Mayan Ruins in Belize...Then Honduras

 In both Belize and Honduras, we had to ride on smaller boats called tenders to get from the boat to the shore.  This required waiting in lines early in the morning to get tender tickets and then waiting in lines again to get off the ship.  It required patience.  The tender ride in Belize was 20-25 minutes each way so you can imagine what a process it was to get several thousand people off the ship and move them to the shore.  Even though it was a long process, we were less nervous than the previous day as we realized the excursion operators would wait for the people from the ship.  Otherwise, there wouldn't even be an excursion.  When we arrived in Belize City, we were able to walk along the shore to the building where the excursion tours operated.   We were registered for a tour to the Altun Ha Mayan ruins.  We left the city and drove on a bus through the countryside for about 45 minutes.  Our guide answered many questions about Belize during our ride so it was very informative.  He showed us lots of cinderblock walls where people are gradually building their houses.  Hardly anyone in Belize has a car since gas is $5 a gallon.  However, almost everyone has their own small house and a yard with coconut trees.  They have no mortgages.  They just build the houses as they can.  The literacy rate is high as most children regularly attend school and wear uniforms.

 He said they have good medical care but their first line of care is to go to an herbalist.  They turn to nature first.  They also grow a lot of the organic food used around the world since they don't use fertilizer.

 We were very fortunate as we were allowed to climb up on the pyramid type structures.  This summer, they are going to discontinue allowing the tourists to climb on the ruins.

 Except for a few concrete flat areas between the wall sections to stabilize the structures, these ruins are the same as they have always been.  They have not been reconstructed.

 They did add some hand rails to the tallest temple structure.  We appreciated that very much.

 They call this tree the "Tree of Life."  They pointed out it has a shape somewhat like a cross.

 They had a little restaurant where you could buy some local foods.  I bought one container of items including rice and some meat.  The meat was very spicy and no one else wanted to eat the food so I did.  Shock!  Abigail had an imported treat.  I think it was ice cream or a popsicle type thing.

 Here is the restaurant.  There were a few shops there too but we didn't have time to browse.

 Abigail was in a serious panic mode the last 15-20 minutes of the ride back.  She needed to go to the bathroom but there was no place to stop.  Everyone waited while she and Tiffany got off and ran to the restroom.  I was so happy that we made it.  Then Tiffany allowed her to get her hair braided.  After that we got our passports stamped and headed to the ship.  It was drizzling lightly a lot that day and by the time we got back to port, it was really raining.  We decided to get on the first tender and get back on the ship.

 We were so glad we got to see some of the Mayan ruins.  It was fascinating to think about they might link to the Book of Mormon.  Our guide told us that the people were very good people and didn't have human sacrifices until the last years of their decline as a society.

 The locals were freezing in Belize.  The temperatures were in the high 60's and they aren't used to it getting that cold.

Early the next morning, I was in the line again to get tender tickets for Roatan, Honduras.

 Here is the tender ticket line for Honduras.  As it turned out, the ride was only about 5 minutes so it was much quicker to get off the ship.  We probably could have gotten by without the ticket.

 We expected rain in Honduras as it rains very often there.  However, it was one of the nicer days of our visit.  We had occasional sunshine and it was comfortably in the 70's.  It didn't rain.

 We got on a bus and took a windy road around part of the island for about 20 minutes to a dock where we would ride along the reef in a glass bottom boat.

 While we waited for the boat, a family from Malad, Idaho shared their bag of tropical fruit with us.

 A marine biologist rode in the boat with us and explained to us what we were seeing.  She was very informative.  However, we seriously doubt that the tourists urinating in the ocean are going to ruin the reef that hasn't changed in the past 20 years but that is her story and she is sticking to it.  We thought the locals who drop their garbage everywhere, posed a larger problem.  The tourists were very respectful.

The reef was amazing.  It was neat to see it at the northern end near Cozumel and then see it's southern end at Honduras.  It is the second longest reef in the world. That said, however, we were very happy when the boat ride was finished as we were starting to feel nauseated--especially me.

 Because I didn't feel like riding a bus along the twisting, turning road to the beach, we went directly back to town and did a little shopping to get a few homemade, Made in Honduras, (not China) souvenirs.

Good buy, Honduras!  That was our last shore excursion.  The next two days will be spent at sea returning to Houston.