An unBELIZE-ably beautiful day

Greetings from Belize. Finally, it's a beautiful day. Before we get started, I want to wish Happy 22nd Birthday to my nephew, Nathan. I bought you something today to commemorate your special day, and I wanted to let you know I didn't forget.

Good news! Becky woke up feeling much better, and so far today, things are great. She's wondering if the congestion has been related to the rain we've seen so much of this week.

Belize is a tender port..no, I don't mean sensitive. I mean we had to take a water taxi from the boat to the port. Today's ride was about about 15 minutes. When we first boarded the tender, there was a slight misty rain and another rainbow. (They must not be rare around here) But the rain was gone in just a few minutes, and a warm, blue sky greeted us.




Can you see the rainbow?



Today's excursion was called "The sights and sounds of Belize." Our tour guide, David, was both our bus driver and guide. (Beth, there were 22 in our group today, so we were in small bus instead of a coach bus.) Technically, we were in Belize City, and not to be confused with the more popular touristy cities in this country, such as San Pedro. Belize City is actually 30 miles from the closest beach, so while we were very near the water all day, the shoreline was rocky versus sandy. Because this area is only 1 foot above sea level, it is very easy for the government to add land when they decide to expand. I guess they just tamp down the dirt. David mentioned that some of the property that used to be waterfront now sits along a street. That would be a bummer! The flip side of being so close to sea level is that they are very susceptible to flooding during their rainy season.




Last month, Belize celebrated 28 years of independence from the British crown. Unlike, Grand Cayman (who was also under British rule), we drove on the right side of the road here. David said that not so long ago, they did drive on the left, but changed because a large highway was supposed to be built through the area to connect several Central American countries. Unfortunately, a hurricane caused a lot of damage in the area so the road never came through Belize. The government opted to uphold the new driving laws. Belize takes a lot of their influences from the United States. Even the guys around here wear their pants down around their thighs, showing their boxer shorts to everyone who cares to look.

David was really great to drive us through both the good and the bad parts of Belize. He said that 90% of the tourism to Belize City comes from the United States. He wanted us to see that the majority of their people are very poor, but they are rebuilding and are very proud country. He mentioned that they are the second most literate of the Central American countries. As we were driving around, it was 10:15am ship time, but 8:15am local time, so we saw good number of children in a rainbow of school uniforms starting their day. All of the schools here require a uniform, and each school has a different color.






Repeatedly throughout the day, David thanked us for choosing this tour to become educated on the rich culture and history of Belize. So many tourists come there only for the snorkeling and diving.

Our tour today consisted of two activities at the same stop. First we went through a small museum depicting the timeline of their country. Much of Belize used to be rain forest. When the British settled here, they discovered the Mahogany Tree and soon started exporting them back home to England for the use of building fine furniture, ships, etc. It takes about 80 years for the Mahogany tree to mature. Unfortunately, they British didn't replant trees as they cut them down. (Now, of course, mahogany is protected.) Logging became the first official industry of Belize. Once the loads of trees were unloaded in England, the boats were loaded with bricks to balance the ships for the trip back to Belize. These bricks were then used to build new buildings, thus changing the landscape of construction in this country.





Next, we went next door to an auditorium to see a dance troupe perform several native dances. There were several men playing different sized drums, turtle shells, a conch shell and maracas. It was pretty interesting. I took videos of these dances and will post them when I get home.


After some light shopping, we headed back to the Legend around 3pm ordered some room service (Becky had a BLT and chocolate cake; I had a BLT and creme caramel - a custard). I actually started typing today's blog, and we relaxed until dinner. (I can't remember if I mentioned that we have the 8:15 seating for dinner.) When we arrived at dinner, only the girls from IL were there. Vernon and Gusti were glad to see us and told us that they missed us last night.


Becky, Gusti, Me, Vernon

What was on the menu? Becky had potato soup and mozzarella cheese sticks as appetizers, a pork chop for dinner, and bitter and blanc for dessert. Bitter and blanc is dark chocolate and white chocolate bread pudding. I had a spinach and portobello mushroom salad and a shrimp cocktail, a vegetarian enchilada, and the bitter and blanc. I also tried the coconut cake that was made with splenda. (It was delicious.) After reviewing the video from our dinner show a couple of nights, Becky and I teased Vernon that he needs to work on his dancing. Tonight's show was to "Hot, Hot, Hot" so we made Vernon practice his moves ahead of time. He is terribly shy. When it came time for "SHOWTIME", Vernon seemed to be hiding in the back, but then he came out and danced right in front of our table. It was hilarious and pitiful at the same time. Of course, I have it on video and will be sharing it next week.

We went to a passenger talent show in the Follies at 10:30. John Heald, our cruise director, hosted the show, and he is a lot of fun.

After the 4 acts performed, he had an audience participation skit that was hilarious. It was so crazy that Becky and I thought it was scripted. At midnight, there was a Mexican buffet and deck party on the Lido Deck. It's a beautiful, warm night, and when Becky and I left, the party was going full force with about 100 people on the dance floor doing the electric slide.

There is just so much more detail that I would love to share with you about each day of this trip, but there is just not enough time in my day. As Karen has pointed out, I am a night owl and usually stay up until about 1-2 am getting this posted. I'm enjoying recapping the day for you because it's helping me to remember. I have so many great photos that haven't hit the blog, but I'll make time next week to share some of them, too.

Quick story...when we headed out this morning, we saw our cabin steward in the hall. Becky told him that I was disappointed to have not had a towel animal last night since she had been sleeping. (Hmm...I was disappointed? Well, yeah, but she was too.) She asked if we could have two animals tonight. When we came back from the excursion, we had a turkey and a turtle on our beds! As an extra treat, we also got an elephant tonight with our turn down service. Bonus!

Tomorrow is our last port, Isla Roatan off the coast of Honduras. Our tour leaves at 9:30, so I'm going to sign off for now. Keep the comments coming. BTW - Beth, yesterday's coach bus was a brand that I was unfamiliar with. Most of the cars we've seen on this trip have been European or Asian; however, we did see about 15-20 Saturns today. How weird is that?? The beds are pretty comfortable - I just haven't seen much of mine this week. :) You would love this cabin because it is SO dark at night.