Belize- Part 1

BUCKET LIST: Taking a speed boat 20 minutes to Belize, taking a guided tour through Belize City, visiting AND climbing the ancient Mayan Ruins of Altun Ha- CHECK!

After teaching about Belize and the Mayans when I taught 6th grade Social Studies, I was VERY interested in seeing it all in person!  I was also VERY interested in the Mayan structures because of what we know from the Book of Mormon.

Belize boasts the largest coral reef in the Western Hemisphere, 2nd largest in the world.  It is protected so ships cannot go in too far. So, we have to “tender” out where they take us in groups on a speed boat to shore.

(Seeing Belize from the speed boat)

Belize is very different from Cozumel.  It has more of a Jamaican feel.  It is a VERY poor city that has been devastated by 3 horrible hurricanes in the past century. 

We took a bus ride through Belize City (which reminded me so much of Tijuana!)  Our guide grew up 2 miles from the Mayan Ruins.  He is Creole.  He was very funny and REALLY knew so many things about Belize and the Mayan Ruins.  I learned a TON from him.  I wish I could write it all here.  It would have been invaluable when I was teaching.  The history of the country is fascintaing and they are working so hard to help their country develop and prosper.

Richard, our guide, told us that these ruins were only discovered in the 1960s and began to be excavated.  There are over 500 “mounds” (buried temples, homes, etc) in this area and only 70 have ever been uncovered.  They are waiting for expert archaeology students to come in and help with the excavation.  Here is a picture when you 1st walk in- see all the mounds? I told Bob I want to be an archaeologist so I can come back and excavate!!

These are the steps that lead to the White Temple

(That’s our guide, Richard, on the bottom left)

This is the All Spice Tree.  Did you know that’s where all spice comes from??  He got us some leaves and they smell like all spice.  I'm bringing one home.  If you chew on them, they will numb your lips.

This is the Green Temple where they found tons of Jade buried with all the bodies.

That’s right, I touched the EXACT stones the Mayans did and it was awesome!

Here is one of the tombs- see the face?

Cozumel–Part 2

For our excursion, we took the “Mexican Limo” to the other side of the island. Our tour guide, Jose, was hilarious! We noticed that once we got past the tourist part of the city, it turned poor fast. It reminded me so much of Tijuana. So many poor families, but such beautiful, happy people. And the drivers are just as crazy as they are in Tijuana!

We got in these 4x4 Rhinos to do extreme off-roading through the jungle. This was not an exaggeration! We flew! We went over rocks, hills, sand dunes, you name it. Bob was an awesome driver- he didn’t kill me! We got up close to some palm fronds (they high-fived us in the face). In some places we got up to 30 miles an hour!

(My camera couldn’t capture the stunningly gorgeous view! Deep blue, turquoise surf!)

We stopped for a small break in this gorgeous area! It had a small Mayan Ruin there. There are only 2 of its kind. Much of it, along with most of the eastern coastline was severely destroyed a few years ago during hurriane Wilma. Jose told us that this was a Mayan Temple dedicated to the goddess of love and fertility. Mayans would travel to this small “lighthouse” and crawl on the stone steps from the ocean. They would go through cleansing rituals there. They even invented this really cool way using conch shells to predict hurricanes.

The ocean down the steps was amazing and reminded so much of Hawaii. The waves splashed hard against the rocks and there were tide pools everywhere. It was, again, stunningly beautiful!!

(That’s me standing over the tide pools)

(an awesome sponge we found by the tidepools)

Then we went back the same way. So much fun! Then they took us to this resort where we ate an authentic Mexican lunch- fajitas with handmade tortillas! Then, right next to the restaurant, there was a walk way down to the beach. I didn’t want to come all the way to Cozumel without swimming with the beautiful fish! So, I went in and these great guys were throwing in pieces of tortilla by me and all of the sudden there were HUGE gorgeous fish all around me!! It was crystal clear water so I could see everything! But, Tyler! I missed my snorkeling buddy! I HAVE to go back there again with you and we will snorkel ALLLLL day ok??

Cozumel- Best Day Ever!!!- Part 1

BUCKET LIST: Extreme 4X4 off-roading into the jungle of Cozumel, see an ancient Mayan ruin, and swim with the fishes in the crystal clear sea?  CHECK!

We disembarked early in the morning, ready for an exciting adventure.  It is still shocking to me how giant these cruise ships are!  We walked off the dock into this GIANT shopping center.  It was crazy!

We had time to relax and enjoy while we waited for our excursion.  Here is my view…

Fun Day at Sea

Today was spent completely at sea.  We woke up and went to a great breakfast buffet.  Again, I was surprised at how much food there was.  We even had ice cream after breakfast.  Might as well enjoy right?

(looking down from our balcony)

We relaxed today, toured some more, relaxed, read books on our balcony while sunbathing, etc.  It was wonderful!

