Life in Placencia Feels Like Vacation Every Day

“I fell in love with a place, not a person,” is what I often tell people when they ask me about my life in Placencia. Named by the Spaniards, who used to occupy it, and meaning “pleasant point,” Placencia is a 16 mile long peninsula in the south of Belize, and it is my personal paradise.

People often think that living in the Caribbean means living on vacation and, while I do go to work every day, I can see why they may think that. I often take catamaran rides to islands, kayak in the lagoon, and hike jungle trails that lead to waterfalls. It’s one of the many perks to living life in a vacation destination, but my life also has the more normal day-to-day in it as well.

I love to wake up and sit in the hammock on my front porch as I catch up on my social media and FaceTime with my family. Then, I’ll often make my way to Above Grounds, a fair trade Guatemalan coffee shop, which is built like a treehouse, for my daily iced coffee. I can guarantee that there will be a group of locals sitting chatting over their morning bagel and that I’ll be greeted with hails of, “Good Morning, Shay!” as I make my way in. I almost always have my dog, Beau, in tow and he’ll get his own greetings from Java, the shop owner’s dog, and Maggie, a gorgeous golden retriever whose daily routine tends to sync with ours.

Being a beach town, I’m not alone in walking barefoot a lot of the time but I do tend to wear flip flops to work. A golf cart has been my primary mode of transportation for the past three years and I relish the thought that my daily commute is 11 minutes on a road lined with palm trees.

I’ll typically stop at one of the local produce stands to pick up what I need for the day. Unlike in North America, you don’t buy your fruits and veg in the grocery stores here. The produce tends to come from nearby farms, meaning it’s naturally grown and always representative of what’s growing seasonally. I love when mango and avocado season overlap…it’s a delicious time of year and makes a great lunch!

Having said that, depending where you go in Placencia, eating out can be just as affordable as making your own meals. And, oftentimes, having dinner out means more than just having a meal. Monday night is Trivia night at the Pickled Parrot, Wednesday night is a live music Jam Session at Barefoot Beach Bar where anyone can join in and play. Thursday is either a game of Cribbage at The Flying Pig or Karaoke at Tipsy Tuna on the beach with friends. The weekend always brings with it a “Sunday Funday” barbeque and then live jazz at Cha Chi’s, the local pizza place. And the list goes on! By far, one of the best aspects of life here is the sense of community and how there always seems to be a reason to get out and enjoy together.

I volunteer regularly with the kids’ running club on Saturday mornings and I write a monthly article for the local newspaper, The Placencia Breeze. In short, my days are simple and my life is blessed both in the day to day and in the “vacation” days here in my pleasant point.