My first major trip this vacation was a cruise on Norwegian Pearl because I figured out to get the staff discount! I took my Mum on a route that I wanted to do and haven't been lucky enough to get it as work.
The cruise started and finished in Miami and staying overnight allowed us this view of downtown from the hotel:
First stop on the cruise was Cartagena, Colombia with it's city walls a reflection of those I've already visited in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The walls protect the beautiful old town streets:
And we also got a bird's eye view of the old and new towns... and you can see the ship if you zoom in!
After Colombia the cruise took it's highlight trip down (and back) the Gatun Locks of the Panama Canal and we took advantage of our balcony view!
You can see how close the ship is to the sides to fit in, about 2 foot each side!
Although through misty windows, walking around on the upper deck gives a clearer view of the locks:
Once through the locks you could take a tour to explore further. Our tour took us on the Gatun Lake in a small boat (passing all those huge tanker ships!) to see the remote edges and monkeys living there:
The next stop was Costa Rica and we took an ariel tram to the tops of the rainforest:
The much unknown Tapir, animal of the rainforest:
Next up Roatan, a holiday island off Honduras where I took a snorkelling trip in really rough seas for some spectacular undersea views:
The final location I have photos to share from is Belize, a small country that was still British until 1981. I went to visit the Mayan ruins of Lamani. This is the face of the jaguar temple:
Then High Temple:
Which, when climbed (painfully), gives you amazing views over Old Belize River.
And finally the mask temple with some of the best preserved Mayan masks in the world:
It was great to get to see some of the ports i'd always hoped too and to do the panama canal and not be working!! It was a really good overview of Central America. But next up... Sri Lanka!
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