Well, I just got my tickets to see Tiesto in concert on April 23rd - they were an early birthday present and I couldn’t be more excited! Can’t wait; this concert is going to be epic.
Day 1 - March 11th, 2011. Succotz, Belize.
We took off from Houston around 0900 and landed in Belize at 1125. After taking about 45 minutes to get through customs, we boarded a rickety and oddly-painted bus that took us around two hours inland to the village of Succotz. On the way to the village, we stopped at the Belize Zoo and explored around there for a couple hours. It was interesting because unlike most zoos, it was built into the environment, so the animals were not completely kept in “cages” in the conventional sense. In the zoos, we witnessed some very interesting wildlife, such as tapirs, coatis, pumas, jaguars, macaws, harpy eagles, fer-de-lances, ocelots, and pythons. While there, I was able to hold a 7 foot long boa constrictor - never had held a snake of that size before, so it was pretty cool. After our time in the zoo, we hopped back in the bus and proceeded down the highway to Succotz. We decided to stay at the Trek Stop for the night. A cross between a backpacker hostel and a campground, the Trek Stop consists of a small group of sturdy cabins that had electricity, running water, and solar-heated showers that are all run by a friendly Belizean family. For roughly $25 USD, one can stay here for a night and use all of the facilities - and this includes some of the best homemade food I have ever eaten (seriously). The first dinner consisted of a delicious mixture of loval rice, beef, and potatoes, with some rolls on the side and delicious freshly-squeezed fruit punch to wash it all down. Later, we had our first wrap-up session and discussed the day’s events before starting on recording our scientific observations in our field journals. As the night wore on, we began to notice increased signs of wildlife. Bird calls became more abundant, and kinkajous were heard scurrying about in the trees above. Around 2300, we headed to bed and prepared for our first full day in Central America.
I always go cliff-jumping here in the summer; in the fall it’s fun to just hike around and explore. Hope to go here this summer as well but I don’t know if I’ll be able to find time in my schedule to. Fingers crossed!
This is just a shot of me that my friend took this past week during our short spell of snowy days. Good times; I’ll take snow in Austin again any day.
Just came inside from playing out in the snow. I still can’t get over the fact that there’s actually a significant amount of snowfall in Austin, Texas of all places! Now relaxing at work with a Monster. That’s kind of an oxymoron, but I haven’t had one of these in months so today is as good a day as any to enjoy it! I’ll be posting pictures of the snow, etc…later.
