cruise day 5 - Belize

Wednesday, December 12th.  12/12/12  - visiting a Mayan ruin.  thank goodness it wasn't 12/21/12  (that is when the world was supposed to end, according to some people's interpretation of the Mayan Calendar... (that obviously didn't happen as scheduled)

This was a tour that I really, really wanted to go on, from the first day I started looking at excursions for our cruise.  Trouble is, we waited too long to book anything, and everything was sold out.  We found a tour company that had a 3 person minimum, so we booked that one, hoping to find a third person on the ship who might want to join us, knowing we would have to pay for that 3rd spot if we didn't.  Well, we didn't find anyone to join us, so we spent WAY too much money in this port, but I LOVED it!  It was a great tour and I would do it again.  

A termite nest.  There were millions of them - EVERYWHERE!

see - here's another one!  I found them fascinating!  I even touched one in Honduras was amazed by the delicate material it is made of.  Where I touched my finger to the nest, it just instantly crumbled, and I barely put any pressure at all, I just wanted to see what it felt like, I wasn't trying to break it or anything, yet it crumbled enough that it left an indent of my finger.  So interesting.

The big challenge in Belize is TIME.  We simply did not have enough!  I would have loved a few more hours at the ruins, or a more leisurely boat ride on the river, or a few detours to see more of the country on the drive back...  Belize is a tender port, meaning they don't have the huge docks for the ginormous cruise ships to pull into, so we had to join the herds of people trying to get on the tender boats to shuttle us in to land.  Then it was an hour drive to the village of Orange Walk, where we would hop on a boat for the 45 minute ride down river to the Lamanai archeological site.  

The drive out gave us a chance to see the humble circumstances of the people, and the boat ride was calm and fun to see a bit of "nature."  Mostly birds, and one crocodile on the way back.

tiny little houses,  many of them built on stilts for the flood season.  many of them homesteading on government property, hoping if they live there long enough, the government will let them buy it, but knowing that any day they can be kicked off the land and have to start all over somewhere else.

 

 

 

This may seem silly, but this was one of my favorite "finds."  While we were waiting for the others who would be on our boat ride, I found this cool thing in their outdoor kitchen, where the prepared out lunch.  I wondered about it, thinking it looked like a juicer, like for citrus, except that the jagged metal rounded end would shred right through the peels.  I asked someone, and in fact is it a coconut shredder.  They split the coconuts in half, then used this to shred the "meat" of the coconut.  I thought it was really cool!

on the boat ride out to Lamanai

birds taking flight.

arrival at the Lamanai site

 We arrived at the ruins and enjoyed a yummy "belizian" (is that a real word?) lunch, then went with our tour guide to check out the excavated ruins.  there are lots and lots of "mounds" there that have yet to be excavated, but the temples that have been uncovered are incredible.  

You're just walking through the jungle, and suddenly, there is a Temple.  Like it just pops up out of nowhere.  

Not the greatest picture, but added so you can see what I mean.  just walking through the jungle, you round a corner... and KA-POW - huge Mayan Temple right there!

 

Unlike Tulum, we were able to climb the ruins here.  The first temple was the "Mask Temple" - named for the carved faces.  

The next, and largest temple was next.  It isn't named, just identified by the archeological dig/structure number, N10-43.  I climbed about 1/2 way up before I freaked out and went back down.  The steps were so narrow and steep, and crumbling...  They had a rope for you to hold on to while climbing, but it was too scary for me still.  I read somewhere that the Mayans built the steps to their temples steep like that so that those climbing would have to keep their eyes lowered while they climbed - as a sign or token of humility and respect for the Gods. 

I made it 1/2 way up then want down and settled for a picture of me by the masks on the first tier of the temple. you can kind of see how small and narrow the steps are...

the gorgeous view Tim took from the top.  From the river we hadn't even noticed the temple back there.  Apparently this city was a big "commerce" location, people coming here from up and down river to trade.

I think this is about when I called up to Tim and said I was turning around.  (I'm the one in the purple'ish shirt) The tier below me is where I took the picture of me by the faces, not to be confused with the face at the Mask temple), then you climb down another set of steps (but not so narrow and scary) to the ground - which is at the very top of this picture.

Next we walked though a "Ball court,"  then the foundation remains of the "royal complex," and then to the Jaguar Temple.  

again, not a great picture, since we were looking into the sun, but we are standing among the foundation ruins of the royal complex and if you enlarge the picture and look beyond those trees, you can see the Jaguar temple in the background

Our tour guide pointing out the "face" of the jaguar.  look closely.  Hint:  his hand is in the jaguar's ear.

can you see the jaguar yet?  no STONE LION...  but close???

