Here are all the pictures you've been waiting for :-) Apologies for the poor quality of some of them...light in the rainforest isn't the best, and it was pretty much "take a picture and keep moving"....

A Roadside Hawk along the road on the way to our first hike on Monday.

Citrus groves alongside the road on the way to our first hike on Monday.

The tarantula that our guide had to coax out for us to see.

A map of the park where we went on our hike - we went up the trail at the top of the map that leads into the mountains.

Banana Trees!

A termite nest.

I (still) have no idea what kind of flower this is, I just thought it was pretty.

A Gumbo-Limbo Tree - its bark turns red and peels when the sun hits it to keep pests from climbing it.

A Lobster-Claw Heliconia

How crazy are these palm fronds?!

The bottom half of the Antelope Falls.

The pool that we swam in.

The amazing view from the top of the waterfall.

Another shot of the view.

One of the houses at the resort - three other girls and I lived on the bottom floor of this one.

The view from our porch.

The resort had cats everywhere - this one's name was Ginger and she liked to stay with us.

This was right before we had our first rain shower...the sea was so angry!

Getting ready to go canoing down the Sittee River.

A Yellow-Crowned Night Heron.


The ferry that would take us across the river to the Ruins.

The pulley mechanism that the ferry rode on across the river.

I hope he gets paid well to do this all day...

El Castillo at Xunantunich.


The side of El Castillo - those carvings mean "welcome".


The view from the top of one side of El Castillo at Xunantunich (Guatemala is off to the right).



The view from the top of the other side of El Castillo.



Drummers!


Goodbye Belize! We'll miss you! (In the small plane on the way home from Dangriga to northern Belize)


Sunset on the clouds on the way to Miami on the way home.

I suppose I should finish recording my experiences.

Friday we woke up and ate breakfast and then piled into the van that was taking us to the Mayan Ruins. We drove for around an hour 'till we reached Belmopan, the capital of Belize. There we stopped and went to a neat gift shop, Then it was back in the car for another two hours. Again we stopped - this time in the little town of San Ignacio in order to board a cool hand-cranked ferry to cross the Macal River. Once across, we piled back into the van and completed the drive to the ancient Mayan city of Xunantunich - which our guide informed us was comparable to the present-day city of Philadelphia. While we were walking up the path to the temple (which was called El Castillo), we saw several Collared Aracaris flying from limb-to-limb, and our guide also pointed out an Allspice Tree. We then walked to El Castillo, which is a very large stone temple with 13 gates because the Maya believed that there were 13 gates to heaven and seven circles of rooms - one for each of the seven deities the Maya worshiped. We climbed to the very top (harder than it sounds because it was raining and the water made the limestone very slippery) and saw amazing views of the surrounding countryside as well as part of Guatemala. We also saw some Toucans and the top of a Red-lored Parrot as it flew by. Then we climbed all the way back down and went to another part of the city where we saw a ball court complete with bleachers for the fans - the Mayans used a rubber ball and their head, knees, or elbows to play. We then walked to another temple - a smaller building where rituals would have been held - it has been partially restored so that the weather doesn't erode it any further. After that it was time for lunch and back into the van to visit another ruin that was around ten minutes away. It was called Cahal Pech, or Place of the Ticks. It was a smaller Mayan complex, but it was also much older. Our guide told us about a jade mask that was found in the area that used to be kept in the nearby museum until a few years ago when two people broke in, stole the mask, and murdered the curator of the museum. After our tour of Cahal Pech, we got back into the van and drove the long three hours back to the resort.

After we got back from the ruins, we ate dinner and discussed tipping and packing and such. Then we had a little time to work on our notebooks before the drummers came - they were so cool! I'm used to African drumming, and this was similar, but there were some differences in the patterns of beats and the drum shapes/sizes.

