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I finally got that trip planned for April! We were really getting close to the wire and 2 weeks before our planned leave date I got something booked for the three of us! A Texaribbean cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line. That is Bob’s favorite word by the Texaribbean by the way. Ha, actually never say that word around him or if you do, be ready for a tirade about it.
The cruise left from Houston – Let me just cut in here and talk about Houston and then I never have to mention it again. Ugly! Ooogly is the more correct term I guess. The port, oh, excuse me, “La Port” was never meant to be a passenger cruise ship port, but with the hurricane of last year it has still left some things displaced. Although, as bad as it was, it was better then being out on the Houston airport runway! When we landed in Houston, we got to enjoy the additional benefit of sitting on a plane for nearly 1 hour. How madding! So close, yet trapped. Apparently there was some mechanical problems with this other plane that was blocking our gate; whatever, I hate Houston. – and so back to the trip, the destinations were: Cozumel, Mexico; Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras; Belize City, Belize.
So cruise ships. Hmm, I don’t know. I can say, with certainty, it isn’t my favorite way to travel. I mean, I love the concept – being able to stop at all these ports of calls that I would probably not go to on my own, it is a great way to sample places, but ultimately I don’t think cruising is the way for me. Sure, I became a little cynical (cuz that is my way), so by the end I was just glaring at everyone and thinking, “So this is what us white middle class people do. Sit on a boat that burns 1,100 gallons of fuel a day, to visit a town that is so Americanized and tailored to just get us to buy stuff and not really learn anything about the culture or destination that we are visiting because we enjoy spending our free time waiting in buffet lines instead of visiting gyms.” So don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate it, I just found myself questioning this means of travel! There were definitely highlights on the cruise, like the Murder Mystery Dinner. That was fantastic! It had been awhile since my friends and I had done one, but it was just like any of the kits that you would pick up at the game store. The family we ate with and played the game with was great, I totally enjoyed meeting them and solving the crime with them. Oh and I solved the crime, I was the only one in my group to get the right murderer – I am so smart! :)
Activities on the ship…..well there wasn’t enough. I don’t know for some reason I felt really anxious on the boat and I just couldn’t sit down and relax. I couldn’t be outside like everyone on the ship because my sun rash hit the first day (however, I talked to a dermatologist I work with and found out what this all about, PMLE is what it is called, and I now know how to prevent it in the future!). I was kind of annoyed how every lounge, every outdoor seating area had music playing, you could never find a quiet spot. I would have much rather eavesdropped on people’s private conversations than hear “No Woman, No Cry” once more! I tried to attend talks or presentation onboard, but the first one I went to just talked about how Cruise Ships are “Soft Targets”, meaning it would be very easy for a terrorist to take one out and it would make sense for them to take one out. So great, I had that in the back of my mind the rest of the trip!
The evening entertainment, ha! It was better than the entertainment at the Mexican resort at I was at a few months ago, but that isn’t saying much. The worst show: “Sea Legs at Sea”, they actually dropped a dancer on stage.
Cozumel:
Cozumel is all about shopping. Store fronts line the beach in classic strip mall fashion. However, before we shopped we booked an independent excursion through some pusher on the pier. Destination: San Gervasio, Mayan ruin site. So bare in mind, I had just been to Chichen Itza (a grand Mayan ruin site) like 6 months earlier so seeing these ruins were not impressive, but they were cool in the sense they are thousands of years old. Our tour guide was wonderful, Joaquin, he is a native Cozumelian (um, how would you say that?) and he loves Cozumel, thinks it is the best place in the world so it was great that he was our guide for the morning. He told us all sorts of stories and information about the Mayan site and Cozumel, I thoroughly enjoyed it. On the way out of the site we crossed paths with other two groups, each had like 30 people in it. I loved that we booked this as an independent excursion so it was just me, Bob, Gump and two other girls from our cruise. On the way back to the main city he told us of this local restaurant, La Mission, off the strip to eat at and it ended up being my favorite meal of the trip. The rest of the time I just spent shopping.
Roatan:
Approaching this island from the water was like viewing this lush, tropical oasis that had rolling hills and greens of every color. Once we landed though, well some beauty was stripped away. This is a very poor country – very poor. Apparently when they see the cruise ships come in, the kids get out of school so they can beg for money. Considering cruise ships have been docking here for awhile I was shocked at the level of shopping and how there was none! There was only one semi-ok store and it lost power when we were in it! However, I didn’t come to Roatan to shop; I came to zip-line!
