How the other half live !

Belize like most countries is one of contrasts. It seems you are either really rather rich or very poor. The Roes are the former. They are also incredibly welcoming and generous. I am invited to spend the weekend with them visiting their cabana at Honey Camp and at their beach house on St Georges Caye - how could I say no?! A quick call to Tropic Air and my flight is delayed till the next day and a message left on the answer phone at HHc. Honey camp is so cute - its up country towards the Mexican border by a lagoon and consists of some trees, a thatched veranda and a weatherbeaten Airstream type caravan. The storms that followed hurricane Dean did hit here, but not badly and the most damage is to tall trees which aren`t tall any more and the rest are being eaten by huge stripy caterpillers!! We stop off at `Victor`s apparently the best restaurant/ take away in Belize for tortillas, PilBil (spicy pulled pork), shrimp cerviche and a venison thing very yummy...even the cerviche! and a few beers. It seems there is a very relaxed view to drink driving here..... Anyway we go for a swim in the lagoon, not via the pier which is pretty much submerged under the water dumped by Dean, but which provides a playground for Ziggy the Silky Dog to zip up and down on without the need for him to swim (big wooss). Then a few more beers/wine and Roz is flat out in the back of the jeep for the way home happily sozzled! I go out with the kids, the cousins and their boyfriends that night to Old Belize: a terrible tourist trap that exists merely for the cruise liner trade which is a bit light due to the immenent hurricane pitched to hit on Wednesday...everybody is pretty laid back about it so I don`t get worried. I manage to last till 10.30 that night!

The next morning I`m the first up at 6am again and spend some quiet time reading and hanging under a fan in the breeziest part of the house next to a giant smelly vanilla candle...heaven. Then its all hands to the pump and we`re off to the Caye on a speedboat (because everyone has one!) Speeding down the river then over the sea to the cayes everybody is whipped by the warm winds and the dogs get their fur whipped about in a hysterical fashion. The sea is still really muddy from Dean but just as we hit the cayes it changes to azure and become the embodiment of a postcard. The beachhut is reached via a wooden pier with a useful cabana to one side and can sleep about 20. Property is pretty cheap here compared to the UK, Honey Camp would cost about 20K and Ladyville less than my house by some measure. So why do I live in the UK? Less mosquitos I guess! Am already up to 15 bites which are blistering alarmingly.... We eat, drink and are merry than pop over to a nice swimming spot with a shallow sandy bottom and splash around; Roz had her 50th party here with a floating BBQ and 80 friends in the middle of the ocean on a sandbank. Then back on the boat, over a soggy lawn as its rained again watching the hired help fit the storm shutters to the windows to protect against whatever Felix brings. And back to the airport where I finally catch my last flight to PG. It`s been a fantastic start to the elective so far!