Our first stop in Belize was a little place called Corozal which we were using as a pit stop, for one night, before heading out to the Cayes. We had booked into a little hotel and were greeted on our arrival by the American owner – well, technically, we weren't exactly greeted by him. It was more a case of ringing the bell and banging on the door with no response. Matt finally managed to get in only to be told by a rather large American man, who he presumed was a guest, that Gwyn, the owner, was asleep in his room. After being reassured by this, basically drunk, man that it was okay to knock on his door, a bleary eyed Gwyn appeared to check us in. He was very pleasant, if a little brusque, and kept insisting that we join him upstairs for a drink. I was completely against the idea but Matt felt we really should.
So, after dumping our bags, we cautiously made our way upstairs where we were greeted by a slightly worse for wear Gwyn and the aforementioned drunk guest. We proceeded to hang out with these two random characters for a few drinks, during which time a couple and their 3 year old turned up, also guests. As time went on it became clear that Gwyn was a raging alcoholic as he alternated between falling asleep slumped on his stool and trying to feed his new puppy beer. A strange introduction to Belize certainly, but not altogether unpleasant.
The next morning Gwyn, following a coffee for Matt and himself infused with a whopping shot of rum, kindly loaded us into the back of his truck and gave us a lift to the dock where we were catching the Thunderbolt over to our first proper destination, San Pedro. Gwyn however didn't just drop us of, he actually stayed on that dock and waved us off like we were long lost friends. Quite extraordinary behaviour but nice all the same.
Belize is a lovely place to while away some time and over the next couple of weeks we hopped between San Pedro, Caye Caulker and Placencia. To be honest they are more holiday destinations than traveller venues but with lovely beaches and fabulous weather we certainly weren't complaining! The people are very friendly and so relaxed they are virtually horizontal most of the time. We would spend our days lazing on the beach, making good use of luxury resort facilities (I should point out we weren't actually staying in these resorts) and wandering the, often single lane, sandy streets.
By the end of our time in Belize we were extremely relaxed, a little browner but definitely ready for a change of scene – thus it was that we made our way to Costa Rica where we were meeting up with Cara and Polly...
