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.

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!