Hi all,

We are now coming to you from country number 2 - Belize! The border crossing was pretty straight forward, probably because it was all in English - language may make the next few a bit trickier. First stop, Belize City. As soon as we stepped off the bus we were swamped by taxi driver/travel agents, tramps asking for a dollar, hustlers offering to walk you to your hotel (or just down the road) in exchange for a "well-deserved" tip. All very intimidating and not a lot of fun when you've just spent 7 hours on buses in temperatures in the mid-30s and just want a bed.

As the time in Belize coincided with our anniversary, we opted for a luxury room for two nights (basically that means air-con and a private bathroom, but for an extortionate price). On the first night we went to the nearest restaurant which happened to be a Chinese. Three seperate tramps asked us for money while we were eating, the third of whom decided to take big handfuls of our leftovers and shove them in her gob while being shooed away by the staff, a bit like a stray cat.

The next day we went on a wander around the "middle-class" area north of the river. We walked around the completely deserted Tourist Village before stopping at a stall to look at some local tat. The man there spent the following hour or so (no exaggeration) talking us through his life story, at no point stopping to let us buy anything. Eventually, when we were on the point of collapse from the heat and dehydration, he let us buy a coconut face necklace and leave. For the evening we walked up the coast to the very la dee da Princess Hotel complex to have a couple of drinks and watch Transformers. Amazing film, and a great way to spend an anniversary.

Having decided that the Bermudian Landing Community Baboon Sanctuary, 26 miles inland, would be impossible to get to without joining an overpriced tour or hiring a car, we hopped on a water taxi the next morning to Caye Caulker, an island near the barrier reef (the second longest reef in the world). We spent the next 24 hours lying on the beach, sipping cocktails, swimming in the Caribbean and generally chillaxing. Needless to say, we came away hideously sunburnt, but it was well worth it. I'd recommend the area to anyone.

Yesterday it was back through Belize City for one night before moving on. On the hunt for a takeaway I was abducted by a "Doctor" and told the story of how Belize got its name (for a small fee, of course).

The sunburn put us off heading down the coast for more beaching in Dangriga, so instead we headed west to San Ignacio, a very pleasant town near the Guatemala border. It seems to be almost exclusively for British expats and backpackers, but is definitely a lot less stressful than Belize City.

This will be our only post from Belize, we're off to El Remate in Guatemala in a couple of days. It'll be nice to have to speak Spanish again.

Lots of love,
Nick and Vic