Today Scott and Adrienne gave us a new question about how hurricanes affect the Chiquibul, to come up with an experiment around. We came up with a preliminary experiment to test the growth of pioneer species in areas of hurricane gaps versus areas without hurricane gaps. However, once we got out into the forest we decided the hurricane gaps were too dense to be able to go through to collect data, so we revised our question and decided to test how grounded vascular plants were affected by hurricane gaps.

While on the trail, Elena spotted a Helmeted Iguana on the side of a tree. It had to have been at least 10in including its tail. Seeing this iguana was so amazing because it was the one reptile that I wanted to see the most and it’s really cute. We all took fun pictures by it too.

After collecting all the data, we spent a large chunk of time working on our poster to present our data, and my overpacking came in handy because I got to use my highlighters and pens to draw the graphs.

When we finished dinner, we got geared up for our first night hike and set off into the forest. It was a very different experience than just hiking during the day, mostly because bugs are flying directly in your face the whole time. We found a large stick insect that I let crawl on my arm and felt like Newt from Fantastic Beasts holding BowtruckleJ. Pedro was with us and was able to point out a Red Backed Coffee Snake, and once we got to the frog pond we also found mud turtles and (I think) a smooth anole. We also saw a Yucatan Banded Gecko, which was super cool because it looked exactly like the one from my ID card.

After birding today, Scott and Adrienne asked us to pee in 2 vials so we all started chugging our waters for some unknown experiment. We later were told we were going to be using them as pitfall traps for insects to test nitrogen differences in the rainforest canopy versus the rainforest floor. Urine contains nitrogen so we were able to use it to design the experiment.

While setting up the pitfall traps we came across a Tailless Whip spider, which actually is the spider Mad Eye Moody uses in the 4^th Harry Potter movie (Hp reference!!). Also, Sam spotted a coral snake under a rotting log in the middle of the trail. I was only able to catch a look of the very end of it as it slithered away, but I think it may have been the Central American Coral Snake, and the most venomous snake in this rainforest.

After lunch, we suited up to go explore the Las Cuevas cave, aka: The Caves Cave. Pedro was our guide through the muddy and usually slippery cave. He explained to us the difference between stalactites that were “alive” and still growing versus “dead”. If someone touched a stalactite that was still growing it would stop, so tried to avoid accidentally hitting one with our hard hat.

Once we reached further into the cave and couldn’t see the light from the entrance anymore we saw our first bats hanging from the ceiling of the cave, and as we moved further we saw at least twenty baby bats hanging from one stalactite and then they began to peel off and fly to a higher and more hidden spot. I actually think that bats are adorable and I was super excited to be able to see so many of them. A few of us went with Pedro to a smaller cave, and we had to crawl through a bunch of bat guano and mud to get there, but on the way, we saw a white crab which had died but was still cool to see.

Later in the day during presentations, I saw a gecko on a post in the restroom that was brown and had 2 white stripes and then a grey gecko later near a light that looked spiny and had a thick tail but crawled under the wood before I had a chance to get a good look.

I started the day waking up at 5 in the morning to go birding. It wasn’t as hard to wake up as I thought it would be and I’m glad I did because seeing some of these birds in the morning with the sun coming up is so cool. I definitely want to look more into birding and learning about different types of birds and bird calls once we get back.

The main project today was coming up with a question about animals that we could access with the camera traps. We had a long discussion about questions that we had about the Chiquibul forest and mammals found in it and came to the final question: How does the presence of human trails affect mammal abundance, richness, and diversity? Then we set out to put out our camera traps.

While we were at an off-trail site setting up camera traps, Adrienne started yelling about the “mother of all leaf-cutter anthills” and we all hurried to see the giant ant pile which ended up being about 20ft in diameter. Suddenly, someone screamed and we turned around to see a boa constrictor in front of the ant hill. It was about 5ft and seemed threatened because it was pulling back its head and following us when there were sounds or movement. I thought I would have been terrified, but it was actually really cool to see a member of my taxon group that I never would have thought we would see.

After lunch, we finished putting up the last of the camera traps and found some really interesting beetles that no one could identify. Once we got back, I quickly took a cold shower which was a nice way to cool off, and then we heard an amazing lecture from Raphael Montenero, who runs the FCD (Friends for Conservation and Development), who spoke about the Chiquibul forest and how the territorial disputes with Guatemala might cause the forest to be lost. Hearing Raphael speak about his love for the rainforest and passion for saving it and helping Belize was extremely eye-opening.

We woke up early and left Crystal Paradise to begin our journey to Caracol. We made a stop at the Rio On Pools on the way and were surprised with beautiful waterfalls and pools of fresh water. Swimming in the pools was such an amazing experience, but after about an hour I heard Veronica shouting about leeches. I promptly jumped out of the water onto a rock and proceeded to check myself to make sure there wasn’t any on me, thankfully there wasn’t any.

Once we left the beautiful Rio On Pools, we headed towards Caracol to see an ancient Mayan city. Our tour guide Leo gave us a brief history of the Mayans of Caracol and then led us to some of the monuments and structures. Climbing up the steep steps of one of the monuments and being able to see to treetops of Guatemala in the distance was a breathtaking view. While at Caracol, I also spotted a brown anole on the side of one of the Mayan structures and later on the tour Scott was able to grab another brown anole so we could see it up close.

We then piled back into the van and continued the drive to Las Cuevas research station. I slept a good chunk of the ride, which was surprising because it was so bumpy. Once arrived at Las Cuevas we met Raphael who runs the station. Then we went on a hike around the station to get better used to the area. On the trail, we saw a Mexican tree leaf frog that we disturbed by trying to get a better look, so it squirted pee on us. Finally, we ended the hike back at the station and saw the beautiful and endangered scarlet macaws, which was absolutely amazing.

Today after rushing around my house grabbing extra things that I had forgotten to pack the night before, we met on campus and took a bus to Hobby Airport to leave for Belize. We landed in Belize City, and Claire’s dad who piloted the flight even gave us a shout out:)

Once we got through customs we loaded our luggage onto another bus and started our journey to Las Cuevas. The ride wasn’t too bad, the windows were so tinted I fell asleep a couple times before we reached the ecolodge, Crystal Paradise.

We dropped our things off in our rooms and met back in the common area for an amazing dinner. It was really nice to able to have a nice “family” type dinner and get to know everyone a bit better on the way to the lodge. Scott and Adrienne talked a bit more about the plan for tomorrow and what it’s going to be like once we get to Las Cuevas (it’s going to be a lot less cushy than the lodge).

After dinner, we walked back to our room and saw two lizards above the door. It was pretty dark, so it was hard to see what type they were, but they looked a lot like typical geckos that sometimes get inside my house at home. I’m looking forward to the excursion tomorrow, I just have to keep reminding myself to put on sunscreen because the goal is to not get burnt during the whole trip (fingers crossed).