Spring Vaca - Day 5

Day 5 (Wednesday 3/25) - We tendered outside of Belize around 8am. It took about 20 minutes for each tender boat to reach Belize City - total time depending on the lines to get back/forth. As with Costa Maya, the area where the tourists shop, eat or stay (port) is the nicest area of the city. Our ship's staff suggested we stay in the tourists areas of each city as the poverty outside can be extreme and the streets aren't always guarded by police. The people of Belize City could not get into the tourist area unless they actually worked in the shops and had badges. We had to show our ship card to get in and out. Jamie, of course, decided that we were going to tour the city rather than stay at port. He found someone to walk us around - a 'local tour guide' from the street. : )

Belize City - Port

inside the actual city - small stores & places to eat along the streets

a Flea Market - tents were everywhere in the streets

After walking around for a while, we caught a taxi to a local beach. Again, as with most of Mexico, the beaches are private. You either have to pay to get into the beach or be part of a shore excursion. The nicer beaches in Belize were another boat ride away, so we decided to stay at the closest beach to the city. They had a large pool - which was actually part of the ocean, just bridged off - as well as a zip line over the pool and park, a large water slide, a restaurant and museum.

Jamie getting ready to do the zip line

Once back on the ship, we had to get ready for dinner again. After dinner we went to another show at the theater - a magic show by Rand Woodbury that we all really enjoyed.

Every night, when we got back to our room after dinner or a show, there would be a towel animal. Apparently these towel animals are expected on all Carnival cruises - very cute.

If we were to go back to Belize again, I would like to take a shore excursion across to the other private beaches. I was hoping to do some snorkeling in Belize and apparently that is the only place to do it.

I don't think I've posted any yet, but I took a picture of my feet in the sand and water at every city. No, there are not many pictures of me on our vacation - I enjoy being behind the camera and I don't enjoy very many pictures of myself. : ) I also took several pictures of the food we had (something the comedians made jokes about) as well as all of the towel animals. All of those pictures can be found on our Picasa page.

Day 6 coming soon...