Palmiento Grove - Hopkins Stann Creek

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On our last night a small boat moored. It looked like iot could fit about 3 people on board but in fact it contains 15 fisherman who spent their time spear fishing around the coast of Belize. One of them was particularly chatty and even though he scammed us for the cost of a few beers it was interesting to hear about his way of life.

Blissful few days, which although I was left with a painful ear infection, were a highlight of the trip so far.

... if I’m honest, and I wasn’t feeling comfortable with the whole thing. Once we started swimming over the reef however (and I got a bit more confident with the breathing) it was amazing!!! With the ‘Darth Vader’-esque breathing noises being the only sound you feel a little isolated, but the views were spectacular. Anwen and I both had some problems adjusting our buoyancy finding ourselves almost scraping the bottom ...

Today was our first day at the Southern Regional hospital … and a rather interesting day! In the morning Dr. Montenegro showed us around the hospital (there are 45 in patient beds.. many of which are paediatric.. none of which had patients in them after the morning ward round!) .. She then left us to meet the medical Director Dr. Espat. Through a series of crossed wires she had no record of us coming (!).. we were extremely ...

... to see an M-16 gun pointed in your general direction. apparently the pine irdge area has had a few incidents in the past so the BDF is there to creatte... the presence. they were pretty excited to have about 16-17 girls in swims uits hanging around. they even had some pretty loud and vulgar music. lets just say.. katie perrie's "i kissed a girl" had some new lyrics that even I was shocked at. we ended up staying at a little cabin place called Rosandro's ...

... in Punta Gorda to pick up a boat back to Guatemala. We stayed in the worst hotel ever, on a par with the last worst hotel ever; cockroaches and a flood this time. We braced ourselves by sitting on our hands for the 90min journey to Livingston, the carribean coastal town only accessible by boat. The last boat journey had already done terrible things to Paulīs back. Heīs getting on you know. Looking forward to saving some cash by being back in the familiar Guatemala.

... them. In 1796, after more than 30 years of fighting, the French surrendered to the British. In 1797 the British exiled the surviving Garifuna to Roatan, Honduras which was controlled by the Spanish. Half of them starved and died from disease on the trip. Although the British had supplied the Garifuna with tools and seeds, their arrival on Roatan was during the rainy season so they ...

... We stayed in a little cabin with stilts out over the sea and a little verandah from which our views of the sea and sunset were unhindered by anything else. You can snorkel right off the beach here, so we spent the next two days sunbathing and snorkling and not doing much else! Snorkling highlights included starfish, a stingray, a huge shoal of fish and an unidentified ugly big brown fish. Again, we didnt really want to leave Tobacco Caye but we were spending way over our ...

... Camp. The VBS was amazing: all the kids were singing with us and even knew some actions, as well as dancing around and being genuinely involved. The girls loved seeing the kids learning the actions and words, and actually singing the words out. The crafts and games went much more smoothly as well, so the girls were really happy with the results. Sports camp also went well. We ...

... over the Macal and then back across the metal suspension bridge. The metal-roofed shacks from the Western Highway seemed to simply be closer together here, although there were signs of businesses doing well in places. Women were washing clothes in the shallow waters of the Macal as we crossed the low-water bridge to San Ignacio. It was obvious that this was about as low as the Macal would get for the year; May is the end of the dry season ...

... me think more clearly about what my next path should be. But for now let me fill in the blank that has been this past week.... As you may remember, last Saturday night I was forced to retire from the festivities at the rather embarassing hour of 21:20. So it was with some surprise that I woke the next day in the early afternoon, without any trace of a hangover. Petra and I had been toying with the idea of renting some bikes and doing a tour of the island, and it turned out that ...