Saturday was our day to leave. We got up early and looked at one last sunrise (amazing how we wanted to get up early all week to see the sun rise and get a little bit more time into the day, but while we're at school we dread waking up in the morning) and ate one last breakfast. We basically had the morning free until it was time for us to get in the van to head to the airport, so we spent the time doing last-minute packing, saying goodbye to the staff, taking pictures, and just hanging out. When the time came to get into the van, the sky opened up and started pouring - it was like Belize didn't want us to leave just as much as we wanted to stay. The trip home was (of course) the reverse of the trip to Belize - a van took us from the resort to the small airport in Dangriga, a small plane took us from Dangriga to northern Belize and from there we flew to Miami and on to DC. When we got back to DC we had a surprise waiting for us - the van that we had driven down from Pennsylvania wouldn't start. Around 20 minutes of charging the jumper cables with Dr. Morra's hybrid later, and we were good to go. We drove for what seemed like forever, and since I was in the back of the van in the middle of the seat I didn't get to sleep at all. We got back to St. Francis at around 4:30 am - roughly 12 hours after we had left Belize.

This trip has been absolutely amazing and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to experience it. If I had to pick a favorite part, well...I'm not sure that I could. I ended up liking the diving a lot more than I thought I would, and all the hikes were incredible. The food was amazing, the beds were comfortable, and the people were friendly. I guess my least favorite would be either the seasickness or the zillion times falling off the bike, but even learning to ride was fun. Overall, it was an amazing trip and one I'm sure I won't forget.

If anyone is going to be in the area on April 16 (it's a Wednesday) at 4pm, our class is doing a presentation for the entire campus on our trip...it's in the JFK auditorium. I promise that there will be much better pictures there than you can see here :-p.

Edit: So we just got back from kayaking ('though Lauren and I were in a canoe..it was about 50/50 canoes/kayaks)...it was lot of fun even though we didn't see any crocodiles. We did see a few iguanas (possibly Spiny-Tailed Iguanas) and a couple different kinds of birds (I'm still working out which ones) and (most exciting) about ten bats (we think they were Greater White-Lined Bats) sleeping on the side of a tree. We're eating dinner in about an hour, and I'm having beef of some sort, I think...the first time I've eaten meat all week ('cept for fish...), so it should be interesting. After dinner I'm going to spend some time working on my field notebook, and then take a nice long hot shower to soothe my muscles a little and then get to bed...we leave at 7:30 tommorow morning for the Mayan Ruins and then back here to pack and have dinner and then the drummers are coming! Have a good night, everyone :-) :tidE

Yesterday was....interesting. A few of us woke up at 6:30am to sit on the dock and watch the sun rise. Then we ate breakfast and worked on our field notebooks. *Then* Dr. Morra came and got me and we went out to the parking lot so that she could teach me how to ride a bike so I could ride into town with everyone else. Around 45 minutes and a few scraped knees and bruised shoulders later I was doing pretty well...I could stay up on the bike and turn and stop. Then everyone else joined us and we started down the road. Well the road that we were riding into town on was much rougher than what I had learned on, and it had large loose patches of sand along the sides that if you drifted into them would throw you no matter how good of a rider you were. So after falling around a dozen times and twisting my knee and getting the wind knocked out of me by falling on my bike seat, I decided to take a break and just walk the bike the rest of the way into town just in case I wanted to try again. When we got into Hopkins we wandered around for a while looking at the random shops and different kinds of houses and such, then we went to the other end of town to check out the drumming center. Unfortunately since it is mostly run by kids it was closed because they were all in school, but we did learn that they will be coming to Hamanasi on Friday to drum for us, so I'm really excited about that. While we were in town we also learned that the local police station is holding a barbecue on Saturday morning to raise money, so we're going to go back into town to eat lunch before we leave Belize on Saturday - exciting stuff.

After we got back to the resort, we had some free time to work on our field notebooks and just hang out. We ate lunch (I had a jerk chicken and pineapple wrap that was really yummy and not as spicy as I thought it would be) and then hung out some more because around 2:00 it started to rain and there wasn't much else we could do. The rain continued most of the night, including when we left around 5:00 to go on a night hike at a jaguar preserve. Unfortunately we didn't see any jaguars (or any kind of wild cats at all), but we did see an anteater, a wolf spider, a white-lipped mud turtle, and some leaf-cutter ants, and it was pretty fun to walk through the rainforest at night. By the time we got back from our hike it was around 9:30, and we were supposed to eat dinner but I wasn't hungry (probably because I was tired), so I went to bed.

