YOU BETTERBELIZE IT! NATIONAL ZOO VOLUNTEER TRIP
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You BetterBelize
It!
National Zoo
Volunteer Trip
February 2-11, 2001
Our trip started on January 20th when we left home in our RV. Leaving our RV in Fort
Lauderdale at Kozy Kampers, we arrived at the Miami airport and awaited the thirteen
other volunteers to arrive. Theresa came to Miami a day early, but the others had an
airplane equipment complication and were delayed. We three talked to the American
Airlines people to see what could be done to wait for the rest of our group. We boarded
the flight and ten minutes before takeoff the group arrived! Thank goodness for it would
have presented complications in Belize where we were met and bused to our first stop
two hours to the west of Belize City. Belize , only 8,867 square miles in size, is located
on the "thumb" of the Yucatan peninsula. Belize attained their independence from
England in 1981. Surrounded by Guatemala, the population of Belize is primarily
Africans (57%), Mestizos (22%), Mayan (13%), European and others.
First, a brief description of the roads in Belize. Primary roads are two lanes, paved, and
in good condition allowing for speeds of 50 mph. Secondary roads are dirt or gravel with
no major pot holes but certainly bumpy allowing speeds of 30 mph. Tertiary roads are
rutted, contain washed-out gullies created by torrential downpours, no one maintains
them, and you are lucky to traverse them at 3-5 mph. The cities are electrified and have
public water. The villages along the main roads have electricity to just those houses that
border the paved roads. Otherwise, electricity is provided by your own generator.
Houses in the rural areas are mostly built on stilts. The covered area is thus useful for
kids playing, animals, drying clothes, storing stuff. Someday, this lower portion may be
walled in providing another living level for the family.
Charles, our driver, and Mary, our guide, from International Expeditions met us at the
airport and we loaded all the luggage for the fifteen of us on a small brand new bus that
accommodates 20 passengers. The luggage was piled on
the rear seats up to the top of the bus. This was no
problem, until we started to traverse the tertiary road
into Pook's Hill our first stop, and people in the back of
the bus had to brace the luggage and keep it from falling
forward. Charles was a great wildlife spotter as he was
driving, pointing out iguanas in the trees and various
birds on the wires, in the trees, or in flight. Our journey
was long, since we stopped many times to look at the wildlife with binoculars and take pictures. We turned off the main road onto a secondary road for 20 minutes, then we turned into the tertiary road leading to Pooks Hill, which took 30 minutes to traverse! Nestled in the hills and surrounded by the Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve, Pooks Hill was built by Vicky (from Trinidad) and Ray (from South Africa) eight years ago. Eight round stucco huts with thatch roofs stood on the hillside in two rows of four. Each hut accommodates two people with ceiling fan, large screened windows, bathroom with hot and cold water. The main lodge, again with thatched roof, was the bar, lounge area, and downstairs was the dining room. This was home for our first two nights. Upon arrival and "settling in", Vicky led us on a walk through the nature preserve, crossing the creek on a suspension bridge, and down to the Red Cliff where several of our group jumped in for a refreshing swim in the Roaring River. After dinner, we walked down the road looking for wildlife. The eyes of all sizes of spiders reflected in our light from our flashlights. Food was excellent, especially when you are hungry! Served family style, we had rice & beans, with the main entrée of either beef stew or chicken in coconut milk, wonderful fried potato chips, salsa, and sautéed veggies consisting of zucchini, onions, & broccoli and completing the meal with brownies or pudding cake. A delicious and varied breakfast consisted of granola, fresh orange juice, scrambled eggs and toast or French toast. Vicky prepared pacaya flowers from the palm tree which are fried and delicious! Before breakfast, the bird watchers were out along the road and discovered a small Fer de Lance snake having his breakfast of a toad. However, it was the Fer de Lance's last meal for the ants had attacked him as it tried to digest the toad. Belize is a bird watchers paradise having many unique species of birds. Our first stop of the day was at the Green Hills Butterfly farm where a Dutch couple raise native Belizean butterflies for export to zoos and other nature preserves. They supply butterflies to a number of places in the US including being in contact with the Smithsonian in the development of a new butterfly recently exhibited on the mall in D.C. Another tertiary road led us down to the Barton Creek Cave which extends about seven miles and is a spiritual place for the Mayans. We rafted three canoes together and armed with high power beams attached to car batteries, we entered the cave and paddled into the cave for about a mile. Vicky had previously prepared lunch for us which consisted of cucumber/tomato/cheese/cream cheese sandwiches on delicious homemade bread; PIZZA (yeah pizza!) with caramelized onions; fresh raisin bread, and fresh oranges. The Belizean oranges are very sweet and, since they are green instead of orange, when ripened they are exported as juice which is eventually mixed with other less sweet juice.
