Bucket List Belize: First Day on the Road to Placencia’s Caribbean Coast
- Mar 8, 2023
- 3 min read
I had been thinking about Belize for years before I finally went. Not in a casual “that looks nice someday” way—but in a this-one-might-change-me kind of way. And still, I wasn’t prepared for how quickly it would feel different once I arrived.
Belize sits on the eastern edge of Central America, pressed between Mexico, Guatemala, and the Caribbean Sea. It’s one of the least densely populated countries in the region—and the only one where English is the official language.
But that’s just the technical version.
On the ground, it feels more layered than that.
You hear Kriol in passing conversations, Spanish in markets, and Garifuna rhythms in the background of coastal towns. It’s not one identity—it’s several overlapping at once, like the landscape itself: jungle, swamp, reef, ruins, coastline.
All of it coexisting.
The Road South Feels Like a Slow Unfolding:
I landed at Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport in Belize City, picked up a rental car, and immediately committed to a three-and-a-half-hour drive south to Placencia.
No easing in. Straight into it.
Leaving Belize City, the highway stretches outward into a landscape that feels increasingly cinematic. The Hummingbird Highway and Southern Highway are not the kind of roads you rush. They curve through dense green jungle, open suddenly into wide valleys, and then pull you back into thick, humid forest again.
And then there are the speed bumps. Massive, unexpected, everywhere. I quickly learned a local strategy: just follow the cars in front of you. They already know where every one of them is hiding. It’s one of those small travel lessons you don’t expect to learn on day one—but absolutely do.
Somewhere along the way, the air shifts. You start catching glimpses of something blue in the distance. The Caribbean. Not yet fully visible. Just teasing you.
First Stop: Placencia, and the First Real Meal
By the time I reached Placencia, I was somewhere between exhausted and euphoric.
My first stop was Rum Fish y Vino, a restaurant I had bookmarked weeks earlier after reading glowing reviews and mentions of celebrity guests. I didn’t have a reservation, and I assumed I’d be waiting.
Instead, I walked into the calmest version of a place that’s usually impossible to get into. It was off-season. And suddenly, everything felt like a secret.
Ginger Caipirinha
I started with a ginger caipirinha. Spicy, bright, slightly unexpected.
The kind of drink that makes you slow down without realizing you’ve slowed down. It felt like the first real exhale of the entire trip.
Al Pastor and Fish Taco
Then came the tacos.
Al pastor: slow-cooked pork, 24 hours in the making, topped with guacamole, jalapeño sauce, and pickled onions.
Fish: beer-battered local filet with cabbage, pico de gallo, and a sauce they simply called “secret.”
Both were under $20 USD with the drink. There’s something about eating food this good in a place this far from where you started that resets your internal scale for value. It's not just money. It's the experience.
On the way to my hotel, I saw my first Jamaican ackee tree.
Then, a few minutes later, my first Belize sunset over the Placencia lagoon.
It wasn’t dramatic in the way postcards try to be. It was quieter than that.
Gold light on still water. A sky softening into orange. Everything slowing down without asking permission. That was the moment the trip stopped feeling like travel logistics and started feeling like presence.
That more or less concluded my first day in Belize. Lots more about this trip coming up so, stay tuned.
While living in Los Angeles I was homesick at times. It was cool to hear the patois at times. I had no idea there were so many fellow Jamaican, only to discover the majority were from Belize!!