May 21, 2019

Today, we went caving! I’m not talking just walking through a teeny cave with the convenience of manmade steps and installed lights. At points, we were swimming neck deep in water or trapped between two narrow cave walls not more than a few feet apart. We even had to slide down a small narrow waterfall going sideways to avoid collisions with rocks. The natural formations were incredible, but we also got to stand feet, or sometimes even inches, away from authentic Mayan artifacts and skeletal remains. I have no words for this experience except awesome, epic, and earth-shattering.

After caving, we made our way to the Tropical Education Center where we will be staying the night. Nearby, we got a night tour of the Belize Zoo. This meant we got to see many incredible animals that we wouldn’t otherwise see up close. Each of us got to feed a tapir and hold a boa constrictor, which are actually particularly docile snakes in case you didn’t know. My personal favorite was the puma. It was undoubtedly the most gorgeous animal I have ever seen. Its huge eyes and narrow tapering facial structure seemed unreal.

The stars here are gorgeous, and as I was looking up at them, I noticed a moving one. It was not a shooting star but a firefly (a beetle!). Unfortunately, the firefly was too far away for identification, and I don’t have any fireflies on my taxon ID card.