 Tim climbed to the tops of all 3 temples at this site.  I partially climbed all of all...  (that fear of heights just gets the better of me.)

Right near the end of our tour, we heard a very strange sound.   Our guide figured out pretty quick that I am extremely gullible and he had me convinced that the sound I was hearing was a wild jaguar.  I was a little concerned!  Turns out it was just a troop of howler monkeys.  It was SO amazing to see them in the wild and hear there howling back and forth at each other.

Howler monkey

We took our boat ride back to Orange Walk, then raced back to the ship.  We made it just in time - the next to last tender ship!  (this was not a cruise sponsored excursion, so we had no guarantee that that the ship would wait for us if we didn't make it back - so we were very grateful to get back in time.)

The Crocodile we saw on the boat ride back to Orange Walk

when we got back to our room, we found "towel friend # 2" - a cute little piggy!

That night after dinner, we went to the ships presentation of "HASBRO - the GAME SHOW."  We had watched the show the first night they did it and it was fun to watch and I decided I wanted to try to get up on stage and play.  I did make it on stage, and our team even won our game so we made it to the final round - where you pick a monopoly card thing, and slide it into the ATM looking thing, and whoever ends up with the highest amount of "money" wins a big prize.  (a whole bunch of Hasbro games...  I really did want to win - they would have made awesome Christmas presents!)  I didn't win :(  but it was fun anyway.  And a funny side note... as my consolation prize, I won the card game "Monopoly Deal."  We brought it home and it is the kids FAVORITE game.  They play it at least 2 -3  times a day!!!    Best souvenir they got!

OH MAN!  only 4,000 -  I lose!

cruise - Day 4 - Cozumel

This morning we got to port in Cozumel, Mexico.  We hurried off the ship and taxied over to the ferry, purchased a tour to Tulum (mayan ruins), then took a 45 minuted boat ride over to the mainland.  (Playa del Carmen)    There we met our tour guide and drove the 45 - 50 minutes out to Tulum.

while we were waiting for the ferry, we looked over the edge into the ocean and saw this amazing little squid/octopus dude.  (obviously, i don't know what he really is, but he was cool.)  We watched him scoot around for about 15 minuted minutes before he disappeared.

We aren't big Hard Rock Cafe people, didn't even go inside to tell the truth, but just in case you were wondering where the smallest one is... now you know!

I thought it was fun that that we saw so many nativities on this trip.  I would estimate we saw at least 2 or 3 ( or more) in each port of call.  Just big ones like these, in parks, along the side of the roads, etc...  I loved it and took pictures of several of them.

 TULUM...

we did NOT go up in a plane to get this shot, I borrowed the photo from this site: http://the-wanderling.com/tulum.html.  He had some interesting experiences about his visits to many of the mayan ruins as well, if you are interested...

Tulum is an ancient Mayan city, built overlooking the beautiful ocean below.  Not speaking Spanish, and not really used to listening to native Spanish speakers conduct a tour in English - I had a bit of a challenge understanding much of what was said, but i got enough that it was still interesting, and even if i hadn't understood ANY of it, it was incredible just to be there.  one day I would love to go back, except I want to be on my OWN time table, not the ship's or ferry's - because I would have loved to have more, MUCH more time there, to read all the plaques, climb down the many stairs down to the beach and take pictures from that direction, have time to wander through the more authentic Mayan shops, etc...

here we are, in front of a group of ruins in Tulum

a pretty shot that give you an idea of how the city was positioned over the ocean

look closely... can you see the Mayan dude giving you the evil eye? - no stone lion... (wink wink to all the members of USoSL's ) but still pretty cool!

our tour guide - can't tell you his name cause I never figured it our enough to make it stick in my memory.

the backside of El Castillo

being a huge fan of Captain Moroni (from the Book of Mormon), and all of the fortifications that are described, I  found it so interesting that this city was surrounded by thick walls, with only a few openings to get through.  This was the gate that we used to exit the city.  it was a good 12 - 16 feet thick (my best guess) and at least 10 feet tall.

cruise - day 3 - day at sea

 Monday, Dec 10th, was our  "day at sea."  (so not very exciting)  we spent the day exploring, getting lost on the ship, playing miniature golf & shuffleboard, eating, and I don't really remember what else...  (I'm telling the truth about getting lost - we couldn't figure out how to get to our dining room and were about 10 - 15 minutes late for dinner. Our dining companions (Art & Margaret/Janie) thought they had offended us the first night and we weren't coming back...no such luck, we were just lost.)   As expected, here are a few photos:

sitting in the "hot tub."  Should have been called the "luke-warm tub" instead.  I tried a couple of the hot tubs on the ship, and they were all not even close to HOT...  bummer!

shuffleboard

our first little towel friend

mini-golf

after dinner we went to the Ebony Lounge for some "family friendly" comedy

cruise - day 2 - almost missed the boat!

