Hacienda Tropical Guest House

2-3/2/24 We three middle aged guys from London were making our way down south in Belize. We booked this a day ahead on Abnb. We arrived at the coach station in the centre and walked in the heat with our bags across the town through the civic centre with all its new buildings to run the country. Arriving at around 14:55 we had no easy way of contacting the owners to say we were there (no data or SIM). A fellow traveller was also waiting inside the sliding drive gate. He said the guy (who had let him drop his bag early to wander round town) would return at 3 or 4 to let him in. It was hot, we were tired and bothered. Luckily there was a shop opposite so I bought a round of beers for us all to chat and pass the time. The garden was quite pleasant and we watched the butterflies and the woodpecker feed its chick at the top of the telegraph pole! Time went on, the drinks and conversation went down well and after a time enquiring with neighbours and eventually paying a lot of money for roaming we managed to contact the number which was Marta's. Within a few minutes (at 16:03) she arrived and welcomed us, having checked out of her work early. She apologised profusely about the delay and let us three into the end apartment and our travelling friend into his. We chatted and she gave is lots of tips about where to go. Eventually she resigned herself to not returning to work so we invited her for a drink along the road in Chefk Cevicheria where we four had a snack (of Conche and Shrimp Ceviche (25), Shrimp diablo (25) and tasty Micheladas with thick spicy tamarind paste on a straw (12)). After that snack at about she then took us to her favourite food stall (Deisy's Pupuseria) run by Equadorian refugees serving frijol, ayote and mora (2-2:50 each) which were very tasty (we regretted later not buying some for breakfast the next day). She was very hospitable indeed and made up for the awkward wait earlier. She bought some of the delights as takeaway and left us to go home. We returned back at 19:10 to base to end up having some more beers chatting to our new travelling friend. It was not worth the trek back into town to check out their evening life! In our two bed apartment we had a kitchenette by the double bed in the first room and a bedroom with another double bed at the back. In the kitchen was a brand new large fridge freezer, gas cooker, big floor standing fan, kitchen cabinet with crockery and cutlery sink and diaphanous curtains which let the morning light in. The bedroom had a TV (untested) with an efficient a/c unit. Real paintings of animals on the wall had contact details for their being sold. The shower-room had a single central ceiling light (I brought my own plug in lamp for shaving) and was quite social and clean. Marta has very high standards in this regard. The walk in shower was big and hot water was fine. The water pressure was good for flushing out razors. The electric socket for the tv was high up on wall under ceiling. I