There are cute stone paths around the property, perfect for watching birds and butterflies from.

The paths did get a bit wet after a heavy rain one night, but they didn't take that long to drain.

There's a pretty creek with lily pads.

And the road right outside the property is great for birdwatching too since it's the perfect wood's edge environment.  We spent many an hour here.

The office/restaurant/lounge is well equipped with a bar, sitting area, and library, in addition to outdoor dining.  We loved eating meals out on the porch.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the food here is super tasty and beautiful as well.  Kate is a wonderful cook!  Continental breakfast (hot breads, butter, jam) and an excellent French press pot of coffee is included in the daily cottage rate, and a HUGE plate of fresh fruit is just an extra $10 BZ ($5 US) and worth every penny.  We got two of these every morning.  I'm sure we could have split one, but we love fruit!  There's also a hot breakfast available for $15 BZ, but we had eaten so many eggs at Mama Noots that we skipped it.

My favorite breakfast was these hot and melt-in-your-mouth English pancakes (similar to French crepes), served with raw sugar and lime.  Ian explained that these pancakes were historically made before Lent began to use up all the eggs in the kitchen.  Sure enough, a quick glance at Wikipedia under "pancake" says the same. 

And here is the other dinner we enjoyed on our last night at Hickatee.  (Our first night's dinner is documented in a previous blog post.)  It was delicious and healthy to boot.  Dessert was more of the yummy local dark chocolate drops and a shot of "Belizean Bailey's" liqueur.  We did not leave hungry!

Ian and Kate were great -- helpful, knowledgeable British expats who positively bubble over with enthusiasm for what they do and where they live.  They seem to be doing exactly what they were born to do, and we enjoyed all they had to offer and share.  From birds, to bats, to butterflies, to howlers, to plants, to spiders, and even to salamanders, there's very little about the natural world that one or both of them don't know.  This makes Hickatee such a delight for nature lovers like ourselves, and very hard to leave!

Stay tuned for blog posts on our short trip to Placencia and finally back home to Ambergris Caye.

Today after loading up on fruits and veggies at two fruit stands, we met a group of friends at Wild Mango's for lunch.  Shelby, who lives in Maya Beach, is visiting San Pedro this week; so we were looking forward to meeting her. Bill and Debra, who live here in San Pedro and write the Taking Belize blog; and Jana and CJ, who are here for a month from Texas, also joined in the fun.  

Barry and I finished our errands a little early so were able to take a few photos before others arrived.  It was spitting rain off and on and dreary the entire time we were out and about, but never got too bad.

Barry started with a tropical fruit smoothie, while I went with the island favorite, Panty Ripper (pineapple juice & coconut rum).

Next to arrive were Jana and CJ, who have been thoroughly enjoying their time here on the island.

Somehow I missed getting a photo of Shelby until the full-table shots, but there's just a bit of her in this photo of Debra and Bill.

Shelby had heard that it was National Pina Colada Day so decided to celebrate with one.  Great plan!  It looked amazing.

And look who else was in the house, much to my surprise (since I'd warned her there'd be two other bloggers at Mango's today)!

Everyone's food looked delish!  My Tacos al Pastor (with pork and pineapple) sure hit the spot.  Yum!

I think it goes without saying that we all left with full bellies and smiles on our faces.  Rain was still spitting as Barry and I rode off on our bikes.  We ended up following CJ and Jana in their golf cart for a bit after we stopped in at Greenhouse for a few groceries before heading home.

On the way home I finally remembered to snap a photo of "The Hotel" just a bit north of the bridge, next to Legend's.  There have been barricades across the entrance for a few weeks now, so I guess they had to close down during slow season.  Too bad, as they had barely just opened, and work had been going on there so diligently for quite some time.  The restaurants had opened for awhile in early spring, but they never seemed very crowded.  Hope they'll be able to make a go of it during next high tourist season.  Anyone got the scoop?

This was our third full day in Hopkins and supposed to be a rest day after two tough days of hiking in the heat and humidity, but it didn't turn out to be very restful!  Still, it was a fun day and gave us a chance to see more of Hopkins, finally.