Sunday, Dec 9th, our plan was to get up, go to church from 9 - 12, return the rental car at 12:30, take a taxi to the port, get on the ship, and enjoy exploring the ship before the "set sail" party.  When will I learn that things never go as "PLANNED?"

We did get up, and we did make it to church.  So far so good.  The ward we attended was bi-lingual (as apparently most wards in the Miami area are) and they provided translation for sacrament meeting.  It was kind of fun actually.  The songs alternated between English and Spanish, and the speakers were also a combination.  I think there were two talks in Spanish and 1 in English, but it really doesn't matter.  Anyway...  it was an adventure and it was fun.

Since we had gotten an email from Carnival that they didn't want people showing up at the port until 1 - 1:30, we decided to get some lunch and stop at a store to pick up a few items we had forgotten to pack.  We realized at some point, that Tim had left a pair of shoes back at the hotel, so we drove the 30 minutes back out to the hotel to pick them up.  They didn't have them (they never did turn up, by the way, in case you are wondering, which is a mystery...) so we then headed back downtown to return the rental car.

On the way back downtown, we stopped to buy a new pair of sandals/slip on type shoes for Tim, and while I was waiting in the car, I took a picture of this mosaic that was across the street.  I thought it was cool.  (obviously not cool enough to get out of the car and walk far enough to get a picture without the tree right in the center of the mosaic, but cool enough to post it in my journal as part of the daily recap...

We got to the Avis location,  the one we picked because it was only 1 1/2 miles from the port, (a quick and easy $10 taxi ride) and surprise!!! SURPRISE!!!! that particular location closes at 1:00 pm on Sundays, and it was now after 2:00!  (I had read this important information at some point in the trip planning process, but didn't deem it important enough to remember since we were going to be returning the car right after church, which ended at noon, so no worries right???

We called Avis and found another location that was open, over in South Beach.  We drove the 30+ minutes that way, found the location and got the car returned.  Now we had to get back to the port, so we flagged down a taxi to get us back over to pretty much where we started.  (which cost us about 3 times more than we originally planned since the distance had increased by 25 minutes drive time - what a hassle)  The driver was aware enough of cruise schedules that he knew we were running late, and he drove like a maniac to get us there.  We got through the check in process in record time, since we were so late there was NO ONE ELSE checking in!!! We went through the various steps of check in, passed through security, and finally got onto the ship.  We were told to hurry and put our bags in our room and get to our "muster stations" for the life jacket / emergency / safety briefing.

What a crazy mess.  We were just glad we didn't miss the ship.  Everyone was supposed to be checked in by 3:30ish so they could turn in their passenger lists to customs/homeland security/whoever else... by 4:00. - one hour before sailing.  We got on the ship at 4:00.  nothing like cutting it close eh?  But at least we didn't have to wait in any lines...  I suppose I will look on the bright side and be thankful for that!

we made it!  here I am, as we are pulling away from the dock.  ("ugly school marm" memories???  anyone???  - trouble with pictures on a ship, there is usually a pretty firm breeze blowing...)

 

Tim on deck, as we sailed out of the Miami Port - (he always looks great in pictures, wind or no wind)

Miami skyline (and the sunset) in the distance as we sail away...

We found an empty double hammock swing, up on the Serenity deck and hung out (or maybe that should be "swung out") for a few minutes before dinner

cruise - day 1

On Friday, Dec 7th, we dropped off the kids at my mom & dad's house, then we were officially off on our grand adventure.  Our plan was to take the red-eye flight to Fort Lauderdale, (sleeping enroute, of course) then we would have a whole day to explore and enjoy the area before our ship sailed out of port on Sunday afternoon.

Problem 1 - I can't sleep on planes  (now I know...)  I was so uncomfortable...  I felt bad for the poor guy sitting next to me. (not Tim - I mean, I felt bad for him too, but he sat by me by choice, the other poor guy just had the bad luck of sitting by the restless leg fidget queen of air travel.)

