Bella Has an "Irie" Experience

Food Critic Extraordinaire

There are a lot of restaurants on this tiny island. You can get wonderful Belizean food (of course), but you can also select American, Chinese, Cantonese, Italian, and Thai. And one more: A special treat in the form of authentic Jamaican food can be found at Jambel's Jerk Pit at the Xaman Ek Resort about five or six miles north of town.

Jam Mi Crazy Shrimp

We had seen signs advertising the "Irie Experience," but had to look it up. It means, in Jamaican slang, "powerful and pleasing, excellent,  the state of feeling great." And that sums up what Fitzgerald Jones sends out of his kitchen. (Great Jamaican name, huh?) You can try the jerk chicken, curry goat, coconut curry, chicken Jamaican style, or their sweet and sour jerked pork chops which are to die for! But for an out-of-this-world Jamaican experience, try the Jam Mi Crazy Shrimp! I don't know why the name is limited to shrimp, because there are two other meats in this wonderful concoction: grilled lobster with a spicy garlic jerk butter sauce and chicken, marinated in jerk spice from Jamaica and cooked tender, “off the bone.”

If you don't want to take the 15 minute boat ride to Jambel's Jerk Pit, you can try two other places in town, each of which is also called Jambel's. But beware! You can pretty much guess that when the sign says "Eat to yu belly bus!" that the quality may possibly not be of the highest order. You decide.

From the Frivolous But Fun Department: There are only six traffic lights in the entire nation of Belize. Three in Belize City and three in Orange Walk Town.

Our Front Yard!

And, also, "Just Fun": We had three sting rays swimming in front of the house this afternoon. They would swoop up to the very edge of the beach, then glide around in search of food like those robot vacuum cleaners you see on TV.

I got really close.

I got very close to them. Even though they are actually quite gentle (the locals call them "the birds of the sea"), Tom yelled at me to stay back. Dang it! Talk about "no fun"! Hmmph.

I discovered a wonderful article about Belize on the website TravelExperta.com. Marina Villatoro shares her list of 7 Must Do Activities to Do in Belize. You can read it here:  www.TravelExperta.com/2012/02/what-to-do-in-belize.html. She loved Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker. 

Y'all come visit. You can eat 'til yu belly bus', then write your own list of favorite activities. You're gonna love Belize!