Tag Archives: lucky boy

(Nakian) May 24: Departure x Connection x Zoo

Today we left Las Cuevas Research Station to return to San Ignacio and depart to Glover’s Reef tomorrow. The departure was not so smooth as the van came 5 hours later due to miscommunication. The van was hot but spacious so not so much to complain about. As we passed the Tapir Camp and the familiar road we came through I remembered the excitement and concerns on the way to LCRS.
When we arrived at San Ignacio, I connected to the internet with my phone for the first time. It was a race of information and connection that I had forgotten for a whole week. After spending much time replying to worried messages, I found myself submerging into that waves of information and not living in the world I am sitting on. I was returning to myself before the trip I hoped to change.
Finally, we arrived at the Belize Zoo to have a night tour with nocturnal animals. With the humorous guides we saw the big cats of the rainforest that we had hoped to see ourselves in the rainforest. They were beautiful creatures and their story of how they ended up in the zoo saddened me for the ignorance and greed of men.
Also I saw leaf-cutter ants in the zoo. It seems that they are everywhere in Belize.

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Change of Plans

Today was another travel day, and yet again we had mishaps with vans. Our driver and van company were not properly communicated with and were 5 hours late to pick us up from Las Cuevas. Therefore, we did not get to go to the ATM Caves.

The van ride was long and hot, and the fact that we didn’t get to go to the caves made it very hard to be patient. However, we stopped for lunch at the Orange Gallery and got to cool down, eat some lunch, get some refreshing drinks, and buy some souvenirs.

View at the Orange Gallery
View at the Orange Gallery

Tonight we are staying at the Belize Zoo Lodge, and we got a fabulous tour of the zoo after dinner. Scott was very proud of us for being more scared of the leaf cutter ants than the jaguar. We got to touch a black jaguar’s paws. His name is Lucky Boy, and he was rescued from a resort.

We also played with the other jaguar (Junior) and he ran up and down the cage after us. We fed a Tapir, saw a huge American alligator, and heard an ocelot make some weird noises while jumping for treats. The ocelot was making some weird noises that sounded like it saying “nam nam nam”.

Oh, also this morning I saw 4 or 5 golden orb weavers. One of them was huge it was almost two inches in body length!

I’m very excited for our boat trip to the reef tomorrow and getting to see some amazing things there.