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)

Caribbean Holiday - Part 1

“There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like 

the beginning of it.”

 – Charles Dudley Warner

So we decided to use up John's vacation time before it expired and....GO ON A CRUISE!!!  Okay, for some of you it may not be too exciting; especially if you live near a port, because as we found out port residents cruise a lot, but for us it was a first and we were super excited. For John and I, it was actually the first exotic vacation since our wedding/honeymoon vacation in Jamaica, twelve years earlier.  We chose a seven day cruise out of Galveston, Texas aboard the Carnival Magic porting in:  Roatan, Honduras; Belize City, Belize; and Cozumel, Mexico.  

Galveston Beach

Thanks to the gracious hospitality of John's family, I dropped Zoey off with Donna and Rob in Tucson, Arizona a few days prior to our trip.  Twenty driving hours later, I was back in Midland and ready to set off for Galveston.  Eager to start our vacation, we drove all day to reach our hotel, only stopping at Buc-ee's.  Now I normally wouldn't take time to mention a gas station on my blog, but this place is a gas station on steroids:  complete with dozens of gas pumps, merchandise galore, clean restrooms larger than most stand alone convenience stores, jerky deli (ask for samples), and unmanned-computer deli sandwich ordering stations. If you don't mind the fact that it's basically the Walmart of gas stations, give it a try and be sure to order the warm turkey sandwich, it's drool-worthy.

View from our room, Pleasure Pier.

Arriving in Galveston, we were charmed by the Greek Revival, Folk Victorian and Seaside homes. I admit that as we rounded the corner to our hotel on the beach, I saw the white froth curl over the breaking waves and squealed a bit in delight. It had been way too long since we've been to the ocean. Our room delightfully overlooked The Gulf of Mexico on which sat  Pleasure Pier, an amusement park tourist attraction.  I was told I shouldn't miss taking the roller-coaster for a ride, but regrettably I didn't get the message until I was settling into bed...sorry Melissa Cross.

Portuguese man o' war on the Galveston beach.

We wandered the beach, me barefoot, enjoying soft sand between my toes, the wet kiss of humidity and the whoosh of the waves.  We snacked at the little Float Pool and Patio Bar, and then the Fish Tales restaurant.  The evening was a beautiful start to a wonderful vacation.

The next morning we wandered the beach where we saw many Portuguese man-o'-war washed ashore, drove to the edge of the island, and ate the mediocre complimentary hotel breakfast (eh, we didn't expect much more).  We had scheduled a hotel shuttle to take us to port and set off around noon.  I giggled a bit as our Shuttle driver explained a few sights along the way in his East Indian/Texan accent. (Think: Raj from Big Bang theory saying ya'll. )

We dropped off our checked luggage entered the first of several lines to x-ray our carry-on bags, check Passports (or ID for individuals who didn't have Passports), take our security photos, and finally enter the ship.  The process was relatively quick and in no time we were aboard ship enjoying the first of many wonderful meals to come.  A few hours later our bags were delivered to our room (9394) on the ninth deck on the aft-port (back-left side) of the ship. 

Our Cute Room.

Carnival Magic is one of the newest ships in their fleet and it had plenty to boast about.  With 14 decks and a generous amount of sundeck space, we barely noticed the 4500 guests and 1000+ crew aboard.  They had bars, restaurants, clubs, theaters, stores, water-slides,  a casino, miniature-golf, a spa, pools, hot tubs (or as we called them, warm tubs), a big-screen TV above a sun-deck pool, beautiful staterooms, buffets, buffets, and buffets to name a few things.

As we set sail we ogled the dolphins along side the boat and the many other ships at port.  I declared early on that it would be ridiculous to get sea sick since I could barely feel the boat moving...I ate my words a few hours later as I swayed with the boat as it cut through the gulf waters and my stomach decided to give me an ache.  Good news is, I got my sea legs within a few hours, and in the meantime John got a good laugh.

View of deck 5 from our room.

The next morning we found the boat had nearly returned to Galveston in the middle of the night to meet a helicopter to transport a man who had experienced a heart attack.  Later the next night his wife, which I incidentally sat next to, informed me that she couldn't join him on the helicopter transport as is the policy, but he was recovering well and he had called to tell her to get their money's worth.   Despite the delay the boat was on track in no time.

The first leg of our journey, John spoiled me with a facial and a massage at the Cloud 9 Spa, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of.  We spent the next two sea days watching the cobalt-blue Caribbean waters sweep by, waving to passing ships,  and exploring the ship's many entertainment and food offerings. 

Our first port of call was Roatan, Honduras....(to be continued).

Who's That Following Us?

"Sister to sister we will always be,
A couple of nuts off the family tree."

