Just another day, for you and me, in paradise...

Despite the fact that we are continuously busy at home, there is a large piece of Andrew and I that are (apparently) slugs.  This trait hits it's peak when we hit the terra firma of Caye Caulker.   Our first full day today and  all we really accomplished was a few meals and a nap.  It's exhausting.  We actually slept until about 7 am today, which is very exciting to report!  Freaky was waiting to join us for breakfast.  She continues to be displeased with our lack of canned tuna, and is not shy about voicing that displeasure.  

Breakfast of champions - fresh fruit from the mobile fruit stand that came by yesterday,
coffee & toast.  Andrew also had an egg.  I brought the peanut butter from home.  Seriously, I did.  

After breakfast we did our "chores".  This involved washing up the few dishes and taking the compost out to the bin.  In the yard we encountered Debbie, the neighbor, who gave us a lengthy and informative, if unsolicited, tour of the garden.  This was followed by the low-down on "the crack house" next door.  They smoke crack there and are currently without electricity, in case you were wondering.  Neither of these things seem too surprising to us.  It is, after all, referred to as "the crack house".  I also have to assume that, if I was addicted to crack and living on a tropical island, electricity may be of low priority.  That, however, is purely speculation.  If I ever move here and become a crack addict, I will confirm whether or not this is true.  

We finally managed to escape Debbie, and headed up to the roof deck to get some sun.  We're trying to  avoid just hanging out at the beach to see if that helps at all with the sand flea bites.  So far, I've got a few, but not nearly so bad as in past visits.  I've also come well prepared with two different types of antihistamines and an arsenal of topical agents.  I'm sure the local pharmacy will miss my business. 

About 12:30 pm, we rode in to town to find some lunch and to pay Kim.  While deciding on a place to eat, we stopped to watch the kite surfers.  They make it look so easy I am convinced that I could do it.  I imagine that this is the exact thinking that lands people on those TV shows that set their unfortunate mishap to cheerful music and then play it on a loop (backward and forward).   I'm sure that many of them utter the last words "Hey, let me try that!" just before the camera starts to roll.  Luckily, I do not have a kite board.  I also do not know anyone here who has one, so I am safe for today. 

Windy day today - the kite surfers were out in full force at The Split.

  For lunch, we settled on a Lebanese place that opened just around Christmas.  The are roasting whole chickens right in the eating area, and it smells divine.  We share a plate of baba ganoush and the half-chicken platter.  The baba ganouch (eggplant, tahini & garlic spread) is smoky, heavy on the garlic in a great way, and served with warm pita.  The half chicken platter comes with fries, a salad, hummus & garlic sauce.  It's too much food for us, but all delicious.  With two iced teas, the total is $30 BZ ($15 US).  

Lunch!

From the restaurant, we pedal to Kim's to pay him for the house.  Victor had stopped by the house this morning to collect for the bike rentals and told us that he had a lot of bikes to choose from currently if we wanted to come by and look.  The bike I was given had a smaller basket, so we told him that we'd stop to see if there was a bigger one.  We've come to appreciate that a roomy bike basket is a necessity here on Caye Caulker!   After settling up with Kim, we went to look at Victor's bike stock.  There, in front, were these two beauties; just purchased a month ago!  Caddilacs in the Caye Caulker bike world, we snatched them up quickly!  

The rest of the afternoon was spent reading & napping.  Having to take a Benadryl for some bites, even I slept for a little bit - scandalous!  The plan for dinner was to try for Little Kitchen.  It consistently gets rave reviews on websites, and it has been on my list for some time now.  We tried to eat there in November but, being low season, it wasn't open every night.  Now that we're in the thick of the tourist frenzy, it's a good time to try again.  

Now, if you are squeamish, Little Kitchen may not be for you.  First of all, it's not exactly in the "desirable" area of town and you have to then walk through a bit of a back alley and someone's yard to get there.  If you make it this far, you then have to climb two flights of very steep and somewhat rickety stairs to get up to the restaurant. 

This way!  The rise between each step is about 18 inches - whew!

If you're able to brave the alley and the stairs, your reward will be this view...

 The chairs are plastic.  The menu is written on chalk boards.  The cooking is done by "My Mom".  The waitresses refer to her  repeatedly - "I'll ask My Mom what she has for vegetables.  My Mom says that the fish is good tonight."   The whole place shakes ever time someone new comes up the rickety stairs.  The food is amazing!

Menu

Andrew's dinner - lemon pepper shrimp, rice & beans, veg.  He liked everything except the vegetables.  No surprise.

My meal - snapper fillet in a coconut & cilantro sauce, beans & rice & veg.  I liked everything A LOT.  Even the vegetables.  :)  

We also had conch ceviche to start.  Andrew had two Belikin & I had a bottle of water and a glass of the local ginger wine (think of a fermented homemade ginger ale!).  Total, including tip was $32 US.  I'm happy we made it here!