The trip to Belize wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Belize Zoo. In 1983, a
natural history documentary was being filmed here in Belize City using 17 animals native
to the area. When the filming was finished, Sharon Matola was instructed to destroy the
animals before she returned home. Well, that wasn't right…so Sharon raised money and
started the zoo with these 17 animals. The habitats are very rich in local vegetation
providing the animals with a familiar home. In some cases, finding the animals is
difficult. The signage is handwritten signs that have been written to the level of the
Belizean children and how they talk. Among the collection of 35 species in the zoo are
cougars (3), howler monkeys, spider monkeys, tapirs, peccaries, puma, ocelot, toucans,
and jabiru storks. Coincidently, Theresa's sister went to college with Sharon, so they were
able to meet and chat! Another nighttime hike searching for animals ended our first full
day here in Belize. We snuggled in our huts amidst a night of rain.
Driving west toward the Guatemalan border we stopped at our first Mayan ruin
Xunantunich, pronounced "sha-nan-to-nitch" and
meaning Stone Maiden. A hand drawn ferry
provided the transportation sans bus across the
Mopan River. The ferry can hold two cars and
about twenty people. The population of
Xanantunich was 7-10,000 and collapsed in the
800-850 AD time period because of social/political
problems. The frieze of glyphs around the main
Castillo of Xunantunich is being reproduced in
fiberglass. The Mayans did not use the wheel
because of the very rough terrain, but instead used rollers. The corbelled arch, modeled
after thatch roof construction,. is the support for roofs and ceilings. Never go anywhere
without your pauncho…for it will rain. Lunch at Martha's Kitchen in nearby St.
Ignacious was scrumptious - yummy and huge chicken burritos, Mayan pizza (tortilla
with cheese, fresh tomato, onion and cilentro), super nachos with cheese sauce, ground
beef and tomatoes.
Onto the border crossing and our two days in Guatemala at Tikal. Paying the $7.50
conservation fee, checking our passports through the Belize customs, walking across the
bridge over the river that separates the two countries, and passing through the
Guatemalan customs, we finally reboarded our bus. Unbeknownst to us, International
Expeditions hires an armed escort in a car to follow the bus. We are traveling over 40
miles of desolate dirt and paved road where we are prey to bandits or guerillas who only
want money and jewelry. The armed escort is a protection against anyone stopping us. No
bird watching stops along this stretch. The houses are poorer in Guatemala - wooden
shacks with thatched roofs, lots of horses, pigs, & cows. Electric poles have been erected,
but the government stopped both the electric project and paving the road. We arrived at
Tikal, an 222 square mile National Park with two small hotels, two museums, and of
course vendors. The park area of Central Tikal covers 6 square miles and is densely
covered with buildings extending out to 25 square miles. Our home away from home is at
the Tikal Inn with clean simple rooms consisting of beds, shelves, and bathroom.
Electricity and hot water is available from 2-10 pm. However, we do have a pool!
Simple food of rice & beans, stewed chicken, cooked vegetables for dinner and fresh
peeled fruit and either pancakes or eggs for breakfast. We had plenty of bottled water for
no water or food that has not been either peeled or cooked should pass through the mouth
in Guatamala! Don't even scrub your teeth with the water and be sure to keep your
mouth shut when showering!
Roxy is our excellent archeological guide for Tikal. She has been at Tikal since 1980 and
is employed by UCLA as the Guatemalan representative. She and her brother own and
run the Tikal Inn where we are staying. The Mayan culture is a "tump line" society, that
is they
carry heavy
objects by
using a
band
around the
forehead.
