Belize!
Holy crap it was hard to get up early today! We were up at 6am so we could get to the Alhambra Theatre to meet our group before we left the ship for our excursion.
At 7am, Brandi and I were in the theatre rearing to go...well, sorta. Wait until you see the footage of Brandi that morning. HA! She did NOT want the camera in her face. It made for some priceless video.
They eventually called our group and we got on the tenders (little boats that take us to land because there was no dock) to the buses that would take us to little boat in a river that would take us to the ruins. I am not joking. We got on an air conditioned bus for a little over an hour. The tour guide, Rudybird, yup...that’s what he had us call him, told us about Belize and that their primary language was English! Cool huh? He mentioned poverty and savannas and rodents and schools and churches. Those are the bullet points.
Eventually we arrived at the boats on the river. YAY! We took a 1.5 hour trip down the river to our destination. It took that long because of Rudy spotting birds. “There’s a something bird!” and “Look over there! A something bird!” and “There! under the tree? You see it? It’s a rare Belizian Invisibird! They’re very small...” We saw, well sorta saw, a bunch of different types of birds along the way. He had a super duper digital camera and could zoom in A LOT. My camera...not so much. Enjoy my pictures of trees, yet I assure you, there are birds there. I promise.
When we got to the ruins, we had an AWESOME Belizian meal. It was chicken and rice and some other rice and some homemade tortilla strips and some sort of dessert I didn’t like. We then trekked up to the ruins. INCREDIBLE! Brandi climbed all the way to the top of the tallest one. I stopped 1 ledge short of the top so that I could take a picture of her. *cough *cough...
Oh...I totally pulled something in my leg climbing that damn pyramid and it has been killing me ever since. Darn you Mayans! Build your stairs to code!
There was much sun this day. I am a bit red.
Anyway, we walked back to the boats, the river boats, that is, and saw spider monkeys! Get this though. Rubybird said, “Come on everyone! We need to get back to the boats!” Seriously? We can’t stop and take pictures of monkeys but we have to stop along the way and try to find tiny, make believe birds in the trees? Holy Moly!
The boat ride back to the buses took just a little over 1/2 the time it took to get to ruins! The boat driver had it floored the whole way back. It was cool.
We got back in the buses...back in the air conditioned buses...ahhhh...and went back to the tenders to get back to the boat. It was now 3:45.
We got back to the room, and got ready for the rest of evening...and TRIVIA!
At 5:15 I played some disco trivia...I got 2nd again. YAY! I got another pen and my first keychain! Wooooo!
At 7pm...more auction stuff. No new art today. Whew!
8:30...dinner. Yum! I had some sort of pasta thing. Rigatoni I think. It was quite satisfying. Brandi had chicken. Bawk bawk!
After dinner we went down the the promenade and they were having a watch sale. Brandi got a couple of new watches...both Fossils. 1 for everyday wear and 1 for fancy times wear. They’re nice.
At 10:30 there was a “British Invasion” street party in the promenade. It was pretty crowded and no one seemed that into it. We all just stood on the promenade and watched the show. I think they wanted us all to dance because all of the music was mixed together in a way that would promote dancing. I did do the Time Warp though. That brought back memories...
It was now about 11:15ish and we were kinda tired from the long day watching for birds that weren’t there and climbing Belizian national treasures. Not to mention the night before we got less than 6 hours of sleep.
We went back to the room, watched some TV and fell asleep.
Tonight’s Towel Animal: Mr. Rabbit (we think)
-J&B
Brandi’s note: The birds DID exist... They were just small and difficult to see. It seems that all of the birds in Belize are required to take camoflage class as chicks.
Holy crap it was hard to get up early today! We were up at 6am so we could get to the Alhambra Theatre to meet our group before we left the ship for our excursion.
At 7am, Brandi and I were in the theatre rearing to go...well, sorta. Wait until you see the footage of Brandi that morning. HA! She did NOT want the camera in her face. It made for some priceless video.
They eventually called our group and we got on the tenders (little boats that take us to land because there was no dock) to the buses that would take us to little boat in a river that would take us to the ruins. I am not joking. We got on an air conditioned bus for a little over an hour. The tour guide, Rudybird, yup...that’s what he had us call him, told us about Belize and that their primary language was English! Cool huh? He mentioned poverty and savannas and rodents and schools and churches. Those are the bullet points.
Eventually we arrived at the boats on the river. YAY! We took a 1.5 hour trip down the river to our destination. It took that long because of Rudy spotting birds. “There’s a something bird!” and “Look over there! A something bird!” and “There! under the tree? You see it? It’s a rare Belizian Invisibird! They’re very small...” We saw, well sorta saw, a bunch of different types of birds along the way. He had a super duper digital camera and could zoom in A LOT. My camera...not so much. Enjoy my pictures of trees, yet I assure you, there are birds there. I promise.
When we got to the ruins, we had an AWESOME Belizian meal. It was chicken and rice and some other rice and some homemade tortilla strips and some sort of dessert I didn’t like. We then trekked up to the ruins. INCREDIBLE! Brandi climbed all the way to the top of the tallest one. I stopped 1 ledge short of the top so that I could take a picture of her. *cough *cough...
Oh...I totally pulled something in my leg climbing that damn pyramid and it has been killing me ever since. Darn you Mayans! Build your stairs to code!
There was much sun this day. I am a bit red.
Anyway, we walked back to the boats, the river boats, that is, and saw spider monkeys! Get this though. Rubybird said, “Come on everyone! We need to get back to the boats!” Seriously? We can’t stop and take pictures of monkeys but we have to stop along the way and try to find tiny, make believe birds in the trees? Holy Moly!
The boat ride back to the buses took just a little over 1/2 the time it took to get to ruins! The boat driver had it floored the whole way back. It was cool.
We got back in the buses...back in the air conditioned buses...ahhhh...and went back to the tenders to get back to the boat. It was now 3:45.
We got back to the room, and got ready for the rest of evening...and TRIVIA!
At 5:15 I played some disco trivia...I got 2nd again. YAY! I got another pen and my first keychain! Wooooo!
At 7pm...more auction stuff. No new art today. Whew!
8:30...dinner. Yum! I had some sort of pasta thing. Rigatoni I think. It was quite satisfying. Brandi had chicken. Bawk bawk!
After dinner we went down the the promenade and they were having a watch sale. Brandi got a couple of new watches...both Fossils. 1 for everyday wear and 1 for fancy times wear. They’re nice.
At 10:30 there was a “British Invasion” street party in the promenade. It was pretty crowded and no one seemed that into it. We all just stood on the promenade and watched the show. I think they wanted us all to dance because all of the music was mixed together in a way that would promote dancing. I did do the Time Warp though. That brought back memories...
It was now about 11:15ish and we were kinda tired from the long day watching for birds that weren’t there and climbing Belizian national treasures. Not to mention the night before we got less than 6 hours of sleep.
We went back to the room, watched some TV and fell asleep.
Tonight’s Towel Animal: Mr. Rabbit (we think)
-J&B
Brandi’s note: The birds DID exist... They were just small and difficult to see. It seems that all of the birds in Belize are required to take camoflage class as chicks.