BELIZE DAY 4 DISAPPOINTED

I woke in the middle of the night with an awful headache, and my neck and back really tight. I tried getting up and stretching, massaging my neck and using the headache pressure point in my hand but to no avail. Every time I put my head back on the pillow it started to throb again. Finally after using the blanket to prop myself up, I fell into a fitful sleep in a half sitting position.

Not surprisingly I didn’t feel a lot better when I was woken up by people in the street yelling at 7am (not for the first time - people here seem to get up really early!). I tossed and turned dozing until 8.20, then decided a hot shower directed at my neck might do the trick. It didn’t, but I got dressed and out for a walk anyway. Tiffany told me that there was no snorkel trip this morning, but hopefully this afternoon.

I wandered down to the shop where I’d bought the perfume to get another, but found them closed. I decided a good long walk might help stretch my muscles so headed up to the north side of the island. All the notes I had taken from my guidebook of places to look out for - Mathieu’s deli, the ABC brewing co - were all closed. I picked up drinkable yoghurt from the supermarket and walked back to the Bakery for breakfast. I ordered the eggs with a toasted bagel; when I asked for them fried the waitress looked a little concerned. “Is that just turned over?” she asked. Fried eggs are obviously not the thing here! They turned out a bit overdone but OK, and came with an iced tea, all that for $B5 was a great deal - free internet an added bonus.

Home for a quick snooze to try to shake the headache. When the snorkel trip didn’t eventuate, I tried another place but they didn’t have one either this afternoon. Looks like I wasn’t meant to get out on the reef this time. The headache still nagging, I found a chemist open and she sold me some pain-relieving gel and strong panadol, both of which seemed to do the trick after an hour or so.

I spent the afternoon reading on the beach, and finally at about 5.30 realised that I’d missed lunch and needed a good dinner. After a few menu checks, I found a Lebanese restaurant called Island Secret where a huge chunk of red snapper came perfectly grilled with spices, and served with salad and rice. A nice glass of chilled white would have made it perfect, but wine seems rare here, and if found, horrendously expensive, so a glass of coke washed it down.

Some more wandering, looking in shops, as it was way too early for bedtime. There is very little to do in San Pedro apart from reef trips and shopping, and my 4 nights here turned out to be about 2 nights too many. The beaches are disappointing, the water dirty and full of weeds, there is way too much traffic for such a small place, food is expensive and frankly I don’t know what Madonna saw to make her write a song praising the place.

As Dorothy said to Toto “There’s no place like home”. And with 3 clicks of my heels (not easy in thongs) I’ll be on the boat early tomorrow morning heading back to my lovely Playa, and our gorgeous beaches. Good to travel, great to come home!