The Mayan
architecture is maximized for terracing and water catchments. Limestone filters the water
and the Mayan sealed the limestone with clay one level beneath the road surface and
diverted the water to reservoirs located along the side of the roads. Pacaya trees line the
sides of the reservoirs to prevent garbage from flowing into the reservoir. The original
quarries are close to the building sites and the quarries became the reservoirs. There are
13 reservoirs and one of them is over 75 feet deep The limestone was cut with flint
knives during the wet season, then during the dry season they were moved into place.
Only 7% of Tikal is excavated.
The Olmecs populated the Pacific coastal areas and had domesticated corn. They had the
calendar, and understood the concept of zero. They were forced to migrate inland after
some cataclysmic event. Once inland, they became Mayans and needed to build their
temples and observatories to reproduce their calendar, but it was among the rainforest.
Thus, they had to build high temples to surpass the canopy and allow the priests to have
an unobstructed view of the heavens. Fire is a key element which allows man to think
and acknowledge his environment. Items burn differently and tell much about the
society. Primitive firepits are mostly in the open and not in caves. Man experiments with
fire and finds that pottery will carry the fire. Man becomes sedentary and now they can
bury their dead which leads to religious experience with burying. The solar calendar was
thus developed by the Olmecs and perfected by the Mayans. The movement of Venus
was associated with the pattern of rain which allowed the priests to predict rain within 3-
4 days, mighty important for an agricultural society. The pre-classic Mayan is a
ceremonial society where the acquired knowledge is perpetuated by building temple used
to predict the solstices. The priests had the knowledge and in order to ensure it was passed down orally and accurately, they built their observatories taking 50-80 years to track all the sunrises and sunsets. From the tops of Temple 22 in Tikal, a priest would stand in the same place day after day while other priests would lay stones on the ground marking the exact spot where the sun rose. The classic Mayan society is ritualistic, whereby the people are followers and not thinkers. We know that the calendar was not interrupted between the use by the Olmecs and subsequently the Mayans. We know that the Mayan history was written in codices which were mostly destroyed by the Spanish. The Codices of Dresden survived and is devoted to mathematics. All solar eclipses between 3,113 BC and Dec 27, 2011 have been predicted. Haley's comet was even listed in this codices. There are miles and miles to walk within the city of Tikal and lots of pyramids and housing complexes to climb over and through. Our legs, particularly the thighs, were very sore for several days! We walked a mile to the ruins each time, then another mile or two between the temples. We explored the main plaza where there are four temples. Temple V, however, is a housing unit and not a temple. Archeologists have built wooden ladders, 104 steps in one case, so visitors can climb to the top of the Temple IV and peer above the canopy. We walked to the Lost World temple for sunset, then returned to the Inn at dusk and in the dark. Flashlights are a necessary item in your ventures at Tikal both at the ruins and for the hotel at night. The ceramics museum contains pottery and stele. The free museum has a large model of the known structures in Tikal and pictures of the excavations from 1865, 1895, and 1950. Roxy tells us a very interesting story about the guerillas in 1981. It seems that the President at that time was building an electrical and water plant infringing on the preservation of Tikal. The guerillas were against this development and devastation of their cultural heritage and thus they "took over" Tikal and destroyed this development. The story goes that the guerillas came in and rounded up everyone and marched them to the central plaza where they stood with their hands on their heads. Another guide and his German tour group entered the complex and was completely unperturbed by the guns and guerillas - asking the guerillas to move so they could take a picture of the temples. No one was hurt, but they did hear the guerillas' philosophy as they proceeded to blow up the new construction. For the last several years there has been a truce with the guerillas. Charles drove us to Flores a short distance from Tikal but first stopping for lunch at a lovely restaurant and lodging owned by Roxy's mother. Flores is a lovely and clean small
city on an island. We walked around for an hour peering in the small stores, restaurants,
and hotels then proceeded on to the airport. There we said good by to Charles and
boarded our flight to Belize City. The 16 of us required two airplanes for our 45 minute
flight. We were met by another bus driver who drove us northwest (about 1 hour) to meet
our launch at Shipyard on the New River for the trip up river to the Lamanai Outpost
Lodge. The New River flows 80 miles to the Caribbean. Our river trip was at dusk and
we enjoyed the night life of
spotlighting and noting the
reflections of light in the
eyes of the crocodiles and
birds as we traveled. We
arrived at the Outpost at 8
pm, were assigned our
