When on vacation, it is not very often that we think about going bowling. Well, to be honest it had NEVER crossed our minds before. But when staying in the Stann Creek district in Belize, we simply had to go once we heard that the only bowling alley in the entire country was just a few miles down the road. So we left the resort, caught a taxi and spent our night at Jaguar Lanes.
Jaguar Lanes is not like any bowling alley that we had ever been to before. Even the old bowling alleys we had been to that were leftovers from the 1950’s in the States would have at least 16 lanes. Not here. They have four lanes in the entire country. Even the old lanes in the States that have been able to survive have upgraded to computerized scoring, but this night we had to rely on our old skills of keeping our own scores by hand.
It was already fairly late when we got our start, and uncertain of the possibility of getting a ride back, we asked our cabbie if he could to stay to take us back after bowling a couple of lines. He told us that he was finishing his day and probably wouldn’t get another fare and he would be happy to stay. When asked if we paid, could he join us bowling he sheepishly said he had never bowled before. After explaining to him that we were far from pros ourselves he accepted. We also had to share with him the American tradition of having a beer or two while bowling so it was also a few rounds of the local Beliken beer for all of us too. I had never gone bowling with my cabbie before and certainly never bought drinks for him.
At the end of the night, he dropped us off back at our resort. It was an end to another wonderful night made even better by spending it with our new found Belizian friend.
Placencia, Belize November 2013
For more about Belize, check out our other post.
What a fun story! 4 lanes in the entire country…I would have made time to fit bowling into my travel plans too! Just a different experience and atmosphere altogether. Bet you the cabbie won’t forget the night for a while either.
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It was a great night and one of those memories we will have for a long time.
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We had a two lane bowling alley in a hotel I stayed at in Kitchener Ontario. We also did five pin bowling in British Columbia. Sometimes it’s fun to do something familiar but oh so different while on travel.
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Was this in Belize City? I was there last year but I wouldn’t have had time for bowling anyway… sounds fun!
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It was in the small town of Placencia in the southern part of the country. There is a decent size American expat community and they are the ones that mostly use the lanes.
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Only four lanes!?! That is adorable! That’s how I figured the bowling alley at the White House must be like. What an interesting activity to do while traveling!
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It’s crazy that there are only four lanes in the entire country! This is such a fun story though, I bet your taxi driver didn’t expect he would be having a night of bowling when he picked up the fare!
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I think he was surprised too. He was just one of many friendly locals we were fortunate to meet.
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What fun! And I’m sure your cabbie also enjoyed his time too. He’ll always remember that day.
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What a cool bowling alley, I have been to bowling alleys in the US and in the UK and never seen a 4 lane one. I don’t think I’ve seen a 4 lane bowling alley in a movie? Maybe in Kingpin when they hustled at the guys house, he had 2 private lanes I think. This looks like a cool experience ten pin bowling in Belize.
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The things we take for granted how fascinating that there is only one bowling alley in the whole country. Looks like you had lots of fun.
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Jagaur Lanes look interesting. Whole country is developed into a bowling alley which is a very unique concept. Hope you had enjoyed a lot in most unique ways.
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Wow that’s amazing. This is a very unique story. Only 4 lanes! Sounds to me like you had a lot of fun
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I am getting the impression that bowling is a whole bigger deal in the US than it is in the UK… This is a very cool story though. How fabulous that you invited the cabbie to join you!
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It is quite popular still here in the US. Within about a 15 minute drive from our house we have three different bowling alleys with 140 lanes total.
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Wow! I would not have thought about a bowling alley in Belize. The fact that it is the only one must be special. There are probably a lot of locals and tourists who go there. It looks clean and well-taken cared for. The 4 lanes add to the fun. You can easily join the other groups.
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