Well, we're off the ship, the Carnival Glory. We had a great cruise but I was glad to debark yesterday. Too many people, too many days and I was getting claustrophobic. Our first stop after a day of cruising was Cozumel, Mexico and we had taken no tours that day. We had breakfast then debarked and took a taxi to the shopping district where we found the tequilaria (of course). We bought 2 bottles of our fav almond tequila liquor and then visited the Cozumel Museum.....very interesting! They had exhibits about the conservation of the natural beauty of the island. It was really heartening to see how serious they were about saving their natural resources. Had a nice Mexican food platter (again, we shared) for lunch in the museum. Next we stopped in Belize where we had taken a Belize City and Altun Ha temple site tour. Belize City was sort of a typical South American city, a bit sad and rundown but the temple was terrific. They were Mayan ruins and the site was quite extensive. They were uncovered when workers were digging for rocks to build a road. The temples were very tall but Ed and I both climbed to the top of one of them. It was awesome to stand on top and look out over the trees. Isla Roatan was next and we absolutely loved this place. It's off the coast of Honduras and actually belongs to Honduras. It's a beautiful, green, clean island and the people obviously take good care of it. We took a tour of the island and visited many areas, one of which was a place where they show native dances, crafts and food. I especially loved the coconut candy (sort of like a dense cake) and Ed bought a coconut pudding cake.....yum! Once off the tour, we bought tickets to ride a chair lift across a bay to a Carnival private island where we had lunch. We waded around in the clear blue water after lunch and longed for our bathing suits. In Grand Cayman (no tours) we walked around the shopping district and then found a young man willing to bicycle us around in his cart (for a fee!). He was quite informative about George Town, the main town of Grand Cayman. After the cart ride, we settled down for a very interesting lunch of conch (conk) chowder, turtle soup, conch fritters, shrimp, red snapper and local beer.
Next installment will be about the last two days that we've spent here in Florida City within a short drive of the Florida Everglades. The Everglades is a great nature area, lots of birds and other animals, exotic plants and water, water everywhere!! Off to bed now, it's late and tomorrow we're off to Key West!