I made it to my 53rd country - Belize! And today, we decided to do a two (make that three!) hour bus tour of Belize City to learn about the area, history and the culture.
Getting into Belize City isn't easy- and you have to tender there (not my favorite thing to do). If I had been to Belize before, I probably would have just stayed on the boat. The pilot has to come in to guide you through some man made channels in the cays to get to the spot where you anchor.
The pilot boat drops the pilot off and he guides us through the channels.
This is English Caye Light, an active lighthouse - you can see the 62 foot lighthouse on the island.
There are a ton of cayes just off the coast of Belize, hence the need for a pilot.
Mom and I went to the theater to wait for our number to be called so we could head out to our tender boat and join the tour group on land. The numbers were called at random, and people sort of made a game of it - if your number was called, people would cheer!
It's about a 25 minute boat ride to the mainland. Sit back and chat with your neighbors! Although it's very loud and hard to hear on this boat.
Finally, we arrived at the docks and looked for our number. When we were in line, I met BTS ARMYs! The lady sitting next to me on the boat saw my lock screen was BTS - she was going to the Stanford shows later this year, while I am going to Tampa and Foxborough!
We hopped on the bus with our guide Therese, who was really a fantastic tour guide. First, she took us by one of two Belize signs - this one was near the Baron Bliss lighthouse.
You can also see the three cruise ships that were anchored off the coast from here! Along with our ship was (of course... since we followed them the entire itinerary) the Carnival Miracle and the Royal Caribbean Rhapsody of the Seas!
The Baron Bliss lighthouse was built in 1885, and in front of it, you can see the grave of Edward Ernest Victor Bliss himself - who never actually stepped foot in Belize (or British Honduras as it was known back then), but was buried here and made a very large donation to the country. He had been paralyzed from the waist down when he was in his 40s from polio, and spent all of his post World War I years sailing the Caribbean on his yacht, the Sea King II. This spot was a former Spanish fortress that was destroyed in 1798 during the Battle of St. George's Caye. This was where the British defeated the Spanish, which is why Belize is the only Central American country where English - and not Spanish -is the primary language!
We drove past some really pretty buildings - they had a very Key West style sort of feel to them.
Then we had to stop at a little guard shack. Therese said it was because we were leaving the city and that they had to check the bus passenger list. I read somewhere that there are a bunch of police checkpoints, maybe this was one of them?
This is the Ramada, which also happens to be a big casino - which is the biggest casino in Central America! (Or so they say!) Superlative (?), check!
This little unassuming park was the spot where Charles Lindbergh landed the Spirit of St. Louis back in December of 1927 when he was on a goodwill tour of Central America.
Therese said a lot of people found these speed bump signs very funny because (in her words) "they look like boobs!" Or maybe a bootie!
Marion Jones Stadium was funded by Marion Jones herself. She isn't from Belize, but her mother was born here, and she has dual citizenship. She won gold in Sydney in the 100m and 200m but later confessed to using performance enhancing steroids so those gold medal wins were vacated.
There were a lot of really cool buildings but thankfully, many of the homes were elevated - some on pilings, some (at the very least, like this one) had an elevated first floor. Belize City sits about 2-3 feet BELOW sea level!
We took a quick stop for some pictures of the OTHER Belize sign!
There are a LOT of religious signs all over Belize City.
Loved the hanging pineapples and other various fruits on this roadside fruit stand.
We passed by the Traveller's rum distillery and museum that you can visit and do some tastings (next time!) This is not to be confused with Chris Stapleton's Traveller's bourbon!
A bridge over the Haulover River - this kind of reminded me of Florida.
There we go. A house on pilings! (Those piling seem pretty thin though!)
If it's not a sign pointing you to Jesus, it's a sign telling you to be prepared!
Oh my goodness, these little flowers were SO PRETTY!
We stopped pretty far outside of Belize City at Chukka Eco-Adventure Park for a little rum tasting (and a cold drink!)
We didn't take any airboat tours with this company (they mostly work with Carnival), but I'm guessing you could see some crocodiles on some of their tours. There are actually TWO types of crocodile here in Belize - American crocodiles and Morelet's crocodiles (aka: the Mexican crocodile or the Belize crocodile).
All of the boats leave from this dock and head out into the nearby lakes and marshes in the Sibun River floodplain.
Well, I didn't see any crocodiles, but we DID see this giant iguana sunning itself! I'm just mad that I didn't see any spider monkeys!
