Caye Caulker – Day 6 & 7: An Islander is Born
CAYE CAULKER
Day 6 & 7: An Islander is Born
September 14 & 15, 2022
Apart from diving, there was also something else going on… My fling? I honestly don’t know what to call it, but yeah, let’s go with that.
Over the following days, my fling with Roy seemed to be blossoming. The more time we spent together, the closer we got – which is saying something, all things considered. I think it was his kindness that made me fall for him so hard. He’d offer lifts to complete strangers on his golf cart, buy stuff from street vendors just to help them out, offer random people free accommodation at his resort, and even buy food and drinks for anyone who’d join us at the table. Anything and everything within his power to ‘pay it forward’. On my birthday, he even bought me a T-shirt, a cap, and a bracelet, and took me out for barbecued jerk lobster. I insisted – and then insisted some more – that he shouldn’t have, but he just wouldn’t have it.
The Island Life
He also took a lot of time off his busy schedule to show me around the island and help me check things off my bucket list, knowing my time there would be very limited at best. Because of him, I got to do and see more things than I could have ever hoped to.
We took a golf cart to the southernmost part of the island, where virtually no tourists go, and enjoyed the sunset while taking a dip. On another day, we crossed The Split and hiked to the northernmost part of the island, stopping at a couple of resorts for drinks on the way before venturing deep into the bushy area that leads to a crocodile sanctuary and a lake in the middle of the mangroves. Walking barefoot over the sandy woods, getting turned around and hopelessly lost, and crossing beaten-down wooden bridges that would give way the second we stepped on them – those are memories I’ll forever cherish.
We also had some seriously deep talks – like about the difficulties we both went through. Besides dealing with poverty and having to rise to the top through hard work and determination, he also told me about his struggle with his sexuality. Whilst he was always the confident type, being gay in a country like Belize isn’t the easiest, with slurs and insults being thrown his way constantly.
During my short stay here, I had already experienced a fair share of that myself, being called ‘batty boy’ on a couple of occasions. I, for one, didn’t let that bother me – in fact, I came up with a couple of verses I kept on singing to myself all throughout:
“I’m not a batty boy, I’m just a fatty boy!
I’m not a batty boy, I’m just a sexy toy!”
I gotta admit that Lil Nas did a somewhat better job than I did. Anyways. As funny as that was to me, it was somewhat irritating to Roy, for whom the word meant much more than it did to me. I quickly realised how insensitive that was after we ended up in a brawl with some locals.
As we walked down the street, these random homophobic idiots started picking on him for having spent so much time going around with me – a guy. Luckily, this happened in front of his resort and the security guards took care of it all – the Neanderthals fleeing with their tails between their legs the second they saw the buff guys coming their way. Always funny seeing macho hetero guys fleeing from a couple of batty boys (and their gang)?
After the whole ordeal, Roy tried to shrug it off as if it were no big deal. I, for one, couldn’t quite let it go. What if we didn’t have backup? Not to mention, these are people he’s gonna have to deal with his entire life. I, on the other hand, would merrily go on my way once my time was up. Open and laissez-faire though I might be, I was also aware that it might not be so simple for him, and that perhaps we should be a bit more discreet going forward. He wouldn’t have that either. Guess that’s the definition of pride, huh?
Letting Loose
Drama apart, we also had lots of fun. Not just the 18+ kinda fun, mind you. I’m also talking partying with his friends, colleagues, and complete and total strangers.
One of the most famous hangout spots in Caye Caulker is this club called Sports Bar. Every night, there’d be a different theme – from trivia to reggae, from sports to Soca. There, we partied like there’s no tomorrow – mostly cause we did party till tomorrow. Another highlight was a sunset cruise we took around the island. By now, I’m sure I don’t need to go into the many virtues of Caribbean sunsets, so I’ll stick to talking about the people we met there instead – Rebecca, a cool, badass French girl who turned out to be my soul sister, and Oliver, a twunky, reserved Canadian fellow who bonded with Roy over his limited knowledge of Creole and his love for Soca.
Over the course of the cruise, we became friends and, by the end of the night, in keeping with Roy’s philosophy, family. We drank the night away at Sports Bar and took a night tour of the south coast in hopes of seeing crocodiles (an unsuccessful expedition), and then, of course, went skinny dipping in the sea and the resort pool. As is customary, he then offered them free accommodation at his place and we spent the few remaining days together.
We hung out at beach bars, partied at clubs, and even had a couple of night-ins at my fancy suite where we feasted on Roy’s infamous charcuterie boards. My fondest memories will forever be us dancing in the rain at Tipsea– this beach bar that had quickly become our favourite hangout spot (shoutout to Giselle!). It was pouring but we couldn’t care less; it was just so damn fun! I never thought I could belt my lungs out and show off my embarrassing ‘dance moves’ in front of people I barely even knew. That goes to show how close we all felt in such little time!
Somehow, some way, we had all clicked from the very start and our friendship turned out to be something wonderful. We all knew it was gonna be hard when everyone would go their separate ways – and that was to come sooner rather than later. I was meant to spend a few days in San Pedro; a city on the nearby island of Ambergris Caye, Becca was meant to go to Nicaragua, Oliver would go to El Salvador and Roy would… well, keep working and enjoying life at the paradise that is Caye Caulker.
Somehow, some way, we had all clicked from the very start, and our friendship turned out to be something wonderful. We all knew it was gonna be hard when everyone would go their separate ways – and that was to come sooner rather than later. I was meant to spend a few days in San Pedro, a city on the nearby island of Ambergris Caye; Rebecca was meant to go to Nicaragua; Oliver would go to El Salvador; and Roy would… well, keep working and enjoying life at the paradise that is Caye Caulker.
But to hell with plans, once we were all drunk and miserable at the prospect of saying goodbye, we decided to change things up. I’d cut my week-long stay in San Pedro to just a couple of nights and spend my remaining time back in Caye Caulker with the rest of the Bloodclaat Gang (who also changed their plans). Me, Marius, the day-by-day planner, upending his itinerary whilst drunk. Who the hell would have thought I had it in me? Not only did it feel right, it also felt freeing knowing I could be flexible and spontaneous if I wanted to be. The original point of my trip was to see as many things as I could and to experience life in different countries.
Whilst staying in Caye Caulker for a longer time meant I’d see less of other places, I quite frankly couldn’t give less of a damn considering the good time I was having over there!
Stay wild,
Marius
Post-Scriptum
Little did I expect, at the time of writing, that Sports Bar would tragically burn down a few months later. Given how important the place is to both locals and tourists, I hope they’ll be able to reopen it!