Whirlwind Belize City Shopping Tour

Did a whirlwind Belize City shopping tour Wednesday and by whirlwind I seriously mean it mean it. 11 places in the span of about 5h – we really  got around. In addition to 4 cabs we still got our exercise in for the day, my movement tracker shows 3.97 miles walked.

I was planning to take the 8:00:am flight and due to work and the 9:00am being full, I ended up on the 10 am Tropic Air.That mean the race would be very close, Mary and Michael took the 8:30 am boat and our plan was to meet at Brodie’s between 10:00am and 10:30 – they won  by a couple of minutes.

My cab ride from Municipal airport to Brodies $10 bzd and I got his card for later use.

Belize travel tip – When doing mainland shopping trips  it can be very hot and staying hydrated is important. Drink extra water on the way to stops where you know you will have a bathroom option.

After hitting Brodies and a pharmacy we headed on over to The Angelus Press our mini version of office depot. They have all kinds of office furniture, supplies and do onsite printing. Unfortunately they were on back order for the easel  and flip chart pads I was looking for, thankfully they had some red clipboards which will be perfect for our San Pedro Red Cross Street Beat activity at the block party.

Next Simon Quan which is right around the corner and you never know what you will find at this well known shop. Clothing, bags, jewelery, watches, clocks, watches , eyeglasses, arts & crafts, decorations, gifts, electronics, floaty toys, games footwear and so much more.

A bit of Belize History: Sponsored by his cousin Augusto Quan, Simon came to Belize from China in 1959. Quan was a two term President of the Belize-Chinese Association and was well known for his generous community contributions and scholarships. To read more about this interesting man in the full article on Channel 7 News Belize.

I decided since we were close enough we may as well hit food and beverage next. Located on New Rd, Belize City, this is the place to go to if you re looking for bulk sizing, good prices and Asian products. The first 3 pictures show what I wanted to buy if we were not continuing on by foot. The last pic shows what I ended up choosing as the was the lightest of the items and a really good price for Belize Cheese 🙂

Mirab Home decor was next on our shopping list and we were happy to get inside and cool off for a bit. I was excited to find new bedroom curtains in the bathroom section.I was also glad to see they had a good selection of mattress pads as I am getting around to bed shopping one of these fays.

Mirab store carries an extensive variety of home goods everything from curtains, sheets, pillows, tropical coffee mugs and more. The and more includes some beauty products, shoes, toys electronics, and a pet section. They also have a different furniture store.

Mary and Michael decided they wanted to give the Riverside a try as they had heard good things about it. Run by the Bowen aka Belikin beer family, it is one of the city’s most popular  restaurants. The tavern is known for it’s burgers although there are plenty of other options on the menu, I opted for seafood chowder and Caesar salad. Riverside also has a reputation for good service and a secure fenced in parking lot.

We considered sitting on the covered patio overlooking Haulover Creek, which is one of the 3 main canals running in Belize City, enjoying some air-condand people watching those there to see the soccer match won.

Our cab ride from Mirab to The Riverside Tavern was $10 bzd and he was waiting right out front when we exited the store.

Since we were getting loaded down and not on a main drag, I decided to call Gilbert, my original taxi driver of the day. He was back at the airstrip and said he would be there in 5 minutes to pick us up.

From there it cocts us $15 bzd for him him drop us off at the Health Store on Central American Blvd. I was on a quest for smoothie ingredients and ended up with Chia and Flax seeds. From there it was a short walk back to Save U which is still my favorite shop. We did a good slow pass through the store and were pretty restrained considering all the things we would have liked to buy. I ended up with some nice smoothie glasses that were $2.98 a piece so I got 4 green and 4 blue.

We walked across the bridge to catch a cab to the other Brodies for our final shopping -the last of the heavy  stuff. I added a large jar of Jiff peanut butter to my weight at a cost of $22 bzd and they added 2 big bags of cat food. I never did ask if it was cheaper but I know their main issue was availability as they have not been able to find the one they like on Ambergris Caye lately.

After this it was time to part ways and they headed back to the water taxi dock.  I had a bit  of extra time in my hands so I decided to cross the road and do a quick pass through Benny’s Home Center. I always enjoy the large selection of  choices compared to what we get on island.

After that busy day, I was happy to just park myself in the outdoor lounge at Municipal and relax. As much as I wanted to go, I knew I would not make on the lobster crawl it for Pedro’s All you can eat Lobster Pizza event.