Belen

We were meant to head to Las Marias today but we said we needed a quiet day and another night in Belen – Mario was more than happy to oblige. So after a late breakfast of fried fish, mashed beans and fried breadfruit, we all went back to bed and woke up in time for lunch.

In the afternoon Mario took us on a walk around the villages. There are small communities of Mosquito and Pech people here and it is difficult to tell one from the other as they are all along this one road we walked along last night.

The beach is one one side of the peninsula and the lagoon on the other. Most houses are timber, some on stilts, with the occasional concrete house.

The main work here is diving for lobster which the men do so most of the women and children seem to spend the day hanging around, obviously once they’re done with their domestic duties. The kids are really cute and ask you to take their photo so they can have a look, then all the pushing, shoving and giggling follows, everyone trying to see themselves tiny screen.

But today mostly involved rest as we are all phenomenally tired after yesterday and there will be a six hour boat ride upstream tomorrow.