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Published: September 13th 2008
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People have been asking me about how the hurricanes are effecting us now. Here on the Glory, we haven’t been bothered by Ike. We’re in the Western Caribbean this week, nice and far away. Other ships however are getting bounced all over the place with different itinerary changes. Including the Liberty. They’re supposed to be doing the Eastern Caribbean, right in the path of the storm. Instead, they’re over on the West side. And today they were in Belize. And we were in Belize. At first I’d had thought about going over to the Liberty and having some visits and catch-ups. I emailed Jody. He’s never been to Belize and thinks he likely won’t again, so he was eager to get out and see stuff. And he suggested I come along. So thanks to the wonderful Shore Ex managers on both our ships, we managed to not just meet up today, but to go on a tour together!
I took the tender ashore and waiting on the pier. Watched the Liberty guests getting off their tenders and saw a few people I knew from my time there. Then I heard my name, I turned around and Jody was there. We
were off.
We had about an hour or so on the bus, driving through Belize City, then out to Altun Ha, one of Belize Mayan sites. I’ve seen Belize City so many times now, I could probably guide a city tour. And I went to Altun Ha while on the Legend, but I didn’t care. We got to be tourists, taking in the drive, listening to our guide, making jokes along the way. It was so perfect and so great to spend the day together. It was like no time had passed. Jody said too, later in the day, that it seemed like I hadn’t even been away.
Altun Ha was nice. Same as before. But so bloody hot! I like the heat. Really like the heat. But today was extreme. Thankfully our guide mostly kept us in the shade for the tour, cause even there we were melting away.
We followed our guide around the site for the tour, then were on our own. We climbed to the top of one of the buildings which was very cool. I hadn’t done that the last time. It was quite the view up there. You could see all
of the buildings, then out over the trees of the surrounding forests. We took a bunch of pictures. I got teased plenty. And I had a few heart-racing moments. There aren’t rails at the top, just a drop. So of course, I don’t go near the edge. 3 or 4 feet away was enough for me to get that fluttery hearty beat going. Jody however just merrily walks over to the edges. One time, I was going to take his picture and he steps off the edge! Turns out there was another small level on that side, but from where I was, I couldn’t see that! I thought he was a goner for sure.
After exploring the site, we headed to the little bar set up next to the car park. Had ourselves a Belikin (the Belize beer) in the shade. Then it was back on the bus.
The bus ride back the guide was silent, so we had our time to talk. We talked a lot about South Africa and my trip there. And he threw around a bunch of possibilities about meeting up there, travelling around a bit, him showing me around Durban, getting to stay
with his family. I’ve been reading a lot the last few weeks about SA and researching my trip and creating lists of what I want to see and do. Contacting friends who live around the country who I want to meet up with. It’s going to be quite the trip. I’m really looking forward to it.
But back to Belize . . . we got back to the pier and I had about an hour before I needed to catch a tender back to the Glory. We sat at one of the bars along the pier and had some more Belikins. Chatted with other crew and passengers who’d go by. Laughed and chatted. It was so much fun and such a great day.
And then it was back on the tender to the ship. No time for a big build up to a goodbye this time. But besides, we’ll be seeing each other again soon - next time on the other side of the globe. And who knows. As he pointed out, we hadn’t arranged to meet up today and really, every time we’ve been brought together it wasn’t planned. It could happen again.
Meanwhile, I’m just
happy to have been back in Belize. I love that country. And I’m happy to have spent a day with Jody.
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