rooms, and shortly sat down for a delicious dinner. The Lamanai Outpost Lodge, built in
1992, is a beautiful place in the middle of the jungle. The site sits on a sloping hillside
with a dock on the lagoon, 24 cabanas strung up the hill, and the dining room at the top of
the hill. Mahogany is the primary wood that is used, rough cut that is, and the roofs are
thatched. The cabanas are lovely - two very nice double beds, shelves, bathroom, ceiling
fans, lights. Yes, there is electricity 24 hours! Our trip has gone from the basic,
primitive at Pooks Hill to plush accommodations here at Lamanai. Since we were here
last in 1998, the two young howler monkeys have been fully rehabilitated and released
into the jungle. The dining room area has been enlarged and completely redone with
seating for about forty people and a coffee/tea bar, bar, and small shop.
Early morning consisted of birding, a walk tothe Mayan ruins just a mile away, and
meeting up with a troop of howler monkeys with two babies. Breakfast was served at the
picnic site at the entrance of the ruin. The Belize government has a large grant for
archeological restoration at Xunantunich, Lamanai and several other of their heritage
sites. Here at Lamanai they are stabilizing and redoing the Lord Smoking Shell temple.
We spent the morning walking around the ball court, Jaguar temple, and Lord Smoking
Shell temple. After a lunch of chicken, rice, potato salad and fresh fruit juice it was time
for relaxation - hammocks, swimming in the lagoon, or walking.
Brenda Salgado is the Animal Behavior researcher and Laura Howard is the resident
Lamanai archeologist. Mark and Monique, the owners of the Lamanai Lodge, are the
new owners/managers of International Expeditions in Belize and are very dedicated to
research and outreach to the local communities. They have established a Lamanai Field
Research Center (LFRC) which supports research
projects on crocodiles, bats, tarantulas, monkeys, and
archeology and educated the community on
conservation. This provides jobs to the local
community, trains the community in conservation, and
develops educational material for the schools.
There are six species of Howler monkeys here in Central America. Their average weight is only 15-20 lbs, yet the howl can be heard over one mile. Their home ranges overlap. Therefore, the howling is to announce the space occupied. A troop of Howler monkeys consists of six-seven individuals with male to female ratio of 1 to 2 or 3. There are a lot of solitary males competing for entry into a troop and dominance of a troop. Aggression is shown mostly by puffing up rather than biting or fighting, yet biting does occur. Diet consists of leaves. Howlers have large canine teeth, which may be due to the competitiveness among the males. Howlers also have very long fingernails unlike other primate species and the thumb on the hand is not opposable, but the foot is opposable. Their hand is more of a 3/2 grabbing action and is related to the arboreal lifestyle allowing the hands to have a better hold. The howling is caused by pushing air through the hyoid bone in the throat. One of the special safaris here at Lamanai is the moonlight spotting safari boat. Full moon tonight which, unfortunately, is not good for spotting birds and wildlife for they tend to hide. We cruised for two hours up the New River for several miles then into a smaller tributary where we saw birds and crocodiles. Food is excellent here at Lamanai. Dinner of Mayan fish, rice, cauliflower; lunch of beef enchiladas, corn salad, carrot cake; breakfast of French toast, bacon, scrambled eggs and fresh fruit. Our last morning at Lamanai was free and two of our group decided to individually take a walk in the jungle. Well at noon they didn't return so we sent out a search party not realizing that they both had met at the Sugar Mill and subsequent got lost. Each direction they turned led them to a dead end. Fortunately, they had some water and knew they would be missed. However, they persevered and bushwhacked their way through the jungle and reached the road. We were so glad to see them and for the next three days never let them out of our sight! Our 45 minute flight to Ambergris Caye required two planes for the 16 of us including Mary, our great guide! John was our copilot. We landed at a very small airport at San Pedro the major town on the island. The small airport building was just for ticketing and the waiting room and luggage was handled outside. We were staying at a timeshare, Belize Yacht Club, located just two blocks away. Each unit was a one bedroom with kitchen facilities and a porch. We are really upscale now for the bedrooms had air conditioning. The island sets just inside the a large reef so the waters are protected from rough waves. The Belize Barrier Reef or Palancar Reef extends from the Yucatan down the Central American coast line past Belize and is the largest reef in the Western hemisphere and second largest in the world. The water is still very clear and
the coral is pristine. Belizeans are very conscious of the environment and continue to
protect what they have. The beach is really not a swimming beach for it is very shallow
and grassy, but there are several resorts along the beach who have carved out a clean
shoreline and have chairs and umbrellas on the sand. Piers extend 50-100 yards out into
the shallow water. Boats transport you a mile out to the reef for snorkeling and diving.
