from the hotel restaurant, called Seaside. This one ended up being our favorite table.
A view of the palapa at sunset.
Here we are, still white, on our first night there. Doesn't it look like Paul has a flower in his hair? Awww, so cute!
The first night, we got there, had a few drinks-- GREAT Margaritas!-- and then ordered dinner and took it back to our room, at about 4pm. We were passed out asleep by 5pm! We woke up in enough time to catch most of LOST, then were zonked again until the next morning, at like 9am!
Our first Belizean breakfast. Yum!
Friday, we had the crazy idea to walk the 4.5 miles from the hotel to the little town-- along the beach! It was beautiful! It was cloudy that day, and so we didn't have sunblock on. Mistake! We ended up getting sunburned!
This is a picture of one part of the town. It was Good Friday when we went, so many of the shops were closed. The main strip of the town is actually a sidewalk!
We actually got to see some plumeria! My favorite! They were beautiful. The people in town were so friendly. We ate lunch at The Purple Space Monkey Cafe, and then took a cab home!
For most of the days of our trip, we spent them lounging on the beach. After our walk to town, we really got a chance to see several other hotels on the way. Robert's Grove really was the BEST! It had a great beach, really nice water toys to borrow-- for free, hammock and lots of lounge chairs perfect for getting some sun, beautiful landscaping, and just the nicest staff. Everyone was so helpful. So we were happy to hang out at the hotel, so proud that we had lucked out in picking the best one in Placencia! And look girls! Our Book Club book (which was great!)!! I finished it in like 2 days!
Friday night we had dinner at the Habanero Restuarant. It is part of Robert's Grove, but it is across the road-- the dirt road, that is, that runs from the airstrip to the hotel-- at the marina.
Paul and I decided we are going to buy ourselves a catamaran one day. So Awesome!
This is on the deck of the Habanero, friday night. Paul and I shared a whole pitcher of Sangria!
Saturday night, Robert's Grove puts on a GREAT poolside BBQ Buffet. They had lots of shrimp skewers, roasted steak, BBQ-ed snapper, and a whole roasted pig, along with many other great sides. It was all great, accompanied by several Beliken Beers for Paul and Daquiris and Pina Coladas for me. Oh! And for dessert, Paul had a Bananas Foster and I had the BEST chocolate cake EVER!!!
Sunday, was Easter! Happy Easter! To keep the food theme going, here we are ready for the nice Easter dinner.
We had the BEST Easter dinner! Paul had Rack of Lamb-- Imported from the US, haha!-- and I had a Bacon-wrapped fillet mignon. It was soooo good! Oh, and we had to finish it off with a Banana Gelatto for Paul and another piece of chocolate cake for me! Yum!
That night, the moon was a glowing orange color. It was beautiful to sit out on the patio and eat dinner and watch as it slowly rose into the sky. We worked hard to get a good picture! Here's my favorite one, of it rising over the palapa.
Paul woke up extra early Monday morning, and got a beautiful picture of the sunrise.
Monday was Monkey River Day! We were so excited! This is the boat we took up the river. He drove really fast along the water to the mouth of the monkey river. There were many acres of manrove trees along the way.
Once we got up the river, we saw many interesting plants and animals. Here's a picture of a medium-sized crocodile hiding in the low-growing tree branches. He's trying to look really ferocious!
Here's a great shot Paul took of an iguana in a tree. Isn't he beautiful?
This shows a baby crocodile hiding among some branches in the murky water. Can you see him?
This is the beautiful blue heron. There were many of them around, and they were so wonderful to watch!
I forget what this guy was called, but he is a night hunter, so his eyes weren't so good for the daylight. That's why we were able to get so close!
Once we got far enough up the river, we got off the boat and hiked in the rainforest. Boy was it muggy off the water! It was kind of a creepy hike for me. We passed a giant golden spider, and our guide kept warning us about standing in ants. He also said to watch which trees you put your hands on, because there could be ants, termites, trees with inch-long spikes, or it could be a boa constrictor. Yikes!!
What we were really looking for, though, was the howler monkey. Only the males do the loud howling, and usually the leader of the monkey-- family?--is the main one heard. The males can be heard up to a mile away! The picture above shows an adult and a baby monkey!
This is the kitchen where we had lunch in Monkey River Village. The village only has a population of a little over 100 people. We had chicken or fish with rice and beans, and it was really good! The town was quaint, and you could tell that everything they did served a purpose for life on the river.
This is one of the houses on the river from the village. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel.
During the time that we were there, the manatees were traveling through the area. We stopped off to see if we could spot any. Manatees like to feed on the turtle grass that grows on the bottom of the sandy areas of the Caribbean. They have to surface every 3 - 5 minutes for air. We watched, and got to see one pop his nose up, surface for a few seconds, and then flip his tail as he went back under about 8 feet out from the boat! Here's Paul's almost picture of him. =)
We spent most all of Tuesday and Wednesday just lounging around the hotel. Paul was feeling a bit under the weather, so we kept it low key, which was GREAT with me!
Just like my hammock at home!
Tuesday night, we went to the Habanero for their mexican buffet. It was a fun night! Their power went off, so the only lights were around the deck outside. The buffet was inside, and you couldn't see a thing! The cook had a oil lamp held over the meats, and another cook had his phone open with a light on the end shining it over the rest, so we could see a bit. We lucked out, though, because the guy in line behind us had a head lamp! (I never asked why...) So as he looked over what he wanted we were able to see a bit for ourselves. They had a mariachi band playing, also, and they stopped and played right at our table! It was very nice. Even better, with so many of the lights out, the stars shined so bright! It was beautiful.
The owners of the hotel have two dogs that stay with them, and t 2 cats that run around the hotel. They were so cute! This one I named Biscuit. He would come by our room every night, after getting scraps from all the customers at dinner, and visit with us. The last night, it was pretty rainy, and so I let Biscuit come in and hang with us for a while. He made himself right at home!
We had a light breakfast most mornings on our balcony, thanks to Paul being so sweet and going to get it for us! But the last day, we had breakfast in the restaurant again. What a beautiful view! I sure am going to miss it!
Our last day, packed up and ready for home. Look! We're tan now! And even though it was such a beautiful trip, we miss our puppies (THANK YOU, Trina, for taking care of them)! We can't wait to get home!
Here's the hopper plane we take from Placencia back to Belize City.
One last view of Robert's Grove. You can see the palapa sticking out in the water there! Bye! (Thanks to Trina for picking us up!)
A huge thanks to everyone for helping to make our honeymoon the best trip ever. We had the most wonderful time. The people at Robert's Grove were wonderful. The hotel was beautiful, the weather was wonderful, and we couldn't have asked for more! What a great way start our married life! Thank again!
After a hard day of hiking, Gaius wanted nothing more than to nap with his papa.
