Back to the RGV in December 2023

 We left warm Michigan on Saturday December 23, 2023 and drove to Effingham, Illinois, the next day to Texarkana, Texas and to Kingsville, Texas on the third day.  We saw heavy rain in Arkansas and northern Texas, but in general the trip went smoothly.  We found our trailer to be in good shape where we had parked it outdoors at a storage lot in Mission, Texas.  We hooked up and were backed into our normal campsite by noon on Tuesday December 26 at Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort.   We were pleasantly surprised to find that all systems in our RV are working as they should!  

On Christmas day we say this sneaky character driving near Houston.

As you can tell - he had to be up to no good.

And wouldn't you know it!  He got to the Rio Grande Valley before us.  Bill got this picture of him sneaking around our RV park here is Mission.

🎇

 

Heading Toward Home Port

 Today is Sunday November 12, 2023.  We are headed back to Ft. Lauderdale after our 3000+plus nautical mile Caribbean Cruise.  Again we are having a warm and sunny day on the Gulf of Mexico.

Yesterday we got to watch Michigan beat Penn State 24 - 9 on our room big TV as it was shown on Prime.

We have had great entertainment every evening in our ship auditorium.  This guy name David Meyer was exceptional with a special xylophone and light show combination.  The ship's four-piece band was very talented  as it worked with all the entertainers throughout the cruise.

Way up top this miniature golf course was fun to play on the ship.....

....so was this shuffle board game.  Cornhole equipment was also available.

There were interesting lectures every day on the Viking Mars on various topics.  Bill found this Central American bird above to be quite interesting.  It is supposed to have the loudest call of all birds.  Look it up on Google for a sound check of a White Bellbird. 

It has been a fun 50-year anniversary Caribbean trip on Viking with sunny weather, no big storms, and this is the route (clockwise) we have followed showing our stops along the way.

Smooth sailing to you from Bill and Karen.

🚢

Cozumel, Mexico

 On Friday, November 10, we arrived early morning to the island province of Cozumel.  It was another warm clear day,  We were put on a bus for a tour of the main city.  The island has a population of about 100,00.  The main business is tourism.  Scuba and skin diving are very popular.

Our first stop was at this monument to a priest who convinced the local population to convert to Christianity. 

This pic above is proof that we were at this tropical paradise eleven miles from the mainland of Mexico. The weather was hot and humid and our bus had faulty a/c.

We were dropped off at a small auditorium for a performance by native residents showing us how their ancestors did a ritual around their campfires in the jungle.

This drummer provided some of the loud music for the show.

Here is what is known as holding ones feet to the fire.  Ouch

Here are some of the performers outside after the show.

This wall mural was of local artist, Frida Kahlo.  Karen was familiar with her works.

After the bus tour we were dropped off at a large modern shopping mall where we bought a few souvenirs.  We liked a couple of tee shirts shown here.

We know our viewers would like this tee.  Right?

By early afternoon we were ready to return to our ship for a late lunch and a swim in the small pool.  

🎋

Belize City, Belize

 Thursday, November 9th, we watched the sun rise as we entered the harbor at Belize City.  Belize is the only central America country that we visit in which  English is the official language.

We were booked for a tour of the ruins at Atun Ha, an ancient Mayan city in the jungle.

The Mayan site was about a 90 minute bus ride from town through the Belize countryside.  Above is a tomb of a princess.

Here is our native tour guide who spoke excellent English.

The ruins were not discovered until 1967 as they were covered by thick jungle.

We were told that a large civilization lived here for 5000 years -- and then vanished.

Note this photo of Bill before he did something really stupid.  See the tall temple-pyramid behind him.

Well guess what you could climb with the tour guide?? If bold enough.

So - just like the swinging bridge back a few days - Bill thought he could handle such a climb/adventure.

Wrong.  

He got to the top that was flat as a pool table with no guardrails around.  Here is proof.  Trouble is he started feeling shaky and unstable.  He calmed down - and made it back down without crawling on his hands and knees.  Whew.  Oh well!  Some people live but don't learn.

Belize City must have very wild and crazy nightlife, as here is proof that there are swingers downtown.

😧

We Visit the Island of Roatan (a Province of Honduras)

 On Wednesday we were loaded on a small crowded minibus and taken to this jungle park on Roatan:

We were taken on a guided 3-hour walking tour of this private park on the 38 mile by 3 mile island of Roatan.

These native Iguanas were having lunch when we arrived.

If we wanted we could hold these parrots.  We passed on that

Also you could hold a monkey.  We passed on that as well

Karen found this handsome native man to ask directions when we got lost.

Bill found this sign for a hanging rope bridge and could not resist as it was over water.

The tour guide took this picture and pushed Bill out.

This old guy on the bridge ahead was having a few issues but he finally made it across.  By the way, Karen took another trail with a solid bridge instead of this bridge to get across.

In the trees above we spotted this monkey family.

On our trail we noticed that these small bits of leaves were moving due to leaf-cutter ants.

When we got back to the ship we saw that these native gentlemen were still hustling taxi rides down the long dock from/to  the ship .

🚩

And We Thought Our Viking Ship Was Large..but Wow

 On Wednesday morning, 11/08/23, we sailed into the harbor at Roatan, Honduras.  It was another pleasant warm Caribbean morning without rain.  Just after we got tied to the dock another ship sailed in that made our our heads spin and our mouths drop! 

It was/is the cruise ship -- The Harmony of the Seas owned by Royal Caribbean International.  It is the largest cruise ship on the oceans.  We looked up some info on Google and this is what we found:  It is 6780 feet long (3.3 football fields).  It has 2745 state rooms and can hold 6410 passengers plus a crew and staff of 2400 more.  

It has four swimming pools and 24 elevators.  It has 19 decks and launched this trip out of Ft. Lauderdale like we did.  Other than a retired aircraft carrier we toured once on one of our trips, it was the largest mobile man-made object we had ever seen.  It made our 900 passenger Viking ship look like a baby.   Harmony 🚢                 Mars  🚣

A River Trip Into Costa Rica

 Monday morning we tied up in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica which is a small town in a small country just north of Panama.  As soon as we left the town on our bus, we began to see thick jungle like this below:

There is a monkey up there in the leaves  but he/she is difficult to see.  Our guide said there is now strict rules against cutting down trees without a permit.

After about an hour bus ride we boarded a pontoon boat like this for a river-wildlife tour.  We had an excellent native tour guide and we did see a few jungle creatures.  He was good about answering any  questions that came up, and he did not have to drive the boat while he talked.

Most of the creatures were partially hidden by jungle, but this sloth did not mind a snapshot.

Neither did this sloth that was sleeping when we floated by.

This large green lizard was ready to fun for cover.  Many birds flew overhead and we saw no snakes or turtles.

When we got back to the ship we strolled through a large souvenir shop, then Karen stopped to tip this reggae band that played all day in the hot weather.  They were talented musicians.

This guy was trying to hitch a ride on our boat but Karen just ignored him.

🚶

 

 

Sunday Afternoon in Panama

 While trying to do our daily walk around the 1/4 mile promenade deck we hit a road block.

This large cargo ship was tied to us and the area was closed to passengers.  We found out it was full of diesel fuel, and was refilling our ships fuel tanks.

To entertain the many passengers who had excursions cancelled, the Mars staff went into town and booked a large group of profession dancers for an afternoon show on board in the ship's theater.  They wore colorful costumes and local music was played during their dance performance.

The dancers were all barefoot and did a great show.  Above you see a scary character who was fascinating to watch.  If I figure out how to do it we will show a video or two of the dance show.

😈