Today was our last excursion for our trip. We were supposed to disembark the ship at 7:45, so we met for breakfast at 7. We had to tender to Belize--which took about 20 minutes.
This was a description of our excursion:
"Enjoy a scenic river cruise on the New River. Then head out to the Lamanai ruins of the ancient Mayan civilization for a tour of the breathtaking grounds. An authentic Belizean meal is included on this excursion.
On the tender to Belize City.
Then we boarded a bus for an hour and 15 minute ride to Tower Hill which is where we got on another smaller boat for the cruise down the river. The bus ride was fairly boring. We drove through lots of small towns with a lot of poverty.
Getting off the bus and waiting in line for the restrooms before getting on the boat.
On the boat waiting to begin.
This wasn't a leisurely boat ride down the river. We were cruising! It was pretty fun. Our guide would stop every now and then to tell us something, but for the most part we were cruisin' along.
After about an hour, we stopped at Lamanai ruins and got out to walk around and see the ancient ruins.
A nice resting spot.
Our tour guide telling us where to go and what we would see. It was terribly hot and so humid that day. For the most part it was a pretty cloudy day, for which we were all grateful for!
Jim and Georgia in front of the first temple--Jaguar Temple, I think.
Garrett and Jim during our hike
Beautiful palm trees
More of those same ball courts that we saw in Cozumel.
The 2nd temple--called "High Temple"
This is the one that we were allowed to climb. It was really steep. And there I am climbing it in flip flops. Totally forgot to bring my tennis shoes that day. I was glad I was still able to climb it though.
Another view of the stairs from the side. (part way up)
This is as high as we went. There was still another set of stairs, but we were fine with where we got to. It was so steep! Pretty scary looking down!
A picture of us before we started heading down
Georgia took this one from the very bottom. She must've zoomed quite a bit!
I felt it was safest to head down on my bum while holding onto the rope.
Georgia's picture of Garrett side stepping down.
almost there!
Getting our picture by the High Temple
This was the Mask temple that we saw after the High Temple. You could climb this one also but you had to use the stairs around the back. I was the only one who climbed this one. It wasn't as tall as the other one, but still neat.
A close-up of the 'mask'.
Me at the top
Me at the top with a lot of the temple
Looking down
I found this map online to show where they were all located.
We then walked back to where the little museum was so that we could go to the bathroom again before getting onto the boat to head back. While we were walking back to the museum (through the woods) we heard the scariest, craziest sound--almost like a lion or some big animal was growling at us--and it was getting louder. It was freaky. The guide told us that they were howler monkeys fighting with another group of monkeys. I recorded it on my phone, but I can't ever get videos to play on here. It was cool in an eerie sort of way.
I guess this is what howler monkey's look like. They sound pretty scary!
This was a sign welcoming us to Lamanai. We took the picture as we were heading back down to the boat.
Jet boat ride again!
It was really windy!
This was our boat driver
Before getting back on the bus, then had a Belizean meal for us of stew chicken, rice and beans and some sort of salad. It was pretty good.
After finally getting back to the ship and taking a much needed shower--we went to dinner to celebrate Garrett's 40th birthday! I had brought a few little presents with me so that he would have something to open.
Then we went and watched "Gravity" out under the stars. We got there kind of late, so most of the good, close chairs were taken. So we went up a deck, but it was hard to hear. So we went and found less comfortable chairs and tried to fit into empty spaces on the main pool deck.
When that movie was over, we went and watched Country Western musical trivia. That was fun and the entertainment crew is so funny! I think we just went to bed after that. Another fun day!
