You're not in Guatemala now, Dr Ropata.
Crossing off our 5th country, we arrived in Belize in the rain. This part of the tour is supposed to be all sunshine and relaxation after the hectic trip through Mexico, so we were worried when it rained for our entire bus ride across the border.
However, we had a plan - just about the only thing you can do while it's raining is drink tequila and play cards. We started in a hotel restaurant on the edge of San Ignacio, and didn't leave until we'd drunk them out of tequila. Did I mention that it was just 5 of us left? Yes, the others had all come to their senses and headed home to try and find some food, cards and perhaps some more tequila.
We, the less sensible ones, had stayed on, enjoying drinking under shelter and watching the rain and toucans in the trees. But, finally, we were forced to admit that we needed to get home, and headed out. And headed down the road, or what was left of it. The roads in Belize tend to be somewhat sandy, and with the amount of water falling, they were now almost entirely mud. But we didn't care - we were dancing and slipping and sliding and covered in white mud by the time we got home.
At some point we had arranged to go on a tour of the Macan river. There was rum involved in this decision, but it was one of the best trips I think we did. We canoed upriver for about 3 hours, guided by Daniel, who was an expert at spotting the wildlife. We (Hamish, Ruth and Sarah from our tour) were still hoping to see a banana-beaked toucan, but we only managed to see one of the other varieties (again!). What we did see were a lot of iguanas. One of them was bright orange, others were perched on the very edge of very tall trees hanging over the river - they like to get as exposed as possible so that they get as warm as possible. Hundreds of bats were sleeping under the overhanging rocks, and our guide enjoyed flicking water at them to make them fly around us...
The trip upriver (thanks almost entirely to Daniel and Hamish's arms) ended with a walk through the riverside village towards a little waterfall and pool area. We ate our lunch (the ubiquitous rice-and-beans and curried hotdog. Unusual) and then had a refreshing swim under the waterfall.
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