NxStage Freedom Cruise Day 5: Belize

By Bill Peckham

It was a very fun day today. We took the tender to Belize City around 9AM to take a tour of the Mayan ruins at Lamanai. There were ten NxStage cruisers, including two dialyzors (Rich B. and myself). The weather was overcast with showers throughout the day but we have all heard about the weather back in the States so no one was complaining.

The tour started with about an hour van ride to a boat landing on the Lamanai RIver, followed by a fun hour riding upstream to the Mayan complex. Lunch was served and then we set off into the jungle. The highlight of the walk was a tree full of Howler monkeys. The first Mayan site we came to was the Temple of the Jaguar Masks which was impressive but then came the High Temple which Mary, Jack and I climbed.

 I had done a similar climb in 2005 at Chitzen Itza so I knew what to expect but still the steepness of the stairs is very disconcerting. Once at the top we had a great view but still there was the climb down so we didn't spend too much time. Check out my Flickr set for more photos - including a panorama from atop the High Temple. Mary S. has a post up recounting yesterday's adventures and check back here for a link to her day 5 recap.

Tomorrow it's on to Cozumel and what I hope will be some beach time. Rain or shine I'm going swimming in the ocean. My dialysis machine is ready for tonight's run. The ship is swaying a bit but I had the ship's plumber take about a foot off my IV pole so I am much less concerned about the sway (I left my NxStage IV pole (what you hang the dialysate from) in the taxi from the airport so I am using a galvanized pipe I bought in Miami). I'll have additional videos to post once I manage to edit them. One other dialysis related note - I completely overlooked the storage under the two beds. You could easily get three weeks of dialysate stored away in the cabin.

Perhaps an Atlantic crossing and two weeks in Europe with the cycler is in my future. Any NxStagers interested?

 

Comments

[M3Riddler]

Bill, What i want to know is who won the race to the top of the Temple!! Look like a great time... Hope you didnt take anything from the site...we all know what happened to greg in the Brady Bunch!!!!

Brian

[Rich Berkowitz]

Cassandra, the renal dietician, also made it to the top, and my wife Karen go to within a couple of steps from the second tier before her legs got wobbly. I was resting on a wet log down below. I really need to lose weight before another trip.

We had great guides. Joe drove us to the landing dock, and Isidro aka I.C. was the boat navigator. I had read about I.C. in web posting on travel recommendation sites. It's one of the reasons why I chose that particular excursion. I think we lucked out although it rained off and on. The river trip to Lamanai was amazing. The river was quite winding and the turns came very frequently. There were portions that were very narrow as we went through areas canopied with jungle vegetation. My only regret was we didn't see any crocodiles.

We saw many native Belizians fishing from some very crude looking canoes. I even saw one paddling what looked like a dugout. Unlike fishing here with a pole, they just used string with a weight at the end. They just threw the string out and waited to catch their dinner. According to I.C., 70% of the fish in the river are venomous, so I'm not sure what the natives do with them.

I thought the lunch they served was remarkable considering they brought it up the river in a couple of coolers. It consisted of sstewed chicken, rice and beans, cole slaw, salad, papaya, a relish made with onions, other chopped ingredients and habaneros which I loved. It wasn't as hot as I thought it might be. And some incredibly delicious plantain, wheh was perpared with what I thought was something like olive oil, but don't really know with what.

I was the last person walking in the tour as I was really huffing and puffing. But I made it though following the others. Imagining how the ancient Mayans lived, and seeing the people fishing just showed the big differences with how we live. I'm not sure who's better off! What it taught me is that everybody acclimates to their surroundings, and life is what one makes of it.

The river trip back was faster and we were covered with a large blue tarp that covered everybody from the front of the boat to the back. I.C. said the tide was coming in and we were getting a constant spray hitting us. I'm not sure why that would have made a difference since parts of the river were more than 50 feet deep, unless it was because we were going upstream instead of down on the way back. I'll try to fina a map to post showing the route we took.