Category Archives: 2016

2016

The Day I Became Indiana Jones

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Today began the summer I was hoping I would have. We went to the archaeological ruins of Caracol, which was a Mayan city-state from 30BC till 1100AD. The ruins were amazing. We hiked to top of the tallest building in Belize, and got to look out over the canopy and the ruins. It was beautiful and we saw some amazing things including a weird desiccated mollusk, oropendula birds (computer birds commonly because of the crazy weird computer glitch sound they make when they call), and a lot of very large Mayan stone stairs.

On top of Caracol (the largest manmade structure in Belize) with Adrienne.
On top of Caracol (the largest manmade structure in Belize) with Adrienne.

I saw a golden silk spider. It was slightly smaller than they can get and had a web were several other spiders were also building their own webs. I saw several tarantula holes as well. The highlight of the arachnid sightings, however, was definitely the slender brown scorpion someone found in the men’s bathroom by the picnic tables. It had venom dripping out of its stinger!DSCN0859

(Golden silk weaver)

After the ruins we drove back toward the Rio On pools with the intention of swimming after the incredible heat at Caracol. However, our van had other plans. Its transmission was acting funny and it was unhappy in every gear the driver put it in, so we stopped at the Tapir military check point (barely making it there even) and checked the transmission. There was no transmission fluid in the van at all, and it was definitely not going to make it to the pools, much less to the pools and then back to Las Cuevas. Instead, we all piled our bags into the back of two pickup trucks with us sitting inside the trucks and on top of the bags. I, of course, opted to be in the back of the truck for the ensuing bumpy ride to the station.

I learned a very cool trick for finding spiders at night which lead me to find hundreds of wolf spiders and a few red rump tarantulas. If you shine your headlamp you can see their eyes in the dark reflecting back with yellow iridescence.

Coaxing a red rump tarantula out of its hole
Coaxing a red rump tarantula out of its hole

My hair is now a very crusty texture due to all the dust and sweat from the day, and I did not bring shampoo. It’s shaping up to be one of the best summers of my life.

2016

Into the Maya Forest

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Today the remoteness of the trip has begun to feel amazingly real. We’ve seen Mayan temples in the jungle and animals abound, despite the fact that we haven’t even really gone looking for them yet. Some fantastic non-mammal sightings included a blue-crowned motmot, a great black hawk, oropendola, and a slender brown scorpion (in a bathroom, unfortunately).

Today’s main activity was a visit to the Mayan ruins at Caracol. Caracol was once assumed to be a smaller city dominated by other Mayan powers such as Tikal. However, it is now known that Caracol was actually a large metropolis supporting somewhere around 150,000 people. Caracol was designed like a wagon wheel, with a main center and road “spokes” leading to the more rural agricultural areas. Most of the pyramids were used for religious rituals, as was the case with Caana, the sky palace that we climbed. After 1100 AD Caracol had collapsed, but the Maya people still live in Mesoamerica. It is amazing to me how many different kinds of people live in this part of the world. Mayans and other natives share the land with people of European or African ancestry, and further divides are made as people are sorted into nationalities (Guatemalan, Belizean, Mexican). It is perhaps no wonder that tensions between peoples at times run high.

Today also marked the first wild mammal sightings of the trip! During breakfast (6am…), we spotted a Yucatan squirrel in a nearby tree. Some other students may also have seen an agouti, though I was not able to see or identify it reliably. Later, on the road to Caracol, a coatimundi was spotted travelling on the side of the road. Although I had to jump over some seats in the van to get a glimpse of the coati, it was well worth the effort. The coati was a brown-red with characteristic white rings on its erect tail. At Caracol, some other tourists reported a Mexican black howler monkey sighting, though we did not see any signs of the primates.

Yucatan Squirrel seen at Crystal Paradise Resort
Yucatan Squirrel seen at Crystal Paradise Resort

Some of the mishaps of the day included lunch drinks breaking in the cooler and a van break down. After Caracol, the plan was to visit some pools and waterfalls for a refreshing swim. However, it was not to be as our van was forced to quit due to lack of transmission fuel and oil. Luckily, we were not too far from Las Cuevas Research Station (where we will be staying until we leave for the coral reef) and we were able to improvise with some pick-up trucks. In true TFB (Tropical Field Biologist) fashion, a bunch of us piled into the bed of a truck and had a fun ride into the beautiful wilderness!