We took the most nerve-wracking and scariest bus ride up the side of a mountain to get to the zip-line destination. Once there, we had harasses put on us, were given a helmet (cuz that would really help) and then proceeded to the first station. There was some talk of safety and what to do, but it all seemed to happen very fast. Before I knew it, it was my turn to fly like the birds! I had that 2 second panic where I was like, “what am I doing, I don’t want to do this, it is really high up!”, but I saw the person before me get to the next station and they were like 50 so I had to do it. In a weird way it ended up very peaceful and soothing for me. I believe there were like 13 stations, so each stretch of rope you glided on lasted somewhere between 100 and 600 feet. Each time you were slowly descending so the last stretch deposited you onto solid ground, a sandy solid ground. When we first started we were above the trees, so I am going to guess 100 feet off the ground or so, but you rarely noticed how high you were up cuz the vegetation was so lush and thick, plus you were watching for the next station so you didn’t careen into it. The beautiful beach that we finished on turned out not to be the beach we were going to spend the rest of the afternoon at, we had to get back on the bus and drive to ours.
Our beach, Taybana Beach, is designed strictly for tourist. It was fine though, it was actually quite nice. A ton of loungers were all over and there was shade, lunch was provided, there was a band and they had snorkeling equipment. Gump and I took this opportunity to snorkel. I have decided I totally love to snorkel. There was a coral reef right off this beach, although, I think it was pretty damaged from the hurricane, it didn’t seem that colorful, however the fish were colorful! I saw some great underwater life and a few of my pictures did turn out! So after everything we did today, we still had time to wander back into the city and have a beer at a local bar. There is nothing better than sitting by the water, drinking a beer and watching the sun as it goes down.
Belize:
Belize has been one of the places that has haunted me. I have wanted to go here for years and I feel like it is always taunting me. I see ads for it or it is mentioned in movies and finally I can now say I was here! We started the day pretty early; the ship arrived at Belize at 7am. However, we had to tender to the shore (the barrier reef prevents cruise ships from getting any closer than one mile out from the shore) and by the time we did that and met up with our tour group it was time to hit the road and head out to the rainforest. It was an hour and half bus ride and even though our tour guides did a lot to entertain us, I was ready to get off the bus and walk! So as soon as we stepped into the forest the heavens opened up and it poured, like I have never seen before. But how fitting right? Here we were in the rainforest! After about half hour of walking we came to the river that we would be tubing in. Now, the other night we had had dinner with this couple that told us that they heard there were snakes in the water and snakes hanging from the walls in the caves. Liars. All they managed to do we make me spaz out every time something touched my leg or hand. I don’t mind snakes, but I really don’t want a hidden one wrapping around me or anything – but that goes for anything, I wouldn’t even want a kitten crawling up on me if I didn’t see it coming. So, but anyway, I never saw a snake, I saw bats, but not snakes. Cave tubing ended up being a little more strenuous then I thought it would be. The current wasn’t all that strong so to stay with the group you had to paddle. There were a few rapids that sort of pulled you in and spit you out and that was fun. Although those rapids were responsible for pulling out Bob’s wallet and passport and not spitting it back out! Yup, Bob lost his whole identity in the river! Gump and I were clueless to this whole thing, here we were patiently sitting on the bus wondering where the heck Bob was. Turns out he was hunting in the river along with a bunch of other workers and tour guides! The un-Belize-able thing is, they found it!
After the river tubing adventure it was back on the bus to return to the ship. We all sort of had a big day so the bus was pretty quiet as we were all reflecting and having a siesta; that is until there was a horrendous noise along with smoke bellowing out the side of the bus and tire fragments pelting the window. The driver was desperately trying to maintain control of the bus, cuz you know they drive like madmen out there on these roads that wouldn’t be acceptable in a farming community out here. Of course I am thinking, “wow, so this is how it ends for me, on a tour bus in Belize – sorry mom.” But we gradually came to a stop and after a call to the station to get a new bus sent out we were allowed to get off the bus and roam around. I was the first one off the bus because I needed to get out and stretch my legs and burn off some nervous energy, so I popped out of my seat, headed to the front and waited for the driver to open the door. Now, I kid you not, the door opened and right in front of it, right in front, is this lone grave marker. Are you kidding me!? What kind of omen is that!? I am looking up and down the road and there is nothing, but we stop right in front of a grave marker that has fresh flowers on it! I guess it was a marker for some cyclist that died at that spot like a year ago. I could not Belize it. After a half hour wait we finally got a new bus and back on the ship with no more problems.
pictures: Click Here!
~Posted by Ann (transferring travel logs here)
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