To Hell and Back: Escape from Snowmageddon (Or, The World’s Longest Valor Review, part 10)featured
We woke up at 6:30 am and started getting ready for our shore excursion. Super early for vacation, but we had a big day ahead of us and we needed to get an early start! We were up so early that we even got to see the sunrise up on deck (something I don’t think we’ve ever done!).
We had a quick breakfast on Lido of pastries for me and an omelet for Stephanie. There were heavily long lines inside but shorter lines at the grill, which was surprising given how early it was. I guess we weren’t the only ones rushing to our shore excursion. We actually ran into Mom as we were finishing our breakfast, but we had to run down to the Ivanhoe to get our tender tickets. The Ivanhoe was packed. P-A-C-K-E-D. To the brim. Platinum status didn’t really matter…we’d debark with our tour, which would take us on a tour of the Mayan ruins at Xunantunich (pronounched shue-nan-two-nick). I think the reason the theater was so packed was that EVERYONE takes tours in Belize. There’s not really much to do at the port area (well, there used to be not much there when we last visited in 2005. This time, we discovered a few bars at the port, but still…nothing but shops and bars) and Belize isn’t the safest port. It’s not a place you want to tour on your own and though we tend to do our tours through the ship, if we were to make a list of ports of call where we’d feel comfortable taking a private tour or picking one up from a native at the pier, Belize would be towards the bottom of that list.
Our tour number was called around 8:30 and when we finally got on the tender, Stephanie realized she lost her camera somewhere. It’s always something, isn’t it? Nothing we could do about it at that point. We certainly weren’t going to turn back and miss our tour. I told her she should check in with the purser when we got back, but she was mega bummed she’d have to tour the Mayan ruins for the first time without a camera.
The tender ride was about 20 minutes and was VERY bumpy. They packed us in like sardines and I imagine if I were prone to sea sickness, I’d probably have felt it on this ride. It was certainly a far cry from the quick, calm tendering process we had in Grand Cayman.
We were quickly herded into a line for our tour when we got off the tender and ended up being the last people on our bus, leading to us being split up- Stephanie at the front of the bus and me in the back next to the bathroom. By a man that kept coughing. For the two hour bus ride to Xunatunich. Next time, we’ll insist on being on the next bus (there were *many* buses running this tour, so it wouldn’t have been a problem). Because let me tell you- being separated from Stephanie aside? You don’t want to be next to the bathroom on a Belizean tour bus with a bunch of people who just stuffed themselves silly at breakfast for two and a half hours.
Our tour bus had three guides- Amalia, Jake and Carla- who were just absolutely fantastic and kept the ride interesting with many facts about the areas we were driving through. I thought it was fascinating because I love seeing how other people in other cultures and countries live in their day-to-day lives. I think it’s important that everyone get some perspective like that at some point in their travels and there’s no more eye-opening place to do so than Belize. The country, as beautiful as it is in its countryside, is just so poor in so many areas. I’ve said this before, but nothing will make you so thankful for the life you have than a drive through some of these areas.
When we reached the site, we received a warning from our guides not to buy anything from the vendors outside the site because they’d hawk us, and as we left the bus, the guides gave us cold, bottled water to take with us. Ohhhh how we’d need this later! We took a hand-cranked boat across the river (a minute or so ride), and what an experience that was! This little rickety hand-cranked raft carries cars and dozens of people and doesn’t break! Boggles my mind!
From the landing site, we were put in vans for the ride up to the ruins- a mile or so- and then hiked up another 3,000 yards or so to the site. From there, Jake took us from site to site to explain each one. That was the thing about this tour- it was very much a guided tour and our guides were taking us from site to site to site. It’s not a kind of tour where you’re dropped off to explore at your leisure. That said… I ran off to take pictures (not too far from our guides, of course…just far enough ahead that I could get some unobstructed pictures before the rest of our group caught up). Most of these structures were from the Maya Classic Era (200-900 AD- thanks, Wikipedia) and all this history and culture…it’s so special to experience. Really. If you do anything on a Western Caribbean cruise, visit a Mayan ruins site. Xunantunich, Tulum, Altun Ha, any of them. It’s really something special.
And after a tour of the grounds? We got the opportunity (this was completely optional) to climb that big daddy of ruins at this site- El Castillo. I don’t know how high El Castillo was then, but Wikipedia now tells me that El Castillo is the second tallest structure in Belize at 130 feet, or around 13 stories high. Pictures don’t accurately convey this baby’s height and it doesn’t *sound* that tall (now, it boggles my mind more that I work on the 26th floor of my office building, which is like *two* El Castillo’s high), but when you’re climbing it? Mannnnn. Stephanie didn’t want to climb it at first, but I was intent on doing it and I don’t think she wanted to be waiting for me on the bottom.
