From Placencia, we took a colourful blue and purple chicken bus to Dangriga, the largest city in Southern Belize—by largest, I mean 11,500 people. Belize is a small country!

The ride turned out to be surprisingly pleasant. Sure, my legs are always too long to fit comfortably in buses originally designed to shuttle North American kids to and back from school, but the road was good and the scenery quite relaxing. Reggae music blasted through the loudspeakers for the entire 2.5-hour-long trip but this too was relaxing.

Belize takes “laid-back” to a whole different level and nothing seems to ever faze people. It’s not to say that things are always slow, but the country seems to be on the same wave length and expectations are clearly spelled out.

Dangriga felt like a small town. We walked Saint Vincent Street where there was the usual cluster of dusty convenience stores/minimarts (all minded by Chinese people), street food stalls (mostly offering fried chicken and rice &beans) and schools. Quiet place, not a gringo in sight. I joked with Feng: “Well, for once you’re not the only Asian around. They are Belizean-Chinese here. On the other side, I’m probably the whitest girl around!”

We found a little cabaña, metres from the sea. Once again, the beach isn’t great—garbage, coconut and seaweed washed upon the shore and coarse sand—but hearing the sound of the waves from our bed is great.