Gas was $6.75 a gallon in Belize on the day I took this picture of a gas station - and later, as I'm writing this, it's gone up to $7.27 per gallon. Belize purchases almost all of it's oil from other countries (mostly the United States) but they don't have a refinery. Instead, they have to send out the crude oil to other countries for refining, and then have the refined fuel re-imported. All of this adds up to a very high price at the pump!
What appears to be above-ground graves are prominent in Lords Ridge Cemetery, which is the only cemetery in the world that has graves in the median between the eastbound and westbound lanes of George Price Highway. When you first see it, you think that these graves are above ground because of flooding concerns. But nope. It's because there is a lack of space here, and family members get buried above other family members! George Price, the father of Belize and first Prime Minister is buried here.
As we traveled through the south side of Belize City on our way back toward the port, and this side of the city is not quite as nice as the northern part of the city.
They have a bunch of man-made canals in Belize City. Some canals were originally used for transportation a hundred years ago, and some canals were built thousands of years ago as fish traps, but now they're used to combat the ever-present flooding threat that persists - you know... since they're below sea level here! This is one of the man-made flood control canals.
I love it when I see elevated homes! Especially here. In 1961, Category 5 Hurricane Hattie (shout out to my niece with the same name) hit Belize, resulting in storm surge that destroyed about 70% of the buildings in Belize City. As a result, the government decided to relocate to Belmopan.
The Government House was allegedly built according to plans by Sir Christopher Wren (of St. Paul's Cathedral in London fame). It was first built as a house for the governor of British Honduras back in 1814. Now it's the House of Culture - a historical museum.
I didn't get a good picture of the church - St. John Anglican Cathedral across the street (because it was on the other side of the bus). It was built between 1812 and 1820, making it the oldest church in Belize City. It was originally built by slaves of bricks that they used as ballast aboard the Belizean-bound ships they came over on from England. The pews and doors inside are all made of mahogany, the national tree of Belize.
Jesus is the answer! LOTS of these signs all over Belize City!
This little bridge - known as the Swing Bridge - is the oldest swing bridge in Central America! Superlative, check! It's also a manually operated bridge, which is even more rare! Four men hand crank this bridge in order for it to turn perpendicular to the road which allows for boats to pass through.
The Conchshell Bay fish market sits on one of the man-made flood control canals. Fishermen bring in fresh caught seafood for sale here - including one of their local favorites, red snapper. YUM!
I spy the German honorary consul office here in Belize City!
After our fantastic tour of Belize City, we were dropped back off at the port. The tenders only run every 30 minutes so we decided to stop at the Wet Lizard for a final toast to Belize.
And I ran over real quick to the little passport stamp shop to get a Belize stamp in my passport! How awesome is this????
A toast to an awesome day in Belize! Notice that the Baron Bliss lighthouse is featured on the front of Lighthouse beer!
It's time to head back to the tender, but not before I snap a pic of this toucan - the national bird of Belize!
And of course... this guy. Who doesn't love a good Belizean pirate?
Goodbye Belize - I really enjoyed it! As our guide Therese said, when you get home and people ask you how Belize was, you have to respond with "You gotta see it, to Belize it!" OR... "It was Un-belize-able!"
Back on board, we headed to our room to freshen up and enjoy some quiet time on the balcony. The Carnival Miracle pulled out of the tender port first.
One of my favorite things about dinner at Blu every night was Joldan would ALWAYS come over with a Coke Zero for me! Even though I didn't always order the cabernet (ok, maybe I did), he KNEW I was going to want a Coke Zero to go along with it. It was so cute!
Dinner was always so delicious here!
We had a lovely sunset through the salty windows.
I guess I was missing my fam this evening, because I scratched their initials into the ice at Martini Bar, where we stopped after dinner.
Me and mom and the Martini Bar, our happy place on the Celebrity Constellation.
WHAT is happening Boom Boom lol. Even Edi is amused. Boom Boom is up on the counter with some flashy glasses on!
Naturally, we told Boom Boom that we needed the glasses, stat. Hello, Hollywood.
My new, other daughter Ellie - she looks much cuter in the glasses!
These are the four troublemakers at the Martini Bar every night - Carlos, Mom, Ellie and me!
Well, Mom does look pretty cool in Boom Boom's glasses!
I met Will earlier in the day on the tender boat INTO Belize City, and then we met up again at the Martini Bar. He was super cool!
One more of me and Ellie with Boom Boom's glasses before someone had to put me and mom to bed! Just kidding, but it was a super fun night, and a really awesome day in Belize City!
Until next time, Belize!
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