Hopkins: The Perfect Family Getaway

My mom and grandparents enjoying the sea breeze on the veranda of our Airbnb

For several reasons, many Easters had passed before we returned to Hopkins, for none of which the village itself was to blame. Finally, we found ourselves back on the golden sand shores, laid-back, in the hammocks attached to the shady palm trees on the property of our Airbnb. Usually, we take vacations to get away from the monotonous daily routines we occupy ourselves with back home, but as fate would have it, our relaxed family time in Hopkins would feel like home anyway. 

This time around, it would not only be my immediate family taking the trip; we also brought along my grandparents, which was a feat in itself, as they dislike leaving their home. They were worried that the trip would be too long for them; however, the recent improvements to the Coastal Highway cut about an hour and a half off the travel time from Belize City to Hopkins, and we managed to make it there in just about two hours.  Furthermore, the scenery along the highway mesmerized us all, causing the minutes to fly by with ease. 

Once we arrived, we stopped by a quaint ice cream shop to kill time before check-in. The owners of  Nice Cream Hopkins made sweet conversation with my delighted grandpa, who found out that they were relatives of an old friend of his—a man he walked into the shop inquiring about with no such expectation! He said later that such a coincidental interaction made him remember how small Belize is. “I never realized how badly I missed traveling in my own country,” he confessed.

Our pets had the run of the beach, playing with some local dogs running free. They belonged to a friendly woman who lives on the beachfront. When she came around to collect her pets, she, too, was  excited to meet our dogs. Already, Hopkins was proving its knack for familiarity. The people are kind, and the sense of community is strong. 

My dog South posing for a beach pic

I was excited to check into our place. For one, I knew that two family friends were staying at private homes, walking distance down the beach from our place. These are my childhood friends and the same families with whom we had shared condos in Hopkins many Easters past. It had been so long since we had all been there together.

I scouted out the recreational equipment the Airbnb had available and was excited to find kayaks, paddle boards, and canoes at our disposal. When our friends arrived not too long after check-in, we wasted no time heading to the sea.

The funny thing was that the last time I had been on a beach in Hopkins with these friends, I was still a young enough child that “playing” had been an appropriate thing to do. Now, as soon as we set foot on the beach, we were transported back to that time of child-like freedom. We kayaked until our muscles were tired, after which we instinctively sat on the beach and started making sand castles. It turned into a competition, and even the parents got invested, taking on the role of judges. 

Mind you, we had a couple of beers while the competition ensued. Later, as I looked at the photos from that moment, the juxtaposition of a Belikin bottle next to our sand castles perfectly encapsulated the feeling this trip gave me: being old enough to have a beer but still participating in the kinds of buoyant childhood activities Hopkins offers its visitors. Unlike San Pedro and Caye Caulker during Easter, the village is not bombarded by loud, crowded public parties that can make beach access annoying. It is not over-commercialized like Placencia nor feels like a place foreign from our own country—as though a vacation spot needs to stray as far away as possible from resemblance to the rest of Belize to be a luxurious, enjoyable experience. But Hopkins does not need to be compared to other places so seem better. It holds itself up on the merit that it is a destination for Belizeans who want to experience Belize in its purest, most true-to-nature form. 

Usually on our trips to Hopkins, we packed food supplies so we could prepare our own meals. For this reason, I had never really had the experience of trying many food places in the village. However, on this trip, after a day of fun in the sun, we were all too tired to prepare a home-cooked meal, so we took a chance on a local pizza joint called Driftwood.

Belize is not a country well-known for its pizza, but that is bound to change when the world finds out about Driftwood. We ordered an extra-large pizza with four different toppings: plain pepperoni, meat lovers, garlic roasted chicken, and the delicacy of all delicacies—their Hawaiian flavored pizza. It all comes on a medium-thick crust with just the right amount of crunch, layered with the perfect portion of stringy mozzarella cheese, pepperonis, and pineapple. And an extra special addition: the crust is smeared with a thin layer of honey, elevating the taste to the top of the pizza hierarchy in all of the Western world. After we had it our first night in Hopkins, we had it for lunch the next day, and then again for dinner, and then one more time before we packed up and left the village.

Driftwood alone would have me coming back to Hopkins, if not for the uniqueness of the village that permits one to revert to childhood—eating ice cream for breakfast, building sandcastles, and ordering pizza for every meal.

See you there next Easter! 

All photos courtesy of Mariette Romero.

Mariette Romero majored in English at the University of Belize. She currently lives in North Carolina, United States, and enjoys traveling and the outdoors.