Swimming With The Sharks! And Other Travel Highlights

 

Belize is known for its Coastline and Barrier Reef -  and today we spent the day on the ocean

Since arriving in Belize, we have been joined by our friends, Ken and Mary, and they will be here a week here with us.  Our son TK and wife Jenny are also here, so we have a nice group to spend time with.  

Today we took a long boat ride to one of the many islands off the coast to enjoy one of finest assets of Belize - the Caribbean coastline.  There is a massive coral reef that lines the coast and has formed many of the islands, which are a popular tourist destination.  

 

This barrier reef is one of the largest in the world, and is host to an amazing variety of underwater sea life.   TK and Jenny and I went for a snorkeling expedition, and were rewarded with a fantastic array of things to see.

 

One of the more noteworthy was a spot known for sharks.  When we pulled up in the boat, our group was directed to put on masks and snorkel tubes and fins and be ready to jump into the water when the sharks show up.  And sure enough, they came around the boat, and the skipper said to jump in.  

This is a rather dubious request.  I am not real fond of sharks, most people aren't.  But we jumped in as we were instructed, and there were at least a dozen large sharks milling around.  They were looking for food.  My strategy was to not be the first one to jump in.  If the first jumper didn't get eaten, then the rest of us were probably safe.  

Fortunately, we were not food today.  The sharks were looking for fish and we were not on the menu. It was by far the closest I have ever been to big sharks, especially so many.  Another one of those travel adventures where you are close to danger, which makes it exciting - sometimes too exciting.

Sorry, but I wasn't able to get any pictures underwater or even on the boat.  It's the ocean and we didn't have any cameras capable of taking photos in the sea.  So I borrowed a picture on line. 

As Far as Ancient Civilizations go, the Mayans were pretty major league

The country of Belize is small and has a very modest economy.  In other words, there seems to be a fair amount of poverty.  We've been here for several days now, which has given us the chance to look around.

 

But the history of this place is really interesting; it's mostly ancient history.  Like a couple thousand years ago - the people here had a great civilization - the Mayans.  

We've been able to visit a few of the ancient sites and ruins of the once mighty empire.  It's very impressive and there has been a real effort to excavate the ruins of temples and structures built as early as 600 BC.

The first place was fairly close to Belize City (where we are staying for the week).  The site has been restored and preserved.  You can walk around and climb up on the pyramid shaped ruins, of which there are many spread around the country. 

Yesterday we went to the other side of the country (it's a lot like jungle out there) and visited one of the major sites called Xunantunich.    It has one of the tallest structures of historical significance in Central America.  

The weather was beautiful and sunny and warm, and it made for a full day of activity visiting the different ruin sites in that area.  

 

One of the more interesting and amusing things was crossing a small river on a ferry, in our car.  We were surprised to find that the ferry was propelled by a hand crank!  

Ken in our group, and also TK, had a go at moving the boat across the water.  One of the local guys described this method as "old style".  Ha! It sure was.  But it took two cars and about twenty people across.  

 

Of course, one of the things that you wonder about when you see this kind of ancient archeology and massive timeless structures is ... "how did they build this?"  It's not unlike the pyramids of Egypt (although not as big) or the structures in the jungles of Cambodia, Angkor Wat.  

Another Point of View

 

We were surprised while driving across the somewhat remote backroads of Belize, when we came across what seemed like a major bicycle road race.  They had police escorts and support vehicles, the whole bit. Tour de Belize?

 

Sorry, I just can't resist good sunset pictures.  This was taken on the boat ride home, at the end of the day today.