Hi guys! Today felt like 3 crazy, wonderful days in one. Beginning with a nice 5:30 am shower, the day was filled with bird and critter identification and a stair-master tour of the Mayan mounds dotting the rainforest. 

(Caracol Ruins – 05/17/25)

After breakfast, we hopped aboard our iconic bus and took cat naps as we chugged up the mountains to the Caracol Maya Ruins. On our route, we passed through an area of the mountains known as Mountain Pine Ridge, featuring pine evergreen trees that were not very rainforesty. Our guide explained to us that this seemingly out-of-place pine vegetation was due to the fact that the soils in this region were different, composed of reddish (from the iron within) granite soils. We drove right through a ghost town that once flourished with the logging industry but has since been abandoned due to Belizean regulations shutting down the export of timber (though the export of timber products like furniture is legal). In the same area, baby pines had been planted as part of reforestation efforts. Human abandonment of the area allowed for pine restoration. It really makes you think about human/natural ecosystem competition. In this case, it was either the humans or the pines, not both. Is there a way they can coexist sustainably without edging each other out? 

Later down the road, we passed a beautiful, but squashed bright green vine snake in the middle of the road :(. Everyone disembarked to marvel at the pretty but gutty creature. Right when we got back on the bus, Sam coincidentally pulled out a green gummy worm and started munching on it. 

(Sam’s snake – 05/17/25)

A little while later, we arrived at Caracol, a site of Mayan ruins. We learned that the Maya built their houses and buildings on mounds of soil that contained previously used buildings – sometimes with deceased loved ones inside. They hopped on the “build up, not out” concept way early on. In fact, their tallest mound had 11 other layers of structures buried underneath. Boy, was that a climb. We climbed the stairs on this massive mound to reach the top, and by the end, we were on our hands and knees crawling up. From the top, we could see Guatemala in the horizon. Also, there were stray pieces of ancient pottery dotting the ruins, and we can all now say that we touched pieces of ancient Mayan pottery – pretty neat I think. 

(TALL Mounds – 05/17/25)

Throughout the day, I’ve seen so many of my glorious epiphytes (my taxa group, the dudes that live on trees without parasitizing them) and have been to successfully identify quite a few of them with the help my handy dandy taxon ID sheet and INaturalist (in the rare case that we have internet). We also saw a strangler fig, which is super neat because it begins its life cycle as a harmless epiphyte high up in a host tree, benefitting from the direct sunlight, but then, it grows down and around its host tree to establish its roots in the soil and strangle its host to death, taking over the space. I also was able to identify beautiful arrowhead plants with bright red fruits and winged peperomia from the pepper family, both quirky, unique epiphytes. 

(Epiphyte Friend – 05/17/25)

Amongst the epiphytes in the tree canopy (the highest part of the tree), we spotted quite a few beautifully patterned birds with some interesting behaviors. In the morning, we saw a social flycatcher with a long, bright-yellow tail, and at the ruins, we admired the hanging, bag-like nests of the Montezuma oropendola. These guys create hanging nests that serve as extra protection for their young and from nest parasitism by cowbirds. Nest parasitism happens when unrelated birds lay their eggs in the nests of different birds, forcing the nest owners to raise and nourish young that are not their own. On our way out of the ruins, we watched a toucan hop from leaf to leaf and a turkey vulture scouting the area for fresh meat. 

We are now established in our final rainforest site, the Las Cuevas Research Station, which is also built upon Mayan ruins and a cave system. Also, there are epiphytes of all shapes and colors EVERYWHERE that I’m dying to identify over the course of these next few days. I have a few more bucket list items for these next few days: (1) go birdwatching, (2) explore the underground cave system, (3) see a Scarlet Macaw (the beautiful, iconic red parrot).

Today I’ve learned SO MUCH about Belize’s history, geology, and some of the plant and critter behaviors that make up ecology. 

I’m ending my Blog today with these lovely and super true quotes from Dr. Evans: “The more you know, the more you notice” and “the longer you stare at it, the more things you see.”