Did you know there is Senior Day at the movies?

Here's a new luxury- going to the movies during the week.  So now that we have the time, we've gone to a couple of epic movies ( which everyone else probably saw a few months ago) : Les Miserables and Lincoln.

There is  Senior Day at the movies, where your ticket is a reduced rate if you are 60.  I'm not sure if the increased noise before the movies is because there might be hearing issues, or if people just don't care if others hear them.  Luckily, they have quieted down as the lights go down. Maybe their voices are connected to the dimmer switch.

At any rate, These were 2 fantastic movies to see.  If you hadn't heard, Les Miserables filmed the singing in "raw time".  The performers did the singing as they filmed the scene- not in a recording studio.  They wore earphones so they could only hear a piano playing with them.  The other actors couldn't hear the music.  It made the music so much more emotional.  The orchestra music was edited in later.  Wow- what a difference from the musicals of the 1950's.

Lincoln, another Oscar nomination, paid some amazing attention to detail.  If you look at pictures of Mary Lincoln, she wore a necklace identical to the one Sally Field wore.  Daniel Day-Lewis became Lincoln.  The goofy wig Tommy Lee Jones wore?  Take a look at pictures of Thaddeus Stephens- same wig.

Next stop- St George Island in the Florida Panhandle- stay tuned.

A day at sea

So what kind of things can you do during a day at sea?

You can watch where you've been

It took me until the last day to figure out that the handles were to hold onto in case of rough seas.

There are Viking Evacuation Chutes  located by the lifeboats.  These are  "express  slides"  to get to the lifeboat in case it's in the water and you're on deck.

Casino:  most of the games are all digital now.  Judy came home with the same amount of money that she left with.

Library: for those that still read print books.

Have a nice lunch

Swimming, anyone?

Oh no- not more shopping!

The Happy Happy Washy Washy girls.  These 2 ladies were known as the Happy Happy Washy Washy girls because that was their job.  They would stop everyone entering the buffet restaurant and spray each passenger's hands with sanitizer, saying "Happy Happy, Washy Washy"  None of us got sick,so it appears that they are successful in their jobs.  I can't imagine saying those 4 words hundreds of times each day, but they do it with a smile.

The end of this trip- coming back under the Skyway bridge during the night.

More trips and adventures coming.

Cozumel- do we hear Mariachi music?

Another morning, how can it be raining again?   Here we are arriving in rainy Cozumel.  Our plans for this stop were to just wander around the city and do some shopping.

                      This time we have a twin docked next to us.  Forget the sunscreen- who would have thought we should have brought ponchos and umbrellas on this trip?

Local Mariachi players that were very good- it was an enjoyable street concert

Local Cozumel transportation

By afternoon, the weather had started to clear, and Judy was shopped out.  Dave had already had enough shopping and had found a nice terrace bar where he could practice his Spanish "Cerveza, por favor".  We decided it was time to head back to the ship.

Oh look- the water is starting to look blue

Local Cozumel buildings

Is that finally blue sky?

Well, this just figures- we're leaving, and the sky and water are now blue

There are still Pirates in the Caribbean!!

 Next- a day at sea

Costa Maya- Land of Pyramids

  Ah the blue- (opps)  gray skies of Costa Maya 

The day we arrived in Costa Maya, it was raining (again).  This time we were able to dock right at Costa Maya.  Interesting breakfast scenery isn't it?












Shortly after we docked, a Carnival cruise ship joined us.  These folks had a better time than those on the Triumph.  We were on the Norwegian Dawn. 

The entrance to the shopping area at Costa Maya.

 As we walked to the entrance to Costa Maya, we couldn't help but notice our welcoming committee.  These 4 soldiers and their dog just watched each and everyone of us pass.  One can only surmise that they were on guard for anyone bringing in drugs.  The question is why would you bring drugs into Central America?  I thought that it would be an export.  The committee wasn't  there when we left.



While we were there, we met some people from a wildlife rescue organization.  This is George.  He is a 2 month old male lion.  He and his brother had been rescued from an abusive owner.He has a healing wound between his eyes on his forehead.  George had amazingly big paws and made a variety of  sounds.  I think he quickly got bored of us holding and petting him.

It took us about an hour to get to the pyramids by bus.  The roads were pretty rural as is this house that we passed.  We also passed some large pineapple farms- which is a large export.  

