What can we say about Belize, except that if we had our time over we probably would have stayed in Mexico for longer. The Lonely Planet Guidebook let us down in it's description of Belize as a relaxed, chilled out place where the wind carries Caribbean music across the beautiful, white sand beaches, and where diverse cultures (whose ancestors where slaves, British pirates, indigenous peoples plus Spanish colonists) live in harmony together. When we boarded the bus from PLaya del Carmen to Chetumal we couldn't wait to experience this paradise, but unfortunately the reality was a bit different. So first the bus journey. Chetumal is on the Mexican side of the border with Belize, so after a five hour bus journey we had to change buses at the border to get to a town called Corozal. in Belize. Unfortunately Rich got Corozal and Cozumel in Mexico confused, and was told to go back to PLaya del Carmen and get a boat to the island of Cozumel. Luckily a friendly Mexican guy called Apollo told Allison what to do, so we boarded the right bus and crossed the border (after a dodgy Mexian border official charged us $20 to leave, whic probably ended up in his pocket, as the bus driver said we wouldn't have to pay). The bus was very different to Mexico, where we were used to air conditioning, TV and reclining seats. The driver and conductor were cool and had great Caribbean accents, the bus was an old 1980's US school bus (with air conditioning, but only the border buses did), and they played really loud Caribbean music for the whole journey. When the bus stops, you're inundated with kids and adults alike selling all kinds of drinks and snacks, including shrimp and banana chips. All in all the first bus experience was good, although not as luxurious as Mexico. After a few comments from the bus driver about Corozal we decided to head straight for Belize City, as there seemed to be more to do and it was closer to the Cayes (pronounced 'keys', small islands off the coast surrounded by coral reef). After passing Corozal and Orange Walk (the first two places we were going to visit) we were glad, as they looked little more than shanty towns. Unfortunately though Belize City was no better. Luckily Apollo changed buses at Belize City so gave us some tips, including don't walk around at night as there are a lot of down-n-outs and junkies. We decided to walk to a hotel we knew was about ten minutes away, and had loads of looks and comments on the way, as well as people walking straight at you so we had to move even though we had huge packs on our backs. Walking through one of the main streets in the city (population about 45k only) we had to watch our step for open drains which smelt awful. After arriving at the hotel we went for a walk and was soon told by a friendly local to not walk the way we were going as it's too scary. Beggers kept hassling us, people shouted stuff at us (including "We respect America!", wonder what he would have thought if we knew we were English (Belize only got independence from Britain in 1981 and we're not sure how much they liked the Brits)), and we were pretty sure we were the only white people in town. We stuck out a bit! After a while we found the hotel district, got some fish and chips and got back to our room by 8pm. We decided to leave the next day!