I forgot to mention in yesterday's blog (because we forgot to take a photo) that Angela made us some absolutely melt-in-your-mouth blueberry pancakes for breakfast on Thursday.  We hadn't had pancakes in an awfully long time, so they went down really, really easy.  And she served them with real -- yes real -- maple syrup.  Don't see that too often in Belize. Yum!  

Today we were back to scrambled eggs, English muffins, and fruit, which was excellent as well.  We were delighted to see mango and kiwi on the fruit plate for the first time.  She also served us yogurt every day.  These were really excellent breakfasts, especially for being included in our room rate.  

After breakfast we headed down the road south a bit doing some casual bird-watching.  

We were joined by a couple of dogs who seemed fierce at first -- a Rottie and a Pittie -- but ended up being friendly and just wanted to walk along with us.

We spotted some excellent birds including this Black-Headed Trogan and a while bunch of chatty Olive-Breasted Parakeets.  We'd seen both before, but we never mind seeing them again.

We also met one of the cutest puppies you'd ever hope to see.  Just tell me this little guy isn't adorable?

We did relax after our walk -- but only for a few minutes.

We knew we wanted to try the pizza at Driftwood Pizza Shack, after reading how good it was on Sharon Hiebing's blog.  Our taxi driver from the previous day, Julian, had given us an idea -- why not take a kayak up?  It seemed like a pretty long way, but the Caribbean was nice and calm in the late morning, so we figured we'd give it a try.  One of the kayaks available at Beaches & Dreams was a tandem, so we grabbed that bad boy and took off.

When we got north of the village, where we knew the pizza place was, I started looking at any possible places along the shore through my binoculars.  Before too long we spotted the sign and surfed in to the sand.  The wind was up a bit from when we left, and thus the waves were starting to kick up a bit.

It only took us 55 minutes to paddle up there, so we were a little early for lunch.  There were two local ladies working at the shack, and they didn't seem to mind that we arrived before their advertised opening time of noon.  They were happy to take our order and serve us a cold drink.  We had a great place to sit under a palapa.

Here's the menu (all prices in Belize dollars, divide by 2 for US dollars):

And here's what we ordered (medium size):

Here are some of the interesting sights around us as we waited for our pizza.

It took awhile, but our pizza was worth waiting for.  It had a crispy thin crust and was really, really good.  Thanks, Sharon, for the recommendation!

As I mentioned, the wind had started kicking up a bit as we finished up our paddle.  During the time we were waiting for and then eating our pizza, it kicked up even more.  By the time we got ready to leave, it was seriously choppy out there.  Even worse, the wind direction was southeast, so we'd be paddling into the wind the entire way back.  I was not looking forward to it.

I won't lie, it was a TOUGH paddle back.  Very tough.  It's not like we've been paddling a lot lately, though we have been lifting some home-made milk jug & sand weights (mostly Barry) and doing yoga (me).  Still, nothing makes you a stronger paddler than actually paddling, and we just haven't done that much since arriving in Belize.  We actually had to resort to tacking so we wouldn't get buffeted by the swells coming directly abeam (like our sailorly term?!)  So we paddled a lot farther on the way back in addition to fighting the wind and waves.  My shoulders were screaming, and by the end, even Barry was hurting and getting cranky.  

We thought that Beaches & Dreams had the very last dock and palapa in False Sittee Point and had been aiming for that from a long way north.  Just when we thought we couldn't possibly paddle another stroke, Barry looked over and realized we were THERE.  It was the third palapa up from the end, not the last one!  Whew!  Never have I been so glad to be "home".  We wasted no time in making a hard right turn and surfing FAST (no paddling needed in these waves) to the sandy shore.  It had taken about twice as long getting back as it had getting to the pizza place, and I think I'd burned off all the pizza I'd eaten (two slices) by the time we pulled up on the sand.

But we were on a roll now, so why stop and take it easy?  Instead, we decided to walk up the beach a bit on a reconnaissance mission to scout out a place for dinner.  We had read in a Hopkins tourism brochure that the restaurant at Belizean Dreams resort had quesadillas and burritos, which are two of our favorites, so we decided to check it out.  Turns out it was the northernmost resort on False Sittee Point, but still only a short walk for us.