2016

Day 1: Broken water lines, disappearing laptops, and projectors with minds of their own

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We are in Belize! We met at Rice and headed to Hobby airport. While we were in security, a waterline broke, and they had to shut off water to the entire airport. The airport was filled with swarms of people waiting for the few places that were still serving food. We had a fairly uneventful flight, and were picked up by a driver who took us to the Crystal Palace Resort. When we arrived, we were greeted by these adorable towel swans!DSCN1210

We are staying at a lovely little place nestled within the forest. It was dark when we arrived, but it looks beautiful and I can’t wait to see the grounds in the morning! They served us an amazing dinner of chips and salsa, fried rice, salad, plantains, and cake (Happy birthday Claire!). We were all pretty amazed by the salsa-it had carrots and cucumbers in it and was delicious!

Belize was impressively green from the sky, but the habitat destruction is clear from the ground. Much of the area we drove through had been cleared for agriculture, and we passed a hillside covered in massive trees being burned to the ground. The soil in many fields was black, and many trees had scorch marks from previous fires.

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Although we spent the day in the car, we still saw a fair bit of wildlife. We saw a few arboreal termite nests in the trees off the highway, but they were too far away to identify the species. We also saw a house gecko and a snowy egret at a convenience store we stopped at on the way to the resort. However, my favorite sightings were after the sun had set. As I was walking back to my cabin, I stumbled across a leafcutter ant trail. We followed them back to their nest, and then tracked down the tree from which they were harvesting. There must have been thousands of ants, and they had worn a smooth path through the tire tracks on the road. As I’m writing this blog post, a boa constrictor is sitting in a tree only a few feet away!DSCN1242

2016

A Bumpy Ride

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Day 1 has been quite the bumpy ride, both literally and figuratively, but a blast all the same. After getting through security at Hobby Airport, we found no water and no food due to a water main break! The quick flight to Belize City was relatively smooth, until the very rough landing. And then it was into a van for two and a half hours, down some bumpy roads to the Crystal Paradise Resort.

We had a few wildlife sightings today, though none were wild mammals. At a convenience store stop we saw an egret overhead and house geckos near lights. At dinner (a wonderful meal prepared at the lodge), we saw huge cicadas and a cockroach or two. Later in the night, we accidentally stepped on the path of some leaf cutter ants carrying bright green leaves. We also saw a boa constrictor in a tree branch right next to the main lodge area, which was fantastic to see up close.

In terms of mammals, we did see some livestock, horses, and dogs throughout the car ride. I’m looking forward to spotting more wild species once we are deeper in the forest, and once we can utilize the camera traps. These domestic mammals were part of a landscape of karstic hills and underdeveloped communities, as poverty seemed to be common. The forest also looks somewhat starved of water due to many months of dry season.

Seen at Crystal Paradise Resort
Seen at Crystal Paradise Resort

Overall, what an amazing day. I’m soaking up as much information as I can, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day to see it all!

2016

Travel and Introductions

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Hi loved ones, I’m alive and well. I’m sitting in my humid sticky bedroom recounting the excitement (good and bad) of the day in my head. It started out on a pretty bad note honestly.

We got to Hobby airport and there had been a power outage resulting in no water in the entire airport: no working bathrooms, no working water fountains, and no food except what was left in the shiny cold food sections that no one ever touches, but were suddenly the bell of the ball. I bought some snacks and the largest water bottle I could find and hoped they would hold me over till dinner which was scheduled to be >6 hours later.

Once we got to Belize though, I remembered why it was that I was here. The air was humid, the houses along the road were colorful and falling apart, the bumpy 2 hour van ride let us see the countryside from Belize City to Belmopan. I loved it.

The rest of the day had its ups and downs. The van barely had air conditioning and we were all 16 of us stuffed into a van made to seat 8 semi-comfortably. When we stopped for snacks though, the day took a turn for the better. Adrienne bought me a birthday snack of a slightly disturbing tamarind flavored crazy hair pushup pop and some truly fabulous birthday sunglasses.

We learned about the forest canopy, trees, and epiphytes after a lovely dinner of chicken and rice. But after presentations was when the fun truly started. I found a spider about an inch in length including its legs. It was visibly hairy and a dark grey/black color with very few markings on its body. I didn’t get a great look at it because it was very skittish, but I got some pictures, which will hopefully (internet allowing) be attached to this post.

