Hello friends today was the big day! had an early start to the day, but a good kind of start since it’s the big day. Met everyone at 6 in the morning and we had a last minute check of our gear before heading to the airport.

Security at the airport was extremely fast. I don’t think I’ve ever gone through customs and security as fast as I did today. Had some potatoes for breakfast and a nice bottle of water. We sat in the plane for about an hour before we actually took off, but as soon as the plane left Houston, I was out.

We arrived in Belize at 11:58 and we quickly got out on to the road. As soon as we were on the road, I could see lots of epiphytes. As we made our way to lunch, I saw more epiphytes, and lots of observations were made in the car ride to lunch. I saw lots of pollution in the sides of the road, saw an Asian restaurant, and we all saw a wildfire firsthand. As we were eating at the restaurant, Scott also pointed out a termite mound that was above ground, on a tree branch! First taste of Belize was so good, and the soup sop juice i could drink for days!

Picture 1: You can see the roots of these epiphytes and how they stretch to the ground, characteristics of Hemi-epiphytes.

Picture 2: Ferns that were spotted at lunch.

Later in the day at the lodge, we went for a swim in the river. Along the trail to the river, we saw lots of ants, “mammals”, and plants that we all looked at prior to the trip! Being in Belize for only a few hours and seeing the diversity of epiphytes has made all the reading worth it. That’s a wrap for this blog! See you for day 2!