-unknown

 My sisters and father had at times expressed the desire to move to Texas-Corpus Cristi area to be specific.  Oddly, through my sudden change in circumstance, I am the one who ended up moving here; even though I had never considered it.  I had no intention of bringing anybody along or influencing others to join me, after all the housing situation in Midland is inadequate, although the jobs are plentiful.  As it turns out, somebody was going to surprise me.

Karlie had found herself in a difficult situation in Idaho.  She was working overtime to make ends meet and along the way she was loosing her health and sanity.  She decided, as the circumstances presented themselves, she was going to join me in Texas for a fresh start.  

During John's visit to Idaho in August, we were able to help her find cute fifth-wheel of her own for an amazing price.  Her fifth-wheel has a single living room slide-out and a spacious front end kitchen.  Storage is abundant so she filled it with her things and has room to spare.  The wallpaper is peeling to reveal a nice wood finish underneath and the windows could use some coverings (Can you say projects!!).  She secured a place in the same trailer park as us, with our influence on the managers, and her home preceded her to Texas as John towed it down.  Sounds a little familiar doesn't it? (see post Small Space Living)

I truly enjoyed having my sister join me on this road trip, although keeping her on my tail made negotiating big city traffic a bit challenging.  We drove our final day through Arizona, New Mexico, and into Texas through a flash flood.  I continued to reassure her I moved her to a desert, but she was skeptical.  

Anxious to start making a paycheck she set out immediately to find a job.  With determination and no direction sense (a curse of my siblings, not myself), she managed to only get out 3 resumes the first day.  She was called for 4 interviews that afternoon and the next evening she was offered four jobs.  She accepted a position with Reliant Holdings Ltd. for $3 more an hour than she was asking and full benefits....welcome to Midland.

Karlie replacing breakers.

As she moved into her trailer, which John had parked for her in a spot about 3 blocks away from us, everything worked fine... to start with.  Not familiar with the constraints of RV living, she quickly blacked out her trailer by using a heater and hair dryer on the same breaker.  The breaker would not flip back so her house was in the dark for a few days.  She and I tried replacing the breakers and rigged a battery of mine to give her some temporary DC power, but in the end we girls failed and John was able to fix what we could not once he got off work...three days later.  Well, we tried!

Karlie easily made friends, as she often does, and was soon joining her new friends for house warming parties, dinner parties, football games, ice-skating, soccer nights and the like.  

What a  beautiful bunch of girls!!

Rooting for the Longhorns...and they won!!

She even managed a camping trip over the Thanksgiving weekend to Inks Lake to visit our friends from Corpus Cristi.  (I'll have to make her do a guest blog on that one.)

John and I are happy to have her here where we can help her get going, point her in the right direction, literally and figuratively, and enjoy her company.  Karlie has found, as I do, that Midland is not the prettiest place,  but with a positive outlook and surrounding yourself with awesome people, any place can be great.  She's really making her own way successful out here.

 

The Moving Vacation

 “Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.”

 – Seneca

Another cross-country trip from Idaho to Texas, but this one had something different....my little sister Karlie was joining us.  Zoey was more than ready to go this time, having made the trip already twice.  This trip, though, we were going to take a little more time at a our usual overnight stops.  ***Warning you are about to be bombarded with pictures.  I tried to scale down, but it was just so hard, these are the best of the best.***

We had cleared out the house of any last boxes and belongings and scrubbed every corner, and finally the morning of,  we loaded up our beds and swept our way out the door.  I filled my car to the brim with my belongings and even commandeered the majority of Karlie's cab.  This proved a little hazardous as the bedding I worked so hard to shrink into a "Space Saver Bag", lost it's seal and invaded what little space she had.

We set out early in the morning and quickly put scenic Idaho behind us. We arrived in Las Vegas in the early afternoon and took some time to enjoy our hotel.  Later we walked the strip then took the tram from the Monte Carlo to the Bellagio where we saw the chocolate shop fountains...

...conservatory and botanical garden...

  ...and the beautiful dancing fountains.

 We finished the night with an amazing dinner in the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood. 

The next day we visited the Mandalay Bay Aquarium, which is a common stop for Zoey and I.  It was feeding time for the sharks, so we enjoyed watching that, but unfortunately they have to put the sea turtles in a separate holding tank at that time, which was a bit disappointing since they are my favorite.  

The Jelly Fish are her favorite.

We strolled Las Vegas Blvd. ducking into casinos and shops.  We saw the pyramid at Luxor, the Eiffel tower at the Paris Casino, the grand statues at Caesars Palace..

 the flamingos at...well you know where...

 ...the Ships at Pirates of the Caribbean...

  the canals at the Venetian and so much more.

  A surprising highlight was the Coca-Cola, World of Soda Tour which allowed us to try 16 different sodas from around the world.  One platter was enough for all of us to taste and quench our thirst with an overload of carbonation and sugar, and the experience was a blast.

