Huh?
This was, by far, the most adventurous day of the trip. The adventure started when we had to meet with the Belize Port Authority representatives at 6:30 in the morning, to clear all of the guide dogs for entry. And of course, they were late. So we began to worry about catching our tour. But it worked out OK.
At Belize, the ship had to anchor rather far out to sea, and we had a long tender ride to shore. We found out later that this is because the sea is very shallow off the coast of Belize, too shallow for cruise ships. But a ways out, there's an underwater cliff, and the depth plunges to a few thousand feet.
The weather was rainy, and the sea was choppy. Not an auspicious beginning. But we didn't get seasick, and we didn't get too wet. Yet. We got to shore, and met up with our tour guide, Joel. I made a quick restroom stop, and was amused - and somewhat bemused - to see this sign:
Huh?
We got on the tour bus, and started driving through Belize City, as Joel pointed out various sights, and talked about Belize. The country of Belize was formerly a British Colony, and those of you my age or older may remember it as British Honduras. It gained its independence, and changed its name, in 1981. Because of its British connection, it's the only country in Central America where English is the official language.
There are four main ethnic groups in Belize: Mayan; Kriol (pronouced like Creole), descendants of African slaves, many of whom intermarried with Europeans; Mestizo, descendants of Native Americans who intermarried with Europeans; and Garifuna, descendants of Africans who intermarried with Native Americans! A melting pot, indeed. Joel, our guide, was Mestizo, and spoke Spanish as well as English.
Unfortunately, it started raining harder while we were on the bus, so my memories of Belize City as seen through the bus windows are sort of rain-streaked and blurry. Also, the bus had a canvas top and sides, and rain came in through the cracks. We didn't get too wet, but poor North was getting soaked. A fellow passenger (from Rhode Island) commented, "The dog is drowning!"
We drove out of the city, and through open countryside for 45 minutes or so, and then turned and started up a dirt road into the hills. (I commented to Terry that these were the first hills we'd seen since we left California.) We drove up through rain forest, until we came to a clearing with a shelter, at a place called Grazie Rock. We got off the bus, and had some refreshments. Drinks were free, and there were some local women selling banana bread and muffins. I bought some banana bread, but it wasn't very good. There was also a man selling drinking cups and other items carved from bamboo. I almost bought a bamboo cup, and I wish now that I had.
By now it was raining even harder - and Joel commented that this was supposed to be the dry season! I took this picture of a bamboo plant:
You take a stick of bamboo...
Then we all got into Land Rovers. Yes, I got to drive my very own Land Rover through the jungle. What an adventure. It would have been exciting even in dry weather. In the rain, it was a long, strange trip indeed. The ruts in the road were a foot deep in some places. In other places, the road was entirely under water. I wish I had pictures, but of course, I wasn't able to take any - I definitely needed both hands on the wheel! However, here's a link to a website about the tour.
Here's a picture of the Land Rover - not the one I drove, but they were all the same:
Land Rover
Halfway through the drive, we stopped to explore some caves. I stayed in the Land Rover, however. Not because I didn't want to go into the caves - I wanted to very much. But I had made a very foolish mistake while packing. I neglected to bring any jeans or sneakers. So there I was, wearing a good pair of slacks, and a good pair of shoes - and there was NO WAY I was getting out into the mud! I was disappointed, but I was stuck. So Terry went with Giovanni, our guide on the Land Rover leg of the tour (we had left Joel back at Grazie Rock). When she came back, she told me they had seen Mayan artifacts in the cave. I was jealous.
We then drove through the jungle some more, and finally came out onto the main road, and drove along for a while, until we came to another shelter, on the Sibun River, where we stopped for lunch. Again, the drinks were free, and they served fresh fruit. Some local women were selling plates of red beans and rice, with chicken, potato salad and fried plantains. Terry and I shared a plate, and we liked it so much that we shared another plate. I also took a picture of her shoes:
Muddy Shoes
...proving that I had made the right decision when I elected not to go to the caves. As soon as we got back to the ship, Terry took those shoes off, and I popped them into a plastic bag, and they stayed there until we got home. They smelled pretty bad when I finally took them out of the bag. They came clean in the wash, though. Mostly.
We then got onto a boat for the last leg of the tour, a boat ride down the river. By now the rain was pouring. The guide for the boat ride - Aubrey - offered us tarps to huddle under. Terry and I huddled under a tarp for a while, but I couldn't take it - I have to be able to see where I'm going. I was already soaking wet, anyway, so what the heck. I came out from under the tarp. Terry and North stayed under.
As we rode down the river, Aubrey attempted to point out some local wildlife. The rain on my glasses made it hard to see anything, although I did see several birds, and an iguana perched on the top of a tree.
