Good Morning from the Gulf of Mexico!

Today is one of our precious sea days. After all of the activities of the past week, it is great to have a day to rest and relax....or to go to some of the multitude of activities listed in the program!

Yesterday the Navigator made her maiden call to Belize. This country has been independent for just 26 years and as our guide was proud to point out, a very young but developing nation. Their population is sparse by Central American standards with just 250,000 Belizi citizen.

Unfortunately we had only a brief glimpse as we traveled from the pier to the airport. Ten intrepid Navigators were headed to Guatemala and the Tikal Ruins.

Seven of us had already formed a "Ruin Relationship" while traveling to Chichen Itza and Copan so we were a lively group prepared for another physically challenging day.

And as always when you cross boarders the immigration process can slow your progress to a crawl, but soon enough we boarded a 12 passenger Cessna with our guide Javier for the 45 minute flight to Flores. Seeing the lush countryside from the air gives you a real appreciation of how mother nature takes command when we don't intrude. Tikal of course is a Mayan city that is still in the midst of that battle between nature and the archaeologist.

Once we landed we passed through passport control and boarded our mini bus for Tikal - a journey of about 50 km, almost an hour to the entry of the park. Even after you enter there is a considerable distance to the ruins.

Half of our day was already gone before we could set foot in Tikal, but the guides planned to give us as much of the ruins as we could manage in 3 and 1/2 hours. The amazing part of this site is the tranquil jungle atmosphere. As you walk down the pathways the monkeys, birds and other wild life are very evident. And you pass what you take to be large "hills" which are actually temples that have yet to be restored.

They have often only uncovered the tops or sides of these temples. There are so many in Tikal, they will have a long future of discovery here.

The day was sunny and warm and before long we were soaked to the skin and wondering how the natives were able to build these amazing structures in the heat and humidity.

I have many amazing photo to upload when we return. We climbed to the top of two of the ruins to get a view of the treetop canopy. As you looked over the forest you could see the tops of other temples peeking out in their astrological aliments with the sun. The Mayans were amazing astrologers who's city plans aligned with the star. All of us discovered that there is so much more to learn about this culture, we only had a brief encounter with it's mysteries.

As I said before the day was long but full. We ate a box lunch at the site in order stay in the park for as long as possible, but finally it was time to go.

We re-boarded our Cessna at 4:30 and were landing in Belize City at 5:15. Again a quick "re-entry" into Belize and we were on our way to the pier. The last tender was waiting for us...and we were on-board just minutes before the ship was scheduled to sail.

It was an amazing day, especially when shared with some special fellow travelers. Two of our traveling companions are in their 80's! They have such a curiosity and enthusiasm for discovery, it was an inspiration just to be touring with them. I will long remember my fellow "ruin" friends.

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Margo