The value of blackout curtains


It is another beautiful day here in Belize.  The sun is shining and the palm trees are swaying gently in the light breeze on the beach.  And I’m awake at 5:15am – again! – because the sun came up and brightened up our room well beyond the level that the interior lights provide.  There are curtains covering all the windows, but they are really more for providing the appearance of privacy from prying eyes, not for blocking out the sun.  The don’t really do much of anything on that front.

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Sunrise over Ambergris Caye

Of course, the early wake ups from the sunrise aren’t all bad.  They keep us more or less on New York City time – 2 hours off this time of year – so we shouldn’t have any trouble making that adjustment when we head home.  And it made the 5:30am start for our big day of diving at the Blue Hole a piece of cake.  But it also means that by the time 9pm rolls around we’re pretty much exhausted.  I don’t think we’ve missed too much by skipping out on the vibrant nightlife scene here; over sweetened rum drinks and loud music aren’t really my style anyways.  But some blackout curtains to allow us to sleep in if we wanted to wouldn’t have been so bad.

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Relaxing at the pool of the Blue Tang Inn

Except for the curtains issue our hotel – The Blue Tang Inn – has been a perfect match for our needs.  The “garden view” room, Suite #1, on the ground floor actually faces the ocean so we can see the sand and the waves out our window.  The air conditioning is plenty cool and the pool area offers either sun or shade and a decent plunge to cool off.  The rooms on the two higher floors have hammocks on their patios and there is a roof deck for those who feel the need to be that much closer to the sun when trying to get a tan.

The hotel location is also quite nice.  It is just far enough out of town – about 5 minutes walking on the beach – that it is a bit quieter and out of the way.  But it is not so far away that it requires a taxi or water shuttle to get back and forth every time you want to do anything.  Combine all of that with quite reasonable prices and a friendly and welcoming staff and there really isn’t much to dislike about this place.

Except that they need blackout curtains.

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Seth Miller

I'm Seth, also known as the Wandering Aramean. I was bit by the travel bug 30 years ago and there's no sign of a cure. I fly ~200,000 miles annually; these are my stories. You can connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

4 Comments

  1. Now that’s an interesting coincidence. My wife just checked into the Blue Tang Inn today. Sadly, I couldn’t go… *someone* has to work 🙁

  2. Lots of new arrivals here today. If she was the one in the office with a daughter wearing a Tennessee sweatshirt then I was the guy standing behind them asking about my cab to the airport tomorrow.

    I hope they enjoy their time here; it would be hard not to!

  3. Did you leave before the earthquake?

    I don’t think it was them, unless our niece has a connection to Tennessee that I am not aware of 🙂

    How was WiFi for you at the Blue Tang Inn? My wife’s having a lot of trouble getting a stable/fast connection. Basically no chance for Skype or anything but a basic webmail client. Should’ve set up Thunderbird for her prior to the trip.

  4. Yeah…we were gone prior to the quake.

    As for the WiFi there, it worked well enough but I was really only doing things like checking emails and posting a couple of these blog posts. I didn't bother with Skype or the like.

    If the Blue Tang one isn't working for her she can probably also try the "Paradise" SSID from the property next door. Also, we found that the best reception was on the ground floor right near room #1. There are a couple chairs right there that she could sit in to try it.

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