With warm sunshiny weather, lush jungles and beautiful beaches, Belize is a tropical paradise. But sometimes heat can get to even the tannest sun bather and you just need a sweet treat to cool down. For me, in this midst of a hot day in the tropics, I like my treat not cool but ice cold!
It is no different here in San Pedro (except that we have the beautiful Caribbean Sea to cool off, lucky us!). Ice has become a necessity for the brutal summer heat.This need to cool off has resulted in the creation of cool treats made from ice; shaved ice, crushed ice, raspados, snow cones or whatever you may call it. Shaved/crushed ice is smothered with various flavored sugary syrups and toppings you can’t resist, and to be honest we’ve stopped counting the calories.
You can find these treats almost all over the island. Local street vendors ride around town in tricycles selling it to children enjoying their summer. But my favorite place to get a shaved ice is Monique’s Scoops, located in front of Central Park.
These delightful concoctions start out as nothing more than finely grated ice, which eventually gets layered in ones favorite choice of syrups and toppings. You can get anything from wild mango to fruity cherry. However,if you’re buds aren’t delighted by just sweets like many of us Belizeans, why not turn up the heat? Why not put pepper on ice?
Imagine shaved ice topped with key lime syrup, a zesty chamoy sauce and finished up with “picorey”, yum! “What is picorey?” you may question, well “picorey” is this powder concoction of spices, sugar and pepper, it an absolute delight to the taste buds. In this concoction “Picorey” is the equivalent of a chili powder.
So yea, back to the shaved ice, this amazing treats is divine and can really put a stumper on the heat. So next time you are around town be sure to have a throwback moment to the younger days and try a shaved ice.
