Let me walk you through a day at Hamanasi resort. I wake up in a treehouse. That had never happened before in my life. I put on my Hamanasi robe and step outside to look out at the jungle in the morning. As soon as I open the door the hum of the jungle life infiltrates the room and makes the fact that I’m actually here all too real. I walk past my treehouse hot tub and tell myself to remember to set a time later in the day to soak, perhaps after snorkeling. After getting dressed I follow the meandering stone path. Breakfast time! I enjoy petite jars of yogurt and fresh berries and then it’s almost time for my massage. They didn’t tell me it was going to be on the beach! I get there early and spend some time meditating until the masseuse arrives, then I undress and let the soft sounds of the ocean and the masseuse’s deft hands work their therapeutic magic. It’s so perfect I almost fall asleep, drifting off between thinking, feeling, and just getting to be. I’m in love with Belize.

Once I’m good and relaxed and grab a quick lunch it’s time for some adventure. This afternoon is a guided snorkeling tour and my first time in the Caribbean Sea. The water is calm and almost like a lake, only crystalline, warm, and home to schools of beautiful fish. My guides lead the way, pointing out various types of parrot fish, sting rays, turtles, and even a barracuda. It’s mesmerizing and I don’t know what to look at because I’m afraid I’ll miss something else. When it’s time to go we climb back aboard the boat and head back to the dock where we’re greeted by the bemused looks of a group of pelicans sitting listlessly on the water.

Just before dinner I take a guided tour of the garden where they grow much of the produce. There are rows of hoop lined raised beds. Each offers something new, this one the delicate shoots of lettuce just popping up, the next one a variety of spinach that grows on a vine. The surrounding trees offer papayas and plantains. Everything you can see is edible and sustainable. Even the compost is beautiful as thousands of tiny red worms go about their important and, unexpectedly, odorless work. The tour is capped off with a taste of fresh cut sugarcane, a sweet end representing all the hard work of the staff, nature, and the worms to make delicious fresh food on site.

Walking through the garden and seeing all the food in its various stages of growth has made me impossibly hungry. The chefs are an equal match to the freshness of their ingredients. I go for the pork chop, served with rice and black beans, cole slaw, and plantains. The cole slaw is light and fresh, the plantains wonderfully sweet to accent the pork. I suddenly remember my hot tub and let the staff know. When I finish dinner and climb the stairs to my treehouse, pampered but exhausted, the steam rising from the tub is a welcome sight. I slip in and not the different sounds of the jungle at night and can’t help but smile at the conclusion of a perfect day at Hamanasi.

What my friends had to say about Hamanasi!