I knew I was going to like this Caribbean country the moment I read the Lonely Planet introduction: 'This tiny nation is so laid back it's almost comatose.' So it might not come as a great surprise then that upon my arrival in this laid back land, my attitude towards my blog became pretty immediately Belizean too, ie. it might take 'a while'. But this made it the perfect place for our travelling team of four to wind down from over twelve days of manic, rather exhausting non-stop travel through Guatemala, and put our hammock-swinging skills to the serious test. The irony that this period of time coincided with the beginning of the Olympics hasn't been entirely lost on me, but rest assured that I have been supporting the games actively and energetically....from my hammock. In our early morning boat escape from Livingston, Guatemala I moved on without a backward glance. Stepping into Punta Gorda, on the South most tip of Belize, was like stepping into a pool of maple syrup. Everything instantly slowed down, and took on a Caribbean swing, accompanied with a cheeky wink and a lazy smile, and a Creole shout of 'A'reet mon', or 'hey baby, you know I love you dontcha'. Nowhere else in the world have I caught buses (old yellow American school buses which added to the jollilities) which accompany your journey with a reggae beat and an entire busload of passengers' crooning accompaniment, or if we were lucky a solo artist getting well into their own rendition at the back. Six hour journeys pass in the slow blink of an eye. Flagging down our first bus we hitched a ride up to Independence, and then caught the 'Hokey Pokey Water taxi' across the mangrove-lined lagoon to Placencia, where we stopped, and didn't move for three days. Safely installed in our new buddy Stan's wood cabins, we headed out into our new home, a sleepy oceanside town where the busiest thoroughfare is a 3 foot wide pavement, and where franchises and brands are replaced by Nancy's homemade nachos, Grace's laundry - where, at 1pm, we were told it was too late for work - or Rolly's banana bread. We headed down to the beach for our first breathtaking view of the bright blue Caribbean sea. The mermaid in me made an instant reappearance (she had nearly given up entirely on the hope of ever seeing the sea again when in steamy Guatemala), and I was an instant sucker for Belizean beach beauty. We lay down to work on our tans... ...five minutes later my English rose skin couldn't take it any longer, so I headed to the nearby beach bar and busily set about making us friends in Placencia, gathering an entourage and gaining us an intvitation to the evening party, thus forging the path for our status as mini celebrities in this tiny town. With four girls (by this time we had we had added a gorgeous German gal to our crew) and a boy, we wreaked havoc on the dancefloor, winning danceoffs and generally making sure that everyone knew our name by the end of our stay. And so four days passed, with days saturated with sun tan lotion and crab claw dinners, and nights a heady mix of cuba libres and boogying. This was broken only by one day where we visited The Perfect Desert Island, swam with dolphins, ate bbq-ed lobster, spicy chicken and chunks of fresh watermelon, snorkelled with sharks and where, at the end of the day, I drove my first speedboat. I am quite the captain (/speed monkey) I tell you. So laid back we were almost horizontal, we left Placencia well into the Belizean swing o' things, and headed up towards Caye Caulker, a skinny island an hour's boat ride from Belize City. Food Fiend

• First Breakfast...a decidedly fried feel, as we were fed Fry Jacks, triangles which look a little like fried bread, but are in fact fried dough. Calories galore, so needless to say this was a one off taster session! Surprisingly nice, yet totally guilt infused!
• Grilled Crab Claws - luscious hunks of fresh crab meat, pulled from generously chunky claws
• BBQ Pepper Lobster - Big Fat Fingerfuls of Lobster. No words humanly possible.
• Caribbean Chicken - open air eating at its fingerlickin' best, with syrupy, firey chicken thighs covered in a sticky hot juice
• all accompanied by Marie Sharp's tremendous, potent hot sauce, the hottest chilli sauce I have ever tasted which packs a serious punch of flavour. Hooked!