Then we came to the mouth of the River, where it empties into the Caribbean, and rode across open water back to Belize City. The rain started to slack off, and stopped by the time we got back. Speeding across the sea, and looking at all that water, brought to mind an old Irving Berlin song, sung by Fred Astaire in the movie Follow The Fleet:
We joined the Navy
To see the world
And what did we see?
We saw the sea!
And so, with a song in my heart, and water in my clothes, we returned to the docks.
After we got back, we went and took a walk around Belize City. Whenever I travel, I like to buy music that evokes memories of where I've been. So I wanted to find some Belizean music. I had previously asked Joel where I could find a music store, and he directed me to a place called Venus, on Albert Street. So off we went, in search of Venus.
After some wandering, and stopping several locals to ask for help, we found the store, and asked to see albums by local artists. Well, of course, none of the names meant anything to us, so we picked two albums more or less at random. Of course, we couldn't listen to them until we got home, and thereby hangs a tale or two. So let's pause here, fastforward a week or so, and talk about the albums.
The first was called Amanacer, by Pablo Collado. The cover picture showed an acoustic guitar and several wooden flutes. When we opened up the album, we discovered, to our surprise, that the CD inside the case was not the one named on the cover! It was a different album by the same artist, called Elementos.
Oh, well. The music is nice. I'm guessing that Senor Collado is Mestizo, because of the Spanish name, and because the music has a definite Native American flavor. It reminds me very much of a couple of albums of Indian flute music that I have. It's all instrumental, mostly flute, some guitar, with atmospheric keyboard and percussion. Some of the tracks also include animal noises and nature sounds. Very pretty.
The other album was by Leelaa (or Lee-Laa - it was spelled differently on different albums). There were several of her albums in the store, and we picked one called Da Wahn Faamli Ting (say it out loud and it makes sense). It's subtitled "3 generations of music," and features her father, brother and son. Another album cover proclaimed her "The Queen of Buru Brukdown" - apparently, brukdown is a music style popular in Belize. I'm guessing that "brukdown" is a Kriol version of "breakdown."
But our troubles weren't over. When we tried to play this album, we discovered that the CD was blank! Ever the resourceful one, I did some Google searching, and found a Belizean record store not far from where I work. I went there and told the man my sad story. He said he didn't have any of that album in stock, but he would get it in a couple of weeks. I'm still waiting. But I bought another of her albums, called Balahu, and I've listened to it. It's a lot of fun. The music is similar to calypso, very energetic, very rhythmic, very raw.
Okay, back to Belize. After we left the record store, we wandered a bit, and I took a few pictures:
Belize Street
As we wandered around, it struck me that the place reminded me very much of Tijuana. Not that it was very touristy (once you got away from the pier area), but just in the general feel of the place, and the state of repair of the streets and sidewalks, and people trying to lure you into their shops as you pass by.
Belize Home Depot?
Belize Drug Store
Unfortunately, my reason for taking the picture of the drug store doesn't show up in the picture. The small white sign under the word "Drug" lists various things that the store carries, ending with "...and poisons."
As it happens, I know someone here in Los Angeles who comes from Belize. Before we went, I asked him where we should go. He said we should go to "the keys." Well, I didn't know where they were, and none of the advertised shore excursions mentioned them, so we let it go. But when we got back to the docks, and were waiting for the tender, and Terry was sitting drinking a cup of coffee, I picked up a map of Belize from a tourist info desk. And there they were - the CAYS. Pronounced "keys." A chain of offshore islands. And how do you get there?
By water taxi, of course!
Oh, well - maybe next time.
After we got back to the ship, we got cleaned up, and rested for a while, and then dressed for dinner. This was the second formal night. This time, however, I skipped the tuxedo. But I did wear a suit and tie. And this night, we sat with the other VIPs.
After dinner, we went to do our usual deck walk, but we couldn't - the wind was so strong, they had closed the outside deck. So we went and walked a mile on treadmills in the gym. Not as much fun.
And then we went to the show. This night, the featured artist was Paul Boland, "the man of 1,000 voices." An impressionist. I wasn't very impressed. Some of his imitations were pretty good - he did a fair imitation of the Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr.). And his Kermit the Frog act (with the help of a girl from the audience) was pretty good. Overall, though, he was only so-so. Here's his website, with some sound clips - judge for yourself.
That night, there was another midnight buffet. This one was in the main dining room. The deal was, the eating starts at midnight. But at 11:30, you can go in and look at the ice sculptures, and the carved watermelons, and the various fancy food decorations. However, the VIPs got a special deal - we got to go in at 11:00, and get a hands on look.
Ice Sculpture
Wax Sculpture and Carved
Watermelon
Terry Looks At a Wax Sculpture
The Dessert Table
Fish Sculpture (made from
cheese, I think)
Watermelon Owl
Bread Sculpture
We had originally intended to refrain from eating at the midnight buffet, but everything looked so good... so we indulged. And then went to bed.