We arrived in Fort Lauderdale, got our rental car, and headed to the beach area, where we hopped on the water taxi to tour the waterways of "America's Venice."  Not quite exactly what I expected, but still some good moments.  Saw some amazing houses of the "rich and famous," some cool iguanas, and lots of pelicans.

Pelican coming in for a landing as we are waiting for the water taxi

look closely - I am right in the center, sporting my cool shades...

an awesome iguana, just hanging out under a bridge, waiting for the water taxi to cruise by - he is eating a banana peel that the taxi drive threw up there for him.

After the water taxi, we spent a few minutes walking on Fort Lauderdale beach (can't go to FLL and NOT walk on the famous Fort Lauderdale beach, right?)  

dipping my toes in the Atlantic Ocean

Tim, overlooking Fort Lauderdale beach

After drying off our feet, off we went to a fun spot called the Flamingo Gardens.

Flamingo gardens is a  60-acre, non-profit wildlife sanctuary, aviary, and botanical garden.  Problem two became apparent at this point...  I could NOT stay awake.  The 20 minute drive to the gardens had me nodding off something fierce - and I was playing the role of navigator.  When we got there, I could barely hold my eyelids open, so I asked Tim to go check out the wildlife show schedule while I slept in the car for "a few minutes."  He was back within 3 or 4 minutes (I had already fallen into a SOUND sleep) with the news that the next and final show of the day was in 5 minutes and we needed to hurry.  I groggily hurried after him and soon was alert enough to enjoy the animals and gardens.  

This beautiful guy is a barn owl, who had been injured (i forget how) and due to vision problems, couldn't be rehabilitated and released back into the wild.

I was getting light headed (and cranky) from lack of food, so we grabbed some chili at the snack bar.  it was delicious, and REALLY, REALLY SPICY!  we ate overlooking the pond where the flamingos (and other birds) were all hanging out.

The Flamingos would do this crazy "dance," where they would spread their wings, stretch up their heads and make this weird noise.  It was very entertaining to watch them.

Tim feeding the Flamingos

Feeding a white Ibis

Florida panther

 As it turned to dusk, the Christmas lights and displays came on.  They also had a "synchronized light display" show that we sat down to watch for a few minutes.  After sitting for just a few minutes, I turned to say something to Tim...

he had fallen asleep!  I guess I wasn't the only who didn't sleep well on the plane.

some "light peacocks"

A snow storm - Florida style.  BUBBLES - but it actually DID look like snow, just not so much in this picture.

We left Flamingo Gardens and made it to our hotel in Miami, where we both collapsed into bed and were asleep before you could say "Welcome to Florida and the first day of your vacation!!!"
 

a cruise for TWO...

Last year Tim saw an offer for a great deal on a 7 day cruise to the western Caribbean.  He booked it, and for the past 11 months we have been looking forward to a nice vacation, just the two of us.  It is always a challenge to get everything in order when it comes to childcare for the kids, plus making sure they have enough clean school clothes (harder than you might imagine, since because they wear uniforms, i only buy a couple pair of pants in each color and couple shirts in each color...  so not a lot of extra clothes)

Anyway...  laundry challenges aside, we managed to get everything arranged, excursions booked, clothes bought (since I never lost the weight, and all my capris are too tight...)  and off we went...

my next 8 - 9 posts will be my "journal" of each day's adventures...  enjoy... or ignore (doesn't really matter to me, cause I DID enjoy it (very much so) and that is all that matters!)


*  now trying to decide if I should post date everything so it reflects actual dates...  or just post them in real time...  I think I'll post date.  starting with this one :)

The kids favorite FHE

So tonight we gave in and did the kids favorite Family Home Evening activity.  SWIMMING!  They all just love the water.  Bryan jumped off the diving board tonight for the first time. (first time in this pool, he did jump off the board once or twice at the pool in Lava Hot Springs when we were there last summer).  He was loving it!  He even tried (over and over again) to DIVE in off the board.  (Aaron was "teaching him")  Lots of belly flops, but he was having fun and just kept trying.  And he was getting pretty close on a few of those "dives."

It's not MY favorite activity, especially since Caleb is still a dog-paddler, with multiple breathing breaks required, but HE thinks he can swim as well as Aaron and he has NO fear of the water, so I spend my time trying to keep him from drowning, but it gets more and more fun, now that the kids are TALLER, (can touch the bottom in more of the pool) and the older two both swim well enough that I can pretty much just ignore them...  Makes family swim time MUCH more enjoyable for the mom!

Happy Monday!