Cruise Days 3 & 4--Belize & Cozumel

Day 3 (3 because day 1 of the cruise was sailing) brought us to Belize. Trevor and I were planning on just walking around and experiencing the culture here, but we fast found that it wasn't like we thought it was going to be. This first picture is of the port---first look gives a sense of okay, but not so. This 'port town' has a wall around it, guarded by port authority, and once you leave, you can't come back in unless you show your ship card. A little odd we thought, but we headed out of bounds anyway.

And this is what the country really looks like.

We walked right into the culture for sure. There were so many little shops to buy souvenirs and every, I mean everyone was right in your face to come inside to buy from them. They even followed you down the street until you ignored them and they went away. I was so out of my comfort zone and wanted to get back inside the 'port city'. There were shops here too, a little higher prices 'cause the owners had to pay to have their shops inside, but not as pestering as outside. More comfortable for sure.

Once back inside, we found Grandpa Jarrett wandering by himself, trying to find us or others in our group. He and Grandma were going to go on a van tour with some folks from Los Angeles and were working out a deal. We didn't want them to go by themselves so we decided to go along too. While waiting for the van driver to get the van, Michelle caught up with us and she joined in---Logan and Craig went their separate ways, Logan ended up snorkeling and Craig getting a massage on the beach (from a very hefty lady :).

Anyway, these are some pictures from out the van window--we never stopped anywhere, which was fine, but it was difficult to get pictures. The cemetery there (and in other tropical climates around there) the dead are 'buried' above ground 'cause of the high water table. If they were to bury them underground, they would just float to the surface. Kinda interesting.

Another view of the city...

One of, or the first church in the country, I don't remember..

The tour took us around the entire country and we saw the various economic status' within the country. On one side you have the very poor and as you drive around you experience the middle and upper classes too. The upper class individuals had beautiful million-dollar houses, beach front property and private ocean inlets and outlets to and from their own 'islands'.

But, everywhere on every little 'shop', burglar bars were present...the van driver said that as soon as the sun goes down, the country goes into lock down 'cause the crime rate is so high. We saw militia men men walking the streets with machine guns, so we were happy to stay inside the van. Once back to the port, we hung around and did some shopping, then back to the ship for more food! *Cool note: we saw a little LDS church here too, burglar bars and all*

Day 4---Cozumel, Mexico

This was our explore the culture day. Getting off the tender, you enter the port town and shopping, shopping, shopping. We decided to walk downtown which was about 2 miles, but all along the beach front and it was neat to see the different hang-outs and excursion places as we went along. As we entered downtown, we stopped at their what we would compare to Wal-mart and bought a drink---had to buy Mexican made Pepsi with cane sugar...delicious! Then we set out to find the 'mercado' for some authentic Mexican food. Walking further into the neighborhoods, I was a little nervous, but Trevor was in his element. It brought him back to those tracting days in the mission. It was fun to hear the comparisons and stories as we walked. We found a central 'mercado' and decided on this quaint restaurant. The little old lady was excited that she could talk to Trevor and explained the menu and then he translated for me and I got chicken enchiladas with mole (mo-leh) sauce. I don't remember what Trevor got, but his was better than mine. Take a look...I think they were some variety of fajita we would have here.

After walking, we wanted a 'coke' but they don't serve it cold and we asked for ice. Yeah, brown ice, not so appetizing---it was still a great experience to go and eat 'autentico'!

We walked back downtown and stopped back at the 'wal-mart' and got some cans of cane sugar soda to have on the ship (in order to have a soda on board, you had to purchase a drink card $50 for the entire cruise...we thought not worth it) and some Mexican candy to take back home for Michelle's class and the kids. Then instead of walking to the port we got a taxi, which was nice after walking all day in the heat---fair skin, forgotten sun-screen, you get the picture.

We spent the rest of our time shopping for our souvenirs and then boarded for more food!
By this time going to dinner was a task, not for lack of eating. It was fun to sit down with everyone and hear their daily adventures too.