June 30, 2010--Belize City, Belize

We got up at 6 am today.  Dan was in the shower and said we were definitely listing to starboard.  I went out on the balcony to check things out.  We were turning to go around a small island.  The view was amazing.  The sunrise was just starting and I could see our wake around the island.

We had breakfast on Lido today since I wanted to be in the Encore by 8:30 to catch our tender.  As we were eating, we saw the tenders arriving to take passengers to shore.

We arrived to a long line to get in.  We received our yellow #4 stickers for our Altun Ha and Belize City tour.  We found seats and waited for our color to be called.  A couple other groups left and we saw Heather a few rows ahead of us.  We would be together for this excursion.  Yay!!

Our color was called about 8:55 and we were off.  We loaded onto our tender, M.V. Alena.  I got a seat on the edge so I could shoot some video as we started our journey to Belize.  We had to anchor offshore because the water is too shallow for cruise ships.  But, my plan to have an unobstructed view meant that I was getting sprayed with sea water once we started moving fast.  I squished over closer to Dan who was behind a plastic sheet that was the window.  Only my left shoulder got a little wet.  Heather was right across from us.

After our 20 minute ride, we got off and started to head to our bus. We got a quick restroom break which was good because Amanda was a little queasy from the choppy ride and we had an hour bus ride ahead of us.  She was fine!

Our tour guides were Merlene and Maud and our driver was Richard.  They were amazing!!  Merlene pointed out several buildings along the way.  We saw the more upscale side of the city.  Their 5 star hotel, airport, and hospital were here.

We then got on the northern highway.  There are only 3 highways in Belize.

After a while, we got on a shortcut on the old northern highway.  I felt like I was with my dad who prefers the older roads!  This was a very narrow road that was actually 2 way.  We squeezed by another bus on the way back.

We arrived at the ruins and Matthew was getting excited about climbing.  We first went to Plaza A.  These were the older and smaller ruins.  We were fascinated to find they were discovered by a team from the Royal Ontario Museum, which we visited when we went to Toronto in 2007.  Merlene gave us information about these ruins.  They were built between 900 and 1100 AD.  They would add a layer every 50 years.  One had a mask inside and so they knew it was used to worship a god.

As we rounded a corner and into the shady, wooded pathway, we glimpsed the temple.  It is 60 feet tall!!  And, we would be climbing it!

We then entered Plaza B.  There was a sacred building where the priests would cleanse before entering the temple.  The temple was to the Sun God.

We were now ready to climb.  Thankfully, there were handrails or I wouldn't have gone up.

The last few steps were very steep and I could see how high we were.  There is no railing at the top to keep it preserved and natural.  The kids were good about staying in the middle.

Heather wanted the boys to go out on the darker section but hadn't heard Merlene say it's not safe.  Merlene snapped a family photo for us.  She's a pro!

Then, it was time for the descent.  Oh boy!!  My legs were shaking.  There was a handrail but I felt like I was taking a leap off the side.  Calvin took all 4 kids with him.  I was nervous because I couldn't see them after the first few steps.  And, I hadn't seen Calvin go down before my two.  Heather reassured me that they were fine.  I followed Dan down.  Had to snap a photo of how the stairs were.

We then went back to the bus through the shopping area.  This is the local people's livelihood so they were really pushing their wares.  We aren't in the market for carved animals, but Amanda found a really cool hand-carved magnet of the temple.  Heather bought a couple of animals and a bottle of cashew wine.  Then, it was back on the air-conditioned bus.  Yay!!  It was so hot and humid.  Merlene said it was 95.  Thankfully, there was a nice breeze.

We had our 1 hour bus ride back.  This time we went on the poorer side of the city.  There were armed soldiers every so often in little huts.  We saw the Anglican cathedral and court buildings.  This was the older section so there were some British colonial buildings.  It was dinner time as we passed and many businesses were closed.

We were dropped off at the pier.  We found a shop where Dan got his shot glass and Matthew found a snowglobe magnet.  Then, we got on a tender.  This one was bigger and faster.

I still wasn't able to get a full shot since my view was obstructed.  Luckily, my video turned out pretty good and I pulled one off of there.

We pulled up next to the ship and climbed up the stairs into the ship.  We dropped off our stuff and went up to Lido for a light snack since it was 3:30 and dinner was at 6:00.  We walk into the buffet and there was Heather!  They were getting Mongolian Wok food.  We got some fruit and dessert.  The kids had pizza.

Then, we decided to play a round of mini-golf while the ship was docked.   It went pretty quickly even with several families playing.  I won and got two holes in one!  Thus, the reason we played while docked!  The wind would have severely messed up my game.

It was only 4:20 so we got some ice cream.  For some reason, I was starting to get the impression that Amanda was getting tired of me taking candids.  Then, it was time to get ready for dinner.  I stopped to find photos.  Finally found the Cozumel one.  But, don't think we'll get it.  It was really windy and my hair is standing up.

This evening I had surf and turf, fried shrimp for my appetizer and filet mignon as my entree.  Dan ordered marinated chicken tenders in Thai spices.  Amanda had a Thanksgiving meal, turkey and pumpkin pie.  Calvin had another fish dish, red snapper this time. Calvin was delighted to see french-fried green beans.  We'd never heard of such a thing!  Alec and Dan opted for vegetable lasagna.  Matthew had the popular kid's choice of corn-fed chicken breast.

Yogi wanted them to have something besides pizza.  Loved Yogi!!

This evening's popular choice for dessert was Chocolate Raspberry Cake.  Tonight's song was "Hey, Baby" and Matthew and Eric danced.  Matthew tried to follow the steps.

Matthew wanted to go to camp for towel folding and Amanda wanted to swim under the stars.

We dropped them off and enjoyed sunset from our balcony.  This was the first sunset on this trip.  Hopefully, I'll see one the next two nights.

Tonight there was a Funship Freddy party from 10-11.  So we paid the $10 for the kids to go.  The parents enjoyed playing cards in the buffet area.  Close to the ice cream!

Picked the kids up and went to bed for Costa Maya, or so we thought.