Tag Archives: Mayan Ruins

Day 2: Monkeys, Ruins, and Angry Ants

“Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” Today, our group officially entered the jungle with a tour of the ruins of Caracol and a hike around Las Cuevas Research Station. While I encountered neither an amphibian nor an angelfish (I would have been really surprised to see that one), we saw many amazing species. While at Caracol, we observed a species of bird called Montezuma’s Oropendola. This species has a long tail with yellow feathers and builds pendulum-shaped nests. Our guide, Leo, noted that if the female Oropendola does not approve of a nest, she will push it to the ground and the male Oropendola will have to build another. We also observed several Howler monkeys (including a baby Howler monkey) and a Toucan from the road out of Caracol.

Caracol is a site of ancient Mayan ruins and we had the unique opportunity to climb the stairs to several large temples. I particularly enjoyed the view of the surrounding forest from the top. One of the structures we climbed remains the tallest building in Belize to this day. I learned a lot about Mayan culture and traditions, including their practice of playing ball games in large areas surrounded by rock walls, sometimes as a means of war.

View from top of Plaza
At the top of “Sky Palace”
View from top of “Sky Palace”
This tree is hundreds of years old!

After the tour of Caracol, our group arrived at Las Cuevas Research Station. We took a short hike around the area and observed several epiphytes and ant species. We discussed a bit about the mutualistic relationship between the bull-horned acacia and acacia ants after observing them on the trail. Acacia ants will fight anything that touches the acacia plant in exchange for food and shelter.

It was exciting to see these species in person after learning about them in biology classes in prior years.

We ended the day with dinner (pork, mashed potatoes, bread, and vegetables) and presentations. I am looking forward to exploring Las Cuevas more tomorrow with our first big project! I plan to wake up around 6 to bird watch before breakfast. That’s all for now!

Busy Day in Belize!

Hello! Today we woke up at 6:30 for breakfast for a travel day to Las Cuevas. We stopped along the way at Caraco, the Maya ruins. We were shown around by our tour guide Leo who taught us about the history of the Mayans and explained what we were seeing. We climbed the Maya temple, which is the highest building in Belize! We saw where the Mayans lived and where they would make offerings. Along the way we saw a baby fox among the ruins.

We then headed over to Las Cuevas after a quick lunch. Along the way we saw Howler Monkeys and a Tucan in the trees. We arrived after about an hour and a half and got settled before heading into the rainforest.  In the rainforest we went for a mini loop where we observed army ants, a Tucan, and several interesting plants. One of which was a Bull horn acacia which is known for its symbiotic relationship with ants. Where the ants protect the tree and the tree has hollow horns that provide a home and nutrients for the ants.

Today I only observed one beetle back at Crystal Paradise Resort by the door of our cabin before we left for the day. It was about 20 mm long and had a unique horn on its head. Because of the horn this beetle was probably a Dung beetle.

We ended the day with presentations all throughly tired but excited for tomorrow! IMG_0245

Day 9: Epiphytes Galore

Even though today was another travel day, we managed to spend a large part of it at the Mayan Ruins of Caracol!! It was super cool because we actually got to climb on top of them and go through the rooms and tombs. We first started out learning a bit of Mayan history from Leo, our tour guide. He explained how there was a two class system: the elites and the middle class that worked for the elites. The builds of their houses were different (completely stone vs. thatched) as well as their burial methods like how intricate the tombs were and what was put inside. My favorite stop that we made was at the large pyramidal temple that a Mayan king had actually built his palace on top of, securing his status as a god or at least that it was he was divinely chosen. We got to climb onto the temple to the very top where the stairs were surprisingly tall and steep – the Mayans must have had some serious quads not gonna lie. Within Caracol, there were about 200,000 people living in 35,000 homes at one point, but Leo told us of possible reasons why the Mayan civilization fell: 1) War – self explanatory, 2) Degradation of the environment – using too many of the resources around them and a butterfly effect of affecting the organisms and habitats around them, 3) Revolt – archaeologists have found evidence from purposefully destroyed statues to finding skeletons found in mass graves/unusual spots by the palace (around which they were trying to construct a wall for protection against their own people). It was mind blowing to see these ruins in such an up-close perspective and understand how they went about daily lives. The view from on top was beautiful as you could see so much of the Chiquibul forest and its inhabitants and listen to the beautiful cacophony that is created within.

The cicadas here sounds so different than the one’s at home (they kind of sound like a constant drone flying overhead) and the Melodious Blackbirds have a super distinct call that I am sure we will hear plenty of over the next week. During lunch, we even hear the loud croak/groans of the Howler Monkeys! In terms of some of my taxa sightings (epiphytes!!), I saw plenty. I saw lots of Arrowhead Plants, Tillandsia utriculata, Philodendron hederaceum, and Monstera spp. Lots of these were growing on these super cool 200+ year old Ceiba trees that had plenty of epiphytes growing on them and here at least 100ft tall – so amazing. We also saw a Gumbo limbo tree which is funnily also known as the Tourist Tree as it has a red colored bark that peels off, just like the American tourists that come and visit.

Afterwards we headed to Las Cuevas Research Station where in the car we saw a toucan, scarlet macaw, and lots of turtles that were crossing the road. The station is super nice and we were able to get in yesterday’s taxon briefings in as well as those scheduled for today so I presented about epiphytes! I’m actually really excited to get into trying to ID them and also teaching the group about them as they are definitely very present in the forest.

-Sophia

Ceiba tree canopy
Ceiba tree butress  roots! They were amazing to see
Group photo on top of the Caana
Fish tail palms – many people try to illegally bring these across borders
Tillandsia spp. AND Philodendron hederaceum