It pissed rain pretty much all morning. The nightly storm started late in the night, the thunder startling me awake at fuck knows what hour so obviously I had to lie awake fretting that the boat wouldn’t go if the weather was still too bad. It was Friday, the boats don’t go at the weekend, our CA4 visa finished on Sunday, if we were stuck here we’d have to somehow get to the other end of the country to get over the only land border between Guatemala and Belize.

We sloshed our way to the boat and it turned out it was fine. They gave us a bit of plastic to cover ourselves and apparently if rain hits you in the face whilst you’re on a boat it feels a bit like needles so that was a fun new discovery. It was still raining when we were deposited in Punta Gorda forty minutes later. We got our stamps, found the bus terminal, and it continued raining all the way up to Independence then it finally stopped. We made our way to Placencia, found our hostel and checked in for some Caribbean vibes.

I think I’m a bit in love with the Caribbean, it’s not somewhere I’ve really been to, not properly, not before this trip, and everytime we rock up to a Caribbean town we both instantly feel relaxed. So yeah, bit of a shame that we didn’t do much in Placencia. I’m not saying it was a complete write off because it’s actually a really lovely place and I’m sad we didn’t make the most of it but, y’know, rum is a thing that exists here and we drank it. A lot of it. We got our chores done, bought SIM cards, withdrew cash, all the things you need to do to to survive in a new country. I booked to go diving on the Sunday this giving us Saturday to enjoy some beach time or whatever and went for a stroll.

We noticed a bar and it looked like it was called Big Titty. Wait, what’s it fucking called? We got a bit closer and yeah, Big Titty Rum Bar. Well it’d be immensely rude not to have a couple of those. It turned out that Big Titty rum is made right here in Placencia too so the next morning when I woke up at least I could say my ridiculous hangover contributed to the local economy. Guys, I was utterly fucking trollied. I had an unidentified drinking injury on my big toe. Apparently I’d tripped up over a tree root whilst we were dropping our bags home on the way to another bar. Dear reader, I do not remember this occurring but how marvellously sensible of us? I probably got home at around 9.30pm but we’d got chatting to an Irish bloke so Tarrant ended up drinking with him until probably 4am. Oh, and also, it started raining again.

It rained all night and all morning so the weather matched my mood. My poor, dehydrated organs. A beach recovery was out of the question so we pretty much spent the day in hammocks before venturing out in search of food during a break in the rain. I was also getting pretty snotty because of course I was the day before I wanted to go diving. Belize is an absolute bucket list dive destination for me, I’ve always wanted to come here and dive. But then Komodo and The Philippines were also bucket list dive destinations and I casually contracted pneumonia just before we went there so that pissed on that bonfire.

The next day I woke up with a cough. My throat was sore, I was congested to fuck and I felt utterly, utterly awful. Well shit. Obviously I had to cancel the dive. I’m meant to be going to the Blue Hole on Friday and I swear mate, I’m not fucking leaving Belize until I’ve dived that site. I still had some Panadol left from last time I got a cold just before I went diving on Roatan. I’m noticing a theme. Screw you, virus gods! I spent the day necking that. It was pissing rain all morning again so I didn’t feel too bad about not being able to do much. Hopefully it’ll blow over in a day or two, both the weather and all this mucus that’s taken up residence in my head.

I adore the little bit of Placencia we’ve seen, all the bars and places to eat. We’ve been looking at plots for sale and imagining what we’d build there. Y’know, with our imaginary money. We’d stay longer if we hadn’t already booked our accommodation at Caye Caulker. We wanted somewhere nice in CC but not obnoxiously expensive so we thought we should book in advance and obviously the downside of that is the lack of flexibility. Placencia is a bit far away to just pop back to when it doesn’t feel like the middle of my skull is in a vice though, I just have to hope I’m well enough to dive in Caye Caulker.

Jump to “Useful shit to know…”

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Placencia, Stann Creek, Belize

Stayed at: Anda Di Hows, Placencia Village

Useful shit to know…

How To Get From Livingston, Guatemala to Placencia, Belize By Boat And Bus

• Boats go from the public dock in Livingston to Punta Gorda in Belize Monday to Friday at 11am, and Tuesday and Friday at 7.30am.
• They don’t run in either direction at weekends.
• We were told the early boat left at 8am but it left at 7.30am so bear that in mind.
• You can buy your tickets at the dock or you can have an agency book for you before you even get to Livingston.
• I WhatsApped Melanie on +50255585656 and paid at MC Tropic cafe when we got to the town.
• You have to get your Guatemala exit stamp before you arrive at the dock so if you’re going early you’ll need to get it the day before.
• You also need to pay an exit tax of Q80 each to leave by water.
• The immigration office is sign posted so you’ll find it but head to 15.826646, -88.748942.
• The boat took 40 minutes and cost Q350.
• Once in Belize, head to the immigration office where you’ll be given a form to fill out, then you get your stamp.
• Someone may give your bags a cursory check.
• There was no one changing money but there’s a Belize Bank ATM just a couple of minutes walk away.
• Turn right out of the immigration office and walk to the James Line Bus Terminal.
• They have buses leaving regularly for Belize City via Independence, Dangria, and Belmopan.
• You need to go to Independence, buy your ticket in the office.
• It cost BZ$10 each and took just under two hours so we arrived just before midday.

• We took a taxi to the ferry which cost BZ$5 each.
• The 12pm ferry (cutely named the Hokey Pokey) was fortunately late so we caught that (the next was 2.30pm).
• It cost BZ$11.25 each and took about fifteen minutes.