Belize 2019: Placencia

On Monday, June 10, we departed from Blancaneaux Lodge and embarked on our vacation's next destination -- Chabil Mar Villas in Placencia, Belize. We started this next part of our adventure in a new rental vehicle after our first SUV resulted in a flat tire. Along the way, we stopped at a Women's Cooperative in San Antonio. This organization was created by nine women, one of whom we met, Timotea, as a way to share their traditional Mayan traditions and culture with the younger generations. In doing so, they also created a to as a way to earn income from tourism for their village and families. They founded a center that teaches the public how to make tortillas, pottery and other Mayan crafts. Josh and I enjoyed learning how to make homemade corn tortillas using a grinding stone and wood fire stove. After our cooking lesson, we enjoyed a traditional Mayan lunch. It was so good!

Our drive from Blancaneaux to Placencia

San Antonio Women's Coop

Timotea grinding corn

Josh's turn

Cooking our tortilla

After lunch, we started our journey to the coast. Along the way, we stopped for some ice cream at a local dairy called Western Dairies. As I stated above, Belize is full of many, many cultures. This particular dairy was started by Mennonite farmers.

We also encountered some very funny traffic signs. Speed bumps in Belize are known as sleeping police men as shown on the sign below.

We finally made it to our resort after five hours of driving through tons of construction, but their welcome was very appreciated and beautiful. We spent the next couple of days enjoying the beachfront view, chauffeured trips into town, Fry Jack tacos at a local shack, coffee and beer on the patio while reading, and scuba diving in the gorgeous Belizean coral reef.