Placencia: Nine things you may not know

View of Placencia from the Municipal Pier.

There’s a real charm in a place so small and familiar that you start to recognize faces and learn names during your stay. And that’s one of the lovely aspects of the fishing village of Placencia. It may be different if you stuck to a resort along the peninsula but when staying in the village there’s a great sense of community. I’ve pulled together nine things I learnt from the community during my month in Placencia:

Home remedies. I’ve been plagued by sand flies/fleas (aka no-see-ums) here. The locals say I’m just fresh meat and the assault will pass. But they also stopped me on the street to offer up advice like:
- Squeezing each bite and squirting lime juice on to neutralize the itch
- Applying baby oil or coconut oil to prevent bites in the first place
- Finding the guy who sells granola on the beach because he also sells a lotion that will cure all of these problems
Beer = Belikin. I’ve travelled to many places where they say a certain brand of beer is so prevalent that all you need to order is a ‘beer’ and that’s the brand you’ll get. But that’s never truly been the case in practice — until I came to Placencia. Here, beer = Belikin 100 per cent of the time. (And it almost always comes with a napkin folded on top to wipe away rust from the bottle cap.)
Greeting everyone. This one comes pretty naturally to some but others seem to be caught off guard by the genuine and consistent greetings as folks pass on the streets. It creates a very welcoming vibe when you walk through town and everyone acknowledges each other.
“Miss Rachel.” This greeting did take some getting used to as it feels so formal. But I soon learned that this is just what’s taught in schools as a way to be polite. So I quit squirming about it and adopted the practice myself.
Everyone hitchhikes. As a solo traveller I never hitchhike, but along the peninsula you’ll find single women (and men) hitching everywhere. I picked up a few people needing rides and it was nothing but the best interactions. (Disclaimer - I do not take responsibility for anything if you hitchhike/pick up hitchhikers).
The minimum wage sucks. Like really really sucks — just $3.30 BLZ / hour (like $2.15 CAD) but things in Belize aren’t cheap. Everything at the grocery store is just as expensive as Canada (or more), gas is more expensive than in Canada and the social safety net sucks. I can’t fix this problem, so I just made sure to tip really well to help in some small, fleeting way.
Masks are mandatory. And they’re mandatory everywhere — the beach, walking on the sidewalk, on boats and the surrounding cayes. And no one complains about it! I didn’t run into any enforcement in Placencia itself, but did hear that on Caye Caulker fines of $500 BLZ ($315 CAD) were being handed out liberally to tourists who don’t comply.
Iguanas are everywhere. I didn’t know anything about iguanas before arriving, so I was startled the first time a saw one scurry up a palm tree. They can move pretty fast and camouflage perfectly up in tree canopy.
The tap water is great. Apparently this is not the case in other parts of Belize, but in the village the tap water is wonderful. No need to stock up on plastic water bottles — I toted a refillable bottle everywhere I went.