11-15-11 (Tuesday): I may be a 31 year old man on the
outside, but inside still burns the youthful exuberance of a little boy eager
to get out into the world and set off on adventure, hence the reason why I
typically can’t get more than a few hours sleep per night during a trip like
this one. I guess if I have to endure
insomnia while I’m on vacation at least I can take solace in the fact that it’s
because of excitement and not stress or some other negative factor.
Jill would be getting up bright and early this morning,
too, as we were scheduled to depart from the Dream at 7:45 AM in order to
rendezvous with a tour group for an excursion that would take us across the
entirety of Belize to the site of the Mayan ruins at Xunantunich. I have always been fascinated by history and sociology;
that said, it should come as no surprise that when we booked this cruise one of
the activities that I absolutely wanted to do more than anything else was to
visit a set of Mayan ruins. The Mayans
were an incredibly advanced culture and the structures they built are especially
remarkable considering the tools and techniques which were used. Having been erected more than a thousand
years ago and bearing in mind that they were constructed by laborers working
with nothing but their bare hands and what would now be considered rudimentary
tools, one can’t help but marvel at these great structures from an era long
passed. I somehow doubt that anything
built today will endure the tests of time as they have.
We received our breakfast from room service not long
after our wake-up call. There aren’t
many things more comforting than having someone else prepare and bring you your
food, which is why we took advantage of room service as often as possible
(perhaps a bit more than we should have in one instance – that’s a story for
another day). Our feast of Cinnamon
Toast Crunch, Danishes, juice, and bananas was quite delectable, but then again
so is all of the food on these boats. I
persist in telling people when I talk about our cruise experiences that you
could very well do nothing but eat the entire time you’re on one and be
perfectly content. Sure, you’d gain a
pound or two (or twenty) but you’d be happy, nonetheless!
The Encore Theater served as something of a rallying
point throughout the week for excursion activities whereby guests were staged
before departure. We gathered there with
a large contingent of guests as it looked as though a great many of our fellow
travelers would be enjoying excursions that particular day. One by one, different groups were called to
begin disembarkation, which was a bit of a different process this day than it
would be any other during this cruise seeing as how in Belize there is no dock
where ships the size of the Dream can make port. To get to dry land we’d have to take tinder
boats – smaller craft that ferry tourists from and to cruise ships. Jill had imparted to me that this could
potentially be a rough transition, going from a craft the size of an aircraft
carrier to one not that much bigger than a good-sized pontoon boat. Remember my comment about the spirit of an
adventurous little boy still rattling around inside of me? All I can say is that it tends to counter
worries expressed by my wife in scenarios like this. Much like when she was a nervous wreck before
we boarded a plane for our flight to Las Vegas several years ago, I was as
giddy and excited as could be.
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| Jill smiles for the camera onboard the tinder boat to Belize |
Since ours was one of the first tinder boats out that
morning, we were joined onboard by not only a throng of our fellow passengers
but also by a rather large party of Carnival’s photographers. They’re not particularly bothersome even
though there are times where they can come off as being more than a smidge
insistent (it’s their job to take pictures so that you’ll hopefully want to buy
them, after all) and that their presence seems unnecessary, seeing as how there
are certain disembarkation points are set up to where you can’t get off the
ship without first having stopped to have your picture taken. Fortunately this day we’d be getting to shore
before they’d have a chance to set up, thereby unintentionally circumventing
the system.
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| Passengers & photographers loading up, waiting for the tinder to leave |
The ride away from the Dream on the tinder boat wasn’t at
all rough; that comment comes off as though I was disappointed in it not being
a challenge to my intestinal fortitude but I guess I was expecting it to be
something that it wasn’t. It was quite
the site, pulling away from our home on the seas, seeing a boat the size of the
Dream sitting off in the distance. There
were several other cruise ships that had set anchor that morning as well. The only way to truly grasp how large these
vessels are is to view them from far away.
Upon reaching the dock, we found our tour group
congregating inside what would best be described as a food court. There were a variety of cafes in this
dockside building offering local cuisine.
I halfway wished we’d have had the time to partake in some of their
wares seeing as how I’d have appreciated the opportunity to sample local foods
(even though it’s likely what they were serving could’ve been homogenized
versions of chow from the region made more palatable for us gringos), but it
wasn’t long until our tour guides arrived and our journey was underway. We boarded a comfortable, air conditioned
tour bus (I point that out because the tropical – read, hot and humid – climate
of Belize made it feel like July in South Carolina even though it was the
middle of November) and were taken through the streets of Belize City.
