"The "Second Largest"" Caye Caulker by Assenczo

Old style reef master

Caye caulker is a small place with many tourists who seem to be out of sight for most of the time since they are out at sea exploring the abyss. Unique feature of the island transportation is the golf cart taxis, one of a kind I should say. Along the “beach” small palms are lined up for a change of the usual mangrove population in the “suburbs”. There are many restaurants waiting to relieve you from money and anxieties offering the regular fishy fare and local beer. The basics are covered by street fruit vendors and local bakeries which provide breakfast delights. The rest of the tourist business revolves around diving and snorkelling. No surprise when you are dwelling on the second largest coral reef in the world. Many shops offer the service and at the end one or more “captains” seem to be always available for the combined customers of different shops.

Caye Caulker view from The Pier

Population wise the island is quite the mixture. The expectation of Caribbean style black populace is a bit of off the reality since the majority of the people have Indian heritage. The cemetery is covered with tomb stones commemorating the great deeds of people with Spanish names. The lingua franca is English but it is used to mainly communicate with the tourists – on local level the language of preference seems to be Spanish, Creole or a combination of those. Specialization along racial lines includes water or golf taxi service for the people with African lineage and hotel business for the Amerindians. Mayas or Maya-looking vendors make inroads in the realm of Maya folk production and sales. A visitor coming from Guatemala might find it odd and useless.

• Pros:Three minutes away from the reef
• Cons:More rain than sun
• In a nutshell:Carribean classic, I suppose