We talked with the bartender out by the pool at Belizean Dreams, who told us that the restaurant didn't open until 6:30.  Huh?  That's pretty late for a beach-front restaurant.  We were going to leave, but he insisted on running into the restaurant to see if they could accommodate us earlier.  Since we had an early lunch and so much exercise, we knew we'd be starving well before 6:30.  Sure enough, they could take us at 5:30.  When he told us what they were serving that night, though, lobster pasta, we again were about to pass.  We'd just had seafood pasta the night before, so we were really hoping for a little Tex-Mex.  But once again he insisted on running inside to ask the chef if they could accommodate us with some quesadillas.  The bartender came back out with the news that they could do that.  Very accommodating, that's for sure!  So, we decided to come back later for dinner.

But first, it was now or never if we were going to explore Hopkins Village.  So, it was time to grab a beach bike and go for a ride.  See, I told you this "rest" day wasn't very restful!

We rode from False Sittee Point all the way to the north end of Hopkins Village (as far as the road went).  We ran into the couple we'd met at the bus station on Tuesday in the village and stopped to chat with them for a few minutes.  The road was bumpy in places, and my upper body was feeling really fatigued after the tough paddle earlier.  I was kinda glad when the bike ride came to an end and we could truly just relax.  This had certainly been one active vacation.

After the bike ride it was time to clean up and get ready to walk up the beach for our old folks' "early bird special".  But first, a little swing in the hammock.

When we got to the restaurant, they weren't actually ready for us at 5:30.  They said they just needed to sweep the floor, so we ended up going to the bar for a Happy Hour rum punch.  They weren't actually ready for us until nearly 6pm.  That was some thorough floor sweeping!  But, it was okay because there was live music at the pool and bar area, and the weather was great.

When we were called into the restaurant, they were already serving our chicken quesadillas, and we were the only ones eating dinner.  There were plenty of guests at the resort, but they were busy drinking and hanging out in the pool.  So we had the restaurant to ourselves.  The food was delicious, but the air-conditioning was way too cold, detracting from the meal a bit.  Service was excellent -- I guess it would be, since we were the only ones there.  Our server even went out to the bar to check on our much-delayed second rum punches.  I guess the bartender had gotten busy and forgotten, but she managed to fetch them up for us!

They were offering carrot cake as the nightly dessert, so of course we had to indulge.  The cake was warm, moist, and delicious.   Notice the amount of icing compared to what you'd get in the US.  I missed the icing, but I realize this was much better for me!

While we were finishing up dinner, a local Garifuna drumming and dancing group started playing.  These guys were great and very representative of the traditional culture in Hopkins Village, home of the Lebeha Drumming Center, where new generations of village children learn the traditional skills.  We really enjoyed listening to them and were glad we decided to dine at Belizean Dreams, definitely the place to be on a Friday night!

After an easy stroll back down the beach and some good conversation in the Beaches & Dreams palapa over the water, we went back to the room to pack up for our early trip home the next morning.  We'd have to catch the 7 am bus to Dangriga in Hopkins Village, and since we'd missed Tony and Angela, who were heading out to eat right as we got back from our dinner, we left them a note on their gate about morning arrangements and crossed our fingers that they'd find it when they arrived home....

[To be continued]

When we arose to bright sunshine the next morning, we were able to see Beaches and Dreams, where we had arrived in darkness the night before, in a whole new light.  It is a perfectly charming place on the beach, set far enough from neighboring homes and resorts to be private, and with tropical foliage all around, including a large mango tree we could see out our bathroom window.  

Angela made us a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, English muffins, and a huge plate of fruit.  The big breakfasts here were a really nice treat and stoked us for long days of hiking and other activities.

Our plan was to go to Mayflower Bocawina National Park today for hiking and birdwatching, so Tony called us a taxi.  I have to give credit to Sharon Hiebing's Wealthships blog for alerting me to the existence of this park; I'd never even heard of it until this month, but after reading her description of hiking the super strenuous Antelope Falls, I knew it was a place Barry and I simply couldn't miss, and our entire trip to Hopkins evolved from the desire to visit this park.  Yes, you could say we are a bit masochistic to even think about doing such a hike in the summer in the tropics, but hey, that's just how we roll!