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| The "food court" where we gathered with our tour group |
There were several moments where I wasn’t sure how the
bus was going to make it through the tight confines of the city, which is
absolutely jammed with buildings; a mixture of homes and businesses, almost all
of them made from cinderblocks. Citizens
of Belize are given the right by their government to lease land and after a
certain number of years if they so decide they may purchase it outright. Instead of taking out large loans, people of
Belize will usually make improvements to their property as they acquire funds;
this is why some structures were in use even though they appeared to have been
only partially completed. Because of the
city’s appearance, an unreasonable observer would be quick to deem conditions
there as being squalor however I contend that the people of Belize are just a
simpler sort than us Americans. They
exist with what they require for their daily lives without the excesses that
we’ve grown to think are necessary.
Our tour guides – Denise and Jake – were tremendously
knowledgeable, as you might expect, and they pointed out a wealth of
interesting facts about their homeland as we made our way through the city and
countryside. They were particularly
impressive considering that they had material enough to keep us occupied for
the duration of our trek to and from Xunantunich (Denise told us that we could
remember how to pronounce Xunantunich by saying “tuna sandwich”), a 160 mile, 4
hour round trip.
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| Tour guide Denise - she kept us informed most of the way to Xunantunich |
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| Tour guide Jake - he lead us around the site of the ruins |
Belize is truly a diverse nation, its population made up
of a combination of cultures that have converged to create a people more
fitting the description of a melting pot that even the United States. The national language is English (Belize was
previously known as British Honduras, the last continental possession of the
United Kingdom in the Americas) but you’re likely to encounter Spanish,
Spanglish, Creole, and others depending on which region of the country you find
yourself (there is a growing Asian influence on Belize and there are large
settlements of German-speaking Mennonites as well). Great importance is placed upon education in
Belize as everyone is required to attain at least an Associate’s degree with penalties
applied to those who refuse to advance themselves academically. The Belizean government is similar to the
parliamentary system in Britain (Queen Elizabeth II is their head of state) as
the people are represented by a Prime Minister and cabinet ministers who are
installed by the given dominant political party.
We learned that the Belizean dollar is worth half of an
American dollar, meaning everything there is essentially twice as expensive
compared to what we’re used to paying.
The high cost of fuel is why a majority of people live nearby where they
work as doing so allows them to walk or take other, similarly efficient means
of travel to and from their occupations.
A funny side story to their currency and its value is the fact that, at
one point in time, there were Subway restaurants in Belize but not
anymore. As television providers began
to bring in American programming, they unwittingly revealed to Subway’s Belizean
customer base that we were paying $5 for foot-long sandwiches whereas Belizeans
were paying upwards of $10. The
subsequent backlash against the restaurant chain drove them out of the country. I don’t recall having seen any other familiar
chain restaurants during our time in Belize, although one of our tour guides
did mention that there have been rumors of a Wal-Mart being built there.
As we arrived at Xunantunich, our tour guides alerted us
to the presence of members of the Belize Defence Force, the military of Belize. We’d passed by a police checkpoint on the
outskirts of Belize City and seen armed officers there but this was our first
glimpse of actual military regulars on patrol.
The site of uniformed men carrying assault rifles isn’t exactly an
everyday occurrence for us making it a slightly disconcerting experience, but
we were assured that these soldiers were there for our protection. The BDF have a vested interest in protecting Xunantunich
from looters as it is an important cultural landmark and also because of the
site’s proximity to the border with Guatemala.
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| This man is a BDF soldier - there were several of them on site at all times |
After getting off the tour bus we passed by a group of
shops set up by locals to sell a variety of textiles, crafts, and wood
carvings. There’s no gentle way to say
this; we were warned that the people who work in these facilities will set upon
anyone who shows an interest in their goods like hyenas on a wounded
zebra. In response to that, I would say
that aggressive sales tactics are nothing new; these folks are ultimately sales
people competing with each other and working to feed their families by
acquiring money that is worth twice as much as their local currency – what else
would you expect?
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| Members of our group passing by shops outside Xunantunich |
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| Local Belizeans selling crafts and other wares outside Xunantunich |
In order to reach the ruins we’d first have to cross a
river by way of a hand-cranked ferry. A
patchwork of rusted metal and wood cobbled together with bolts and other
fasteners, the ferry is a remarkable piece of engineering. I’m not sure how old this particular ferry is
but I think it would be safe to say that it’s been in use at least as long as
I’ve been alive. It should be noted that
we were alerted to the waters below being home to alligators, piranha, and
assorted other ornery beasts. Once we
were across the river, we were loaded into passenger vans that would carry us
the remaining few miles to the site of the ruins.
