Little One's Vacation is Big Fun!

"Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust 

over the lives of little children." 

-Alex Haley

(Archive photo from last spring)

Mom and Dad weren't the only ones who had a great vacation, so did another little member of our family.  When I told Zoey we would be going on a big boat, John and I were considering taking her also.  I introduced the idea to her and she said, "No thanks, I'd rather go see Grandma Donna."  Since John's mom had, at some time in the distant past, offered to watch Zoey while we visited Belize, Zoey had her heart on staying with her while we went abroad.  With her heart on going to grandma's, we worked out the details- happy it would leave us to have our vacation as just a couple. 

Although Donna wanted to try and visit us in Midland to see our little home and pick up Zoey, John's work schedule didn't permit him any time to spend with her.  Instead I decided to drive Zoey down a few days prior  to our departure.  The drive is no small journey, ten hours, with brief stops for lunch in Las Cruces and a quick photo op at Texas Canyon, AZ.  Zoey was an angel as always and took the trip in stride, only saying the famous "Are we there yet?" for the last hour.

Grandma G modeling putty bracelets

I stayed a day to stretch my legs and visit with Donna, Zoey's great-grandmother (Grandma G), and Zoey's Aunt Joan, then I left my little girl in the capable hands of her grandma.  Knowing this was the longest I would  have left her with anybody else, I prepared a bag of "artsy" goodies  and gifts for her to open each day so she be counting down to mom, but up to the next present.  As I left we were worried she would be upset, but she showed little concern over my departure.

Little did any of us know, there was to be more on Zoey's agenda than planned.  Shortly after I left, Grandma G injured her collar-bone as she fell while picking oranges, so Zoey had her first hospital experience (she wasn't even born in one).  The next days she got to spend some time getting closer to her Grandma G at her house, picking oranges and grapefruit, juicing, and even making silly-putty bracelets for the both of them.

Feeding the birds with grandpa.

Next, she got to take a road trip to Diamond Mountain to pick up Grandpa Rob after another stint of volunteer work up there.  She spent some time making an art project of her rendition of a map of the world.  The only existing places are: Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas (all states we have been in), South America, South Africa (Aunt Joan brought her a trinket elephant from there), Belize, and Hawaii.  Art project done and Grandpa retrieved, they made their way back for another adventure in Tucson.

Grandma had scheduled for a special someone to come for a sleepover, Zoey's cousin Hayden.  Although there are a few years between them, they play like siblings.  Zoey looks to Hayden for direction and Hayden lovingly caters to her wants and needs.  Grandma had as, Zoey says, "the coolest day ever" planned for the girls.  She took them to the Children's Museum of Tucson to play, explore and learn.  They drove an ambulance, fire engine and a motorcycle.

They shopped in a market where the fruit was picked off of trees, veggies pulled from the garden, and they could take turns as cashier.

 They cared for the welfare of stuffed animals.

Who knew they had bones?

They stuck their head in eyeballs, climbed in mouths, and pulled on boogers (I guess that's gross and fun).

ewwww

Zoey's favorite part was where " you stick a thing in one end, then it goes whoosh through the tube and out the top- then you catch it"...I guess you had to be there...though this picture helps explain.

(Insert squealing sound effects here.)

Per Grandma, they did everything at least twice...whew, thanks Grandma!

The next few days were full of scooter and bicycle rides, art projects, feeding the birds, helping with dinner, and playing with Grandpa Rob. I'm sure they wore her out and vice versa.  The last day John, Karlie and I met her at Brent and Le Aynne's (John's brother and his wife) and Hayden's house for dinner.  We had a super delicious dinner and after we shared a few treasures we had brought back from our trip, Zoey was showered with gifts from her cousin and Aunt Joan.

That's one happy fairy princess.

Another long drive back while Zoey gushed over the Children's Museum and sang us Grandma's favorite song, Three Little Birds.  Funny thing about my little girl is she doesn't recount the details of things unless I pry and sometimes I don't hear about it until much later when she's thinking back, but these are the highlights as they were relayed to me, who knows what adventures I don't know about.  What I do know is, I'm so glad Zoey got to spend such quality time with her grandparents and her cousin, and I'm also sure she wore them all out completely...she's good at that. Thank you, again.

Caribbean Holiday - Part 4 - Cozumel, Mexico

"My driving abilities from Mexico helped me get through Hollywood."