Here’s the thing- I really don’t know my physical limitations (well, I know I won’t be swinging on ropes anytime soon, but beyond that…). If you put a challenge in front of me, I’m going to do it, regardless of if I think I can or not. Stephanie is much more pragmatic than I. She knows that if she gets to the top and her leg hurts, she’s still going to have to come back down. I climb up not thinking about how I’ll feel and not thinking about coming back down. And, you know, Stephanie has a thing about heights whereas I only fear heights if I’m in an airplane. But she came with me and we climbed it together (some people did stay at the bottom, some people dropped off as we were climbing and I’d say about 40% of our tour went all the way to the top). This climb was no joke and was *incredibly* treacherous, and I’d even say dangerous at points. There are no handrails anywhere and the parts that are stairs instead of straight elevations are steep and slick. It’d be incredibly easy to fall off and harm yourself really bad if you weren’t paying attention to where you were going and putting all your energy into what you’re doing. But then…then we were at the top and it was *such* a proud moment. And I just sat there…staring off towards Guatemala and guzzling that (not so cold anymore) bottled water…and it was all worth it.
And then I had to get down. Climbing up was one feat. Trying to navigate those steep, slick, rocky steps down? I kind of thought I was going to die. I was legitimately considering sitting my ass down and scooting my way down because surely that would be safer. In the end, Stephanie had to hold my hand. The entire way down. Climb safely, kids. Always have a buddy. In the end, I’m *so* glad I did it, but I’m not sure it’s anything I’d be quick to do again. The view is simply gorgeous, but it’s a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. And scary. Xunantunich down. Up next? Tulum? Altun Ha? I want to see (and climb) them all. I’ll just take some Advil first.
We made our way back to the drop off area, where there were bathrooms and a small shop (we were encouraged to peruse, but certainly not pressured). We were loaded back into the same rickety vans that drove us up to the site and left off back at that hand-cranked boat to take us back across the river, past the craft peddlers, and onto our air-conditioned tour bus.
Lunch was included in our tour, so after we left the site, it was a ~15 minute ride to the restaurant where they were serving our lunch. We had chicken, rice and beans, cole slaw, fried plantains and our choice of soft drinks. I normally stay away from meat and poultry with bones in it, but that climb made me *hungry* and in that moment, nothing tasted better. Really. This food was fantastic. I bought a few bottles of hot sauce at the restaurant and tried the cashew wine (a local product), but it wasn’t my kind of thing.
We headed back onto the bus for another 2+ hours back to the port. Stephanie and I headed out to the bus as soon as we finished eating. Why? No same seats rule and we were intent on sitting together and towards the front this time. They asked us to fill out comment cards so they could improve the tour and these guides? They didn’t even bring up tipping. That earned them an extra tip from us, but I think most people probably stiffed them. If you enjoy your tours, please tip your guides. It’s how they make their livings and if you enjoyed your tour, chances are it was in large part thanks to them.
Did you know that there’s a large Amish population in Belize? We didn’t, either, until our guides told us and we came across them on our drive back!
They cut it close getting us back to the ship, though. Back on board was 4:15 and we got back to the pier at 4:00. We nearly ran through the port area only to find a line ~300 people deep (at least) for the tender. When we’d asked the purser, they said our platinum status would allow us to bypass the lines from the ship AND to the ship, but when we tried to get platinum tendering, we were only told to get in line with everyone else. So much for platinum appreciation. We got on a tender around 4:45 and were back on board around 5:00 pm. We found Mom who was totally freaked out that we were going to be left. I wish there was a way for groups separated on tours to contact each other (besides international calling on a cell phone) because this is the second time this has happened (the first time being the year before when we were late coming back from a tour in Costa Rica).
This evening was our second formal night, so when we got back to the room, we found petit fours waiting in our room. Stephanie showered and got ready and Mom took me upstairs for a snack and ice cream to cool off. I took a quick and hugely refreshing shower when we got back and got ready for formal night, but the entire process was so rushed because we had gotten back so late.
Dinner tonight was tasty but disappointing. The pasta starter sizes are incredibly shrinking. My chateaubriand was overcooked and dried out but that bearnaise sauce? Still ever delicious. Stephanie says she’s “all beefed out.” She’s always been more of a chicken girl anyways.
Baked Eggplant with Mozzarella Cheese (served on Romesco sauce and green pea fondue)
Penne Siciliana – Starter Portion (durum wheat pasta tossed with a sauce of eggplant, zucchini, plum tomatoes, cream, Pecorino cheese and Italian herbs)
Chilled Creamy Bing Cherry Soup
Green Bean and Roma Tomatoes (garnished with tender greens, tossed in vinaigrette dressing)
Grilled Flat Iron Steak from American Choice Beef (served with vegetables of the day and red bliss potatoes)
Chateaubriand with Sauce Bearnaise (sliced, grilled beef shoulder tender)
Amaretto Cake (almond flavored chocolate cake)
Baked Alaska (vanilla sponge with assorted ice cream and baked with meringue
After dinner, we headed to see tonight’s show, Far From Over, was better than the first one, but not see-this-twice good. The pre-show was better than the actual show. No real wow factor. Good, not great show. I really think I just have unrealistic expectations that each show will be like Ticket to Ride or Rock Down Broadway (still on a two-person cruisade to bring this back!).
After the show, we changed and went to watch Toy Story III on the big screen (where we discovered the popcorn was free). I grabbed some pizza and munched while watching, and then we went back to the room to watch Nancy Grace before falling asleep. I was exhausted (and mega sore from that climb at the ruins), but we only had one more port left and I was fully intent on enjoying it.
Today’s Lido dinner menu (we were out in Belize during lunch- sorry!)