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| The hand-cranked ferry at Xunantunich |
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| The hand-crank itself |
Belize is a lush terrain; its verdant nature was at its
most evident as we neared the site.
Walking past the visitors’ center and up a hill that leads to the ruins,
we found ourselves in a jungle, surrounded by a beautiful assortment of
towering trees, vibrant flowers, and plants we’d never before seen.
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| Our tour group, preparing to enter the visitors center |
Our tour guide Jake directed us through a cultural center
that displayed a collection of artifacts that had been excavated from
Xunantunich and also depicted the history of the site. It’s believed that Xunantunich was once an
important ceremonial center to the Mayan people but was abandoned possibly
because of the structures having been damaged by an earthquake. The earthquake may have not only damaged the
temples there but also the spiritual beliefs of the people, for the Mayans
worshipped celestial bodies and recognized tribal leaders as being capable of
influencing or otherwise controlling their deities. An incident such as a major earthquake
could’ve been perceived as a sign of weakness and might have lead to an
uprising by the lower classes of people against their leaders.
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| Jake was a tremendous asset all along the tour |
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| Members of our group looking at a scale replica of Xunantunich |
We were guided past several smaller constructs before we
finally had our chance to experience El Castillo (a Spanish term meaning “the
castle” used to describe the pyramid), the tallest structure at Xunantunich. I had another youthful exuberance spasm as
Jake told us about the significance of the smaller buildings – I kept looking
at El Castillo and saying to myself, “Can we go climb it now?!” When Jake finally said it was time to make
our ascent, I was absolutely captivated as we approached it. Much like our cruise ship, you can’t fully
appreciate the vastness of an object as large as El Castillo until you’ve seen
it with proper perspective. To think
that this was built more than a thousand years ago yet still stands to this day
is awe-inspiring.
My excitement at being able to mount a personal
expedition to the summit of El Castillo lasted a little less than half-way up
the temple at which point in time my lungs caught fire and every muscle in my
legs screamed at the torment I’d put them through. I know I’m out of shape but if I’d had any
delusions to the contrary they’d have been thoroughly smashed by the stresses I
felt at that point. Chalk it up to a
combination of fear at the prospect of climbing what amounts to a sheer rock
wall (the Mayans, despite their advanced culture, had yet to grasp the concept
of hand rails) and the fatigue I was feeling, but I actually told my wife that
I’d wait there at the mid-point for her.
She would have none of that, though, and quickly reminded me that it was
my idea to have taken this excursion in the first place.
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| In case you're wondering, that's the face I make when I'm exhausted |
Once our group had reconvened at a ball court near the
base of El Castillo, Jake described the significance of competition to the
Mayan people while I tried to collect myself.
I was physically wiped out and the adrenaline was wearing off, but I
still reveled at the fact that I’d only minutes prior been standing on top of a
monument stretching 130 feet straight up into the air. With that, our tour of Xunantunich was over –
it was an amazing experience and certainly one that I will never forget.
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| Exhausted but still rockin' |
On our way back to Belize City we stopped at a restaurant
for a taste of local cuisine. Our tour
guides had told us earlier in the day that we would be sampling a local
delicacy they refer to as bamboo chicken – they said that bamboo chicken isn’t
like the chicken we know because it doesn’t have feathers, is green, and climbs
trees. Bamboo chicken, as it turns out,
isn’t chicken at all – it’s iguana!
Fortunately, they were kidding with us about it being part of our
meal. I was so famished by then that
they could’ve served me barbequed sewer rat and I’d have probably eaten it with
a smile on my face. We dined on actual
chicken that had been heavily seasoned so that it had a flavor similar to jerk
chicken, coleslaw, a fried plantain, and a serving of beans & rice. On the table was an assortment of hot sauces
made by a company in Belize called Hot Mama’s.
I’m a condiment aficionado, hot sauces in particular; Jill and I both
fell in love with their sweet pepper sauce, so much so that we bought several
bottles of it (we should’ve bought several more as we’ve found many uses for it
since returning home). The real star of
the meal, for me, was the beans and rice which is a staple dish in Belize. The recipe calls for the beans and rice to be
cooked in coconut milk, adding a rich, deep flavor to what might be otherwise
mistaken as a fairly pedestrian combination.
