Reluctant to leave the island paradise I had called home for the past week, I decided that there was still a lot of Belize for me to see and I'd best say goodbye to Caye Caulker.

Dave was also leaving that day but as he had a few hours spare first we decided to visit the Belize Zoo. Kelly a friend we met a couple of nights earlier joined us for the day trip too.

Someone along my travels had mentioned the zoo to me and described it 'as if you're the one in the cage not the animals'. This was pretty accurate, where better to build a zoo displaying animals found in the Belizean jungle than in the Belizean jungle. There were no fake concrete enclosures or confused giant panders wondering why there not in China. All the animals are native to Belize, most endangered but all rescued. Spider Monkeys, Howler Monkeys, Tapir, Ocelots, Scarlett Macaws and Jaguar all looked very relaxed and at home.

So as you walk along the path it is easy to feel like you're the one in a cage looking out to the vast tropical rain forest. Not a very big Zoo we had seen it all in a couple of hours but the highlight was a photo shoot with Junior an adult male Jaguar that had just strolled out into the sun as we walked past. Within touching distance his fur looked magnificent in the morning sun.

Now heading off in different directions, me to Belmopan and Dave and Kelly back to Belize City we waited outside the Zoo for our passing busses. Before my bus had time to turn up a man and his son pulled over and offered me a lift. Having not planned to hitchhike I was a little unsure at first but he seemed friendly enough and he was heading to Belmopan so I accepted. "Do one thing every day that scares you..."

The journey was going well; we talked about where they lived and what I was doing in Belize. The son, Jacob was about 10 and was interested in where I came from. He had never heard of Wales. But then all of a sudden there was a load of popping and banging from under the bonnet (Hood) followed by a cloud of steam. Great, so there I was in the middle of nowhere in Belize in a broken van and to top it off the bus that I could have taken flew past mere minutes later! I donated my bottle of water to the radiator which got us a little further down the road to the Belmopan junction where they dropped me off and used a payphone to call a friend to come help.

A little while later I managed to grab a bus down to Belmopan station ready to catch my next bus to Dangriga. So my first hitchhiking experience was a bit of a flop but I hadn't had my bag stolen and was still alive so I class it as a success!