Life's a beach

---

So, here we now are in Placencia. And boy it's good... before we came we had booked 2 nights at our hotel. When we arrived we extended it by a further 2 nights and we've now decided that we will stay here until we leave.

Placencia is a tiny peninsula on the south east coast of Belize. Just 12 years ago, it was a fishing village with 12 houses, processing conch and lobster for export to Jamaica. It's fair to say it's been "discovered", but it is still incredibly laid back and just the kind of place you want to be for a beach holiday. For a start, it has a beach, which Caye Caulker, though gorgeous, lacked. There are 2 streets, that run the length of the town; one is actually a footpath. All the hotels are right on the edge of the beach, so we literally step off the porch of our hotel room and on to the beach, behind a fringe of palm trees. The water is warm and calm.

To get here, we took a flight from Caye Caulker, which was an experience in itself. It was a tiny plane and felt a bit more like a bus. Specially when the pilot, sitting directly in front of me, slid his seat forward and adjusted his sun visor. We flew low, stopping in Belize City and then Dangriga on the way, so it really was a milk run. The runways look like they are made of sand! We didn't actually go to the International airport in Belize, which may be different... The views of the Cayes were spectacular. The whole trip took 2 hours, which at least an hour of that in the ground in Belize City. When we heard the bus journey is 6-8 hours on roads that are worse than the road leaving Guatemala, we knew we had made the right decision. We may never ride on buses again...

We did love Caye Caulker and in particular a snorkeling trip which we did one afternoon. It was interesting to speak to people who had been there in previous years. Apparently the coral is badly damaged from a mixture of hurricanes, global warming (bleaching), cruise ships bringing more people and a nearby Caye which has a golf course so uses insecticides etc. Not good. However, we thought that the coral and the fish (including baracuda and a big green moray eel) was spectacular. In fact, we have booked another snorkeling trip from Placencia tomorrow.

We were very sad to say goodbye to Jack. He left the same day we left Caye Caulker to come down here. In fact we have promised him that we will have a miserable time from now on, will enjoy no sun or beaches, will eat no more seafood and will have not another panti ripper (this is a drink that we have discovered a liking for: coconut rum and pineapple juice. Seriously good). Yeah right.

On the food front, I have some good news. For the first time this holiday, I can actually report positively on the food. Being right by the sea, the seafood is spectacular. The combinations are sometimes a little odd. We have all eaten fish burritos and I had a lobster Thai curry the other night (because I can!) Lobster is still quite pricey, but definitely more affordable than at home. Placencia is cheaper than Caye Caulker for food and lodging, although the trips from here are more expensive. I think that's because there are fewer operators and so less competition. Price fixing seems to be ubiquitous (or is that just an extremely competitive market at play...) Back to food, I should just mention that we have also discovered an exquisite gelateria, so we will not be coming back looking travel starved...

Final comment is about the language, which is brilliant. Most people speak Criol, which is best described as gobbledy gook. It is still not recognised as an official language. Said to derive from the slaves on the ships copying their masters, it uses some English words, but all mixed up. It sounds a bit like what's spoken in Jamaica, but in fact the languages are not the same. Lots of people speak Spanish as well and it seems that it is a necessity for those in power (I guess if you look at Belize's neighbours, Guatemala and Mexico, you can understand why... although Belize seems to have no interest in doing trade with Guat and in fact there are currently no flights between the countries; nobody quite knows why). The signs are hilarious...

We keep thinking we are nearly home, but in fact we have nearly a week left, which is great. We will do a trip from here to the Cockscomb jaguar sanctuary. We have no hope of actually seeing a jaguar, but apparently the jungle is stunning and, after all, you can't just sit at the beach all day drinking panti rippers... tee hee! Sorry for all of you back at work, we are thinking of you. No really, we are...

Lots of love

Lucy xx

---