I stood at the baggage checkin not sure how to work the machine in front of me. I’ve never ridden on a plane. I’ve never had left the country before. Here I stand, however, checking in my luggage getting ready to board a plane to take me to Georgia to board another plane to take me to Belize. This trip was a last minute decision. You see this was the last month long trip to Belize that my college was offering as a Tropical Ecology class. My professor had come up to me four months before and told me that some one had to drop out on going, and that I was the next in line to go. I remember making the phone call to my mom, and her telling me that we would figure out how to pay for the trip. Now here I stand getting ready to board a plane to go to a country that you could fit four of them in the state of Ohio.
Belize. It is a small country with one tiny airport, and only one main highway in the whole country. English is their first language with Spanish being a close second. The culture is very laid back. I never realized how much Americans relied on time until I went to Belize. In Belize time is just a thing. They didn’t care about time, you got there when you got there. There was no dead line, no set time to be there. It made the trip feel like it was more of a vacation instead of a class.
When we first arrived in Belize we stayed on the outskirts of a city called Belmopan. Since I went to a Christian college we stayed at Christian camps. The first we stayed at was a camp called Kindred Spirits, and thank God we only stayed a week. Almost every night the neighbor's dogs would come through the camp and bark, and I mean bark. However, this is the place I got the chance to see my first Whip-or-Will. The nights in the jungle were interesting. In this part of the trip in the distance you could hear the howler monkeys at night sometimes. It was like Belize’s version of hearing wolves in Montana.
First event on the trip was Lamanai. We may have been on a mission to see all the wildlife we could manage, but we also did some sight seeing. In order to get to Lamanai you have to take a boat. We went on this grand tour of what is left of a Mayan civilization. On the way I got to see some amazing wildlife, including a spider monkey that came on our boat while the tour guide fed it a banana. We even got to walk up to the top of Lamanai (couldn't use the actual stair any more because a woman fell from them a year before).
As I walked up to the top of the tallest ruins I felt my fear for heights edge up on me a little, but I didn't let it stop me. While I stood at the top I took in the rain forest around me. I felt like I could see the whole world at this point. I decided to sit at the edge where the stairs were and dangle my feet over the ancient stone. I took a picture to capture the moment of feeling so tall.
The Baboon Sanctuary was our second stop on our trip. Baboons in Belize are the howler monkeys that roam the country. Some one thought it was wise to call them baboons many years ago so the name stuck in certain areas. The sanctuary is to help the native howlers in their fight to keep their territory lands. Down in Belize like in any tropical area in Central and South America deforestation is happening because farmers are trying to expand their fields. Howlers rely on riparian corridors to migrate from one part of their territory to another. If there is not riparian corridor then no way for them to travel. The sanctuary works with farmers to make sure that the corridors don't disappear for good.
The place gave us a tour of the sanctuary. The tour guide showed us different unique plants that you could only find in the tropics, including what they call a tattoo fern. This was the place that I got to see the white necked jacobin, a hummingbird native to Belize. I was the only one who spotted it, and it was one of those moments you see in the movies. Where we are walking along and I happen to look over and there he is perched on a little branch, the sun hitting it just so. It was perfect.
I never thought I would ever see a howler monkey up close without a fence between us. We came to a spot in the forest where five howlers were around us. A mom and her baby came closer. Three to four young ones hung out in the trees observing us as we stood there. The great part about this visit was the male. The tour guide got the male to start howling for us by howling himself. My professor said he's never seen a howler howl that close, and have never gotten that great of a view.
At this point in our travels we ran into a few complications. The van we had rented had a flat tire not once but twice. My little camera that I took with me I have had since I was sixteen (so it was four years old at this point) was not liking the humidity. I was going through batteries like you wouldn't believe. I was trying to keep the camera alive long enough to take some pictures. This means I didn't get to take all the pictures I wanted to take. I did, however, get enough to be able to show friends and family (and now you) all of my adventures. Unfortunately a couple months after I came back my little camera decided to stop working all together. Again I'm grateful it held out for the most part while on the trip.
The first day in Succotz, where we were staying at another church camp, we went for a walk. An eight mile walk. Our first stop was to the ruins of Xunantunich. We rode on a ferry across the river, and walked up and down hills to get to our destination. Xunantunich was more of a put together ruins than Lamanai and from the top you could see both Belize and Guatemala. This set of ruins had art work still prominently etched on the sides.
Our second and final stop for the day was at this butterfly house/ restaurant. This butterfly house had all the native species of butterflies, and a man with incredibly long fingernails showing us the butterflies. This is the place I got to see a blue morpho for the first time. I wasn't able to get a picture of this bad boy because it was too fast for me, my reaction time, and this camera.
I also learned why you shouldn't drink the water the hard way. If you have never went to a third world country you are advised not to drink the water in some of these countries. One main reason why is because it has different microorganisms in it than our water, which could easily make you sick. In Succotz there was a little restaurant downtown called Bennie's. That was our hot spot while staying in Succotz at night because it had working wifi, and snacks. The night we first went to Bennie's me and another guy decided to order a milkshake. When you think of a milkshake you think creamy, ice cream treat. In Belize they use milk powder, fruit, and crushed ice. We both didn't think anything off it and drank the milkshakes.
The next day was pretty interesting. Without giving too much information I'm lucky I made it out of the bathroom. The other person was sick the whole day. I was lucky I made it to the zoo without having an accident if you know what I mean. As I mentioned we went to the Belize Zoo. This is a unique zoo because all the animals in the zoo were native. All money given to the zoo they use to help with conservation efforts as well. Now I've mentioned how laid back Belize can be. You know how the exhibits are for the big cats and animals where these is either glass, or some sort of barrier between you and the animals. That's not Belize. All you had between you and the jaguars are a chained link fence. And the zoo even offered an experience where you could go in a cage in there habitat and have them lick you or you could feed them. After seeing the temperament of the one jaguar that didn't appeal to me.
This was also the first time I got to see a real Harpy Eagle. You hear about these beautiful birds on nature shows, but never think you are going to see one in real life. Belize still has a handful of nesting pairs of the Harpy Eagle, but you still wouldn't have a high chance of seeing them in the wildlife. These birds are massive. Take a regular Bald Eagle and times it by two. These birds are majestic in themselves. It flew in the cage even. Just to see the wingspan was incredible.
I walked down the little lane to the next exhibit and started to hear a cooing noise. I turned to the left where the walk way opened to stairs. Again I heard the cooing. I walked up the stairs to find my professor cooing to this male bird to try to get it to show its plumage. He was successful eventually so we could both snap a picture of it. This was before my DSLR days and before I knew what I was doing with a camera so the chain link fence shows in the picture.
This is the first half of my Belize journeys, and where I'm going to end it for today. This will be a two part post. It's hard fitting a whole month of adventures and travels in Belize into one blog post. So for now...
To be continued....
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