Real Life Recess - Page 2 of 5 - A blog for & about Aspiring Ex-pats, Vacation Addicts, and Beach Bums

Our Daily Morning Forage in Placencia

Jun 19 2017

Free food! That’s what I see when I’m walking around the village, scoping out coconut trees and ogling the abundance of mangos scattered everywhere. There are plenty of fruit trees I can’t identify. And others that I’m not brave enough to try like the cashew. Apparently the cashews have an oil that gives you something along the lines of poison ivy when handled. The nuts need to be carefully boiled and baked before they’re edible but the caustic fumes from the process can damage your lungs. Yikes!…

Jun 13 2017

Our rental house here in Placencia is perfectly situated in the middle of the village (north to south) and back on the lagoon. It’s at the end of a quiet residential “block” (really a dirt, gravel road), but directly across from Dawns’ restaurant on the main road. It’s an up/ down duplex and we have the bottom floor. The yard has a big laundry line which comes in handy because we do a LOT of laundry here! Like I don’t even understand how we make so much laundry…

Jun 11 2017

The most common questions we received prior to making our move were: 1. “Why are you moving?” and 2. “Why Belize?” So I’ll try to answer those questions as best I can. Like many people, we enjoy vacationing in warm locations during the cold northeast winters. Our first few vacations as a couple were to all-inclusive resorts in the Dominican Republic. But while these resorts were beautiful, we were always warned that you didn’t want to venture beyond the walls of the resort. Too dangerous, we were told. But…

May 30 2017

Saying goodbye to family friends and co-workers was bittersweet and emotionally exhausting. We quit our jobs in April so that we could have some time with everyone before we left- and hey, becoming a beach bum doesn’t happen overnight, you have to ease in to that life. Mitch and I spent the month of April in Key West with my parents and other family and Phil joined us the last week. May was a whirlwind of packing, purging and parties! It left us feeling loved and lucky to…

May 27 2017

So we’re back! We took an extended blog hiatus and here’s what we’ve been up to: We had a baby! We sold our house! We moved (several times)! From Egg Harbor Township to Simpson Avenue in Ocean City (on 4th of July Weekend with a one month old…not fun), and then to a winter rental on West Avenue in Ocean City. And now onto Belize. Mitch has already had four homes before his second birthday. We gave our cat away. We quit our jobs. And we purged belongings. …

Saga Humane Society Ambergris Caye- Real Life Recess

May 05 2015

Have some free time and a soft spot for furry friends? Head over to the Saga Humane Society (a block from Pedro’s Hotel) and volunteer to walk a dog or two. Face it- you’d probably be meandering around town or down the beach any way; why not bring a little buddy along with you? The Humane Society on Ambergris Caye is doing a great job of keeping the island’s dogs and cats healthy and getting them adopted to forever homes. If you’re just on vacation and can’t commit…

Apr 18 2015

We had taken a day trip to Caye Caulker a year ago, so we had a general idea of what the island was like. But this time we were staying for three nights, so we had a lot more time to explore this laid-back island. Our lodging at Costa Maya Beach Cabanas offered free use of their bikes, so on our last full day on the island we took a leisurely ride around the island. The island is small so its easily explored on bike or foot and there’s…

Caye Caulker Beer Delivery - Real Life Recess

Apr 05 2015

Caye Caulker is tiny. Its 5 miles long (but “Split” in two) and less than a mile wide; easily explored on foot or bicycle. We had popped over on the water taxi from San Pedro to Caulker last year for a look around and loved the beauty and laid back vibe of the island. We decided Caulker warranted a second look this year and we were mainly curious of what the minuscule island had to offer besides the stunning sea and some cheap seafood. The main draws to…

Cool Runnings Spearfishing Tour Caye Caulker - Real Life Recess

Mar 29 2015

The ocean is my hunting ground. A rubber band powered spear gun my instrument of death. My flippers sleekly propel me through the sea with the stealth of a mako shark.This is what I imagine spearfishing to be like. It was my most anticipated vacation activity. I told Phil for months that I wanted to learn how to spearfish- Survivor style. In my fantasies I envision myself free diving down to coral outcrops and hitting medium sized grouper with a Hawaiian Sling. We spent our first afternoon on…

Costa Maya rooftop hammock- Real Life Recess

Mar 22 2015

This year we wanted to stay on Caye Caulker for a few days to really get a feel for the place. We’d day tripped to the tiny island from Ambergris Caye last year and loved it but wondered if it was too small to entertain us for an extended time (we’re looking for potential places to live after all). Would we get bored? Is there enough to do on such a small swath of land? We were going to find out but first we had to get there…