Postcard From The Caribbean

I'm back from my wonderfully exciting, but not very relaxing cruise! Actually, we got back on Sunday but it was after a ridiculous 13 hours of travel that took us from Tampa, to Cleveland, to Chicago, to Hartford. That day alone required substantial recovery time. 

I gained about five pounds despite forcing myself to walk up seven flights of stairs ten times a day. It's cool though. I bought a lot of kale at the store today, so I'm hoping those extra pounds just magically go away since I am no longer surrounded by buffets at all times.

I also read Your Voice In My Head by Emma Forrest. It is amazing. A quick read, but absolutely brilliant.

Instead of booking the pricey ship excursions, I did everything through local companies that I researched on Trip Advisor and Cruise Critic. I was looking forward to Roatan the most and booked us a private guide through Roatan Adventure Tours.  

It is a beautiful island off the coast of Honduras and our guide Wilkie was great. But despite all the natural beauty, there is an incredibly visible amount of economic disparity. You cannot overlook the crippling poverty in places. Half of the population doesn't even have electricity. Meanwhile, rich Americans are building multimillion dollar homes half a mile away. After we got back to the boat we both admitted to feeling rather down about the whole experience. That's not to say that you shouldn't go there. Please do. They need the tourism. Just be kind and tip well.

One of our favorite stops was the Carambola Botanical Gardens. We only saw a small portion, but it was amazing.

I kept humming the Indiana Jones theme, which apparently is annoying??? 

James as he appears in nature.

We also visited the Roatan Lighthouse which provided stunning and terrifying views. Seriously. 

I mean, look at that railing!

It was worth it though.

 This sleeping monkey was also there too.

Honduran conch fritters for lunch.

Our view

The next port was Belize. Oh Belize! We spent the day on Goff's Cay swimming in the clearest water I have ever seen, drinking the local beer, eating grilled lobster, and getting sunburnt. Well, the last part was just me. Even still, it was heavenly. 

Interesting fact: Belikin beer basically has a monopoly on the entire country. Fun!

In Costa Maya we visited Chaccoben, a Mayan site. It was very cool, but rainy. 

 Ugh, short shorts would not get out of my shot.

I guess that's better.

Dude, seriously.

Later on we visited Bacalar Lagoon, known as the lagoon of the seven colors, for lunch and fun. Unfortunately, due to a nasty Fall hurricane, the lagoon was really more like two murky colors. Apparently, this is due to tannins in the water that will eventually dissipate--just in time for hurricane season!  We also met a nice New Zealand couple that was on the last leg of a 5 week trip that involved taking several different Caribbean cruises. They said their favorite spots were Key West and Barbados, so do with that what you will. 

Lunch! Best tortillas and refried beans ever.

It may not have been seven colors, but it was still quite lovely. 

I don't even want to talk about Cozumel. It sucked. I got heat stroke and a great deal on silver earrings. Oh, and James got this hat. The end. 

All in all, it was a great vacation. At first we were a little turned off by the sheer amount of elderly people aboard our ship, but it was nice to see so many places. I guess that's the trade off. Of course, as is always my issue, I didn't allow enough time for us to do absolutely nothing. Ah well.