BELIZE DAY 3 - HOMESICK

I started the day with breakfast at The Bakery - delicious bagel with cream cheese, and free internet. Disappointing that of the 22 emails waiting for me from Thursday morning onwards, only one was a personal message. Well, no problems being without internet for a few days here!
After putting in a request for an afternoon snorkelling tour, I decided to walk towards the south of the island this morning. Today was very hot, and even with my hat on the sun was baking. Nothing much to see there so I wandered back to town for an iced coffee and picked up my gear for a swim. Most of the beaches have a lot of grass growing near the shore which makes it unpleasant getting in and out of the water, but I found a narrow strip relatively grassless leading out to some deeper water. The really shallow water is incredibly warm, almost bath temperature and not refreshing, so you really need to get out a bit deeper where the currents bring the cooler water in.

I enjoyed sitting under a palm tree watching the local kids playing at the water’s edge, but then it hit me that, as much of an island paradise this is, I actually missed my own tropical paradise. The beaches in Playa are way better, the water cleaner and you can wade in without fear of grass or weed. Here, by the time you wade through the slimy grass and hot water, the whole swimming experience is dulled. Oh well, at least I cooled off a bit. Returned to the hotel to find that there weren’t enough people for the afternoon snorkel tour, hopefully tomorrow. Showered off the salt and returned to the deckchairs on the beach in front of the hotel to read in the shade. A nice breeze blowing, the palm fronds waving, until it started to rain - just a tropical rainstorm, probably over soon - but when the drops continued falling on the pages of my book, I returned inside for a nanna nap.
When I awoke at 3pm, my stomach reminded me I hadn’t had lunch so I headed across the road to Celi’s deli for some fish empanadas. No, she tells me, we ran out at midday. Not my day today! Still, a chicken burrito eaten on the balcony at Ruby’s overlooking the beach, no cause for complaint. The rum cake rounded it off nicely thank you.
It was cooler about 6pm so I set off for my evening walk. There were some stalls in the main park and I picked up a dress and a pair of sandals for $B3 each. Found a store selling new release DVDs for $B5 so I got a few titles to add to my collection, hope they work at home but for $2.50 each it’s not major.

Bingo night at the local Lions Club didn’t really appeal, and I thought I’d find the Pupuseria for a snack. Pupusas are a corn tortilla with the filling of prawns, chicken or beef in the middle, then cooked on a hot grill plate.

Glancing into a side street, I saw money being exchanged between 2 men, then one bent down to retrieve something. A drug deal being done? No, with joy I saw him removing the lid of his esky to put 2 pies in a bag - it’s the Pie Man from my first night. Suddenly, that was exactly what I felt like for dinner. To make it really sinful, I bought a bottle of Coca Cola. I’m not really a soft drink fan but sometimes a Coke just hits the spot. I brought my booty home to eat on the deck as the full moon shone a silvery trail across the sea. Ah, all’s well with the world.