We had breakfast where we ate last night and talked to an interesting Norwegian guy. Then we went off along the main path to the “harbour”, where we found the local fishing co-operative, an electricity generator and the Post Office which was a wooden hut with two telephones, general supplies and liquor and water sport hire.
The Postmaster was friendly and after a chat he ran us out to Big Creek in his launch to visit the bank for $5 Belizean Dollars each. Big Creek or Cala Grande is the nation's second largest port, after Belize City, and is situated on the Caribbean Sea in Belize's Toledo District, just south of the boundary with Stann Creek District.
Big Creek is the main port for Belize's banana industry; citrus fruit and shrimp are also exported from here. It is also the location from which oil, extracted from the fields of Spanish Lookout, is exported.
Big Creek had a huge colonial looking bank, an airfield and a lot of derelict machinery. A deep-water port facility was to be constructed here in the 1990’s.
We changed up some money and returned to Placencia, where children played in the sand and the local Rastafarians chatted in their red, yellow and green woolly hats. The white wooden police station was inconspicuous amongst the other wooden buildings on stilts along this thin peninsula.
It is overcast and windy today, but the general atmosphere is friendly and tranquilo. We followed the beach northwards along the peninsula. The shoreline was littered with dead palm fronds and decaying coconuts. We came to an American resort where nice houses could be rented for $50 per day!
We made our way back via the red earth road and picked up two bottles of Coca Cola in the wooden fisherman’s supplies shack. Back at Ran’s we sat in the front garden and drank rum and coke as the day faded. We continued drinking in Jayls Restaurant and had another excellent fish meal.
The evening was spent largely on the beach under the wind-tossed palm trees, sitting in the shelter of a beached boat watching the phosphorescent surf. The moon was bright. We went into the disco for a beer, but it was still early and although the music was good, it was severely short of people.
We were tired and went to bed after a short spell in the hammocks on the porch. Our sleep was disturbed by amorous thrashings from the surrounding rooms.
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