Our driver, Kaleem, would drop us at the park in the morning and pick us up in the afternoon for a cost of $70 US.  Traveling by taxi in Belize is not inexpensive, but the rates are understandable as gas prices are high, and once you get off the paved highway, side roads are typically unpaved, rocky, steep in places, and slow-going. The roads really do a number on the suspensions of the vehicles -- mostly older vehicles -- in Belize.  Kaleem would have to travel from our inn, about two miles south of Hopkins Village (unpaved), then the bad four-mile road to and from Hopkins, then the Southern Highway for four more miles, followed by a 4.5-mile unpaved access road to and from the park. Twice.  Definitely not a job I would want.

The views along the access road to the park were gorgeous, as was the day.  What rainy season?!

We decided to start out by doing an easier hike to Bocawina Falls to warm up before we attacked the strenuous Antelope Falls trail.  Most of this hike was along an unpaved road and was quite sunny, so we were soon dripping wet with sweat.  We saw no other people after passing the zip-line area along the way.  I'd love to try zip-lining one day, but today was all about hiking and birding.  

We saved money by not hiring a guide to take us through the park -- we prefer to hike and bird-watch independently anyway, so we don't feel like we're holding anyone up when we stop numerous times to check out and photograph various birds.  Entry fee to the park was only $10 BZD ($5 US) each.

Barry happened to look down and notice this tiny thumb-sized turtle along the path.  How cute is he?

Finally we got to the end of the "road" and continued on a more typical trail through the jungle and up to the falls.  It was absolutely gorgeous and nice to have some more shade, though the humidity was intense.

The falls themselves were really pretty, and the temperature may have even gone down a degree or two right by them.  It was nice having them all to ourselves.

From the falls, the trail continued up, up, up to the upper falls area.  We couldn't resist going just a bit higher through the lush jungle.

There wasn't too much of a view from the "upper falls", but there were additional trails that branched off to the Peck Falls and Big Drop Falls.  These trails didn't look like they'd seen much use lately, and we knew we'd run out of time to see Antelope Falls if we continued on, so we backtracked down the way we'd come.  

When we got back to our starting point, we realized that we probably had not left enough time to complete the Antelope Falls hike.  We had asked Kaleem to pick us up at 2 pm, giving us five hours in the park, but time really flies when we're birding as we stop often to peer through our binoculars and take multiple photos, so our bird-watching hikes are not nearly as quick as regular hiking.  It was 12:20 already, so we needed to turn around after about 50 minutes of hiking to be able to get back at 2 pm.  We took off at a quick clip, unsure if we'd make it to the top of the falls or not.  It was only two miles to the top, but we knew that it would be very steep and slow-going.

First we crossed the Mayflower Bridge.

I guess the trail used to be called "Tind's Trail", per this sign.

The trail was absolutely gorgeous.  It started out easy to moderate, but didn't waste much time in getting fairly strenuous.  Still, we had no idea what was soon to come.

First we got to the stairs. There were ropes along the banks to assist, but we didn't use the ropes on the stairs.  We thought we were in good enough shape that we wouldn't need ropes at all.  Haha!  No, we may not have needed them on the stairs, but once we hit the roots and rocks and even steeper terrain on the upper half of the falls, we definitely needed the ropes.  Some of the rocks were slippery, and it was difficult enough even with ropes.  We were just hoping they wouldn't break.

Since we haven't been able to do much hill training on the flat island of Ambergris Caye, our hearts were really pounding, and I started feeling a little woozy from all this climbing in the heat and humidity.  We've done some really tough things over the years, like century bike rides (100 miles) and hiking rim to the river and back in a day at the Grand Canyon, but this was actually a more strenuous effort, probably in part because we were just not well-trained for it.  And they don't seem to understand the concept of switchbacks when building trails in Belize; they pretty much go straight up the mountain.  I'm sure it couldn't have anything to do with the fact that we're a few years older now!

