ccaseyster

South Water Caye is part of the South Water Caye Marine reserve. It's home to a huge collection of coral reefs just a half hour boat ride from Dangriga. Our group stayed at the International Zoological Expeditions lodge (IZE) and got classroom instructions on how to identify and evaluate coral health. The beach on the south side of the island was incredible. It had a breath-taking view of Victoria Peak, and the reef could be accessed right from the beach. Other than that, it was a pretty sleepy little island and what time we didn't spend on the beach was out on the reefs. This place was amazing.... read more

Sunday morning we woke up and headed over to Martha's to leave for an afternoon at the Pine Ridge. The ride out was over an hour on a dirt road in a van with a broken A.C. Needless to say it was pretty miserable. It might have been a bit better had the scenery not been so gloomy. What was once a beautiful pine forest (think Vermont) has been ravaged by the pine beetle for the last 5 years. What remains today is intermitant pine stands with massive pine mast artifacts in between. Our first stop was the Rio Cave. The cave has two entrances which can be seen from either side, and a sandy peninsula in the center. Our next stop was the Rio On Pools where we ate lunch and passed the time for ... read more

This weekend we found ourselves at the La Milpa Field Research station. The station is part of a large conservation trust, and run by The Program for Belize (partnered with the Mass Audobon Society). The site is run off of the power grid through solar pv panels, and all the sewage is composted. The bus ride was about 5 hours as we had to drive all the way to Belize City before we could head north, but it helped that everyone was in very good spirits. We arrived at about 7:30 and sat down to dinner immediately. Afterwards we had the rest of the evening free so Chandler Courtney Laura and I headed into the forest for a night walk. Simply put, it was creepy. The jungle really does take on a new life at night, ... read more

Xunantunich (The Stone Woman) houses what is said to be the second highest structure in Belize. The 2000 year old El Castillo, as the main structure is referred to, is 140 feet tall on top of a hill. El Castillo was a shrine built in honor of the mesoamerican christ figure Kukulkan. This ancient deity has roots in all indigenous mesoamerican cultures, and is commonly reffered to by his Toltec name "Quetzalcoatl". Getting there is a bit of an adventure in itself as you have to cross the river using a hand-cranked ferry, and then walk a mile uphill. The view from the top is totally worth it, with a sweeping panoramic view of the Belizean and Guatamalan hillsides. The two men on top of the temple holding m16's were actually quite approachable. Although it was ... read more

The first week here was certainly not without it's problems. Arriving in San Ignacio we were told that there was a mistake in booking our rooms. Me and my roomate Chris spent the first three nights of the trip in the Venus Hotel. After acquiring some of the local flavor on the first night, we took a trip up the hill to Cahal Pech. The site itself is among the smallest Mayan sites in the country, however it dates back close to 3000 years. The name Cahal Pech literally means "place of ticks" as it was first excavated in the 1950's when the land had been cleared for cow pasture. The site served as a place for the Mayan elite to worship the gods, and is also thought to have been used for astronomical calculations. ... read more