To wash down our meal we were given the choice of Coca-Cola or Coca-Cola
Light, otherwise known as Diet Coke. (There is only one bottling company in
Belize and they handle Coke products, water, and beer; talk about a monopoly!)
I took the opportunity to try a local beer called Belikin, a tasty lager that
was crisp and refreshing in the heat of the day.
After she finished eating, Jill went over to peruse a set
of merchandise tables put up near the restaurant. We have a collection of refrigerator magnets
that grows by the year as we try to get a different magnet for each vacation
spot we visit. They’re simple baubles
but they’re some of my most treasured possessions. As luck would have it, one of the vendors
there had a magnet depicting El Castillo with “BELIZE” and “XUNANTUNICH” carved
into it – it couldn’t have been a more perfect example of the kind of things we
look for when selecting a keepsake of our travels.
The trip back to port felt longer than it had in the
morning (not for lack of effort by our driver who took full advantage of the
fact that there is no highway patrol in Belize, nor are there speed limits on
the main highways), probably because my knees and lower back were still
complaining about what I’d put them through earlier in the day. In times like those I try to remind myself of
a song lyric that goes “scars are memories you never lose”, so instead of
complaining about the pain I chose to fondly recall the adventure of the day. We were back at the dock just in time to
catch one of the final tinder boats back to the Dream.
That evening we had dinner and discussed the events of
the day with our tablemates. It was
always fun to trade stories of what we’d each encountered. I’m sure that sense of camaraderie is what
the folks at Carnival hope for when they assemble seating arrangements; I
couldn’t imagine being stuck at a table with people who were either
disagreeable or un-personable. After
dinner we saw the evening’s performance in the Encore Theater then changed out
of our monkey suits (a term I affectionately use to describe attire that isn’t
casual in nature) before heading to the lido deck for a laser tribute to the
music of Pink Floyd and Rush. I like
both of those bands, personally, but I think this was a presentation better
suited to folks who appreciate the psychedelic nature of tunes from the era in
which these groups were so popular, if you catch my drift. We concluded our evening in the best method
we could think of – pizza from the lido deck followed by milk & cookies
brought to our stateroom. Ah, the luxury
of 24-hour room service!
11-16-11 (Wednesday): When we went through the process of
scheduling our excursions for this cruise, we knew that we would more than
likely be tired coming off of our tour of Xunantunich. That being the case, we decided to do
something during our visit to Isla Roatan (which is also referred to as
Mahogany Bay) that would be nothing but pure relaxation – a day spent at the
Parrot Bay resort where we’d be treated to sun, sand, and (of course) an
all-you-can-eat buffet.
As we began to get ready, I spotted a note that had been
passed under our door. The letter was to
notify us that a change had been made to our itinerary so that we would be leaving
later than scheduled. We were concerned
that this would cut into our time at Parrot Bay and wanted more information, so
after we’d gotten dressed and had breakfast on the lido deck (scrambled eggs,
sausage, bacon, and grits with freshly made salsa) we began walking to the
guest services desk. No sooner than we’d
set off in its direction, our cruise director came over the ship’s public
address system and informed us that we would not be able to dock at Roatan due
to high winds and large swells near the port.
Our captain had made several attempts to enter the channel but
ultimately decided that it would be unsafe to proceed.
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| This was about as close as we'd get to Roatan |
Admittedly I was upset that we wouldn’t be able to go to
Roatan as I was looking forward to all the things Parrot Bay has to offer. I even went so far as to say to Jill
(jokingly, of course) that I should go to the bridge and get hold of whatever
joystick it is that controls the ship, thinking I could whip it into port
without issue.
I’m writing this blog entry several months after our
voyage and since our trip there’s been a terrible tragedy involving a cruise
ship – that being the grounding of the Costa Concordia which coincidentally
happens to be owned by a company that operates under the same umbrella as
Carnival Cruises. People I know who are
aware of my enjoyment of cruises have made comments to me along the lines of “I
bet you wouldn’t get on one of those boats now!” To think that an incident involving a
horrible decision made by one misguided captain is indicative of the safety
practices of an entire industry is just about the most asinine frame of mind
one could possibly have. I’m not sure
what the requirements are in Europe but on the cruises we’ve taken the first
thing every passenger must do prior to the ship leaving port is participate in
a muster drill where you are instructed on what to do in case of an evacuation. The crew explains to you where the lifeboats
are, how you’ll get to them, and how to properly wear life preservers. The fact that our captain on the Dream made
the decision not to force the ship into port the day we were to have visited
Roatan, to me, expresses that the men and women who helm these boats are by in
large qualified individuals who have the safety of their passengers at the
forefront of every decision they make.
