After spending a happy few hours listening to music at Yoli’s Bar on Friday, we took a stroll through the streets for a different taste of the town.

Despite the good music and friendly vibe, the increasing level of inebriation among visitors and expats at the bar does get to me after a while, and a walk through quiet streets among local people living regular lives was a relief.

A soccer game was in full swing at the field as parents and friends lined the stands and the grassy edges. The air was fresh and clear and folks walked quietly along the street. Placencia has just a couple of streets –paved, but dusty when dry and a little muddy when wet. We stopped at Tutti Fruitti – that famous gelato stand – for scoops and cones (chili chocolate, crunchy nutella, cappuccino this time) and walked along past the strains of a saxophone drifting down from a second floor eatery, and conversation from other folks doing the same thing as we were. Jim remarked that it all had a similar feeling to small town streets of our youth. Placencia is a friendly place. People aren’t effusive, but they are quick with a hello when we meet on the streets, and even the women with bulging knapsacks of goods for sale speak gently, “Would you like to look at some of my things? I come in from the country and I have baskets and bowls and jewellery.” It’s a change from the strident calls of Guatemala, “Good deal for you!”

There are 20 or so boats in the harbour these days – Keith at Above Grounds says that’s more than usual – and a big community of land visitors. The beautiful beaches facing north are lined with lovely little cottages, and there are numerous inns with rooms for rent. Bars and restaurants dot the dusty main street and the famous mile long sidewalk that wanders under flowering bougainvillea and hibiscus bushes along the northern beach area. We get used to seeing the well-protected harbour, but that wide sandy beach around the corner is as pretty a place as you could find. And in between all that are the houses where people live – lines of laundry drying, fellows polishing cars, children playing. Many of the cement houses are on stilts or with open workshops at ground level, and the living takes place upstairs. The atmosphere is very much more Caribbean and less Central America than what we have been used to in Guatemala, and of course the predominance of English makes it different too.

We spend some internet time each day at either Above Grounds where Keith, Naomi and Lauren pour delicious Guatemalan coffee and fork up banana bread and cinnamon rolls, or at the Paradise Resort where Tracy pours us glass after glass of lime juice and serves tasty chicken quesadillas – both places welcoming to folks with laptops and tablets, and iPads. We’ve had good food at Omar’s and the Pickled Parrot and at the brightly painted tables on the sand at Pirate’s Grill (wonderfully fresh and tasty burritos and fish tacos and enchiladas – and with chocolate cake to top it off!) We lunched one day at Brenda’s picnic table down by the Shell station – now that one is a true “local flavour” experience. And let’s never forget street food! Norman sold us hot and tasty tamales along the beach (I keep trying tamales and rarely enjoy them but these were delicious!) and Guillermo and his abuela (grandmother) plucked crispy pollo (chicken) empanadas from a bucket, topped them with picante minced onions and handed them over on squares of tin foil. Those were so good we had to go back for more.

Superbowl was the event on Sunday, with big screen TV’s, betting pools and beer at bars all around town, and we stayed with the crowd at Yoli’s for most of the game. Jim spent much of Monday on the computer and the phone, taking care of some business, but in the middle of it we enjoyed reconnecting with Doug (Serendipity) whom we met here last year.

Liam has gone up to Caye Caulker for a few days (via bus and water taxi), and now that the squalls have passed we’ll head out to the cayes for some snorkeling and swimming. The current plan is to meet back here on Thursday. See you then!