Another Big Vacation - Part 3

"If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow, 

why oh why can't I?"

— E.Y. Harburg 

The next morning we woke to the twists and turns of the massive ship winding its way past the reef and through a narrow channel cut into the shallow waters of the Belize coast.  The water glistened a light turquoise and the horizon was dotted with submerged islands of Mangrove trees, fishing boats, and other cruise ships making port.

We were happy to see one cruise ship in our anchorage, as planned, the Carnival, Magic.  It carried our friends from Corpus Christi, TX to join us in our Belize Adventure.  We had scheduled cave tubing and zip-lining in the Belize jungle through cavetubing.bz, and were extremely excited to start this adventure.

The shallow waters prevent docking, so all ships have to tender in their passengers.  The large tender boat piled us in as a tropical downpour reminded us why everything is so green in the tropics.

Once in Tourism Village (Couldn't they be a bit more creative with the name?), we scrambled for a few ponchos for the less insulated of our group and found our shuttle bus.  The shuttle was supposed to be reserved for us, but oddly some lost people jumped in, not knowing where they were supposed to be and the owner of the business, not wanting to pass up a sale, sold them their seats. It was no problem since they were a great couple.  In no time our friends Corey, Vanessa, Melissa and Trey had joined us and we were informed of the bad news:  the river was at flood stage and our float was canceled, but zip-lining was still available.  Saddened that our top adventure was canceled, we decided to enjoy ourselves nonetheless; besides, with friends like this, how could we not have fun?

An hour inland, our surroundings went from coastal savannah to lush jungle.  The rain had stopped, but since we all wore mostly our swimsuits, it wasn't a concern.  As we waited under the thatched prep area to be equipped, they calmed our nerves by introducing us to a tarantula... (Link if your browser has trouble, best if viewed on YouTube)

We all were strapped into harnesses, put on musty helmets, and handed soggy gloves from the last group.

  Last to be equipped was little Zoey.  I looked around for the child's harness and found none.  I asked, and they said it's one size fits all, as they pulled the straps tight and tied the excess in knots around her. 

Super excited and bit nervous (especially the littlest among us and me, her mom), we began to climb the hillside, ready to fly through the treetops.

 We all loved the exhilaration of zipping along the sturdy wires as the beautiful tropical jungle whizzed past us.

Zoey did amazing.  She refused to ride with anyone and each ride ended in a tear trickling down her cheek, but with determination to go on.  As she slid along line 5 of 7, she failed to have the weight and momentum to reach the next platform and was sent sliding back towards the center.  My little girl had to be rescued.  A little shaken, she decided to call it a day and wait for us at the bottom.  I was so proud of her.

Lunch was Belezian-spiced chicken, rice and beans in coconut milk, and coleslaw.  It was all delicious. During the ride back we were topped off with rum punch and the driver even made a special stop for us at the liquor store for some hard to find One Barrel Rum (super good and cheap).

Back a Tourism Village we shopped for some souvenirs and settled into the seaside bar for ceviche, drinks, and to leave our mark on Belize.  We were all sad to have missed the cave tubing, but happy to be with each other and have shared the adventure we did. Here's my super cool video documenting the whole experience: (Link if not viewable on your browser; best viewed on YouTube)
 

   

Having planned the first two stops, we left the last one open.  We planned to meet our friends again, and wondered what could Cozumel bring?

(to be continued)

Million Dollar Question

"There are people who have money and people who are rich."

-Coco Chanel

What would you do if you had a million dollars?  We've all been asked, pondered and even discussed the subject. Many times people answer the question while stressing the importance of investing, developing their existing enterprises, or budgeting to make it last, but that's not the purpose of the question.  The question is not about money, but about who you really are and what you want in life.  When the answer  includes family, philanthropy, spirituality and self-discovery, you start to get to the heart of it all.  What do you desire out of life?

Park in San Antonio

I had often answered the question with the logical, responsible part of my brain; stating that my life would not change much, budgeting to make the money last and living relatively simply.  But, I would always throw in....and I would find a way to do some traveling, revealing my desire to travel. It's been said, if you want to do it, find a way, money aside. 

People travel different ways, and most choose the modern, stable family approach. Working a steady job, paying all your bills, saving up vacation time and money for a quick one or two week visit (if that) in an exotic location.  This approach is the safest and most expensive, leaving little time to truly experience a culture, but allowing a glimpse into the world around us.  There is nothing wrong with the tourism approach and I hope we have many opportunities to travel like this in our future.  The only problem with this form of travel is ,"The traveler... went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience.  The tourist is passive, he expects interesting things to happen to him, he goes "sight-seeing." (Daniel J. Boorstin)

Couple of Tourist

Some choose what I call the Vagabond way.  Where you get in your car and go, no financial backing, and no plan.  They live on the road and quite literally fly by the seat of their pants.  They believe “A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.”(Lao Tzu)  This form of travel, although exciting, is a bit reckless often causing you to rely on the generosity of stable individuals or causing you to fall into disreputable crowds.  This way of travel would drive me crazy and is simply impractical for a responsible adult and parent.

Many retired individuals choose to live in different locals, occasionally changing their residency or keeping their home mobile by living in a trailer, mobile home, short term rentals or on a boat. Most of these travelers settle down in time, but take some time to experience “The greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” (Bill Bryson)  Most of these travelers must accumulate a savings or form a stream of income to support their travel experience.

Finally some choose to move from their homeland, to experience a new culture and a new life.  They are able to immerse themselves in the culture and become part of that society, although always aliens in the strange land. Living abroad, “I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything.”(Bill Bryson) This form of travel gives an individual the greatest sense of a culture, but narrows the experience to a single or a few places.


John and I are now deciding how we will choose to travel, get in some travel before we settle down again, go straight to Belize or see a few places first.  We may choose one of these options, or formulate a combination of the aforementioned options.  For now we'll live in limbo, neither here nor there, but waiting, dreaming and planning for what may be. As it turns out, limbo can be pretty fun too. The question is, what would you do with a million dollars?

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)