The water is quite clear and relatively shallow (from 3-15 feet) the entire mile from the
reef to the shore. From the Caye boats travel ten miles up and down the reef for the many
outstanding snorkeling and diving sites, which are the primary tourist attraction. The
wind was blowing very strongly today, so the water was choppy.
Hurricane Keith came through Ambergris Caye in
September 2000 and did a lot of damage. Sadly the
primary damage was to the residential community.
The plants, mangroves, and trees are still wiped out
from the hurricane. The tourist places are all up and
operating. San Pedro, the main town on the island, or
rather dirt roads, has three streets parallel to the beach.
Rental vehicles are golf carts for $60 for four hours.
As you leave the town area you cross a canal via a
hand pulled ferry that can hold two golf carts, six bicycles, and several people. Two
young teenagers pull the boat across. Only one dirt track goes north and south of the
town. Several areas are washed out and large 4x8 pieces of plywood form the bridges
over the washouts! San Pedro reminds one of Ocean City, Maryland maybe 75 years
ago! Those who watch Temptation Island on TV will recognize Ambergris Caye because
the TV series was filmed at Captain Morgan's resort north of San Pedro and only
reachable by boat.
Our first snorkeling trip took us out to a very shallow part of the reef and was primarily a
checkout for the new snorkelers. The afternoon trip was to Hol Chan and Shark Ray
Alley where we swim with the rays and nurse sharks. Originally, when this island was
primarily a fishing outpost, the fish were cleaned and the entrails thrown over the side of
the boat attracting the sharks and rays, thus the name Shark Ray Alley. The tourist boats
continue to feed the sharks and rays to maintain the attraction. John was a "ray
sandwich" when two rays surrounded him. Mexican Rocks was a third site where we
snorkeled. Lots of colorful fish - parrot, wrasse, blue heads, angel, sergeant majors, little
barracuda, French angel, grunts - and pristine coral entice the snorkelers to remain there
for hours.
Restaurants abound in San Pedro. Dinner at the Belize Yacht Club featured grouper,
pork chops, pasta, shrimp and K-bobs. The next day, we walked along the beach and into
Eliv's for lunch. This restaurant has a tree growing in the middle of the thatch roof dining
room. Excellent food - burgers, salads, quesidalas (chicken, beef, seafood or conch),
conch, conch soup, and snapper. Dinner on our second day was at the Jade Garden which
served both Chinese and Belizean food. Everyone ordered lobster and I am sure there
were none left when we finished! Our lunch on our third day was Fidos, pronounced "fee-dos" where we had lobster burritos, Caesar salads, chicken and rice, and fish and chips. Our last dinner on the island was Carusco's which, turned out to not be so good both service and food-wise. Three airplanes carried our group back to Belize City! We had to share with other tourists leaving the islandso we didn't have the planes to ourselves. We transferred to American Airlines and were back in Miami by 5:30 pm. By seven, we were back in our RV in Fort Lauderdale cooking another gourmet meal. Do we live to eat or vice versa? The storage of the RV went very well. We will use the campground again. John & Carolyn McHale
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