After saying a sad goodbye to Caye Caulker and our hammocks, we headed off to our next destination: San Ignacio, a town in a jungly area on the opposite side of mainland Belize.

All of the public buses in Belize are second-hand American school buses, like the Simpsons bus! We only paid about £2.70 each for the three hour journey, and about an hour in, a man got on the bus with a massive box of coconut and lemon pies selling them for 30p each! We had one each - it's weird, you would never buy pasties off a man who got on the Number 20 with a suitcase full of them, but here in Central America it's totally acceptable! The bus seats weren't that uncomfy, but ALL the windows and even the door of the bus were wide open as we sped along, my hair was like a bird's nest by the time we got off!

Matt had found a hostel called Rosa's online, so we asked a friendly man named Rudy at the bus station the way. It was on arrival at Rosa's that I had the first meltdown of the trip. The bed was so damp that when you sat on it your clothes were wet, the air con did not work, the walls were wet and a really strong smell of paint stripper was seeping from the non-ventilated bathroom. Matt took my tearfulness as a cue for us to leave sharpish, so we made our excuses to the landlady and made a quick getaway. Well, I made our excuses as it turns out Matt does not cope well under pressure, and cannot think of a lie on the spot. So we left as 'our travel plans have changed and we are returning to Belize City' rather than 'Errrmmm...'!!!

After leaving (running) away from Rosa's we went in search of better accommodation. On a side street, we bumped into a Canadian guy who owned a local tour company. He suggested several guest houses that were better than Rosa's, and considerably cheaper! We settled on the Hi-Et Guesthouse, as I thought it was a good omen being so similar to Hiett (mum's maiden name)!

The house was raised on stilts along a quiet street that was closed off for resurfacing. I knew this place was going to be infinitely better than Rosa's when we were greeted by a small fluffy Pomeranian dog at the gate! This was actually a family home as well as a hostel, you walk right through their living room to get in! They had a rooftop garden with orchids growing outside, which shows you how hot it is here. (I managed to kill mine even though I tried to nurture it indoors!) There was also a green parrot in a cage in the kitchen, which we later learned is how the hostel got its name- the parrot says 'hi' to the owner's wife, Etta! The best part was that we were paying $25 less than Rosa's, meaning that it came to less than £10 a night each!

Having tea at the Maya Walk bar where we had met the helpful Canadian tour guide earlier, we bumped into Rudy from the bus station again, who told us places to avoid, and what the best trips to do were. Everyone's so friendly here for no reason, I wish it was like this at home!

We stayed in San Ignacio for several days and had several eventful trips out (more to follow). The food was so good there, and much cheaper than Caye Caulker, we needed plenty of energy for the adventures that we would have over the next few days...