After we got most the business taken care of and some new projects going on the property, we decided we should take a road trip over to the beach at Hopkins for a couple of days. Hopkins is about a 2 hour drive from our place down the Hummingbird Highway. It’s a beautiful drive through the northern edge of the Maya Mountain Range  that will drop you off at the turquoise waters of the Caribbean. Along the way there are lots of very green mountains, small villages, rivers, streams, orchards and a few old single lane bridges (which are very interesting when a big truck is coming at you at 50 mph and has no intention of slowing down).

Once we started getting close to Hopkins we spotted the Marie Sharp’s hot sauce factory, and of course we had to stop. Marie Sharp’s is “The Hot Sauce of Belize” and is on every table at every restaurant, and they are very proud of it. When we were there they were not doing any tours, but we did get to visit the tasting room where we got to sample all of their products. After that it was onto the gift shop to stock up on some of their harder to find sauces.

After all that hot sauce we figured that we should get some real food in us. Not too far down the road we pulled into Hopkins to our favorite little beach food shack, the Luba La Ruga for some cold Belikin and fried conch.

We found this place last time by accident when we had a flat tire as we pulled into town and the guy there offered to change it for us. And because of his friendly gesture we will always stop in for some cold beer and great food. In case anyone is wondering, as you are coming into Hopkins it is where the road meets the sea, can’t miss it.

After a couple cold beers and a belly full of conch we thought we should find a place to stay for the night. We looked around at our options but ended up back at Jungle Jeanie’s where we had stayed on an earlier trip. Jungle Jeanie’s is located towards the end of town, has a very secluded feel and probably the best beach around. We were the only guest there at the time so we pretty much had the place to ourselves, which meant a quiet walk on the beach and no one else in the water.

After relaxing on the beach awhile we thought we should go see if we could find Shelly. Shelly (who we met last time) is Dave & Ellen’s daughter from Cholla Bay who is a school teacher in the area. After talking to some people they told us where she might be hanging out later in the evening, after all it was a Friday night and it is a small town. Since it was getting late we thought we should get a bite to eat before we met up with Shelly later.

We found Driftwood’s Pizza on the beach. What more could one want, cold beer, pizza and a beach. We ordered their Hawaiian special, you almost have to when ordering pizza on a beach. Anyway the pizza came with ham, pepperoni, pineapple, toasted coconut and the outside crust was smeared with honey. Top that with a little Marie Sharps and it was a delicious combination of everything.

After dinner we headed over to the Windchief, a local beach bar where a lot of expats hangout. Being a Friday night it was pretty packed, but we did manage to spot Shelly. We caught up with her for awhile and filled her in on all the haps in Cholla Bay. After that it was time for us to retire back to our little beach casita for the night.