Today we have the morning off, so we're all working on field notebooks and such. At 2:00 we're going kayaking on a nearby river, and we're hoping to see a crocodile or something exciting like that. Tomorrow we're going on a tour through Mayan Ruins, and I'm super excited about that...should be lots of fun.

Time for me to elevate my knee for a bit (no worries, I'm not having trouble walking or anything, I just have to be careful where I put my weight when sitting and standing...I think I'll be ok in a day or two) and get some work done....talk to everyone soon!

I'm still not able to upload any pictures, but trust me I'm still trying and I'll continue to try until they get here...even if that means they don't get here 'till I get back to school on Sunday.

Today we woke up super early (got to see the sun rise over the ocean, which was fun) and piled into the boat to go out diving all day. Our first dive of the day was over a reef that was packed full of fish - I haven't ID'd what I saw there, but there were a lot of fish. After our first dive we had a short surface interval where we had cookies and juice, then we went out again - this time over a large sandy patch. Here we saw several rays (I haven't figured out which kinds yet), as well as lots of different kinds of coral and flounder. Our second surface interval was done at a research station located on an island close to our third dive, and that was really interesting to learn about. They also had the most hermit crabs running around that I have ever seen in my life. We ate lunch and then went out for our third and final dive of the week over a shallow reef where we did coral color testing (seeing if the coral has been bleaching). Then we went to another research station - this one run by the Smithsonian Institute. They told us all about sea turtles and flatworms and it was also very interesting. Then we came back here, and now it's time for me to go and try to ID some of the things that I saw today.

Tomorrow we're going into the nearby town of Hopkins to check out the local culture and maybe spend some money. Later in the evening we're going on a night hike at a jaguar preserve...hopefully we see something interesting!

Edit: I've been trying for around half-an-hour to get pictures from today's activities posted, but the internet here just is not cooperating...so I guess they'll have to wait 'till tomorrow. Tomorrow we're getting up super early so that we can be on the dock at 6:20 to go out diving/visiting research stations all day...hopefully I'll be awake enough to post an entry and some pictures tomorrow....see everyone later! :tidE

My muscles are complaining and I'm exhausted and sweaty and bitten and scraped and bruised, but today was incredible. There is no other word to describe it. We woke up this morning at around 7:30 and ate a breakfast of apple cinnamon muffins, scrambled eggs, and all sorts of yummy fruit. Then we got dressed in our swimsuits, pants, and long-sleeved shirts, packed our field notebooks, pens, bug spray, sunblock, towels, cameras, and binoculars and piled into a van. We rode for around 40 minutes or so to Mayflower Bocawina National Park, where our hike was to start. We were supposed to hike one trail, eat lunch, and then hike a second trail, but apparently the government of Belize recently declared part of the park unprotected and allowed loggers there, so we only hiked on one trail (and what a trail it was!). Antelope Falls Trail, it was called and it was amazing. The trail was around three miles one-way and the last half-mile or so was almost straight up - at points there were ropes tied to trees so you could climb a little easier and one especially memorable section was completely rock - that's right, we went rock climbing in a rainforest in Belize. We didn't see very many animals, although we did hear a lot of birds. We caught a glimpse of a lizard and our guide coaxed a tarantula out for us to see (it's hard to be scared of something that needs to be coaxed out of its home). The highlight of the hike, though were the rewards at the top: an amazing view and a swim in a pool at the top of a waterfall - may I repeat that? We swam in what was probably a Mayan bathing area at the top of a waterfall after rock climbing through the rainforest of Belize (I have to keep repeating it to myself otherwise I won't believe that I did it). I'm definitely going to be posting a lot of pictures later today, but right now I have to get a shower and maybe take a nap...talk to you all soon!

I tried to post a video that I took, but it is 67M, and it's just taking too long...so maybe later today...

The view from our dining area.

The beach is dotted with hammocks and lounge chairs and other seating apparatus.

Relaxation.

The coconut tree that one end of my hammock was tied to.

