By Chessye Moseley
After breakfast Melvis took us all out on the Mahogany and Chicle trails and gave us their “official” tour. On the Mahogany Trail, Melvis taught us all about the various trees that we were encountering (including the Allspice, Mahogany, Black Poisonwood, Chicle (used to make gum!), and Bullhorn Acacia, Give and Take, Bayleaf Palm, Candlewood) and we came across a troop of Army Ants. Melvis also taught us some measures to take after being bitten by a snake to save the victims’ life. Apparently a ranger was bit by one of the most poisonous snakes in Belize just a few weeks ago and the way they saved his life was by cutting up the snake and slicing it in half then placing that bit over the bite and because the muscles are still working, it absorbs the venom.
We had the GPS with us so Connor could work on his GIS Mapping of the trails, Liz and I were ready with our cameras to photograph any potential points of interest that we may want to include in the brochure, and Charlie was diligently taking notes on so to write blurbs about the points of interest. Also on the Chicle Trail, just as we were entering, we encountered some angry Spider Monkeys who were trying to scare us off. They were swinging from branch to branch, pounding their chests, and sticking out their tongues making funny faces at us!
We’ve started getting into the Belizean tradition of taking a siesta after lunch - and after waking up every morning at 5:30 for a bird walk - they are pretty nice! We all retired to various hammocks, beds, etc. to rest after lunch and before starting up work again. We spent the rest of the afternoon huddled around our computers, importing photos, designing PowerPoint presentations, working with the GIS software and we are starting to get the beginnings of our final product. It is really exciting to be able to look at the progress we are making!
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