Since we’re in Florida, and Miami is a rather large port, Abbey and I decided to go on a cruise. We got a great last-minute deal on Cyber Monday, and spent 7 days on the Norwegian Escape touring Mexico, Honduras, and Belize. This type of vacation is different from our usual, and we felt a little overwhelmed at first with the amount of stuff to do.

The cruise was fantastic, and it was nice to just be a tourist for awhile. We loved Belize for the beauty, the weather, the wildlife, and the nice people. We went to a working chocolate farm and got to see how that process works. As you could imagine, the chocolate was very yummy.

Mexico (Cozumel and Costa Maya) was a little too touristy for us, but we did enjoy the spectacular color of the water, the constant gentle breeze, and the nice beaches. I also liked the cars here – lots of very old cars still on the roads. Abbey and I got stopped by the police in Cozumel because they claimed we were smoking pot (I assure you, we weren’t). They said someone saw us smoking on the beach and called the police, but we had only been there for 2 minutes when the police showed up. It was very strange and I’m still curious about the interaction, but Abbey and I just laugh about it now.

Honduras was… not so great. It was certainly gorgeous, with rolling hills, tropical forests, and colorful buildings, but the people ruined it for us. Hundreds of locals were at the port and were aggressively soliciting tours, rentals, taxis, and so on. They would walk with you and keep pestering you after you repeatedly said no. Abbey and I took a taxi away from the port (taxi driver tried to bait and switch us) to another area but the solicitation was just as bad there. I understand Honduras is poor and these people are just trying to make a living, but yikes. If we were to go back to Honduras we’d be careful to stay away from these touristy areas.

Construction work is so vastly different in other countries. No hard hats, no work boots, no scaffolding… just get the job done.

After Abbey and I got back from the cruise, we spent a couple nights in the Istokpoga Wildlife Management Area. This was way better than we were expecting, with miles of varying hiking trails, a mix of live oaks, palm trees, and palmettos, and even gopher tortoises! You can register to camp here for free online, and then they email you the secret combination to open the gate!

Cheers!