Our last consecutive day of travel finally led us to Las Cuevas, but not before some fun first. After departing from our nice lodgings and all internet access, we stopped at a nice river and waterfall area for a dip in the water. On the way there, we spotted a brown basilisk (Basiliscus vitiattus) from the van. The scenery was beautiful and the water was nice, and none of us wanted to leave. I spotted some kind of ameiva lizard there, but I didn’t have my ID card so I couldn’t pinpoint the species. We also enjoyed eating a soursop together, which was many peoples’ first time having one. This is one of the many perks of having islanders on this trip.

After swimming, we got back on the bumpy road to Las Cuevas, playing card games to pass the time in the van. We arrived at Las Cuevas around 1:15pm and were greeted by a delicious lunch. After settling in, we got a brief orientation and went for our first hike in the Chiquibul forest. We spent two hours walking through the forest, seeing lots of spider webs and even the vegetation-covered stones laid by Mayans over one thousand years ago.

We spotted a Crested Anole (Anolis cristatellus) in the forest, but that was it for reptiles. We returned at 5:40, and spent time unwinding at the station. Since the rains have just started, we witnessed a termite nuptial flight, which some of us took as a chance to eat termites.