Finally, we realized we weren't going to be able to make it all the way to the top.  It was a combination of not having enough time and being absolutely wiped out from the heat, humidity, and climbing.  We could look up and see the top about 10 minutes away, but we just didn't have the energy to go for it at that moment.  What a disappointment!  We will definitely have to return and try again, perhaps on a slightly cooler day, and we'll do this trail FIRST next time, while we're still fresh.  Sharon's blog says there's a lovely pool to swim in at the top, so I'll pack my swimsuit next time too!

As it turned out, going down was faster than going up, though my progressive glasses were making it a little weird since I kept looking through the reading part at the bottom and slightly misjudging distance, but we made it with no mishaps.

Since the trail down went faster than anticipated, we made it back to the visitor's center before Kaleem arrived to pick us up, so we got to look around a bit.  There were some ornamental peppers growing and some unexcavated Maya mounds nearby.  There was also a sign to a so-called "Bird Trail" we would have loved to have checked out.  Wish we'd had a few more minutes to walk around more, but Kaleem arrived right on time.

After we arrived back at the inn, Barry decided to head out in one of the kayaks (complimentary).  I was too worn out from our day, so I just watched and took photos after a quick dip in the ocean to cool off.  

After cooling off, we realized we needed to find a grocery store for a few small items, so we grabbed a couple of the complimentary bikes to ride into the village.  After my little dip in the ocean, I had more energy than I expected.

We stopped at this little store for a few things, which we had to stuff in our pockets on the way home after the bag broke.

When we got back to the inn, it was finally time to relax.  I sat out in the palapa over the water and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset to the west.  

The lovely Tapas dinner we enjoyed at the Barracuda Bar and Grill onsite as a fundraiser for the Hopkins Humane Society will have to wait for a later blog post.  It deserves a bit of space as Tony's food was lovely, and we took plenty of photos.

Today I spent most of the afternoon at Cowboy Doug's Bar and Grill here at Grand Caribe attending the "Lobstermania" closing party.  And what a fine party it was!  It was fun to see San Pedro friends and hang out chatting in the bar.  The morning clouds cleared out, and the afternoon got sunny and hot.  There was plenty of good food to go around and good music courtesy of Zac and Tanya.  I enjoyed a few rum drinks, a lobster sausage, and a few hot French fries (thanks Debra and Bill for sharing!)  Barry came by with Paisley during the afternoon to say hi, and her little nose was twitching with all the good food aromas coming from the grill!

I started with a pineapple juice and rum and a lobster sausage -- definitely a different use of lobster!

I was super happy when our good friends Debra and Bill showed up.  They don't make it up our way all that often, so it is always a treat to see them.

Oceana also showed up with a booth, and I joined their organization and bought a cute t-shirt.  It's such a great cause for those who care about the world's oceans and marine life.

And speaking of our animal friends, there were several canine friends in attendance at the party:

It was a great day and a great way to end San Pedro's Lobsterfest 2012.  Thanks, Cowboy Doug, Leisa, Tacogirl, and all the Grand Caribe folks who made this day possible!

So, she's not really a cousin, but her maiden name and Barry's last name are the same.  She also lives in Ohio, where he is from and still has family, so I joke that she is a cousin of his.  I'd been chatting with Debbie about Ambergris Caye on Facebook for awhile but had never met her in person.  She and her husband Tom are building a condo on north Ambergris and visit here frequently, this time for San Pedro Lobsterfest.  So she invited us to meet them for lunch yesterday at Aji.  Also joining us were our good friend Debra, who lives in San Pedro, and her visiting friend Alyssa from Mississippi, along with Debbie's sons Justin and Billy and a few family friends.  It was quite a crowd!

We were lucky to get sunshine for our lunch, though there wasn't much breeze, and it was seriously hot and humid out, around 89 degrees with humidity also in the 80s.  Whew.  Cold beverages were much appreciated (I drank two large glasses of ice water in addition to a Belikin), and let's just say that no one ordered soup today.  Well, except for Barry, but it was chilled gazpacho!

Barry had the discount Tapa of the day, Quesito Frito (fried cheese), with a couple of dipping sauces but we both forgot to take a photo before he chowed down on it.  Here's his gazpacho, which came after.

