Hopkins beach, Belize

From Iain: We finished up our stay in Flores in style with a great meal at La Villa del Chef.  Then on Friday we caught a shuttle to the border with Belize.  Crossing the border was easy - a brief stop with Guatemalan Immigration to exit the country (which, for some reason, involved an unofficial 40 quetzal "fee") and then a short walk across the border to Belizean Immigration and Customs.  After five months of Spanish immersion, it was an abrupt change to hear English again (mixed in with some Spanish and quite a bit of Kriol, an odd-sounding, almost slang-like English variant).

After spending a night in San Ignacio at the very pleasant Western Guesthouse, we had another epic bus day, taking three separate buses to Belmopan, then Dangriga, and finally Hopkins, a small town on the coast.  And now we're spending a relaxing week at Lebeha Seaside Cabanas in a large, self-contained cabin right on the beach about 50 metres from the Carribean.  It's about as perfect as you could imagine and there are very few other people here so we've pretty much got the beach to ourselves.

Outside our cabin on the beach in Hopkins

The sea is ideal for swimming in - the water is warm, it's shallow for a long way out, and most of the time it's incredibly calm due to the reef just on the horizon.  And the air temperature is just right too - in the low 30s (Celsius) or high 80s (Fahrenheit).  Next up is a snorkeling trip out to the reef on Wednesday.