Today we bought a ticket to take a ride on a boat to St. Barts. After an hour long rough ride I told John that we needed to get to the airport and book a flight back to St. Maarten. We rented a car and drove around this small but charming and fancy island. We visited a hotel called Eden Rock and had lunch there which was disappointing since it was so pricey. After enjoying the island, we drove to the airport and dropped off our rental car and luckily we were the only two people on the plane.
Today we took a ferry to Anguilla and rented a car. One of our friends from New York lives on this island, so we are hopefully going to find him and see how he’s doing.
Apparently, our friend Cyril was in New York, so we didn’t get to see him, either way, we went to Belmond Cap Juluca where we got a chance to spend the night in one of the most amazing villas on the best white sand beach. What an amazing place. If you want to have somewhere special to celebrate your honeymoon, anniversary or anything special, this is THE place to be.
Today we arrived in St. Maarten and rented a car to drive to our hotel at first we were kind of disappointed with the hotel. We were staying in our Hilton Time Share RCI (Resort Condominiums International) so far they haven’t been the best accommodations but I’m on vacation on a beautiful island we have to make the best of it. The name of the hotel was The Royal Islander Club La Terrasse which was on the Dutch side. The only cool thing about the hotel was that we got a suite and it was right next to Maho airport beach, and our balcony overlooked it, so we got to see the planes landing and taking off very close to our room. We did our usual and settled in and decided to go to the local supermarket to get a couple of bottles of wine and some snacks for the room.
One of the evenings we had dinner at this fantastic restaurant called Le Santal. We ended up staying there 2 hours after our dinner was over talking to the owner Nada. She was so sweet, and we had such a great time that we didn’t want to leave. The dinner the service the atmosphere everything was top notch.
The rest of the time on the island we decided just to drive around and be our own tour guide.
Today we had a full day of tours of the Mayan Ruins. The first one we drove to was 2 ½ hours away and it was called Dzibanche with its pyramids and landscaped grounds, and the multi-leveled Mayan city of Kohunlich, surrounded by magnificent Cahoon palms. This town was once known for its beautiful pottery and splendid temples hidden within the jungle.
We had the chance to climb the tallest temple to get a view of the “Temple of the Owls” and the “Temple of the Captives” before it’s time to head off to famous Kohunlich. The next one we visited was the recently excavated archeological site of Kohunlich is named after the giant Cahoon palm trees that inhabit the immense site.
The next ruins we drove to were called Chacchoben, “The Place of Red Corn” Here, in this lush tropical setting, the excavated sacred temples and other structures gave us a sense of wonder picturing how it must have looked centuries ago when it was a thriving cultural center for the Mayans. We saw the original red paint on the stucco walls of one of the pyramids and the temple where a mural was found showing the astronomical positions of the planet Venus. We also had a chance to climb the Gran Basamento which took us above tree level and is where archaeologists found ceremonial offerings dating to around 1000 B.C.
Today is John’s birthday, and he doesn’t know that when we get back to our suite on the ship, the general manager had them decorate it with balloons. While off the ship we drove to the Big French Key Beach on a motorboat and relaxed on the sugar-white sand. John had a chance to go snorkeling on a reef that was nearby. Our tour guide told us that Big French Key hadn’t changed much since Christopher Columbus explored the surrounding Bay Islands in 1503 and he described them as “incredibly green and fertile.” While there are a few new buildings scattered about Big French Key, the nearly 12-acre island remains a lush, beach-rimmed paradise caressed by gentle trade winds which makes it private and unique.
We drove from the pier to a private dock and boarded a pontoon boat which is designed to navigate the coastal river system. We cruised through the Tortuguero canals.
This ride into the jungle habitat serves as an excellent prelude to your next stop in the pristine Veragua Rainforest. The rainforest adventure begins with a guided tour through several exhibits housing indigenous animals such as snakes, frogs, and butterflies. Next, we rode an open-air aerial tram that will carry you into the rainforest canopy. It’s a window into a world that we couldn’t have experienced otherwise. At the halfway point, we got off the tram, and we walked the Trail of the Giants, which is a jungle path that winds past towering 300-year-old trees to a 65-foot waterfall. Then, after riding the tram back into the canopy, we had a nice lunch before returning to the pier.
Today it was our turn to sail through the Panama Canal Locks we visited yesterday. This was a very cool experience because we took a tour of the Gatun locks and saw exactly how they work so being on the ship made it that much better.
I couldn’t believe how close we were to the wall on either side of the ship its pretty amazing.
Today we took a unique tour of Fuerte Amador. Just imagine traveling down the tracks of the first transcontinental railroad in a comfortable domed railcar, while viewing what is widely considered to be the 8th wonder of the world; the Panama Canal, as well as spectacular Gatun Lake. This was a cool experience of traveling from one ocean to another, crossing the amazing continent of the Americas in just over one hour!
Once we arrived at the Pacific side railroad station, we boarded the train for a 75-minute rail journey. The glass-domed car gave us an outstanding panoramic view while traveling through the lush rainforest.
Crossing the Continental Divide, we were on the Atlantic side, where we disembarked the train and got on a bus to the Gatun Locks. Once at the locks, we climbed the 78 steps to the observatory platform where we were lucky enough to see a cargo ship passing and observed the functionality of the locks.
Here’s a little history about The Panama Railroad was the brainchild of a group of New York Financiers who wanted to create an easy passage for the increasing gold rush traffic. The railroad took five years and eight million dollars to build and was completed in 1855. During its first 12 years of operation, the train carried over 750 million dollars worth of gold and silver and collected one-quarter of one percent of each shipment as the duty. The railroad was rebuilt in 1909 during the construction of the Panama Canal, and without it, the canal could not have been built.
Today we woke up at 3:30 am and drove to Quito airport to take an hour flight to Manta to meet up with the ship. Once we got to the ship, we went to our suite and dropped off our luggage went to eat breakfast and then took a nap. The only bit of Manta we saw was the drive from the airport to the pier. We also rented out Prive and invited some of the great people we met while on the ship and we had a great meal and a great time.
PriveMaria & John at Dinner at Prive with great friends we met while on the ship.Maria & John – with our friends Trudy and David who we met while on the Machu Picchu excursion.
Today once again we had to wake up early because we had an extremely long day ahead of us. After a quick breakfast, we then boarded our shuttle bus and headed to the train station to board the train that was going to take us to the bus that was going to drive us to Machu Picchu. It’s like that jingle “Take the train to the plane” lol
Machu Picchu and everything we learned about the Incas and how they used to live and what they built was utterly fantastic. Pictures are good, but they don’t do it justice. We were lucky enough that it only drizzled a little bit, so we were able to get amazing pictures.
