Cruise Continued...

Wednesday March 4 Today we stopped at Santo Tomas de Castillo- a port in Guatemala that was rich in jungle and foliage. Not a very pretty port, seeing as we were looking out at some sort of industrial park. We decided to stay on the boat this day. We did some beading in in the morning and then Bev, Heather, and Rosanne got spa treatments, while I took a bit of a swim in the pool and enjoyed the hot tub. Which was HEAVEN! It was very warm this day, almost too hot to sit in the sun. Wednesday night we had the second night of the Bead Bizarre. It was a little less busy this night. There were more door prizes from some really awesome sponsors. I won a book on Bead Embroidery but couldn't really use it so I gave it to my new BFF Sherry Bercaw who is an AMAZING seed beader. I forgot to mention that we had a challenge during the week. We had to create a piece of jewelry using 2 components from our gift bags that we received at the beginning of the week. Sherry's necklace won for the Show Favorite category! And it was well deserved, it was an oustanding piece. She even created some really fabulous beaded beads using the seed beads in her bag, and the pendant she used was a lovely lavender rectangular pendant from Off Center Productions.


I created this piece for the challenge. I used some Elaine Ray rounds from my bag, and the little leaf charm from Every Heart Crafts. I also used some brass chain, a toggle ring from Higher Chakra Supply, an antique shell button, and Elaine Ray flower charm. The cool copper bead caps came from the bead store in Louisiana (Turquoise Coyote) that the girls picked up for me on Saturday. I didn't get into New Orleans soon enough to be able to join them but from what I saw and heard, the prices at this bead shop were out of the world cheap! Rosanne ended up picking up some strands for me while she was there. Thanks Roseanne!!
I didn't end up winning for the challenge but it was fun to play along. There were three categories, Simple and Sweet, Most Intense and Show Favorite.

Thursday March 5 Thursday we arrived to Belize. We planned an excursion for this port. We got off the boat, onto another small boat that took us to shore. Hopped onto a bus and toured Belize City. Interesting but also very sad, as the poverty level in Belize is very very high. We then headed to Altua Han (sp?) to see the Mayan Ruins there. A M A Z I N G

A really fascinating trip. We climbed the highest ruin and then were sore for 3 days after that! The steps were really steep so it was quite a work-out, on the way up and on the way down. Thursday night was Casino night. We congregated there for an hour or so and then headed upstairs for more beading/door prizes.
Friday March 6- Cozumel Heather and I headed to the state park at the Cozumel port and enjoyed some authentic Guacamole and chips, and some sun and sand. It was a gorgeous park, complete with a little nature trail and lots of Iguanas and indigenous birds. I came back to the boat with quite the sunburn, but it was worth it- just to get a little sun on my face. It was one of my goals on this trip. Friday night was an open night, we checked out the comedian after a nice dinner at Tappanyaki where we enjoyed some awesome Hibachi dinners.
Saturday March 7, Day at Sea I sat in on Heather's class this last day at sea. She taught how to make some polymer clay molds, and beads. My beads came out okay but now I haven't sanded them yet so we'll see how they turn out. We had our last group dinner Saturday evening and then had our final event with more door prizes, and the voting for the challenge. Sunday we arrived to New Orleans at 7am! I arrived back home to Syracuse at 10:30pm that night. Whew.

I'm tired just typing this. I am almost caught up on my sleep. The Central time zone was throwing me off and then with the time change, I just feel like I lost 2 hours somewhere. I will list a few more of my jewelry designs from my trip, today.