First...SORRY it's been so long since any of us have blogged! I could give excuses, but we'll just say we've all been losers!
OK, Jeremy and I went on a cruise in May to the Western Caribbean.....and we had such a great time, I wanted to share somethings! We left out of Tampa on May 4 and were cruising to Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize, and Honduras (in that order). I had never been on a cruise, but had heard such great things! This was the 4th cruise for Jeremy, his mom was a travel agent when he was younger and they liked to experience the world. Truthfully, I think Jeremy just liked the access to fabu food 24/7, lol.
Anyway, I'm going to post several new blogs about our vacation. This blog is about Belize and the Xunantunich (pronounced Shu nan tun itch) Mayan ruins. So what do I have to say about Belize, well first I have to identify two things, one the country of Belize which is extremely poor, and then two...Xunantunich. We had heard from friends to not go past the "gate", that it was kind of sketchy in true Belize City. Well, let me tell you where the gate was...THE PORT. We seriously walked 10 steps out side of the port, and there was the gate.
We were taking a shore excursion to Xunantunich, so there was a bus waiting for us (which by the way was taking us on a 2 hour bus ride), it barely fit inside the gate! Anyway, the second we were outside the gate, you instantly new you were in a country that was truly in complete poverty. I couldn't believe the shape that the houses were in; how the balconies were falling off of homes, how there was trash just every where. Below you will see the shape of some of the homes, NOW..unfortunately this is the only picture that came out of the homes. I knew that I had to take pictures because no one would believe me. We also had to go through 2 military checkpoints (pic below). You can see two men in camo beside a car, although you can't see it, both of them have machine guns.....they were stopping cars making sure people had up to date insurance as well as had no drugs, there's a large problem with drugs down there. At this point of our vacation, I looked at Jeremy and said "what have we gotten our selves into!" Neither one of us could believe that we were in the middle of this! I mean roughing it for me and Jeremy is a Holiday Inn, lol
As we continued to drive for 2 hours in to Belize, all you saw were besheveled homes and trash. As well as hundreds of children walking to school. Most people live in small villages/towns, and each town had a small school for all of the children. It was very interesting to see the state of what these people were living in, however they all seemed happy, and all of the children were wearing uniforms walking to school. The kids would just wave and yell at all of us. It was touching. I have to admit I felt guilty coming to this country where people were struggling so much, and here we are tourist, in an air conditioned bus being driven around (by the way gas was $10.70 a gallon in Belize dollars, it would be $5.35 American dollars).
The terrain was amazing, so untouched...I told Jeremy I felt like I was in Vietnam...he thought i was crazy.
Anyway, when we finally got to the site, we had to take a hand cranked ferry across a river which had alligators/crocodiles ( I can't remember which). Our tour guide quickly told us that they weren't aggressive, but you try believing that when you're looking down upon them.... He also told us that children would bathe in this river and women would wash clothes as well....I was like sure right...but...there they were, just having a good old time with the "crocs"...
Xunantunich is so amazing. People were actually living there around 400bc, however the buildings weren't constructed until a little later. The size of these ruins is just amazing, the temple which I'm standing on at the top is 14 stories tall, and people...there wasn't a rope, a rail..nothing...I could have just jumped, tripped, fallen to my ugly death. Actually in Belize City, the Capital of Belize, there still isn't a modern building taller than this ruin! Where I'm standing above was actually the place where the high priests did sacrifices.
Anyway, after all of Mayans left this site, it sat for hundreds and hundreds of years untouched, which then caused the buildings to be covered up with dirt and trees started growing. Archaeologists have actually had unbury every building there, and there are several more to go! When you walked into the site, there was a weird feeling. I won't call it spiritual or magical...but you could feel something different was in that place. It was surreal.
By the way, did I mention that Jeremy swears it was 150 degrees when we were there, lol. So on we climbed up everything we could. And people when I said there was no ropes or rails..I mean it. The steps at the beginning had to be 16" tall (please picture me climbing up this ruin hands and feet screaming to our tour guide "weren't these people short!"). It was scary at best climbing the thing. Going up was easier than coming down, Jeremy who has a problem with heights took one step at a time coming down...of course so did I..I'm telling you people, it was tense and scary....but amazing at the top!
This was one of our favorite things we did on vacation. It's not everyday that you see something like this. SO....if you go to Belize, I would strongly recommend doing this.
On our way back, we were treated to an authentic Belizian lunch which consisted of chicken, slaw, and a beans and rice mixture. At this point, I realized that this food shortage and high price of rice truly does effect people. These people eat rice every meal! It had made me realize how blessed I am. By the way, the bean and rice mixture has been a favorite side dish of Jeremy to add to dinner since we've been back, lol.
SO....if you go on a cruise, and you go to Belize, I would stronly recommend this. It was amazing. And if we ever go back to Belize, we will probably revisit Xunantunich...they are still uncovering new buildings all the time. It was amazing.
If you go to Belize, please make sure you have something planned as far as shore excursion, this is not a place that you want to be walking around the streets.
More stories about more places coming!
