Placencia

The little town of Placencia is right on the tip of a narrow peninsula that runs south from mainland Belize. Offshore lie Ambergris Caye and the world's second biggest coral reef, but that's not why we're here. We just wanted to have a couple of days relaxing by the sea and getting a taste of the local culture.

Which is summed up in a way by yhe Coca Cola bottle in front of a brightly painted wooden house. Behind it are some ramshackle wooden houses and beyond that a series of new resorts and marinas, with expensive catamarans and  game fishing boats moored.

Belizeans are rightly proud of their home cooking and friendly, laid-back style. Reggae and hip-hop emanates from every building you pass, and also from some of the people. A young man I passed on the beach this morning was singing and dancing as he walked.