Yesterday, I was feeling a little apprehensive about tomorrow’s upcoming trip to Placencia, Belize. The almost four hour ride through the mountains on bumpy dirt roads with one way bridges tends to make me slightly anxious. Tom, as usual, is totally at ease. I wish he were driving. He’s the safest driver I know and he’s been on plenty of one way bridges in his 42 years on the railroad!
In a reply email from the owner of Little Cottage in Placencia we’ll be about two miles from a grocery store or restaurant. She suggested we stop along the way to buy some food for dinner until we figure out a form of transportation to get around. Car rentals are $250 a day or more.
Norman, the owner’s property manager, will drive us anywhere for a nominal amount for gas and his time. We can ask Norman to take us sightseeing and to further explore the area. Placencia is far from the tourist hustle and bustle which is exactly what we’ve wanted although, it does have a busy downtown area with shops, activities, restaurants and services.
Linda says the water in potable but “it may take time for our systems to get used to it.”
Does that mean we’ll get sick? It might be best to use bottled water. Hopefully, we’ll be able to eat uncooked vegetables. Life without salad is hard when eating my restrictive diet. Then again, when we travel to Africa in seven months, lettuce will be out of the picture entirely, along with any uncooked vegetables.
Two schools of thought here. Shall we bite the bullet and use the tap water, allowing our systems to “toughen up” even if it means a few uncomfortable days? Or, shall we avoid it altogether as suggested by Nurse Marsha? I guess we’ll decide this tomorrow when we arrive.
It’s now Monday morning. We’ve had breakfast and we’re sitting outside on the shop on the deck off the restaurant each of us reclining on two comfy sofas, a strong warm ocean breeze swirling around us, a fresh glass of iced tea in our mugs.
Soon, we’ll go back to our cabin to begin packing, much easier this time since we’d only opened
a few of the many bags when we began this cruise one week ago today.
Today, we’ll buy two of the soft beach towels for sale on the ship at $28 each, well worth the price and two bottles of Courvoisier for Tom, liters at $35 each, a good duty free price. Belize allows tourists tobring one bottle of alcohol per person in the country.
have developed “sea legs?” We both feel that we could cruise indefinitely.
Perhaps, down the road we’ll encounter a great last minute price on a “world cruise” that lasts for 120 days or more.
Once situated in Placencia we’ll write a review and comparison of the two cruises we’ve experienced thus far, the Celebrity Century and the Celebrity Equinox. Definitely not experts after only two experiences, we’d love to document our observations while it is still fresh in our minds,
coming back later to see, after six more cruises, if we’ve changed our opinions.
The live show begins at 9:00 PM each night in the Equinox Theatre. In order to get a good seat, it’s necessary to arrive at least 30 minutes before the show begins. With the majority of the ship’s passengers 65 and over, it’s not unusual to see folks scrounging for seats as early as an hour before the show.
Seating in the Silhouette Dining Room each night between 6:30 and 7:00 PM, we’ve found we have time to enjoy dinner, the companionship of our “table mates” and a three course dinner with time to scurry off to the theatre for the show.
Saturday night, we couldn’t help but notice an adorable couple, possibly in their 90’s, as they managed to find two seats to their liking. We laughed. Hopefully, that could be us in many years.
Yesterday afternoon, while cloudy and drizzling while out to sea, we decided to go to the 2:00 PM movie in the Celebrity Central Theatre, for the showing of “My Week with Marilyn”. Once again, arriving early to ensure a good seat, we perused the room for yet another 30 minutes of “people watching.”
startling.
you!
About the water…I would NOT drink the water without boiling (or I would use bottled). It's not simply about "getting used to it" but, as I'm sure you know, it's really about the microbes, parasites and bacteria that one can get that are not typically found in our guts due to the area or region in which we live. Just like us, microbes differ from region to region and this is what causes vacationers to experience things like "montezuma's revenge."
I work in an environment where people go on missions trips all the time all over the world. Many have made the mistake of drinking the water and these individuals – YEARS later – are still dealing with the parasites and microbes that they have picked up. This is because the medications we use here (in the US) are typically not able to get rid of parasites that are endemic to other countries, thus often times they do not work.
I suppose if you were staying there permanently there would be more reason to get used to drinking the local water and eating uncooked vegetables, but if you're not, I would think twice (or more!)about subjecting my body to microbes, bacteria and parasites that it's never experienced before!
Dehydration can happen quickly when one experiences the issues that these things can cause, and depending on how far away you are from a local health center or hospital, it could mean the difference between ending your trip early or staying healthy and enjoying your years long adventure!
Stay healthy!
I just read your comment aloud to Tom and we are totally convinced to follow your advice. As a matter of fact, earlier this morning we bought water to bring with us for our first hours at the house until we go grocery shopping to buy more. You're so right! We won't drink the water, eat raw(uncooked)vegetables, use ice in restaurants and will brush our teeth using bottled water. We will miss salad but we all can get used to giving up any food item if we we're motivated. Thanks for commenting! Please do again!
Warmest regards,
Jess & Tom