 

We were stopped at this military checkpoint.  It took a few minutes.  Everything was done by the tour guide and the bus driver.  

This is a chiklet tree.  The sap from this tree is an organic gum.  Years ago, the sap from these trees was exported to the US where pieces of it were coated in candy and became- yes, you guessed it- Chicklets gum.  The gum we know is now synthetically made, but you can still by the raw organic gum by the pyramids.  The sap can only be harvested form a tree every 5 years, and is obtained from these diagonal slashes.

We actually made it to the pyramids.  Here's Dave at the great pyramid.  It's so amazing to think that these had been completely covered with dirt and had trees and other vegetation growing on them.  Dave looks kind of tiny when you compare him to the size of the pyramid, but it gives you a better reference.

Yes, Judy made it there, too.

Dave's wandering on another ruin that has been partially uncovered.

More ruins that have been discovered.  It is amazing to walk at this site.  The original city must have been very large. There are hills everywhere, and we were told that each hill has a building under it.  The centuries of wild growth have taken their toll on the buildings.  Roots from all the trees and plants have gotten into the underground ruins and has separated the stones on many of them.

The pyramids were originally stuccoed much like our houses here, and were painted red.  This is one preserved area of the original stucco.

And as we sail away under gray skies.........

Next stop- Cozumel

Belize- a place for adventure

Arriving in Belize, we found it foggy and raining.  This had become the norm for us.  


Other arriving ships would appear out of the fog.  Ships have to anchor 5 miles away from the port due to a reef.










 The result is what amounts to a cruise ship parking lot.

 People have to take a tender to shore.  These boats are high speed, and make the 5 mile trip in 10 to 15 minutes.  We had a great time- it was a bouncy trip and not for the faint- hearted ( or weak-stomached).

 








Once we got to port, we boarded the bus to take us to the rainforest.  Patrick was our tour guide, and made the trip enjoyable.  The city of Belize is quite different from where we live.  Some of the buildings are well over 100 years old.

"Fruit Markets" can be one person sitting next to the road selling fruits and vegetables.

.

 All graves in the cemetery have 3 foot high concrete tomb-like structures on the top of them, and all headstones face west.  In Belize, people have to be buried "under 6 feet".  This means that the grave is dug 3 feet deep, and then the concrete structure adds the other 3 feet on top.  This is not to be confused with what we know as "6 feet under".  The Belize pictures aren't really clear due to the rain hitting the bus windows.

On the trail through the rain forest- in the rain.  Ironic, isn't it?

Preparing to enter the cave

 Each tour group was tethered together so that no one could get lost.  The water in the caves is shallow in some places, but over 20 feet deep in others.  Plus, it's really dark.  Definitely not the place where you would want to get lost.  It was too dark to take any pictures inside, darn it.

 This is where we ate after tubing.  We had the traditional Belize meal of chicken, rice, beans and plantains.  After we finished eating, it was back on the bus to return to the city and port so that we could get back to the ship.  Belize had some really great looking duty-free stores, but we got back so late we had to get right to the tender to get back to the ship because it was time to leave.  An amazing day, and the rain didn't ruin things for us at all.

Next stop- Costa Maya.

Arriving in Roatan

On Tuesday morning we arrived in Roatan.  It was a gray, drizzling day.  There was a welcoming committee on the dock for us.  This group of people remained there singing and dancing for the entire time we were docked in Roatan.

Roatan is a place of very different cultures.  There is the local housing area, where some of the houses don't even have glass in the windows- just shutters that they open during the day.  There is also an area where ex-pats have come to live.  This is an upscale area of very modern condos, and familiar names such as Wendy's.  There is also a tourist area where people come to stay for vacation.  Roatan has a very small airport, about the size of Tampa's Peter Knight Airport, but  they are very proud to state that it is an international airport.   One thing that was strange to see were security guards standing outside of banks wearing bullet-proof vests and carrying shotguns.

Duty -free shops were located at the docks.  The ones here had everything from t-shirts to diamond jewelry.  Luckily, they also had bottles of coca-cola products, as there were none on board ship.

And so, as they sky remained gray, and it started to get cooler, we bid farewell to Roatan.
 

We sailed off into the sunset, with our next stop planned for Belize.