Wednesday, February 21 2007
Wednesday, February 21 2007
Grand Princess
Belize City, Belize
9:31
Last night was pain. Unbearable. Spent about two hours in a personal hell of my own making.
Tonight is a formal night.
17:34
Went in to town, w/ the same group today. Got breakfast first at the buffet at 9:30, then caught a 10:30 tender. Smallish boat, covered, fast. The main strip along the piers is somewhat touristy, but not as bad as Costa Maya. Looked in a few shops, then booked a city / ruins tour. Left around 11:30. Just the 5 of us in a minivan. Interesting town. English is the primary language, then pidgin English, then Spanish. Most houses are on stilts. Our guide gave us some facts about the country. 270k people, mixed population: Africans, Mestitzo, Menenites, Lebanese, Chinese.
Half the drive (distance-wise) was on a broken, one-land road where we had to slow almost to a stop every minute due to potholes or traffic. Finally got to the place at 1. Hot and humid. The temples were mostly re-created. There are a couple original mounds still there, overgrown. Two plazas, and one very tall temple (sun god). Had steps on the side to go up. View is just at / over the jungle canopy – trees in all directions. Many shades of green. Took a short walk in the forest. Our guide (Dale Watters) opened up a Kahona? nut and we tried some. Tasted like nothing, looked / felt like coconut (almond-sized though). Looked at the shops there. some very nice ziricote carvings. Wanted to get a shark ro dolphin, but a) not enough cash, and b) it would break on the trip home. Tried a sip of cashew wine – sweet, like a Tokay but w/ a funny, mild aftertaste. Dull drive back, seen it already. We would be pushing the last tender boarding time. Started to worry. Get there at 4, booked to the dock and had no problem on the 4:30 (they had several boats ready).
Straight to the buffet after that, we were all starving. None of us could tell if the guide was sincere or not as he laughed almost the whole way (R was up front and said a lot of silly things, eg, "The Mayans turned into sneaky tree people and abandoned their cities").
I came back to my room, put some lotion on sunburned bits (arms, face, neck, feet) Showered. Have some postcards to write now. The ship is moving, I think the anchor came up around 5:15, then it was moving at 5:30.
The sun just set. If I leave my balcony door open for 10 minutes, the air inside will become cigarette smoke infested. It really pisses me off.
24:30
Formal dinner night. While waiting to get into the dining room, found myself staring at someone several times. Was content to keep doing it. Dinner was good. Beef Wellington. Tried the lobster – eh. Was really warm in the suit. Awkward afterwards as usual. Stood up for a bit. Hung around with a few people in the elevator / stairway area for a bit, all being indecisive about what to do. Looked at pictures in the photo gallery. Bad one of me from dinner, OK one from the boarding.
Sat down for the karaoke Heat 3 w/ J+M. Also Q and his wife. My chair was defective, and so was the replacement. J signed up to sing. A bunch of OK / lame stuff, then MD sang The Love Boat fairly well. Also a good "O! Pretty Woman". J sang "Copacabana". Off-tune but with enthusiasm. Ran around the club, acted doofy, stood on a table. Good stuff. Jay and Chris (MC Chris – though they were called up as "Joy" and "MC Crisp") did Rapper's Delight. Jay almost had it, Chris no so much. Finally, Jen sang a love song, very well. The winners: the Orbison guy, and Jen.
The woman that did Bust a Move was sitting in front of us w/ 2 girlfriends. They seemed to be evaluating the competition more than having fun. Damn, she's cute. Actually tempted to hit on her. More than a little out of character for me. Can't help feeling like I've met her before, looks really familiar.
There is a group beach party tomorrow at 9:30 AM to 3 PM. Not going. Rather would go see the island or snorkeling. Don't want to get stuck on the beach all day w/ a few other random folks.
Grand Princess
Belize City, Belize
9:31
Last night was pain. Unbearable. Spent about two hours in a personal hell of my own making.
Tonight is a formal night.
17:34
Went in to town, w/ the same group today. Got breakfast first at the buffet at 9:30, then caught a 10:30 tender. Smallish boat, covered, fast. The main strip along the piers is somewhat touristy, but not as bad as Costa Maya. Looked in a few shops, then booked a city / ruins tour. Left around 11:30. Just the 5 of us in a minivan. Interesting town. English is the primary language, then pidgin English, then Spanish. Most houses are on stilts. Our guide gave us some facts about the country. 270k people, mixed population: Africans, Mestitzo, Menenites, Lebanese, Chinese.
Half the drive (distance-wise) was on a broken, one-land road where we had to slow almost to a stop every minute due to potholes or traffic. Finally got to the place at 1. Hot and humid. The temples were mostly re-created. There are a couple original mounds still there, overgrown. Two plazas, and one very tall temple (sun god). Had steps on the side to go up. View is just at / over the jungle canopy – trees in all directions. Many shades of green. Took a short walk in the forest. Our guide (Dale Watters) opened up a Kahona? nut and we tried some. Tasted like nothing, looked / felt like coconut (almond-sized though). Looked at the shops there. some very nice ziricote carvings. Wanted to get a shark ro dolphin, but a) not enough cash, and b) it would break on the trip home. Tried a sip of cashew wine – sweet, like a Tokay but w/ a funny, mild aftertaste. Dull drive back, seen it already. We would be pushing the last tender boarding time. Started to worry. Get there at 4, booked to the dock and had no problem on the 4:30 (they had several boats ready).
Straight to the buffet after that, we were all starving. None of us could tell if the guide was sincere or not as he laughed almost the whole way (R was up front and said a lot of silly things, eg, "The Mayans turned into sneaky tree people and abandoned their cities").
I came back to my room, put some lotion on sunburned bits (arms, face, neck, feet) Showered. Have some postcards to write now. The ship is moving, I think the anchor came up around 5:15, then it was moving at 5:30.
The sun just set. If I leave my balcony door open for 10 minutes, the air inside will become cigarette smoke infested. It really pisses me off.
24:30
Formal dinner night. While waiting to get into the dining room, found myself staring at someone several times. Was content to keep doing it. Dinner was good. Beef Wellington. Tried the lobster – eh. Was really warm in the suit. Awkward afterwards as usual. Stood up for a bit. Hung around with a few people in the elevator / stairway area for a bit, all being indecisive about what to do. Looked at pictures in the photo gallery. Bad one of me from dinner, OK one from the boarding.
Sat down for the karaoke Heat 3 w/ J+M. Also Q and his wife. My chair was defective, and so was the replacement. J signed up to sing. A bunch of OK / lame stuff, then MD sang The Love Boat fairly well. Also a good "O! Pretty Woman". J sang "Copacabana". Off-tune but with enthusiasm. Ran around the club, acted doofy, stood on a table. Good stuff. Jay and Chris (MC Chris – though they were called up as "Joy" and "MC Crisp") did Rapper's Delight. Jay almost had it, Chris no so much. Finally, Jen sang a love song, very well. The winners: the Orbison guy, and Jen.
The woman that did Bust a Move was sitting in front of us w/ 2 girlfriends. They seemed to be evaluating the competition more than having fun. Damn, she's cute. Actually tempted to hit on her. More than a little out of character for me. Can't help feeling like I've met her before, looks really familiar.
There is a group beach party tomorrow at 9:30 AM to 3 PM. Not going. Rather would go see the island or snorkeling. Don't want to get stuck on the beach all day w/ a few other random folks.
posted by taylorsherman at 11:26 PM
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