Day 5 on the Cruise

Belize, Belize

We had to be up at 7 am ship time which was 5 am utah time to eat breakfast and be in line so we could be tendered over to Belize for our excursion. It was about a 15 minute boat ride over and once we got there, we had to find our guide. After we walked on the pier for a few minutes, we finally made it to the VIV tours. We got checked in and then waited for our driver and tour guide to show up. Some crazy man name Gary came up and put his arms around me and told me I was his new wife. He also wanted a picture with me. It was kind of weird...something about my blond hair I guess.

Anyways, originally we were put in a van with a guy by the name of Kareem, but ended up being switched at the last minute to Junior. One thing I loved about our excursions, is that we were always together in the vans and it was just our group. Well, Junior was from Belize and he had two children. He told us some interesting facts about the country. The average yearly household income was $7000. Gasoline is $5.50 a gallon. Almost 33% of the country's income comes from tourism. Most people there do not drive. Many of the people speak Creole, which is a language that was created by the slaves when they were coming across the sea in the big ships. They made it up so the ship masters couldn't understand them. It was neat to hear Junior speak in Creole. We did not understand him. Its English, but slurred together really quickly.

The group of us that went on the cruise were all LDS (Mormon) and so when we said we were from Utah, Junior asked if we were Mormons. Come to find out, he actually has the missionaries over to his house once a week and he is learning more about our religion. It's a small world.

We drove out into the country where our first activity was ziplining in the jungle. Our guides were great and fast at hooking us up to the lines. We would climb up this hill and then zip line down. The longest line was 750 ft. I really thought it was fun and not scary at all. We ended up going down 7 linesRachel loved to scream when she would go down the line. Kristyn loved to put her legs out staight like "Mary Poppins" and the rest of us were pretty normal. It was gorgeous on in the jungle and so greeen. It was also very humid, which reminded me of home. It was actually nice to work up a sweat.
After the zip lining, Junior took us on a 45 minute walk through the jungle to get to the caves. He knew so much about the vegetation. He told us that the soil was only 4 to 5 feet deep so the trees roots had plank rooting system. He told us about poison wood, which would eat right through your skin if you get the sap on you. He told us about the "shedding" tree that could cure the poison wood burn. He told us about the tree that couldn't survive without the ants and the ants couldn't survive without the tree. He showed us the vines that grow and the liquid on the inside of them could cure pink eye.
He showed us mango trees, pineapple plants and many other beautiful trees. One of the trees had little nuts on them that they actually use to make chapstick. Junior said most of the people there still use plants from the jungle as remedies.
When we got to the river, we put our tubes down, and Junior let us dive into the river and swim for a while. The water was so blue-green and clear. It felt so good and it was definately one of my highlights of the trip. We swam for quite a while and then got in our "luxurious" tubes and floated down the cave. We were all hooked together and Junior did all the work pulling us through the caves.
He showed us the bats up on the ceiling. He showed us the stalagmites down on the ground. He showed us Crystal Cave, which is a cave that goes 7 miles down into the earth. It was dark in the caves, but not scary. We had lights on our helmets. I actually almost fell asleep in there because it was quiet, dark, and I was so tired. It was so beautiful when we came out of the caves and just floated down the river.
We got back to the main building when we were done and went up to eat a lunch buffet. The food was great and my favorite was the carrot cake. We visited with Junior and he told us about how the dried leaves on the roof could last up to 7 years.
It was a good experience to be able to drive into Belize and to see some of the country. Its a very poor country. It made me feel grateful for what we have here in the US. Alot of the homes were little shacks. Many of the kids were on there way to school. They all wear uniforms to school.