Elation 10/17/94

[therbst]

Belize
We had reserved an innertube ride with Xtreme, and, even though we were on the first shuttle, we were the last to meet at the bandshell. We divided into two groups for the 45-minute ride out to the river.
There are some good reviews of the ride through the caves at the Belize Port board, so I won't go through the details again. There is a new, large, restroom/changing area at the river, but the last 15 minutes of the ride is along the worst road I've ever seen; even where there weren't ruts and holes, there were large, loose rocks instead of gravel. I assume the ride would have been more comfortable in a bus, but maybe not. The ship excursions go through one cave with a shallow, gently sloping entry point; the private outfitters go through 2 caves and charge less money. The landing at the top of the second cave is a longer walk, and the entry is accomplished by either jumping in from about 10 feet or rappelling down about 5 feet of rope. I'd recommend this only for the fit and able.
During the drive to the river, we passed the road to the zoo and to a baboon sanctuary, places I hope to see another time. Belize is a place that has not yet been "Americanized" by tourism, so, like
Progreso, it is easy to step off the ship and into a foreign culture. I hope to get back there before that changes. Due to the fact that there are virtually no beaches along its shores, that might happen more slowly here than other places.
Belize is building a port shopping area much like we saw in Cozumel. There are many people there offering tours and trips for those not on ship excursions. We had about an hour to look around there before returning to the ship. There was a pharmacy among the shops, and we did find prescription medications cheaper here than at the other two stops, but the selection was limited. Prices of other items also seemed to be a little lower than we've seen elsewhere.