Lisa’s Life Changing First Trip to Ambergris Caye

Today’s post was sent in by Lisa Still who made her first trip to Belize this past summer. While here, she felt like she had found her new home. She felt at peace a feeling she had have never experienced before and something she wanted to share with you. I know her words will ring true for many of you as far as first visits past or future and the island capturing your hearts.

Hi, my name is Lisa.

I came to Ambergris Caye in Aug of this year, for the first time. The trip was life-changing!

Like many of you, I have dreamed of living on the ocean, in a small town, where the way of life is laid back like in the 1960s and 1970s. Where you go to town to shop and you know your grocery store owner personally. You know the owner of the vegetable stand and you stop and talk about whats going on in your lives and the community. A place where going to town is not just to take care of your business, you know you will run into old friends or possibly make a new one.

I started my quest in 2006, looking for my country and city. I also started praying about my dream to move. I looked at different places to see what they had to offer, countries with tropical weather and blue Caribbean waters. I went on many message boards and asked lots of questions. Every waking hour that I wasn’t working, I was on the internet searching. I had even briefly looked at Belize.

The drive to find my place in paradise consumed me, so I kept searching. This past November, something kept telling me to look at Belize again, after 3 days I finally started researching. This led me to a woman named Mary1220 on AmbergrisCaye.com Belize message board. She answered a lot of my questions and as a result, I decided to take a vacation there. Through Mary, I met Laurie and they were so much help to me.

My daughter and I arrived in August for a 4-day stay and I was a bit nervous at first not knowing the town. We stayed at Banana Beach Resort, everyone was so nice and helpful. After we checked in, we decided to walk to town, we had just started when a woman stopped her golf cart and offered us a lift. My daughter and I looked at each other because that doesn’t happen where we live. We thanked her and jumped on, it was a great ride. San Pedro town is so colorful and looks like it was built back in the old days, just what I was looking for and everyone we met was friendly.

I took my sandals off the second day and walked barefoot, which I never do, even in my home, I have socks on. Being barefoot felt so wonderful as when I was a kid!

On the third day, we stood out in front of the hotel waiting for a taxi. A woman stopped and asked if we wanted a ride, so we hopped on, her name was Donna and she was a wonderful person. Just before we got to town it started raining, Donna dropped us off close to the water taxi and we hurried to get shelter on the beach.

We started to run to the taxi dock and as we got closer to the water, I noticed how beautiful it was, even in the rain. I asked myself, “why are you running to get out of the rain, you are in the most beautiful place.” I stopped and looked around I threw my hands up and began to twirl around in the rain like I did when I was a kid. It felt so wonderful. I fell in LOVE at that moment.

On our last day, Laurie took us gift shopping on Front Street. We went into one store and while looking around, I noticed 3 young women at the register. I saw they were eating and  asked I “what are you having for lunch?” One of them stated, “chicken, try some.” I went up to the counter, looked at the Styrofoam cup and saw one spoon. I asked “are you sure” and she said “yes” with a big smile. So, I took a bite and it was chicken and it tasted good. I thought these young women shared their lunch and their spoon with me, a tourist and a stranger. That moment was so humbling. How many people are going to share the food and spoon that they are eating with a stranger? NOT where I’m from. I knew I had found the perfect place for me!

When it was time to leave, I was sad. I felt like I belonged there. It felt as if it was already my home and I know one-day Ambergris Caye will be, My 7-year search is over and I have peace in my soul.

Thank you for letting me share my trip to your beautiful island.
-Lisa