Tuesday, May 8th - Belize City

Belize was such a fun and busy day.  We had heard that cave tubing was the thing to do while in Belize, so we booked a tour with a local company through cave-tubing.com.  Basically you sit in a tube and float down a river that has cut its way through rock, leaving behind caves.  The company coined the phrase Butts Up! about the cave tubing because even though you are in a river, there are times the water gets pretty shallow and the distance between your bum and the rocks become microscopic.  They warned us that we would need to pick our bums out of the water whenever they yelled Butts Up otherwise we might we might have an unfortunate interaction with the Nutracker, Jewel Snatcher, or the Bum Swiper.  (They had 5 names in all - I wish I remembered the last two.  They were equally witty.)  Of course their humor, instantly won me over.  I was already glad we went with a local company and not Carnival - not only were we paying less but we had an awesome catch phrase!

We were picked up from the terminal and got to ride in a nice air conditioned bus.  We rode through town and the guide gave a little tour of the city as we headed out to the caves.  We spent about hour on the bus and then started our hike up to the cave.  At one point we had to cross over the river that we would be floating down later, and I couldn't believe how beautiful the water was.  It was perfectly clear and so refreshing!  We got to take a little dip and then started up the trail.  The guides carried up all the tubes for the ladies - I was very grateful for that.

BUTTS UP!

The caves were staggering.  At one point it literally felt like a 4 lane highway could pass through the cave.  Also, the walls were completely smooth in some of the caves because the water at times had filled them fully.  It really reminded me of the time Shane and I went snorkeling in a cenote on our honeymoon.  I'll be honest, part of me kept waiting for us to come around a corner and see rapids and a drop off to add some adrenaline to our tubing.  Instead we kept floating along nice and slow.  (I blame Water World for me feeling that way.)

Shane and I ended up being in the back of out little group of 8 which turned out to be a good thing because Mr. Shane kept wanting to swim.  They don't let you get out of your tube and swim, so Shane would put his legs down in his tube rather than sit on it, so he could somewhat swim.  He really is a fish in a man's body.  Another couple in our group was LDS so it was fun to chat with them and have instant friends.

We had a water fight with everyone in our tour and swam in the river before drying off and getting back on the bus.  We stopped for some authentic Belizian tamales on our way home.  They were delicious, but a bit hazardous.  Kara nearly speared her palate with an incredibly pointy chicken bone.

Before we knew it, we were riding the tender back to the boat and our visit in Belize had ended.  I really enjoyed the country.  It wasn't Americanized and you can tell the country really needs tourism to help their economy.  I have a feeling Shane and I will go back again - my parents have land there...

I covet her skin...Isn't it gorgeous!!!

Dinner on the ship was delicious...again.  After eating we played two rounds of hand and foot.  It is a family favorite.  Everyone humored me with a few quick rounds of Indian Poker.  I LOVE THAT GAME!!!  It cracks me up every time I play it.  After staying up far too late, we decided we better head to bed.  The next day we would be exploring Roatan!