Memorial Day 2012 in New York

When I booked this trip I didn't realize that I hadn't been to NY in about 5 years.

Although the weather was mostly rainy, we had a very busy first day planned. After getting our rental we made our way into the city, the traffic was crazy! - I've been to NYC before and this was the first and last time we get a rental. I highly recommend walking and taking the train everywhere, parking is very expensive and you're better off walking most of the day (NYC walking is not for the faint of heart, be prepared to walk a lot if you've never been).

If you can, try to visit some of the museums and shows. We finally got around to visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). The museum price is $25 per ticket and it has 6 floors of beautiful art and sculptures. It's recommended to spend about 3 hours to see the entire museum, but it can be done in about 2 hours. You can also start on the floor that displays the art you want to see (for example, the 5th floor has art by Van Gogh, Chagall, Monet).

Eating termites in strange places

Out of all the islands we visited during our vacation cruise in November, I had the most fun in Belize. Several weeks before our cruise we looked up some excursions and found a great company named Cave-tubing.com. After spending several minutes looking through their website, we knew this was the excursion for us. We sent them an e-mail with our reservation details and within an hour we received a very friendly phone call from Yhony who finalized our reservation.

Since we were going on vacation with family and friends, we chose the cave tubing and ATV jungle tour. Once we arrived at the port of Belize we had a cave-tubing.com staff member waiting for our group, just as promised and as advertised on their website. We were promptly greeted and taken to our bus (air-conditioned and very comfortable) and within 20-30 minutes we were on our way. 

ridding through the jungle

getting ready to start our ride

The first half of our excursion was the ATV jungle ride. Once we were done with the "how to" and instruction session, we were all very excited to start having fun. For this portion of the tour it's best to wear comfortable clothes and shoes as you WILL get mud on your legs, arms, and on your clothes; I wore my bathing suit with shorts, tank top, and sandal type water shoes. You can also bring a towel and a change or clothes (you will have a bathroom to change in).

entrance to the reserve

cave branch outpost

After a 5 mile guided ride through the Belize rainforest, we met back at the outpost where we had a chance to change our clothes and rinse off some of the rainforest mud (it's not too much mud, just enough for fun times and great stories). We were shortly back on the bus and on our way to the Caves Branch Archaeological Reserve to start the cave tubing portion of our tour. Once we arrived at the reserve we were given yellow tubes and were guided through the rainforest. This part of the tour requires some walking (maybe about 2 miles), the guide also showed us some local medicinal trees and plants - this is where I ate termites! The guide showed us a termite nest on a tree, pointed out how you can eat them if you're lost in the jungle, he ate them to show us how it was done, and so did I.

medicinal plants

they taste a little minty

After eating the termites and assuring my family that I wasn't going to die from eating bugs off a tree, we crossed two sections of the river (not deep, maybe ankle or calf high) and finally made it to the caves. The water was very clear, beautiful, and VERY REFRESHING (a.k.a cold). We were given head lights and were guided into the caves - once you get over how "refreshing" the water is the tubing is very fun and relaxing. The headlights help you see inside the caves and the guides are happy to point out different sections of the caves. This jungle and cave tour with Cave-tubing.com was a great experience and a lot of fun.

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river crossing

going into the caves

out of the caves