I’d get on a cruise ship tomorrow if I had the opportunity.
Since we were both wearing our bathing suits and hadn’t
yet figured out what we were going to be doing with our impromptu day at sea,
we decided to spend some time in one of several hot tubs that line the
perimeter of the promenade deck. After
spending about an hour soaking in the bubbly water, we were about as relaxed as
could be imagined. Even so, we one-upped
the sensation by settling into a couple lounge chairs and took ourselves a nap. If you’ve never slept in the shade with a
cool sea breeze blowing across your body, I highly recommend it! When we’d napped sufficiently we came back to
our stateroom, showered, and decided it was time for lunch – a feast consisting
of a variety of sandwiches and salads from room service would be delivered not
too long after we placed our order via the interactive guest services menu in our
stateroom (this was a new feature to the Carnival cruising experience as our
other boat, the Sensation, wasn’t equipped with this when we’d sailed on it for
our honeymoon).
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| Room service - it's never a bad idea |
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| Eating Caesar salads in bed is okay, right? |
The entertainment staff onboard put together a spur of
the moment revue for us that afternoon, and despite its haphazard nature it was
genuinely one of (if not the most) enjoyable shows we would see the entire
week. The highlight of it was a song
called “Upon the Sea” performed by a handful of the staff and several of
dancers. To sum it up, the gist of the
skit was that they were each representing what they’d be doing if they were not
sailing upon the seas – the song wasn’t what made it, though, rather it was the
motions each character added to the lyrics that put it over the top! I only wish I’d been recording it as I could
never describe the scene and do justice to how hilarious it was.
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| Members of the Dream's entertainment staff performing "Upon the Sea" |
After the show we ventured out to the Fun Shops, a set of
unique specialty stores located around the ship’s atrium (which is more or less
the center point of the boat as it is an incredibly ornate shaft – for lack of
a better term – that travels up through each of the decks). More specifically, Jill braved the mass of
humanity that was clamoring around tables outside the Fun Shops (picture it as
a Black Friday-esque horde of shoppers) while I found a comfortable couch
nearby to sit and watch a cornhole tournament being held on one of the lower
decks. The Fun Shops offer a variety of
products but jewelry is the predominant merchandise, and on this particular day
there was a sale going on for Pandora-like (read, Pandora knock-offs)
bracelets. Jill managed to get the
attention of a sales person and ask for a specific color of bracelet while
everyone else seemed to be content to pick through whatever they could find on
the tables. The clerk was helpful and
located exactly what my wife was after.
I’ve neglected to mention up until this point in the
story another consequence of our excursion to Parrot Bay having been cancelled. The cost of this excursion was around $200
for the both of us – since we didn’t get to go, that meant the fee would be
refunded to our onboard expense account (remember, these boats don’t operate by
way of cash), which in turn meant that we suddenly had a decent amount of spending
money that we hadn’t anticipated. We’d
been very frugal with our purchases throughout the trip thus far, and the
refund actually wiped out our account balance leaving us with a surplus. We figured why not take advantage of it –
Jill used some of it to purchase her bracelets and a few other items but the real
trophies that we earned by way of having the extra money was a set of photos
taken during formal nights. Jill and I
don’t often have pictures made and these shots were ultimately too good to pass
up. I was still disappointed that we
didn’t get to visit Roatan, but having those pictures means a lot to me as they’re
memories of one of the best occasions either of us have ever experienced, forever
preserved for us to enjoy.
There was no production in the Encore Theater that night
but there was a slightly modified version of Family Feud – the entertainment
staff referred to it as Family Face-Off; believe it or not, there’s a lot of
concern expressed on these boats about protecting intellectual properties –
played on the stage therein. Games of
this nature are a mainstay on cruises. You
can’t go far from one area of the ship to another during the day without
encountering a game of bingo, trivia, cornhole, or something similar (and yes,
karaoke events are held almost every night).
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| Cruise director Jaime hosting Family Face-Off |
What better way to conclude our completely spontaneous
day of rest and relaxation than with a frosty beverage? For us, this means having a Kiss on the Lips –
a mixed drink found exclusively on the ships making up Carnival’s fleet made
with peach schnapps, frozen mango puree, and a touch of grenadine for color.
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| Our favorite drink on Carnival's boats - Kiss on the Lips |
Next stop, Costa Maya – our final port of call for this
cruise!
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