How many geckos can you see? :-p

Yesterday was an absolute whirlwind. We left SFU at around midnight and drove for around 3 hours to get to Reagan National Airport in DC. The place was nearly empty - which was nice - but getting boarding passes and getting through security checkpoints and such still took around an hour-and-a-half, which left us with just enough time to grab a bite to eat for breakfast (or in my case eating a pear that I had stolen from Torvian before we left) and board the plane. It was my first plane ride ever, and I'm impressed with myself for not getting sick (though falling asleep ten minutes after we took off probably helped that). After a two-hour flight we arrived in Miami with enough time to sit and eat lunch (I had a tuna sandwich that had some sort of yummy yellow/green peppers on it) before we boarded the plane for Belize. I slept for a bit of this flight, but also passed the time by talking to the woman next to me who was a part of a group of teachers from New Hampshire who annually go down to Belize to teach in the more impovershed schools. When we arrived in Belize two-and-a-half hours later we had to go through customs which took around 45 minutes and involved yet another security checkpoint. Getting through all that enabled us to get on yet another plane - this time something called a puddle-jumper, which was quite small and held around 12 people. It took us from the airport in Belize City to the town of Dangriga, which was around half-an-hour from our resort. In order to get from Dangriga to Hamanasi we were driven in a van by one of the staff who answered all our questions about the area (such as how they have white-tailed deer there, but they rarely hunt them). After that we were finally at a place where we could stop and not have to travel anymore - Hamanasi Resort. We were welcomed by the staff and given "welcome drinks" which was something fruity and delicious. Then we talked to the divemaster of the resort and worked out the details of our dive the next day and what to do with our gear. After that we had a little time to get settled in our rooms and explore the area before dinner. I had the house salad (that had the most amazing dressing I've ever had and was just the right size for a salad) and a yummy vegetable crepe with key lime pie for dessert. By this time it was around 7:30. I sat in our room and wrote in my field notebook for as long as I could, but by around 8:30 I realized that nothing I was writing was making any sense and decided to go to bed.

This morning we woke up at around 7 (I wanted to get up early to walk along the beach as the sun came up, but it just didn't happen). We went to breakfast in our PJs and ate juice and yummy fruit and fresh cinnamon rolls and hard-boiled eggs and then went back to our rooms to get into our swimsuits and get sunblocked and bugsprayed and such because we had to be at the dock to leave for our morning dives at 7:45. I was really nervous and had some issues on the first dive, but most of those had to do with the fact that I had too much weight on my weight belt - an easily remedied problem. After the first dive we got back on the boat and went to a nearby island to have some juice and cookies during our surface interval. After around an hour we went back to the dive spot and dove again - this time it went much better. The water is so warm and clear and absolutely teeming with life - it's hard for me to get anything written down on my slate to be identified because I can never decide where to look and what to write. When we finished with this dive we went back to the resort for lunch - today I had a vegetarian cheeseburger and drank lots and lots of water because diving is very dehydrating. After lunch we worked on transferring our scrawled drawings from our dive slates to our field notebooks and attempted to identify what it was that we had seen, which ended up being a very frustrating task - hopefully I'll do better when we dive again on Tuesday. After the ID-ing and such we had some time before dinner...and that's where I am now - sitting on the porch overlooking the ocean.

I feel like I must have fallen asleep on the plane and am just having a hyper-realistic dream, because places like this just cannot exist and I am absolutely not lucky enough to be able to visit one. Our dining area has a view of the ocean, for Pete’s sake! I laid in a hammock and read while being gently swayed by breezes coming off of the ocean and was nearly lulled to sleep by the sound of the ocean waves and the gentle rocking of my hammock (‘though after nearly twelve straight hours of alternating between planes and buses, even that motion was almost enough to turn my stomach). I ate amazing food that was good for me and I feel nourished and rediculously relaxed even though we have so much to do and go back to school in a week - this place just exudes relaxation - I mean how can you be stressed when there is a constant warm breeze and the sound of the ocean?

Tomorrow we're leaving at 8am to go on a long hike 'till around 4 - I'm very excited. But it's time to eat dinner now (I'm having something with Grouper...I forget exactly what I ordered), and then I'm gonna get a shower and wash all the salt and sand and sunblock and bug spray and sweat off of myself and maybe write some more in my field notebook and then get to bed....early to bed and early to rise and all that jazz.

I'll add some pictures later today.....it's time for dinner now....talk to everyone soon!