Day 4- Belize City, Belize

This was an interesting adventure! It was like being back in Jamaica. They generally speak Creole there, so it was fun to listen to them talk.

We had to anchor out in the ocean because the water was too shallow. So, we started the morning with a 30 minute tender trip to shore. Once on shore, we met up with “Major Tom and the Fun Team”. They were appropriately named, because they were SO much fun! There was a little bit of a bus ride out to the zip line/cave tubing. So they made the most of it; telling jokes, and having a good ol’ time. Once at our destination…

We suited up for the zip line (This is us with our guide “Brother Love”. He was hilarious!)…

This isn’t something I really wanted to do. (I’m not a fan of heights.) But, since everyone else was, I didn’t want to look like a dork, so I tried it, and I’m so glad I di! It was AMAZING!!! I’m hooked! I’d do it over and over again. So much fun!

Here’s Heidi…

 

Klint…

Rik…

Eric…

Corinne…

Me…

This is our “we survived the zip line” picture…

After the zip line, we headed over to the cave tubing. It was a couple miles of hiking to get to where we’d start the tubing, but the scenery was amazing…

 

Rik came prepared with a head lamp. Doesn’t he look fancy!

 

As soon as we arrived at the starting point, Rik and Klint jumped right in to see if the fish really would nibble on their leg hairs, like Brother Love said they would…

I, on the other hand, was perfectly happy just standing on the shore and watching them swim in the fishy water. Yuck!

 

Next, we loaded up in our tube, hooking our legs under the arms of the person in front of us. This is how we’d stay for the rest of the trip.

Here we are heading into the cave…

The cave was really dark, but around one of the bends it opened up into what from the surface, would have been a sink hole. But, from inside the cave, it looked like this…

Here we are coming to the end of the caves…

After getting out of the caves, Brother Love helped negotiate this long train of 11 people down the rest of the river…

Here’s Eric thoroughly enjoying in leisurely trip down the river…

 

Here’s Brother Love doing his best “Baywatch” impersonation…

Brother Love had been running tours down the river for over 10 years. I was amazed how well he knew the twists and turns of the river. He’d literally slither our train of people down the river like a snake, knowing exactly when to twist, or straighten out. He also knew the depths of the river, which I thought was amazing. He’d know exactly when to tell us, “Buns up!” so we didn’t drag along the bottom of the shallow areas. His favorite thing to say was, “If you clinch it tight, you’ll be alright!” funny guy!

The scenery was so peaceful and BEAUTIFUL!

After getting back to the ship, we spent an evening with a casual dinner, a show, and hours of card playing. As amazing as all the shore excursions were, some of my very favorite times on the cruise were spent playing cards with our traveling companions. People in the game room kept asking us what game we were playing because we were having so much fun. We even taught a few folks how to play so they could TRY to have as much fun as we were having. :)

Good times! More to come soon…

Day 3- Costa Maya, Mexico

We literally woke up in Costa Maya, Mexico. This is the view from our balcony. Gorgeous!

After a quick breakfast, we headed off to the Mayan ruins with Klint and Corinne. It was kind of crazy because as we drove around Costa Maya, we couldn’t imagine how the ruins could possibly be very big because we couldn’t see them from any roads. Then, all of the sudden, through the trees we saw this…

We drove a little while longer, and after a little walk, we came upon this…

We walked around the back side of this to see a section they’d cut away from the ruins.

After another little walk, we came across some smaller ruins that were where the Mayan people would build their houses. A little side note is that they’d build their houses on top of their dead ancestors. I promised Eric I wouldn’t build a house on top of him after he died. :)

    

Next, we took another short walk with some amazing scenery.

 

Then, we climbed the “stairway to heaven”. There were 33 steps to a lunar and solar temple.

The solar temple…

 

The lunar temple…

 

They were both amazing. But, the most amazing thing was the view from these temples back to the 1st temple…

 

A couple more cool shots…

After the ruins, we went back to the city and did a little shopping. Klint bought a Nacho Libre mask, and we bought a cool wood carved jaguar for Chandler and some bracelets for the girls. Then, we ate some authentic Mexican food, which wasn’t nearly as good as El Rico’s here at home. Then, we headed back to the ship for my favorite part of the day…my nap! :)

That night, we had a casual dinner… Italian night. As always, the food was awesome. But, the best part of the night was that the whole wait staff did a parade through the dining room, and then sang a song for us. This is them lined up on the staircase…

Our waiter, Avni, walked through like a little boy looking for his parents. Every time he’d walk past us, he’d wave his napkin like this…

 

And we’d respond like this which made him smile and wave even more…

After the dinner, we went to a great comic show. Jeff Brunner was the comedian, and we were so pleased that not only was he REALLY funny, he was also very clean. His jokes weren’t off color, and his language wasn’t bad. Eric and I saw him at the customer relations desk that night, and he said he was actually headed for AZ the next day. What a coincidence.

It was another great day followed by another great night!