We went to lunch and once again had the most amazing food!  We then had these desserts – chocolate gateau (3 layers of amazing chocolate goodness) and a crème’ caramel. Yummy! 

So, as you can imagine we decided we should walk for a while.  4 times around Deck 10 is a mile!  We stumbled upon the “Hairy Chest Competition” and I am sure some of those images will be burnt into my mind forever.  It was hilarious and I am convinced more than ever that white guys cant dance!! And yes, it really was an actual competition!

We went to the theater for the Murder Mystery that takes place throughout the week.  Then we got more ice cream and drinks.

We watched the excursions tour info on the TV which helped answer many questions like “what the heck is tendering” and “how the heck do we get off this ship tomorrow"”.

At night we had dinner at the Pizza Pirate (open 24/7) and then went to the family-friendly comedy show at Punchline Comedy.  The guy was pretty funny.  Then, we saw the big Vegas-style show here called “Jazz Hot” with singers, dancers, and a jazz band.  It was quite the production.  Then, we went to see another comedian at the comedy club and he was absolutely hilarious!  Topped off the evening at the dessert bar and ice cream.

When we got back to our room, the bed and been turned down and we had another adorable towel animal on our bed!

This trip has been so amazingly wonderful so far.  We have loved our time together.  It has been huge to get away from life and its daily stresses.  We stood in wonder today as we sailed for an entire day and only saw 1 boat.  Just miles and miles of beautiful ocean.  We wondered about the incredibly complex world below us and how blessed we feel to be here now and to get the chance to see what we have seen.  Tonight the sky was so clear that we could see all of the stars and the beautiful sliver of the moon that reflected on the water.  It is truly a beautiful world we live in.

Tomorrow we pull into Cozumel.  We have a very exciting day planned!

Trip- Day 1

We had a long travel day but made it safely to Tampa last night. Hal and Corey were sweet enough to drive us to Des Moines where we took a flight up to Chicago. (They are also angels since they are taking our kids the whole time!) The flight was so turbulent that they didn’t serve drinks! I tried not to barf. We had a 2 hour relaxing layover in Chicago. We had lunch and ice cream and watched episodes of a sitcom that Bob taped on my computer. Then we took a flight from Chicago to Tampa. The turbulence was the worst I have ever been in. Big drops- felt like a freaking roller coaster. Bob and I were the 1^st to get our drinks and then they had to stop service because it was so bad. We were watching more episodes to try and keep our minds off the ride and hold to hold on to the computer so it wouldn’t fall off the trays. It didn’t help that I still, even at my age, look out the window and wonder how in the heck that giant tin can fly in the air. But I must say that watching the sun set and then seeing the amazing lights of Tampa at night was something I will never forget.

We FINALLY got off that plane and got a shuttle to our hotel. It was 75 degrees and nothing feels better than taking off your sweater and only wearing a t-shirt in the middle of January. It is very beautiful- the Tahitian Inn. It is totally decorated inside and out with Tikis, poolside cabanas, etc. Got dinner and crashed early. For some reason, travel always wears people out.

I crossed the 1^st thing off my bucket list today when we ordered room service for breakfast! So very cool. Bob schedule as massage for me (whoohoo!!!!!!!). Our shuttle leaves to the pier at 12:00 and then we get on the ship. I am so very excited for today. This week will be an incredible adventure!

At dinner last night, our waitress was completely shocked that we were celebrating 20 years of marriage and had 4 kids (I think she thought we didn’t look that old). Then she asked us what the secret is to having a successful marriage for 20 years. That question kinda threw me. We told her that we are best friends, we spend lots of time together as a family, we do date nights, etc. On the way back to the room, I asked Bob what his answer would be. He said “selflessness”. I said it was because Bob is extremely patient and tolerant. Who knows what the perfect recipe to a successful marriage is? All I know is that we have one and it gets better every day! I’m excited to celebrate this trip with him and I am super excited for the next 20 years!

Starting out the Year with a Bang

Anyone who knows us knows we can’t do anything like normal people. Right?

Tyler went on a snow camping trip with the scouts. He tried to leave in his sanuks, but that’s another story. He came home yesterday complaining that he had hurt his arm sledding when his sled went sideways and he slammed into a tree. His arm looked swollen, much more than the other arm. Bob was sweet and took him to the walk-in clinic to have it x-rayed (since Bob had to have his lungs x-rayed again to see how they are doing). Sure enough, Tyler had broken his wrist!! So, he has a temporary cast on until the swelling goes down and then he will get a real cast. This was a bad week for this to happen since he has 2 showchoir performances, pep band, and jazz band coming up. Oh boy!

Marisa went home and we were so sad to see her go! We miss her already. She did go see a dr about her foot. The x-ray showed nothing was broken. She has stayed off of it since getting back to Utah and we hope she will be ready to go with her classes tomorrow.

Going Back for More- Day 3

(He finally got his wand!!!!)