western carribean cruise 2010

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December 11, 2010- Arrive at Port Canaveral to board the Carnival Dream

Slide 2: 

Carnival Dream decorated for Christmas

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December 13, 2010 – Arrive at our first port, Cozumel, Mexico

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Cozumel, Mexico- One of the Mayan Sculptures at the port

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Shopping in Port at Cozumel and one of the pirates. Arrrgg!

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Our trip to San Gervasio- a site of Mayan Ruins in Cozumel-This is a tomb structure. The stones were brought here by boat from the Yucatan Peninsula/ They are held together by a mixture of limestone, sand and honey.

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The history of San Gervasio

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The Maya people built complex temples that were aligned to the movement of celestial bodies. Although they remained technically a Stone Age culture, they also developed sophisticated mathematics, astronomy and calendars.

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This is a blowup of the previous slide showing the history in Spanish

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This structure was used for ceremonial purposes. The grass hut on top is not original but is just there to protect the ruins from further damage. The Mayan women believed that if they would come here to cleanse themselves by bathing in the hot tubs, they would be fertile and conceive a child.

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This Raul, our tour guide. He is of Mayan descent and knew a lot about the history and myths of the Mayans.

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This structure was believed to be used for ceremonial sacrifices.

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This is a better view of the previous structure used for sacrifices. Many people believed that Mayan’s had a lot of gold but in reality “no gold” has been found in Mayan tombs. This is one of the myths that Raul shared with us.

Slide 14: 

Some of the native plants and trees from Cozumel

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Another view of site

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Another ceremonial structure. This slide also shows some of the plants and orchids native to Cozumel

Slide 17: 

Getting a history lesson

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Our tour guide showed us this beautiful orchid growing from inside a tree stump.

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This structure was used like a clock to tell time. The Mayans could tell the time of day by the placement of the shadow you can see inside. The Mayans were great architects. Their building were all aligned by the sun and moon.

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This is what is left of another structure. You can see the beams that remain but much of the wall have been torn down by people searching for gold that was not found.

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He explained to us that 7 was an important number in Mayan history and most of buildings all had 7 steps. He also explained that Mayan’s were great mathematicians and could calculate the day of the year based on the placement of the sun by the way they built their buildings.

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Example of the 7 steps on the altar structure

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Spanish wording of Altar Structure

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Tomb Structure, walls have been torn down

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This is the Mayan Calendar, which goes until December 21, 2012. Some people believe that the world will end on December 21, 2012 but that is another myth. This is not what the Mayan’s had in mind as explained by our tour guide. They believe their will be a great change but not the end of the world.

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Leaving the site

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After leaving ruins, we went by bus to this beautiful beach for lunch

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We found this beautiful cross on the beach.

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The beach had a lot of rocks and coral and were fun to climb

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December 14, 2010- We arrive in Belize.

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Belize is a country with a mix of cultures. You will find a mixture of Maya, Garinagu and many other cultures. The Maya mysteriously disappeared, but their direct blood descendants are still living in Belize. In the 1500s, the Spaniards came over and captured Mexico and Central America including Belize and constructed some plain stone churches. They mixed with the Mayas and created the Mestizo culture. The official language of Belize is English, but the Creoles speak their own colorful dialect as well as Standard English. Spanish is the main language in the north and some towns in the west. You may also hear Mayan, Chinese, Mennonite German, Lebanese, Arabic, Hindi and Garífuna (the language of the Garinagu people of Stann Creek district) being spoken. Most of Belize's population is Roman Catholic The most common food of the people in Belize is rice and beans. These are most often complemented with chicken, pork, beef, fish or vegetables coconut milk and fried plantains. Information on Belize

Slide 34: 

We had to take a boat from our cruise ship to the port.

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View from the boat of the port in Belize.

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Lighthouse we saw in Belize

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View of Belize as we headed back out to the ship. This port is known for it’s beautiful reefs and snorkeling but because of bad weather, the excursions were cancelled.

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December 15, 2010- Arrived in Roatan, Honduras. This was our favorite port. Beautiful and the weather was great.

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View from our balcony on the ship of the beach in Roatan.

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Bridge that went from the cruise port to Mahogany Bay

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Hard to see in the photo but there was a chair lift that also took you from the port to the beach. Like the ones at ski resorts.

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Mahogany Bay Beach Resort- This resort was beautiful with lots of water sports, coral, beaches, food and music.

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More fun in Roatan

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Better view of the chair lift and our boat.

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Kayaks and various watersports rentals at beach

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Our clamshell cabana on the beach

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They had several open air restaurants and little boats with tables and umbrellas you could eat in.

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Beautiful Palms on the beach

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Kayakers

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Logan and Shawn in their paddle boat

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Logan showing off some of the coral he found. They also saw nurse sharks in a pen while they peddled around the island.

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Closer view of the coral that Logan found. He brought it back home with him.

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Beautiful plants and trees native to Roatan, Honduras

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December 17, 2010- Costa Maya, Mexico. View of Port and Mexican Flag.

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This port was VERY busy as there were two large ships in and the it was extremely windy . Again, off shore excursions and fishing were cancelled.

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We did see dolphins and trainer but it was too cool for us to get in the water, although the dolphins didn’t seem to mind it.

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Dolphins in Costa Maya

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We had lunch at Mamasita’s (or hot mamma in spanish.) We tried nachos in every port. Roatan’s nachos were our favorite.

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Even the coke’s were written in spanish.

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We visited a Jade Museum in Costa Maya

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Mesoamerican skull.

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Learned about the history of Jade and places were it is found in Mexico.

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Tools that were used to cut and carve jade.

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Tequila museum

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Logan made a new friend, “Kiko”

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Kiko likes to climb

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Logan was a little worried but the monkey didn’t seem to mind at all.

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Met up with the family, having a little too much fun at Fat Tuesdays.

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Everyone had balloon hats at Fat Tuesdays. There was a lot dancing and funny signs.

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On our drive back home from Florida, we stopped in at Paula Deen’s famous restaurant. The Lady and Sons. The food was amazing!

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Met Paul Deen! Well not really but a cardboard cut-out.

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Buffet style, southern cooking. Like Paula says “put some south in your mouth!” The tea was so sweet, like syrup with mint leaves. No seasonings needed. This food was to die for!

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We even stopped by an old southern plantation turned into museum near Parris Island, SC. They had lot of old guns and Marine Corps memorabilia.