-Salma Hayek

The wind worked the sea into large rolling waves which raised and lowered the boat at unpredictable intervals.  As the ship rolled into the port of Cozumel, Mexico, the captain, Giovanni, announced in his thick Italian accent that all water based tours were canceled.  Oddly I was delighted we hadn't scheduled a snorkeling tour here so we wouldn't have to deal with the disappointment that was apparent on so many people's faces.  For this day, we had chosen to wing it, and wing it we did.

With eight ships in port, averaging 4000 passengers each and all water based tours canceled, we eagerly raced ashore to find a vehicle to rent.  The scooters looking unpleasant on such a windy day and the dune-buggies  already gone, we found ourselves in a third-world jeep.  Driving down the road we noticed that the rear view mirror was missing, the glove-box fell to the floor when I opened it only to find an empty beer bottle, none of the climate control knobs were still around and the heat was stuck in the on position(good thing it was soft-top), the speedometer didn't work,  fifth gear was non-existent, reverse only worked when holding the stick into gear, and it rattled loudly as we drove.  All-in-all it was a great exciting vehicle.

Cozumel is a tourist town so you would think all things would cater to tourism, but they still forgot to put up roadsigns, mark one way streets (which most of them are), or make it easy to pay for curbside parking.  Fortunately for us, Google Maps works in Mexico and the locals look out for you by honking repeatedly when you try to turn the wrong way on a one-way street.  We also found side streets and market place garages had free parking.

Logistics worked out, we spent the day exploring the island.  We admired beautiful scenery, scoped out the working class neighborhoods, walked through a large department store, and dickered with the many shop owners trying to make their day's wage.  

The department store was reminiscent of a Wal-mart and had most prices comparable to the US but with different offerings than we are accustomed to, like basin-style washing machines and mini propane cook-tops.  I was tempted by the many varieties at the deli-style ceviche bar, but decided that it may be "too local" for my American stomach.  Too bad.

The street vendors often had items "gringo-taxed"(overpriced to sell to tourist), but tried to call you over using the same tag lines: "Cheaper than Wal-mart", and "So cheap it's almost free!" Most wanted to give us shots of tequila, I'm sure to loosen our wallets, but it was a tactic I didn't mind.  We were even offered a few Mayan calanders yet it was Dec. 21st and we felt it would be a poor purchase since it was no longer good after that day (dumb joke).  They offered, we dickered, and by the end of the day we had a small stash of treasures in the back of our jeep.

Highlights were: The Puerto de Abrigo Marina where boats cruised in and out with a cool castle/fort  in the background; 

 ...driving the rugged coast, a little lost, a lot enthralled; getting to wander the streets sipping my $1.50 Sol beer (cheap and open containers are okay); and getting our pics with two lovable Macaws. 

 Cozumel is a fun place, but super touristy.   Perhaps we'll be able to visit again and explore some of those water sports or a beach during calmer weather.  Our ship was the first of many to leave port that day and as the sun set we saw the lights of yet another tourist town, Cancun, in the distance lit up to attract yet more tourism dollars.   

Back aboard and heading home.

The last day at sea was marked by choppy waters, so I  downed a few pills to keep my sea legs and we left the beautiful Caribbean in our wake.  Sad to see our adventure end, but invigorated by it all, John and I ended our vacation with a drive back to Midland, then onto Tucson to pick up our little girl.  Thank you Carnival Magic and all those who helped us make our vacation a carefree dream.

Caribbean Holiday - Part 3 - Belize City, Belize

 You betta Belize it!

-All  the corny people who have been to Belize (include me)

The morning of the 20th was particularly exciting.  One of the major reasons we chose this cruise was because it ported in Belize, currently our top choice for a future tropical home.  John and I have researched  Belize extensively, but had yet to set foot on it's shores, so it was about time we did.

Baron Bliss Lighthouse 1885

We chose an excursion  through the cruise line which included a tour of Belize City, off-roading through the jungle, a hike through a small cave, and a boat ride down the river.  Unfortunately the first day of our cruise we were informed that the excursion was canceled, so we quickly re-booked a kayaking tour at Bacab Eco Park.

The morning of, we watched the ship's location channel as Carnival Magic snaked it's way through the shallow coastal water ways and around Belize's barrier islands.  Without a deep-water port, the cruise ship has to have passengers tendered ashore.  We followed the cruise ship's schedule and waited for our tour group to go ashore. We waited anxiously hours after the first tenders began transporting for our number to be called and many others bypassed us (as they called out numbers they called this cruise ship bingo).  Once ashore we waited on the dock in the sun and heat for other passengers bound for Bacab to join us.

