Eliana

Friends:

On our fourth cruise day, it was time for our first excursion! We entered the Central American country of Belize! Since Belize did not have a dock, we had to tender – take boats from the ship to the shore.

I’m ready for this adventure! (I think…)

I was a little worried about the weather because it was threatening rain. Then I realized that we were cavetubing and ziplining in the RAINforest! Duh! We were going to get wet anyway!

At the port, Eliana and Soleil made sure to cover up with super sunscreen!

We had to take a bus ride into the rainforest. I sat next to a Chinese-American woman named Gail, who was so much fun! First, we rode through Belize City.

In Belize City, they have above-ground cemeteries, just like in New Orleans, because of the threat of floods. It was kind of a deja-vu moment seeing the “Cities of the Dead.”

On our way, we stopped at a local store so that people could buy drinks and snacks. Kid Chef Eliana headed straight for the spices! I can’t wait to see what she cooks up!

We rode over pot-hole ridden roads. Our guide, Jennie, regaled us with stories and anecdotes about Belize. One of my favorites was that Madonna was so enchanted by one of their keys, San Pedro, she wrote a song about it that became “La Isla Bonita!” I started singing a verse and Jennie gave me the mike and had me sing away! LOL

Finally, we arrived at the cavetubing/ziplining site. Half of our group was only going cavetubing – floating down a river through caves in an inner tube – while the other half was cavetubing AND ziplining. I was in the latter half.

First, we had to get our tubes, life vests and headlamps.

A very small rain forest frog was attached to my aunt’s inner tube.

She screamed and freaked out at first… But look look at this awesome frog. He totally blends into the background! I am so glad I saw this little frog. I took him as a good omen because I was hoping for a book contract on a children’s picture book about a frog in the rain forest! And guess what? When I returned from this trip, I got the contract! Thank you, little frog!

We had to carry all of our gear and our inner tubes through the rainforest. It was about a thirty minute journey in total.

We made our way to the river, where we had to cross, holding onto a rope so that the current wouldn’t catch us. We were going upriver so that we could float through the caves.

We trekked through the rain forest. Jennie, our guide, showed me some amazing sights. Here, she draws on my hand with a leaf from a tree that is used to produce organic orange ink. The ink dried and stayed on my hand for days, like henna!

Jennie showed me a grum tree, that produces a sticky liquid that works just like Elmer’s Glue!

Here is our fabulous guide, Jennie, who is descended from the Mayans.

She showed us a large termite nest. It was incredible to look at but I’m not a termite fan!

She told an amazing story about the thorny Ceiba tree. There was once a woman who was the most beautiful woman in the village. Every man wanted her but she did not want them. She would lure them into the forest and they would never return. The woman became a Ceiba tree, covered with thorns. After maturing for 25 years, the Ceiba sheds its thorns. When you encounter a Ceiba tree covered with thorns, you know it is a young tree.

We had to walk through caves to get to the part of the river where we tubed.

Along the way, there were such picturesque scenes!

I was in such awe at the phenomenal beauty of the rain forest. I even saw Mahogany trees!

After that fantastic trek, we finally arrived at the point of the river where we started cavetubing. We got a new guide, Dion, who took us through the caves and down the river.

Then it was time to go cavetubing!

The night before we left New Orleans, Antonio bought a new underwater camera. I was using it for the first time, taking pictures of the inside of the wet caves and in the river. Unfortunately, it got disconnected from my wrist band and sank to the bottom of the river while we were in a dark cave.

Lesson to be learned: buy a camera that floats! Fortunately, I had my regular digital camera with me and I snuck some shots here and there. I didn’t want to miss documenting this AMAZING journey!

We floated in a line, connected to each other with our feet and a rope everyone held. The inner tubes were not the luxury kind you find at major water parks. They were real truck inner tubes!

Belizeans will tell you that the water is “refreshing” meaning it is cold. But after a while, we grew accustomed to it.

We floated lazily and were caught off guard as we hit some small rapids that threatened to disconnect our tube train!

It was so much fun but our adventure wasn’t over yet! We still had to ZIPLINE through the rain forest! Woo hoo! Read the next post for Part 2 of our Belizean adventure!

Until next time…

Warmly, Dianne

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