Placencia

I am getting acclimatised. My tummy feels better. I have lost a few pounds. My jeans - 38 ins - now slip down with the belt on. They are too heavy for Belize, even in winter. I gave one pair, plus my smart grey trousers, plus my leather jacket away to the cleaning ladies. Too hot to wear and too heavy to carry. I wore my grey pants once and said "Never again!" It was like wearing a Turkish Bath. I cut down my Mr George jeans to baggies and even then they are hot. I will keep them plus the one South African pair that are lightweight. And my denim jacket, also from Durban.

A hint to anyone coming over to visit me - don't bring even English summer wear clothes unless incredibly lightweight. And polyester is also very hot. I have now re-sorted my case so that when upright all my socks - woollen English - are at the bottom. I don't know if I will ever wear them - probably when on the farm only.

I decided that I would have a banana or two for breakfast, a brunch of omelette, re-fried beans and a few fry jacks for lunch at 11h00 and a Belikin stout for dinner. It seems, so far, to be working. Each morning I go around to the end of the Sidewalk, where there is a cafe serving coffee and here I meet locals of all sorts. A lot of good and not so good advice.

I am certain now that by coming over here and mixing with the locals was a good idea. Universally, they have told me that they resent people from other countries coming over and telling them what is good for them. The one group who have come to build a house and a basketball court in PG was talked about with a degree of derision. Belizeans don't, apparently, like basketball. The average adult height in PG, for instance, is about 5 feet 6 inches. Not exactly Harlem Globetrotters size! They quite often watch something being built and never use it.

I read the paper this morning. Apparently the new Government want to work on the roads. They discovered that the old government sold all the equipment just before the election. So the Government has no Min of Works equipment to do anything. Friends of government bought bulldozers for BZ$15 000. Strange way to run a country. 21 of the 26 UDP MP's elected are in the Cabinet. There are 6 Opposition MP's. Mmmm!