Belize

Early start today.  Up at 6am.  We were told to get tickets early for the tenders.  Belize City is located in shallow water so the ship has to anchor offshore and use tender boats to shuttle everyone to shore.  You can imagine that this many people could take a while.  And the private tour we had booked lasted at least six hours.

So we arrived on Deck 6 at the counter at 7am after a quick breakfast.  We were near the front of the line and waited an hour.  But that guaranteed our passage on the first tender to shore and the most amount of time for the tour.  So it was hurry up and wait.

Then, boarding nearly 500 people on the tender for the 20-minute ride to shore, so we had an hour and a half into it by the time we met up with King David (yeah, that’s what he calls himself) at the dock.

What a great way to see some of the Belize attractions!  No busses, no crowds, just Deb and I and Junior, our guide.  Junior was a native of Belize and one of the first licensed tour guides.  He knew his stuff and patiently answered all the many questions we threw at him.  And there were many.  It was an hour drive to the first stop and we learned all about tourism in Belize, Junior’s family, and a host of other things.

Junior was there when the first cruise ships started arriving in 2002.  He told us there were three types of people on the cruises:  the newly-weds, the nearly dead, and the overfed.  There’s a lot more now and it has become a big business here, but Junior still handles private parities, leaving the busses for the bigger guys.

First stop was Altun Ha, a large Mayan ruin.  This was the site of many religious rituals and was built up over a period of nearly a thousand years before suddenly being abandoned when the Mayan society collapsed.  The different levels of construction could be seen on one side, one level built on top of another over many years.  On that same side is a stone mask, dating from 200BC.

In the little trinket shops on the way out, Deb found a postcard to send to our grandson.  It had a price of $1.  She asked the woman in the shop if she would take 50 cents for it.  The woman balked and Deb told her she would give her a US dollar for the post card if she could have some Belizan change also.  The Belizan dollar is tied to the US dollar at two to one and I think the woman just expected to get a full dollar out of it.  She wasn’t prepared for Deb.  She paused a bit, dug around in her purse, and produced a few small coins, probably not worth much.  But Deb was happy, and she was happy so the exchange was made.  We how have some Belizian change to add to the collection.

It was an hour drive to the next stop, Nohoch Ch’een.  This is another important Mayan spot, but natural, not built.  A river flows through a rather long cave and a popular activity is to float this river on tubes, which we did.

But first, we were getting hungry and we stopped at a grass-roofed restaurant along the way.  Junior had pre-ordered lunches for us and they were waiting for us when we arrived.  A lunch of spiced chicken, rice and beans, plantains; very traditional Belize, according to Junior.  And it was complete with Firey Hot Belize Sauce.

The meal was excellent and the sauce didn’t just add heat, it added a nice flavor (if used sparingly).  Too much and it overpowered the taste buds, the mouth, and everything around it.

Thus fortified we arrived at Nohoch Ch’een where we were handed off to our river guide, Easy.  We changed into swimwear, grabbed a couple of tubes, and followed Easy up the one-mile trail to the cave entrance.

Easy was also a fountain of information.  He loved the outdoors and knew all about the flora and fauna of the area.  It seems his whole family was involved in this activity as his dad was also with a group of tubers.

At one point Easy asked us if we were adventurous.  We gave him our affirmation and he stopped us at a large termite nest in a tree.  Scratching at the nest, he got a few termites on his finger and handed one to each of us.  They were very tiny and looked like little ants scurrying around.  “Eat them,” he told us as he did so himself.  We did so. And were surprised that they tasted like mint.  Now I can say I have tasted a termite.

We put in the water at the cave entrance and floated into cave.  Easy explained that the Mayans viewed caves as the underworld, or Hell.  Thirteen levels of Heaven and seven levels of Hell and a person continually cycles between these levels, going to Heaven and Hell and back in a never-ending cycle, according to Mayan belief.  I’m glad we have only one destination: heaven for those who believe.

The cave had lots of stalactite and stalagmite formations and also an internal spring-fed waterfall.  Really cool floating this, I can see why it’s popular.  And because we were on a private tour, we were able to do both the ruins and the cave in one day.  A shout out to King David Castillo and his tour company for a wonderful time.

And now we can say we have been to Hell and back.

We stopped at the grocery store and found some of what we wanted before heading back to the tender.  Here it was hurry up and wait again.  Wait for everyone to pile onto the catamaran, probably 500 people.  Then wait for everyone to get off.  Probably another hour or so.

Then it was dinner in the Allegro dining room at a private table, private with hundreds of others around, but an enjoyable dinner nonetheless.  The lasagna was excellent.

After dinner we attended a magician show called Magica, probably one of the best magician performances I have ever seen.  He worked the crowd very well and performed some amazing tricks.

Tomorrow it’s Roatan, Honduras.  I probably won’t be able to post anything more until Sunday, when we return to Galveston and have Internet access again.  Stay tuned...