La Milpa

Hello folks,

It has been quite a while since I wrote you last. At least it seems so. This last weekend was packed with so much excitment. On Friday, I got to skip my social issues class because our program took a field trip to the La Milpa Field Station far away in the Orange Walk District.

At 8:30, we left on the bus. It was 18 of us students, Jay, Meg, 2 of our Service Learning TA's: Christian and Shantel (who are Galen students), and our driver, Carlos. It was quite early for some who had stayed up until 2 the night before, but it was also quite early for me, after having watched the season premier of Lost!! Everyone slept for quite sometime. When we all woke up, we made a pit stop and then found ourselves driving through fields of sugar cane. There was an incredibly long line of trucks packed full of the cane. Some of the fields we passed were scorched while others were growing tall. The smell, though, was attrocious. There was a dump along the road where it looks like all the junk they collected was burnt.

After riding down that bumpy road for a while, we turned off on to pavement and made our way into the Orange Walk district. It is right above where we live in the Cayo District, but you have to go all the way back to Belize City (the Belize district) and drive north from there, so distance wise we werent that far from home, but driving wise, we were 5 hours.

We made one last stop before going to the field station at a Menonite Dam. There we ate lunch and some swam in the river. I was picturing a huge mountain lake with a dam at one end, but it was a tiny little thing that only covered the river. Aparently it is very efficient and powers the nearby towns with electricity while not damaging the river's ecosystem.

After lunch, we passed the border to Mexico. It is not too far from where we stayed.
On the road to where the Field Station was, we passed by fields of cows grazing. The road was lined with beautiful trees with pink blooms. At that point we knew it was going to be a great weekend. After a few miles, we made it to the field house. There we got a brief introduction and had free time for a while. The place where we stayed was set up like a summer camp, with 4 or 5 different rooms in a row with 2 bunk beds each inside. It was set up on the side of the hill slightly overlooking the rest of the field station. Jay and Meg stayed in some rooms that were small cabins in the field below. The field was beautiful. After traveling down a wooded road for so long, the openness of the field station was surprising. It was a clearing in the jungle where farmers had set up agricultural fields long ago. Now the jungle was encroching.

That night, we had rice and beans for dinner and while some people went night spotting in the truck, others of us played a game of poker... Which I won! I was surprised, this was my first game for money since highschool! I won 60 bucks with my pair of kings to finish off the table. There were some upsets so I owe a few people a beer for drawing out on them :)

Friday was a good start to the weekend. The next morning some people got up early to go birding... I decided to wait for the last day to do that. We had breakfast at 7:30 and then went on a hike in the Jungle. Our guide, Ramon, told us so much about the forest. Like DuPlooy's we got to even taste the nuts and fruits of the jungle! Some even tasted the termites! In the jungle, we didnt see much wild life, but it was there. Ants made super highways across the path where hundreds upon hundreds marched carrying leaves back to their giant nests. Birds chirped in the forest and occasionally we would hear a howler monkey. Check out my pictures to get a better sense of the forest and different tress and vines we saw.

After the walk, we had lunch before going out to see the La Milpa ruins. These ruins are hardly dug out at all, so all we saw was a bunch of tall mounds of tree covered hills. Still, it was thrilling to think a group of people lived here ages ago. We even got to climb to the top of one of these mounds. It was very steep and overlooked most of the area. On the walk, we saw some howler and spider monkeys jumping from tree to tree. Some said the howl was like a dinosaur out of Jurrassic Park.

That night, I got to go spotting and sat in the truck while everyone else was on back. I got to have a great conversation with the driver, Mauricio, and heard all about his life. We got to discuss everything from travel to sports. So far I have really enjoyed talking to the people of Belize. Most are very wise and have much to say about their lives. I find this openness welcoming.

The next day, I did my birding session and saw some parrots and Tucans! I got some great pictures of it in flight and on a tree branch. Again, check out snapfish.

After lunch we headed home, because the most important game of our lifetimes was occuring. The Patriots v. the Giants. When we got back it was nearly game time so we rushed around and went down to the local bar Fiya Wata and watched. It was so intense the back and forth. However the Giant fans were more vocal and had alot more to cheer about... The funny thing about this game was that there was a bet between our proffessor, Jay, and two students, Dan and John. The bet was that Jay would shave his mustache if the Patriots won and Dan and John would shave their heads otherwise. Jay got to show off his barbership talents on the return to the Inn... It was quite a funny experience since everyone was still in shock that the Patriots had lost. Oh well.. there is always next year to be perfect...

Today is a good day. It is the last day of school before a 5 day break because Belize's elections are happening. Me and a bunch of friends are going to go to the Cayes! I hope to do some diving in the Blue Hole and elsewhere around the warm Carribean waters :)

Enjoy the snow in Vermont and cold weather on the East Coast!

Adios,

Colin