Jan. 30, 2013 Wednesday

This morning we found ourselves at anchor several miles from the Belize Coast.  The sea is too shallow for the cruise ships to dock next to Belize City.  We had to take smaller boats called "tethers" to shore this morning.  

Once on shore, we again boarded buses for a ride into the countryside.  This time our destination was the Altun Ha Mayan Ruins.  Our guide was a tall black man called Peter.  He spoke fluent English, as Belize once belonged to the British, with a slight Belize accent.  He was very informative and very entertaining.  He seemed to genuinely enjoy what he was doing.  We stopped at several places along the way where he pointed out exotic plants, like the Devil's Guts, and the large wild iguanas that inhabit Belize.  The Devil's Guts was a parasitic plant that grew up trees.  It resembles  some of the cactus around here, smaller climbing versions of saguaro almost. Green and prickly, it covered the host tree.  The iguanas climbed walls and basked in the sun, totally at ease in their jungle environment.

The Mayan ruins at Altun Ha are no less impressive than those in Costa Maya.  Our guide informed us that the purpose of these ruins was not blood sacrifice however, but Altun Ha was a dynamic trading mecca for people who came from all over Central America. The name "Altun Ha" means "The Watering Hole".  

Steve and many of the other tourists in our party followed our guide and hiked to the top of the largest temple there.  I stayed at the bottom and took pictures.  The stone steps were so huge people nearly bent in half to get a foot up and then walked down sideways.  Our guide informed us that that is the way the temples were designed so that one had to bow on the way up and go down sideways on the way down so as not to turn one's back on the gods.  

As I waited for Steve I was accosted by about 10 tall black young men carrying several alligators and some turtles. I was a little intimidated but quickly realized that they wanted to take my picture with the alligators for a tip.  I let them take the pictures but realized that I had no cash on me.  I told them Steve would give them some money when he came down from the temple and started walking back toward the bus.  Steve was accosted by them too and he told them his wife had all the money!  We did not feel good about that so once we reunited we walked back to the boys and gave then a generous tip.  Or at least the looks and talk I heard made me think they were pleased.  Each American dollar we gave them was equal to two Belize dollars. 

When we returned to Belize City, there was much partying going on and people turning beet red from the tropical sun.  They had spent the day at the beach and swimming at the pool while we were on our tour.  We had plenty of time, so we found the Diamonds International Store, I got my charm and then we found an available "tether" for a nice cool ocean ride back to our ship.

Once on board we returned to the Blue Lagoon for lunch, we couldn't forget those wonderful buffalo wings!  Then we returned to our cabin to decide what to do for dinner.  I also wanted to attend the theater that night.  The show was "Shout! The Mod Musical."  Since we had lunch so late we decided to go to the show and then go to dinner.  The show turned out to be very enjoyable.  Four of the ship's female entertainers did a medley of British songs from the '60s and '70s with special emphasis on tunes that Petula Clark made famous, "Don't Sleep in the Subway", "Downtown" and some of the Bond movie themes, like "Gold Finger."  Of course, they had to emphasize the role that the feminist movement played during that time with songs like "These Boots were made for Walkin'" and "You don't Own Me."  Overall, an excellent show and a little walk down memory lane for all of us old ladies! Ha!

We stopped at the French Restaurant on our way back to the cabin to get a couple bottles of wine and retired to our balcony for the evening.  In the morning we would awake to the sound of drums and dancing on the shore of Roatan, Honduras.