Marine Biology in Belize

The Winter Term Marine Biology class spent January 7-16 in Belize. The plan was for them to post blog entries of their experiences while they were there, but sketchy Internet access thwarted those plans. Students still wrote down their thoughts and we’ll publish them retroactively each day this week on KWConnect.

For more on the opportunities available through the KWC Biology department, click here.

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January 8, 2010

 –Ben Allen–

Today was our first day on the mainland, after a slightly eventful plane ride in. Clarissa Falls Resort is the name of the place where we are staying – it’s a quaint little place with some bungalows and an outdoor patio dinning area. After a delicious breakfast of local fruits, eggs and some fried pastry, we embarked on our hike along the banks of the Mopan river toward Xunantunich, a Mayan ruin.

The hike was about two miles and was awesome. Along the way we saw many local species including leaf cutter ants, parrots and a variety of cranes. Our guide, Chenna, was the owner of the resort, and was very knowledgeable of the area. Chenna told lots of interesting stories and remedies the local flora is used for, such as the plant that makes castor oil.

Once we reached the park that Xunantunich sits on, we rode a ferry across the river. It was another short mile hike up the hill to the ruins. As soon as you enter the ruin complex you see the main tower standing about 250 feet tall, sticking out of the forest canopy. We all ascended the building – it was pretty intense since there was nothing but a six-inch wide stone step between you and the ground hundreds of feet below. Once you get to the top you can see for miles; the view is breath taking, with Guatemala on one side, Belize on the other, forest all around.

We explored the rest of the ruins seeing the ball courts and the other two temples, which were less impressive but still intriguing. We then hiked back down to the river where we were met with a quick lunch and inner tubes. We proceeded to venture down the Mopan on the tubes. It was very relaxing and we got to see several iguanas sunning themselves up in the tree tops and blue herring fishing. There were some minor rapids that we had to traverse but only a few people flipped, with their pride the only thing hurt. We spent about two hours on the river before arriving at our resort.

We were fed a delicious dinner of some local chicken dish and rice. On the way back to my bungalow I happened upon a large tarantula that happened to be a red rump, which was a species John Grieb had presented on in class. So I captured it in a bag and brought it back to the dinning area where Dr. Rosemier handled it and we passed it around being sure to be gentle so not to get bitten, even though a bite is only like a bee sting. Of course lots of picture were taken.

Well that’s all for today – lots of fun, very tiring, time to hit the sack. Heading to San Pedro tomorrow.

–Christine Spear—

Today was a very full day – we had the opportunity to take a guided walk, go to see the Mayan Ruins, and then tube down a river back to the place we were staying.

When we arrived outside of the jungle area, we had some time to walk around and take a quick look at some of the stores.

To get to the Ruins we had quite a hike. Starting off, the trip was easy – all we had to do was go on a ferry and cross the river. When we crossed the river there was a very big hill awaiting us, and when we made it up the hill there was an even steeper hill waiting for us.

On this hill two girls in our group decided they were going to race up it. This turned out to be quite hysterical because as they were going up they had a good pace then near the very end they both died very quickly. When we finally made it to the top of the hill, the rest was a very gradual incline that made the trip seem not nearly as bad as it was.

We reached a spot where we could buy tickets to enter into the Mayan area, but to our dismay we still had some hiking left to do. When we finally reached the site, it was amazing. The stone buildings were so high and the architecture for that time was very impressive.

So, naturally we all found the tallest of the three areas and started climbing up it. We all got to the top, where it seemed like we were on top of the world. It felt like I could see for forever in every direction. You could easily see houses and fields in the distance; it was quite spectacular.

Then it was time for the descent. Going down did not seem to take nearly as long as going up did. When we reached the bottom, we were able to grab a small snack before we grabbed tubes and got into the river. Drifting on the river was very relaxing and very fun. Finally we got back to the house and rested and grabbed some food.

The trip has been a lot of fun and very interesting. We have learned a lot from the people here and have had the chance to experience many new things.

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