Everyting's gonna be al'rite...

Reggae, rum, 'relax man', big mommas, and Marie Sharp's flaming hot sauce...that about sums up what Belize is all about. Guatemala is pretty chilled too but the difference between the two is marked even on the border. As soon as we arrived in Belize it was sun, smiles, dreadlocks, that Jamaican lilt on the tongue, reggae beats on the decks and the smell of BBQ chicken in the air. I loved it! Even though we were many miles from the sea in San Ignacio, the Caribbean spirit was still very much in evidence and only became more pronounced as we made our way down the coast to little visited Hopkins beach.

Hopkins and Placencia, two southern sea side towns in the Stann Creek district of Belize, were the two highlights of our trip to this sun drenched corner of the world. Very different from each other, they provided an  interesting insight into life in Belize and its development as a tourist destination.

A brief stop in Bali...

I've recently been reviewing all of our photos and blogs from the trip in a bid to put together some sort of tome cataloguing our adventures. During this process I realised that some of my posts had been left unfinished and whole countries undocumented. I aim to rectify this with a new flurry of activity on the blog that will hopefully continue long after the records are up to date!

I recently watched Eat, Pray, Love the terrible hollywoodised version of the book with the same name; the story of an American woman who goes off travelling for a year to find herself post-divorce...blah blah blah...you get the picture. The book was equally bland and self-indulgent, but one thing that did catch my eye from my Sunday afternoon perch on the sofa, was the beautiful cinematography, the stunning scenes of Ubud's terraced paddy fields, the unmistakable Balinese village streets...it took me right back.

5 Best Pinxtos in San Sebastian

Chris and I recently got hitched - whoop! We had our wedding in South West France, at my mum's house, and having driven down with our car, decided to take a mini-moon a bit further along the coast in San Sebastian.

Famed for it's food, San Sebastian promised big things to foodies like Chris and myself and boy did it deliver. Michelin star restaurants aside (more on this in another post), it was the variety and novelty of the many pinxtos bars that we really enjoyed and we like to think that our multiple tasting evenings gave us good authority to choose our five all time faves.

A Spa Experience at La Perla, San Sebastian

On the first morning of our San Sebastian mini moon, Chris surprised me with the revelation that we were booked in to spend our afternoon at the city's 100 year old, La Perla, sea front spa  - a couple of hours of relaxing in the various pools and steam rooms, followed by an hour long full body massage. On a grey and rainy day, and with the stresses and strains from the wedding still taking their toll on my aching muscles, it was exactly what the doctor ordered.

Rock Climbing at the Westway, London

Ever eager to keep the dream and those adventurous urges alive in our daily London grind, Chris and I signed up to try out a new sport last weekend - rock climbing! There was a certain driver of necessity in this decision as Chris needs to get to a particular level of proficiency in rock climbing in order to take his mountain leader exam, but it also just felt like a cool thing to do. I thought that I might as well go along with him and learn something new as well. The couple who exercise together....hmm argue and bicker together!? oh well...

We signed up for the beginners course at the Westway centre in Shepherds Bush, London. This is a six hour course, split over the weekend mornings, so was the perfect impetus to get out of bed early and make the most of the day but didn't take up all of our precious down time - perfect!