It’s funny, you travel half way around the world to visit strange and distant and lands and what is the first thing you do?  The laundry!!!!!!Yes, first stop when we went ashore was the laundry and internet access.

The village of Placencia is lovely, and the people are very friendly. The first person we met was Brenda, a larger than life character, who bakes and sells the scrummiest macaroons, she is also, it appears, related to half the inhabitants of the Village. So if you want to know anyone or need any info, she’s your woman.

The village is made up of 2 halves. The one, being somewhat more developed than the other, with its little gift shops and bars and restaurants, all along The Sidewalk. The Sidewalk, is a narrow pavement that stretches for 1 mile and took 30 years to build by all accounts. The story is that it was commissioned by the priest so that he didn’t have to walk in the sand from his house to the church. In addition to that, it is the ONLY paved sidewalk in Placencia, all the other paths are sand.

All the houses and shops are pretty, pink and green painted, weather board houses which reflect the Caribbean influence. It is a very laid back place, with locals sitting under the trees playing dominoes and drinking beer. The place is full of beautiful flora, hibiscus, flamboyant trees, columbine and more. All in all, the nicest place we have been in Belize.

We all went walkabouts to find out what there was on offer. There were some nice little places to eat, such as the Shack and Wendy’s.

The Purple Space Monkey was a great place to drink, eat and get on the internet. They also have the best cappuccinos I have had since crossing to Latin America. But that’s not all, if you are a dessert aficionado, then you would have to go a long way to beat their coconut cream pie!!!!!

Tutti Fruitti sells what is arguably the best ice cream anywhere!!! If not the best, then it is certainly the best presentation. Plus, they have a lovely shady porch to sit on, but better yet, it appears they are open until late in the evening and are the perfect place to get a dessert after dinner (and half the price for twice as much!!!)

There were a couple of supermarkets (no not Tesco) and a couple of vegetable stores. In fact it had everything a cruiser could wish for.

We visited John the Bakerman and bought a dozen freshly baked cinnamon buns, they were so delicious we ate half of them before we got back to the dinghy.

Rob and Sheralee went to a lovely gift shop called ‘The Beach Bazaar’  and booked their flights to Belize City, from where they hoped to catch a bus up to Playa Del Carmen. I have to say I was impressed by the gifts on sale, but have to say they were rather expensive.  

That evening we were invited for sundowners and Pot Luck dinner by Annette and Bob on Tempest, at a great little place called Tranquillo, with a crowd of the other cruisers anchored in the bay.

It is a brilliant place to have a pot luck dinner and Vance, who co-owns it, kindly let us use his facilities. He is in the middle of developing the little island which will have condos with their own private jetties, a restaurant and bar etc etc.  We had a great night playing Mexican train dominoes and some of us getting rather squiffy (you know who you are!!!!))

There was one interesting moment when Roger asked Vance if there were toilets and Vance said ‘yes, but take a torch so you can avoid the tarantulas’.

Apparently, he had gone to use the facilities one night and had been chased down the jetty by a huge spider (not actually a tarantula but as big as one and poisonous to boot.)  Well on hearing this Susan jumped up and before you could say bye, she and Gary were off the jetty and on their way back to their boat. I’ve never seen anyone move so fast. Thank god we didn’t mention the Racoons!!!!