Day 2: Shh, it's a secret (beach)
One of the things you must do in San Pedro is going to the secret beach. It's a beach in a very secluded spot of the island that you get to by golf cart. It took us almost an hour to get there. The drive is about four miles north of town and three miles west, but since we were on the southmost side of the island it did take us a little longer. At first, the ride will start off through the town but as you get closer to the beach the roads become more secluded and less pathed. GPS is somewhat helpful with this until you get to the more secluded part of the island then we took more than one wrong turn and ended up having to ask someone for directions, however, once you get on the right path there are signs that make it easy to get there.
Once we found our way to the beach we were met with crystal clear, really still water and a variety of beachfront restaurants and shops that we could choose from. The vibes are just immaculate. We ordered jerk chicken, plantains, and pina coladas at the end of a dock of one of the restaurants and when the food was ready they came out to where we were at one of the picnic tables that were actually in the water. We spent a lot of the time just enjoying the food and beach but there were also some activities there as well.
During our visit, there was a water obstacle course that was up. It was basically real-life wipe-out and those of us with our inner child still intact went on it and got pretty beat up. I actually got a bruise from that thing, because I greatly overestimated my own skill. There were monkey bars, a swing, and climbing passages that you had to get through to slide down back safely into the water.
While I would've stayed at that beach and swam with the fish in the clear water all day, we had prepaid plans in the form of a food tour. When there is not a curfew the Secret Beach is a great place to spend the evening since it had a young party-type vibe.
We booked the tour through Belize Food Tours. The tour met in the town center and was 7 stops with 14 different samples. Belizean food has a lot of different influences and we really got to experience different sides of the culture through the food tour.
All of the food on the tour was delicious. We started off with some ceviche, something I would truly come to love on this trip. Along with the food, a lot of the stops also came with drinks. This is where we first came into contact with San Pedro's infamous "Pantirippa" drink. Yes, as the man explained the drink accomplishes exactly what the name says. We also had some great Rum bunch, Belizean beer, and for dessert, Key lime pie. As we went through the different stops our tour guide did a great job of telling us about the history of the restaurants and the stories of those who started them. We also enjoyed conversing with the other people on the tour as well.
If you want to walk through your own tour here is everywhere we went:
Lily's Treasure Chest: Where we started off with the ceviche and some rum punch. This is the point where I fell in love with ceviche.
Saul's Cigars and Coffee: We got to try three different Rum Cream's, coffee, Coconut, and chocolate. These were creamy and flavorful with the zing of rum. While we here we also tried the Pantirippa drink that they had. The rum creams that we had were so good that we decided to buy some and take them home.
Elvi's Kitchen: This is a more upscale restaurant that is a Sen Pedro staple. There we sampled their pork and fish tacos and also had a watermelon mojito-type drink to go with it.
Original #1 Pupuseria Salvadoreno: Who doesn't love pupusa's, especially when they're freshly made. This was the first time that I actually saw someone making pupusas and seeing the process made it that much tastier. This was probably my favorite spot and I was obsessed with getting more but unfortunately, we didn't make it again.
Briana's Place: Here we got to try some authentic Belizean food. There were tostadas, fried beans, fry jacks, and Beliken Beer. Saludos and fry jacks were something completely new to me and I was glad that I got to try them here.
Big Taste: Tacos! Seriously what else is there to say except mouth watering-ly good tacos.
Gill-E's Pour House: Our last stop on the trip was for the very best (in my humble opinion) tropical desert, Key Lime pie. Yeah, I ate multiple because for some reason they hated the perfect mix of sweet and sour. And of course, our night wouldn't be complete without a few more Pantirippa's.
The food tour left (all but two of us) completely full and glad that we were able to try some of the local stops. After that we chilled at our condo, more swimming, games, and late-night beach visits but went to bed semi-early because we had our big adventure the next day!