Recently, I’ve spent a few days in Placencia.  This small, laid-back beach town offers visitors lucky enough to visit in March and April a chance to see some of the biggest fish in the world.  Up to 55 feet (!!) long, whale sharks are notoriously difficult to view in the wild and scientists have almost no information on how they live, breed, and die.  While the trip out to see these protected animals is quite expensive in Belize, I felt I couldn’t be traveling there, in season, and not pay the $100 dollar fee.  After all, there was a greater than 90% chance of seeing them and everyone raved about actually being up close and personal with a giant, totally safe fish.
 

 Well, not to drag the disappointing story out, but I shelled out a lot of money, snorkeled for several hours in the open ocean, got seasick and sunburnt, and the whale sharks didn’t come out to play.  Looks like my luck has run out!  On the bright side, at least I wasn’t eaten. I was pretty disappointed, especially since I really blew the budget to see the whale sharks. I won’t lie, I was in kind of a bad mood as I headed back to Placencia.  There wasn’t much out there that could make me feel better, but let me tell you: the best ice cream in the world will make up for an awful lot.

Belize is a beautiful country with great reefs for snorkeling and jungle adventure tours around every corner.  The tourism economy is quite healthy here, as are the prices.  Unfortunately, this little country, while perfect for traveling, has almost no candy to speak of.  There are a few imported sweets from the US, Mexico, or Great Britain but the pickings are slim.  My blog has been abandoned while I trekked through Mayan rivers, rode river boats through the jungle in search of crocodiles, sought out manta rays and whale sharks in the Caribbean, and burnt to a crisp on the beach.  It’s difficult to write about candy when there really isn’t much for sale!

  One thing I did notice was an abundance of ice cream, including some interesting Belize flavors - sweet corn, kiwi, and sour sap.  While trying so many new flavors of ice cream must seem like a burden, I did suffer through it.  Ultimately, nothing I found in Orange Walk, Belize City, or Caye Caulker was really worth writing home about.  The different flavors all tasted the same, and they were more “icey” than “creamy.”

It wasn’t until a little secluded beach in Placencia that I tried some ice cream worth blogging.  In fact, not only is it amazing, but it’s the best ice cream I have ever tasted in my life.  Before I tried it, I was feeling a bit bummed out about my Placencia experience.  Afterwards, all I could think about was the flavors I’d choose when I returned the next day.  Suddenly, in one glorious, creamy, caramely and vanilla wafery cone, Placencia wasn’t so bad.  In fact, maybe I’ll come back one spring break trip to get in one more try at the whale sharks… and a whole week of the best ice cream anywhere in the world.

 But don’t take my word for it.  While hanging out in the Tutti Frutti gelati shop talking to the owner, I heard other tourists discussing the ice cream.  Some quotes:  “It reminds me of when I was a kid in Italy,” “This is the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted,” and “We came back one last time before we leave… I’ll take a large, because you can’t get ice cream this good where I live.”  Seriously, it’s amazing.

Handmade fresh every day in the Italian style, technically it’s gelati, which means milk instead of cream is used.  That makes for a healthier snack than the American-style ice cream, but it somehow still manages to be rich and creamier than I’m used to - probably because there is a low percentage of air.  The gelati is made by Tiziana and Lorenzo, an Italian couple who moved to Placencia from Rome after learning all the family secrets from Lorenzo’s father, a traditional gelati maker. 

Using the best fresh local ingredients and Italian recipes, Lorenzo spends five and a half hours every day making the ice cream from scratch.  Because each kind of gelati requires a different balance of milk, sugar, and flavorings each is made individually and the mixer is cleaned after every flavor.  Despite the time and cost to make gelati in the old style, they somehow manage to keep the price low enough that the local Belizeans are still able to afford their fix of ice cream.  In fact, locals buy almost as much gelati as tourists, and while I was in the store I noticed a local kid getting an ice cream cone and a tourist ran in to buy 3 cones: for her, her husband, and the taxi driver’s wife.  It isn’t often that you can get a high quality product at a reasonable price (although I suppose when the flight to Belize is included in it evens out…)

So, I might have fallen in love here in Belize - not with the beach, the exotic animals, or even the candy, but with some delicious Italian gelati.  This is the first time this trip where I’ve been feeling down about something and some amazing food has changed my attitude totally, but hopefully it won’t be the last!  Yum!