Crossing the Belize River...guarders really that close.

The day half over, we were herded along to board the large charter bus.  While boarding a man offered us bags of Cashews.  How much you ask?  Too much, but since we are tourist in a hurry, we paid it and loved every little morsel of creamy nuttiness as we drove across the city toward our destination listening to the guide spew national and local facts all-the-while giving the group a Belize Creole lesson (which is different than the French Creole we are familiar with in the states).

The large bus lumbered through the narrow streets and at one point plowed it's own way over a pile of gravel as it navigated  around a construction zone, aka five guys hand laying a cement square of road.  As we crossed the BelCan bridge, a gift from Canada to Belize, it became apparent why the windows don't open on the bus...an open window wouldn't fit on that bridge, yikes.  Finally the large city-style bus bumped awkwardly down the dirt road leading to Bacab.

Bacab Eco Park is an oasis of natural beauty at the edge of the city.   We walked along a palmetto pathway which lay through the palmetto forest with fronds spanning over us blocking out the sun.  We were led to a large palapa restaurant bordering a Lilly-pad pond where we set in our canoes.  

We were guided down a narrow meandering stream once used by the indigenous Mayans for transportation, food, and laundry. We could see the evidence of their activities in the eroded stone shelves carved by eons of hands arduously scrubbing the dirt from loved one's garments.  The stream opened up into a sunny brackish lagoon frequented by alligators, snakes, tapirs and the like.  One group was fortunate enough to spot a young gator sunning himself, but we missed out.

The word was given we would head back and the race was on.  John and I fought hard but came in second place...I think they got a head start. We might have been in third if John wasn't a fast thinker and ran our competitors into a bank so we could make a fast escape.  Hehe.

Pond where we set-in... Palapa restaurant behind.

Back at the Palapa, we filled our tummies with a traditional Belizean meal of roasted chicken spiced with Recado Rojo, Roasted Plantains, Rice and Beans stewed in coconut milk, Potato Salad made with salad cream (it's an English thing I'm told), and of course Marie Sharp's Habanero Sauce for the brave.  John and I washed it down with Belekin beer and a One Barrel Rum and Coke.  Delicious!!

Lunch was followed by a brief walk through the jungle to admire the large flowers...

This grouping is about an arm's length.

...cool plants....

I love how these were climbing the trees.

... lizards....

Don't eat these ones, only the green ones!!

...birds and many fluttering butterflies (of which I'm not quick enough with a camera to catch), then a cool dip in the large pool.  A short water slide was quickly an attraction for all ages as it shot riders into the pool at surprising speeds, John and I rode it twice.   After a few hours of sun and water, we made our way back to the bus for another drive along the river, through the city, and back to port.

At the port, Tourism Village (that is really the name, creative isn't it), we had a mere 30 minutes until boarding our boat.   We rushed to find a few keepsake treasures loosing eachother in the process and feeling a bit frustrated, but then we noticed the line for the tender boats was quite long.  We slowed our pace, shopped a little more, and entered the tender line once it shortened to nearly gone, taking the last tender across the beautiful light cyan waters as the sun set on another beautiful day in the Caribbean.

The trip to Belize was exciting and memorable.  There were no surprises-as far as what we expected from the country of Belize-but as first time cruisers, we found some things we would have done differently: 1) Take the first "self-tour" tender ashore to make the most of our day.  2) As we did in Roatán, book an outing separately from the cruise line or possibly accept one of the offerings on the dock to avoid the large crowds.  3) Make sure we left enough time to find some of that One Barrel Rum....mmmm.

Aboard ship we gazed at the setting sun and bid goodbye to beautiful Belize.  The ship slipped along the Central American coast, north toward Cozumel, Mexico.

(to be continued) 

 

Caribbean Holiday - Part 2 - Roatán, Honduras

 "People don't take trips . . . trips take people."
- John Steinbeck

Docking in Roatan, another ship coming into port with the mountain of Honduras behind it.

Each morning aboard, I rose with the sun and peered from our balcony at the sights of the beautiful Caribbean Sea. Our third day at sea brought into view the mainland  "mountain of Honduras", as our driver called it.  Our ship had slipped between  mainland  Honduras and the Isla de Roatán then into Mahogany Bay.