And I had the grilled snapper pita -- delish!

Afterwards, Debbie's son Justin took this photo of some of us on the Aji dock before we melted.  Not sure why I didn't actually put my sunglasses ON as I was squinting like crazy!

Thanks for arranging the lunch, Debbie.  It was great to meet all of you.  Say hello to Ohio for us and pull those Indians on!

Today we had the pleasure of attending a very special celebration for Jana and CJ, who are visiting San Pedro from Texas for a month of vacation.  They both recently celebrated a milestone birthday (we won't say which one!) and invited a group of folks to join them for a day on the Lady Leslie catamaran to snorkel and sail to Caye Caulker.  We were lucky enough to be included, and we had a blast!  

After all the rain we've been getting lately on the island, it was touch-and-go up until the last minute, and Jana had warned us they might have to postpone the trip.  When I woke up just before 6 am to a heavy downpour, I feared the worst, but it passed over quickly, and Jana informed us on Facebook that the sail was on.  Fortunately, no more rain fell, and the day turned out to be just right -- mostly sunny but with enough shade to keep us from getting completely fried.

Since there was no water taxi at the appropriate time this morning, Barry and I loaded up our backpacks with towels, sunscreen, and other necessary items, and hiked into town after our breakfast.  We'd worked up a good sweat by the time we made it to the dock near Wet Willy's, but with all the food we ended up eating during the day, we were very glad we'd gotten our exercise in early.

After leaving San Pedro, our first stop was Hol Chan Marine Reserve.  Snorkeling was optional, but I wouldn't have missed it.  There were a ton of fish of all sizes, a couple of sea turtles, a moray eel, and much beautiful coral.  It was the best snorkeling experience I've ever had, in part because my mask stayed on and didn't keep filling with water as I've had problems with in the past.  It was a nice long snorkel as well, with Ricky as the guide for our part of the group, and we got to see so much.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself, despite a few foot cramps and turning into a prune by the end!  Barry is not as crazy about snorkeling as I am so stayed behind along with some of the others to take some photos and just enjoy hanging out on the deck of the Lady Leslie.  I do wish he'd joined me, but he has problems with foot cramps as well, so he might not have enjoyed himself too much.

When we got back to the boat, we were swimming among a school of large horse-eye jacks, and a couple of HUGE groupers were right in there too.  You can see the dark gray forms of the fish in this photo.  It was surreal!

I wish I had taken my waterproof camera along for some underwater shots, but I was too afraid of dropping it.  I am hoping that Debra (Taking Belize blog) got some good shots of the many sights we saw as she was snapping away under water.

After drying off, we enjoyed fresh pineapple slices Jody brought around.  Nothing like snorkeling to help you work up an appetite.  A bit more sunscreen was in order as well.

Finally it was full-steam ahead to Caye Caulker.

A few of us misunderstood and thought our lunch was at the Lazy Lizard at the Split, so we headed down there. 

About this time, Laurie got a text that we were supposed to be at Wish Willy's!  Not sure how we got confused, but perhaps it was the rum punches and panty rippas we had after snorkeling....  Fortunately, it was only a short walk back down the road.

It was right across the way from the Humane Society, where this sweet pooch took a liking to Barry.  Wish we could have played with him and his bone!

Our meal was wonderful -- a lobster tail (my first of the newly opened season), shrimp skewer, chicken, veggies, rice and beans.  Yum!

After the fine lunch, we had a bit of extra time before we had to be back on the boat, so we wandered around, and I bought a beaded ankle bracelet from a lady Debra liked.  Debra had one on one ankle already but bought another for her second ankle!

At last we had to board the boat again and make our way back to Ambergris Caye.  But not without a bit more food.  The crew made us fresh sushi, which was absolutely delicious, and we had melt-in-your-mouth orange cake (aka "crack cake" said Jana) made by Casa Pan Dulce.  Could we possible eat any more today!?  

Sadly, all too soon we were pulling into the dock and saying goodbye to everyone.  What a wonderful day it was, though. Many thanks to Jana and CJ for their generosity in arranging such a memorable event and for inviting us along!