We closed our evening with a show at the V-The Ultimate Variety Show.  The many acts varied from comedy, juggling, magic, drums, tap dancing, aerial acrobats, and vocal music (they did the instruments and singing vocally).  Even Zoey kept up with the high paced energy and interjected her own accolades to the performance.

The next morning we set out for Tucson, Arizona.  Along the way we stopped for: some photo-ops at the Hoover Damn...

On the dam, the new bridge behind us.

...and Joshua Tree Forrest...

 ...and lunch and a tour of IKEA in Phoenix.

The next couple days we enjoyed the beautiful Tucson weather and sights.  We strolled down town Tucson and took some candid shots, 

  ...found the missing statue from Easter Island,,,

This one tickled me.

...visited the beautiful Saguaro National Forest...

  ...visited the Reid Park Zoo...

They have some weird animals there!

...and enjoyed time with my wonderful mother-in-law.

Our final leg of the journey took us through a rainstorm that spanned from Arizona to New Mexico and turned into a flash flood in Texas.  The flood didn't affect highway driving so we made it safely to Midland, Texas in the evening.

This road trip was one of my favorites.  I got to make a lot of fun memories with my little sister and daughter.  For Karlie it was a milestone as her longest road trip ever and moving week for her (we take a whole week to move).  Now it was time for us to settle into our new lives.

Swimingly in Texas

 "Thaaank Yoouuuu Siiiiiiiirrrr!"  -Marlin

"Wow, I wish I could speak whale." -Dory

-Finding Nemo

photo from http://www.animalport.com

As long as we're going to live in Texas, we should take advantage of a few things we could never do in Idaho, so as soon as we arrived home, John scheduled a family trip for us to San Antonio to visit Sea World.  We had promised Zoey we would take her there since before we left for Texas. She bounced and squealed in excitement when we told her, as we packed the car, as we drove there, and as we walked through the gates.  That alone made the trip worth it.

John decided to include our other "daughter", my sister Karlie, in the family trip, so early Saturday morning we set out for San Antonio.  Finding our way to Sea World was no problem, thanks to GPS and we arrived early enough to make it a full day of fun.  We started by passing the kiddie rides and I went on the obligatory Shamu kiddie-coaster, definitely much smoother than the one I rode at the Twin Falls County Fair.  Then we zipped over to the dolphin and Beluga show.  The show had some beautiful animals and talented performers doing all sorts of acrobatic water stunts.  Although great, there was much more people than animal time, which was a bit of a disappointment. 

This was the second time down!!

Soon we found the Journey to Atlantis ride.  Seeing the tall splash-ride plunge into the water, I wasn't sure if our little girl, although just meeting the height requirements, would be up for it.  Without hesitation she joined us on the ride and rode the entire thing with her hands in the air, much to the astonishment of the trembling teenagers behind her.  After plummeting into the pool of water she was ready to be on the receiving end of the splash from the viewing deck.  Mom ran but Zoey took the whole brunt of the wall of water with joy.   She was even willing to ride a second time at the end of the day (pictured to the left), although she was getting tired.

After a brief lunch, we made our way to the main attraction, the killer whale show.  The animals are as beautiful and majestic as ever (I want one).

Unfortunately for us we made it into the arena late, leaving only the splash zone to sit in.  As it turns out,  they instruct the whales to barrage the audience with their tails; and big fish make big splashes.  The assault of water was less than pleasant.  It seems that splashing the audience is a feature of the shows, and we found out (with research afterwards), that the trainers are under court order not to enter the tanks with the whales due to a death at another Sea World.  Although a great show, a little something is lost when you don't get to see that interaction.

After a few more exhibits and roller coasters, we made our way to the water park.  One of our favorite rides included the four-person raft ride that ended with an underwater view of the Stingray aquarium.Since it was already October, the weather was not ideal, but we made the best of it until the water park closed -too early for our liking. Good thing we have year passes (they are a deal) so we will get to explore that area further at a warmer time.



Zoey was tired and chilled, so we made our way to the hotel we had reserved on the Riverwalk.  After a quick change into dry clothes, we wandered the Riverwalk looking for dinner.  Unfortunately for us, on the weekends the wait for restaurants is extensive and we were very hungry.  So rather than wait for an hour and a half for a place we loved, we settled and found a quick bite as Zoey took a nap on the table.  Karlie and I got our Dos Equis-agaritas, so we were okay despite the fact the food was a bit lacking.

The next day was a chilly Sunday and we wanted to do one excursion before heading home.  We drove by the Alamo, which was closed at the time, and found our way to the Tower of the Americas.  After rounding the tower a few times to get full views of San Antonio, we left for breakfast and then back home again.  The trip was short and sweet, but not to worry; San Antonio and Sea World, we will see you again.