Mahogany Bay is a tourism village owned and operated by Carnival.  It's densely packed with duty free shops, international vendors peddling their goods (most surely made abroad but marketed as Honduran) and a few local artisans who I'm sure paid dearly for their tiny booths to sell their handmade goods to the thousands of eager spenders coming ashore.  The pristine buildings, walkways and gardening, although nice, is a far cry from the true Island experience.

We had chosen to book our excursion outside of the cruise ships offerings and found a highly recommended snorkeling tour at Upachaya. We exited the tourist village and along with a few others climbed a small hill to where the outside vendors must wait for their fares.  We found our driver, Marco, immediately and he ushered us into his passenger van.  He informed us that we were the only passengers from this port and we would need to go to the Royal Caribbean port for the others.

We careened through the hills on narrow roads, sometimes three vehicles wide nearly rubbing as they passed.   It was quickly apparent that roadsigns, stop-signs, and most general rules of the road are optional in Central America.  The drive was marked by dense foliage, small residences, businesses and foot traffic of all ages.

Flowers colored the landscape, fruit and nuts were in various stages of growth, and a few howler monkeys lounged in the branches of the big trees as we sped by, too fast for pictures but I've included a little video showing some of the drive. We arrived in Coxen Hole before the other boat had begun to disembark, so Marco  took us to his little house on Main Street to wait.  We wandered the tiny lane with homes, shops, and restaurants flanking the ocean and admired a vendor as he sold his produce for the morning until the others arrived on foot with Marco's wife.  Grand total for the tour was....drum roll please....five of us.

Fresh produce for sale, roadside.

Our driver then pointed us to the North side of the island where we exited the paved roads.  The road briefly passed the "gold mine", the local dumb where people could be seen picking through the garbage for recyclables to sell back.   As the other passenger vans sped by us, Marco explained that his van is his own so he must care for it.  "Those are owned by resorts.  They replace their shocks once every 8 months, I replace mine once every 8 years."  This  made sense to us, and our ride was much smoother than theirs, I'm sure.

We arrived at Upachaya and were greeted by Barbara, the proprietor.  She showed us down the beautifully built wooden walkways while explaining the various edible and medicinal plants on her property.  We were fitted with fins (John and I already had masks and snorkels), and walked through the mangroves to the tiny dock.  Barbara pointed out where several iguanas and a boa frequented, but since it was only in the low 80's, it was too cold for them to show themselves.

 Our boat sped through the mangroves and past luxurious island homes.  Near the reef, coral emerged from the water due to low tide and the sea turned from cobalt blue to pale turquoise.  We slipped off the boat into a turtle grass patch under only about four and a half feet of water.  Our guide, Al, took time to make sure everyone was comfortable, then our adventure began.  Al led us across the waves into the magical wonderland that is the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef.  The murky sea limited some of our experience, but didn't ruin it a bit.  Although the pictures don't do justice here are a few.  Al showed us an arrow crab, green eels, a snake eel...

  ...an octopus, lobsters....

(one lobster....two lobster)

 ...lion fish, french angel fish, scorpion fish...

(he's the one that looks like a rock)

...urchins, sea cucumbers, and starfish to name a few.

(you try taking a underwater glamor shot)

When our swimming abilities limited us, he hold grab our hand and drag us down to see the wonders  he had found.  Everyone had the privilege to see the most the sea had to offer.

Back ashore we cleaned off with a refreshing freshwater shower and made it to the large palapa in the center of the property.  The whole group decided that we would have Monkey La La drinks, because with a name like that, what else would you have on vacation.  We were then treated to a mostly home-grown lunch of fresh, super-delicious papaya, coconut, coleslaw (not your garden variety), pasta salad, and chips with guacamole and salsa. 

We all interrogated Barbara, an expatriate from the United States, regarding her experiences relocating and setting herself up in a foreign country.  She told of her experiences creating her oasis property, dealing with local government and the officials, building processes, working with caretakers and employees and the like.  She proved to be an extremely valuable and encouraging resource for John and I, since we plan on doing something similar to her.

I do prefer most of my food to be dead.

We were picked up by Marcos and after two attempts (apparently it needed a running start) the little van careened up the driveway and back across the island.  Back at port, John and I dropped off our supplies on the ship and proceeded to the Mahogany Bay shops to find a few treasures.  Satisfied with a few finds, we wandered on to the beach to enjoy a little rest before boarding the ship and setting sail for Belize City, Belize.

(to be continued)