On the way to Chetumal - border crossing into Belize.

Back in Palenque with just a couple of hours to kill I find myself not really that content to sit in the walkthrough bus station with a fan blasting hot air at me for the remainder of the time I have here. Palenque is a modest and pleasant enough little town which is dependent upon the tourist trade generated by the ruins to survive. It does feel relatively affluent in developing world terms and is to a large extent relatively comfortable as a place to stop off.

My out of date guide book states that Belize, the country I shall be in this time tomorrow, has little in the way of ATMs and suggests getting cash on this side of the border before leaving Chetumal. I´m taking the chance that things have improved significantly since 2004 when the book was published.

It´s unusual thinking about going to a country that you don´t really have very much in the way of knowledge of. I don´t have a set itinerary in mind because only a couple of things recommended by the guide book seem to be of general appeal and I can´t really complain when I´m heading into a tropical paradise which is a former British colony so at least I should be able to communicate in English readily without too much of a problem. Maybe I should work on my Creole.

Aside from snorkelling on the reef which annoyed the hell out of the colonial sailors making landing in Belize very difficult I don´t know if I´ll be able to do much more than lie in a hammock there. Apparently, this is done to olympic standards in most of the nation. Laziness and loafing are too poorly understood in the West and tend to be seen in very negative terms - maybe it´s necessary to try to explore such concepts in a tropical paradise in order to understand them back in the UK.

I remember middle John from Plymouth Poly days spent some time in Belize though I don´t recall exactly what he did. I think I´ve already met about half a dozen people here who have done the night shift of moving about turtle eggs just after they´ve been laid and moving them to a safe location to hatch. It strikes me as the most popular voluntary work activity in the country, maybe I´ve got a slightly jaundiced view on this subject - one third of the population live in substandard conditions, absolute poverty.

Apparently, Guatemala still does not recognise Belize as an independent state and sees it more as their own. The Guatemalan authorities apparently produce maps including much of Southern Belize in Guatemalan territory and occasionally there are invasions from Guatemalan territory. I certainly hope I don´t have the misfortune of getting caught up in the crossfire.

Still, I´ve got a bus to catch, a border to cross and a hammock to lie in....