Tag Archives: mayan

2017

Day 10 – A Ruined Day

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Hi friends,

After the adventures through ancient Mayan territory yesterday, we inadvertently ended up visiting some Mayan ruins again today.

Beautiful view from the pool!

We spent the whole morning driving to Las Cuevas Research Station, stopping at a natural pool to cool off in the summer heat. The natural pool was beautiful and really awesome. Together with Sarah G, I ran up along the river, jumping on rocks trying to cross the streams at different points. We then got into the pool and slowly followed the river flow down. At several points we got to slide down some rocks from one pool to another which was fun. There was also this huge waterfall at one point where we can stand underneath it and get a good natural water massage. Going along the river, we reached a point which overlooked a valley, which was really scenic and we took a bunch of pictures there. Isaac also brought a soursop with him and shared it with the class which was refreshing. I enjoyed myself greatly at the pool and didn’t really want to leave but all good things come to an end.

It was another two hours of riding the van, where we entertained ourselves with a game of King’s Water Cup and it was great way of passing time. We finally reached Las Cuevas Research Station (LCRS) which was in the middle of the Chiquibul rainforest and my first thought was, “I NEED TO PEE!!!” followed by, “I wanna explore this place!!!”

Looks like a natural mound? Nope, it’s a Mayan ruin underneath.

 

We were able to squeeze in a trail hike right before dinner and we took the Mayan trail which led us around the edge of LCRS. As we walked down the trail, Scott stopped us at a point right beside this huge steep mound covered in vegetation. Pointing to the mound, he explained that it wasn’t a natural formation but a Mayan temple covered after long periods of disuse. We climbed to the top of the ruin which turned out to be a bad idea as it was indeed a well-covered ruin and there was nothing much to see. It was still cool though, to think about the fact that we were stepping on an unexcavated Mayan site which was probably teeming with activity back in the Classical Mayan period but now just lies forgotten deep in a rainforest.

We walked more around the trail, seeing a couple more mounds, a rectangular ruined area which was supposed to be the Mayan ball court, and a line of neatly stacked rocks that looked to have been a plaza leading to the entrance of the Las Cuevas caves. Unfortunately, I did not get to see any mammals today which is a bummer. Nonetheless, I really loved the hiking and I can’t wait for the next few days of it!

Till tomorrow,

Damien

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Day 9: Immersion (05/24/2017)

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Today’s primary endeavor was exploring Actun Tunichil Muknal, a cave hidden within the Belize rainforest. With its seemingly endless rock formations, the cave was spectacular. Rocks were rounded and smoothed over from the flow of groundwater, coarse and jagged from sparsely dripping water droplets, or even organic-looking like coral or knotted roots. Spaces ranged from the expansive to the claustrophobic, and colors ranged from sparkling green-brown to beige with patches of jet-black to mahogany swirled with gray to stark white. Paradoxically, these robust colors only existed because of the illumination gleaming our headlamps.

The cave was all encompassing. Once you entered, you were in the cave, and you were not leaving until you completely turn around and head back. We had to swim through pools of groundwater, navigate through jutting rock formations, and climb up several stories-worth of rocks to reach the cave’s heart – an ancient Mayan sacrifice site.

The entire experience was a journey. I left the realm of sunlight for a darker, almost sinister, yet breathtakingly beautiful one.

Immediately upon leaving the cave, rain began to pour down. Logically, it makes sense that it would rain in the rainforest, but a sudden downpour was something I did not expect. My class and I hiked through the rainforest, entirely drenched. Concurrently, trees towered above and filled the horizon. In front of me, behind me, to the sides, above, and below, I was fully immersed in the quintessence of the rainforest.

Rainforest canopy surrounding the ATM Cave

“Immersion makes the trip worth it,” I thought to myself as I was wringing out my soaked clothes in the park bathroom after the torrential hike.

And I was right; looking back on my day, I have gotten to see cohune palms (Attalea cohune) and a trumpet tree (Cecropia obtusifolia). The cohune palms were scattered and were abundant with cohune nuts. The trumpet tree, which I noticed on the horizon, had thin light-colored trunks that led up to thin branches abundant with large, hanging leaves. I also saw multiple species of anura in the rainforest, as well as an unknown species of bat (Order Chiroptera), a massive unknown spider (Order Araneae), and an assortment of human remains (Homo sapiens) within the cave.

Immersing myself has enriched my day, and I am excited to continue to experience this immersion throughout my next week of travel.

2016, Uncategorized

What Goes In Must Come Out

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Entrance to Las Cuevas
Entrance to Las Cuevas

I had so much fun today setting up pitfall traps and visiting the caves that give Las Cuevas its name.

In the morning we learned about nitrogen limitation in the canopy, and how most decaying matter falls to the forest floor. This lead us to hypothesize the animals in the canopy would be more attracted to a nitrogen source than animals on the forest floor. We used our own urine as the nitrogen bait for arthropods in the canopy and on the forest floor in our pitfall traps.

Later in the day we visited Las Cuevas (the actual caves), which was an amazing experience. I got to see some Mayan pottery, a peccary skeleton, and a long bone of a human skeleton.

Cave formations
Cave formations
Adrienne goes insane over pottery
Adrienne goes insane over pottery

In the caves I got covered in bat guano and actually saw the bats it came from. They may or may not have been vampire bats, but that was not confirmed. We definitely saw some species of leaf nose bat.


Arachnids were very exciting in the cave. I got to see the whip scorpion today, which is my new favorite species. I will have pictures to come of that. We saw the large darker colored whip scorpions and also the very light colored (white) tiny whip scorpions. I also got to see a cave spider.

Whip scorpion
Whip scorpion

After our hike Pedro (who works at the camp) found a very tiny tarantula on his shoulder. He says he thinks its a cave species because he’s never seen it before. I took detailed pictures of its eyes, back, and legs. Sophia and I are gonna call it the Little Boots Scorpion (Sophia claricus) if it is a new species.

Cave tarantula (new species?)
Cave tarantula (new species?)

We heard a fabulous talk by Boris Arevalo (the head biologist at FCD, which manages the Chiquibul). He talked about the limitations of conservation and the opportunities the Chiquibul presents.