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The most exciting part of the day by far though, was the fabulous siting of an 8 ft. boa constrictor in a tree across from the porch where we had eaten dinner. It was super active and looked to be hunting. I’m so happy that I’ve already gotten to see some fun things, and it’s been barely half a day. I’m excited for what tomorrow will bring, and also so desperately in need of sleep. Till tomorrow!

2016

First day fun day

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The first day was full of excitement but also a series of unfortunate events. Hobby was out of water so no one could get lunch. Scott lost his laptop, and had a toad pee on his hand. The projector didn’t work for the presentation. But even though all these unfortunate things happened, I still had a great time. No one has died yet so that’s good.

I discovered that Adrienne gets progressively funnier and less filtered as her blood glucose level falls. Mandy and Anna really like talking about food and meat lover’s pizza. Clare turned 21 today. I really enjoyed the way the presentations work, it’s like we are each other’s teachers. I say this now… maybe I’ll feel different tomorrow after I present.

Oh yeah. Saw some animals too, those are cool too. Actually I was interrupted whilst typing this because Scott found a Boa Constrictor in a tree. Super awesome, props to his 20 20 night vision.

Can’t wait till tomorrow. Hopefully I don’t get sunburnt.

-Randy

2016

The Night Before

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After a year and a half of wanting to travel to Belize on this trip, it’s finally almost here. With the past week of frantic packing and last-minute assignment completions, I’ve barely had time to contemplate what it has all been for. Belize will be my first real field experience, and will hopefully start me on the path to becoming a competent field biologist and conservationist.
I’ve visited the true tropics only once, on a family trip to Guatemala in middle school. Perhaps my most unique animal experience comes from that trip: a group of Mexican black howler monkeys hanging feet from our faces, hooting with incredible volume. On this trip, I’m hoping that I’ll get to see this species again, along with as many other species as possible. While I know seeing wild cats is extremely rare, I sincerely hope we can at least catch some with the camera traps that we will be using. A jaguar would be incredible, but any of the other felid species would be amazing to see as well!
I am really looking forward to learning more about how coral reefs function, and I expect that my very limited knowledge will increase greatly in the second week of this trip. I am a little nervous about swimming in fins for such long periods of time (especially since my feet tend to cramp), but I am looking forward to learning how to deal with any sort of mishap in the field!
After getting all my gear, packing tons of bug spray, and doing hours of research, I expect to be tired, dirty, and unbelievably happy on this trip!

2016

It’s finally here!

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When I was a sophomore in high school, a friend told me about a summer course at Rice University. Students had the chance to spend two weeks in Belize, hiking, snorkeling, and learning about the tropics. I couldn’t imagine anything that sounded more amazing. At that moment, I knew I needed to go to Rice.

Tomorrow, we will be in Belize. I can’t believe it. This will be my first field research experience, and I am so excited to learn more about tropical ecology! I am doing research in a lab that studies tropical ecology, and my work is currently all data analysis on the computer. I’m looking forward to seeing the other side of my project learning about how all the data I’ve been working with was collected!

I have visited several tropical countries, and I drag my parents hiking wherever we go, so I’m not too nervous about the animals we’ll encounter. I do hope to avoid getting sick, and I’ve gotten quite a few immunizations in the last couple of months. In preparation for the trip, I’ve been doing lots of reading, and I have learned a lot about the incredible diversity of plants and animals that call Belize home. It will be awesome to put faces to all of the names I’ve been reading about. I recently realized how little I know about individual bird species, and on this trip I hope to learn more about the birds of Belize and be able to identify some of them. I know I will learn a lot about the ecology of Belize from this course. Even more than that, however, I hope to learn about ecology research and get a tiny glimpse into the life of a field ecologist.

2016

Pre-departure

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Only 3 more days till we leave for Belize. I am both nervous and excited, but that’s to be expected. Getting all the different pieces of equipment was a hassle but it’s finally done, although I still haven’t figured out how I’m going to fit the rubber boots that weigh a tonne and those flippers into my camping backpack.

I’m looking forward to walking around the rainforest looking for different plants and animals. Hopefully it’ll be the break I need from school even though this is technically a class. For those that don’t know I’m actually an electrical engineering student. So whilst this trip is a good change of pace I’m at the same time super nervous for all the presentations that I have to do. I’m mostly worry about not being able to meet the level of academic content expected. There’s no turning back now.

I hope going on this trip will be like hitting a reset button for me. Maybe I can finally stop worrying about school and internships and jobs for a minute and appreciate the life that I have and everything around me. At the same time maybe learn something about what Tarzan does for a living.

-Randy