Some of Keri's Work With APAMO

While we are a little behind on our blog, I did want to comment on an exciting summer camp event that I participated in for APAMO during the month of July. I gave a presentation to approximately 70 village children on the risks of oil exploration and drilling in protected areas and off the cost of Belize. The Community Baboon Sanctuary Women’s Conservation Group hosted a summer camp for children from seven local villages. The summer camp was a community educational outreach program that focuses on environmental awareness, conservation issues and academics. The children viewed the APAMO presentation that I created and then they participated in an activity the demonstrates how oil effects water when mixed. The presentation "Belize & Oil Exploration" highlights Belize’s protected Areas and the risks of oil exploration and drilling. The presentation provided conservation tips and tips on how the children could help take action by signing a petition to ban oil exploration and drilling off shore and in Belize’s protected areas. The Community Baboon Sanctuary Women’s Conservation Group was founded in 1998 and is responsible for Co Managing the Community Baboon Sanctuary. The Community Baboon Sanctuary (CBS) is a pioneering project in voluntary grassroots conservation. The goal is to sustain the habitat of the Black Howler Monkey (called 'baboon' in the local Creole dialect) while promoting the economic development of the participating communities. To learn more about this organization got to their profile here. To learn more about APAMO and their activities you can visit their website APAMO. I assisted with the designing of their website and was responsible for their facebook, twitter, and flickr accounts. If you would like to view pictures of the presentation or more pictures of APAMO’s Earthday celebration you can click APAMO’s facebook or flickr icon. You can also got to APAMO’s facebook page at this link or go here to see their pics. The APAMO newsletter also has a great deal of current information about the organization and its members. I might be a little biased but I designed the newsletter and wrote a large part of its content. If you get a chance take a look. Pat and I are now on to a new project working with the Youth Business Trust of Belize. We will be writing a lot about our recent activities very soon, but for now check out their website Youth Business Trust Belize.

Earth Day 2010 in Belize!

Boy was this a busy Earth Day for us! Well actually, it's the first time I even paid attention to the fact it was Earth Day. I mean other than hearing some news report on the radio before I buy a coffee in a styrofoam cup. Those of you that know me (Pat) know that I really couldn't care much less about this hippy-inspired "holiday". Did you know Ira Einhorn, the hippy that murdered his GF and kept her body in a trunk on his porch helped found Earth Day? Well, I have softened up a bit.... just a little though mind you!

Seen as Keri was working for a protected area's management organization (APAMO), we both got in the spirit of things! Keri started out by assisting one of her members, FAMRACC, in a clean up of the preserve area on Caye Caulker. They had some of the schools to volunteer the kids for the day and they conducted a cleanup of the trails. Keri also got to see the work FAMRACC has been doing on the replanting of the mangroves up close. The days work was hard, but there was a huge improvement to the trail system once they were done. Keri did mention that the whole scene resembled Lord of the Flies at some points with all the fires, kids running around with machetes, and the chain saw going. But noone was too seriously injured! (Pics of Event).

Seriously though, it has taken us some time to get used to the risk management issues we see. Maybe it was all those years managing that made us so cautious. Oh the stories we have to tell! But like we said, all the kids came back with the fingers & toes they started out with.

The next day we were split up with Keri in Dangriga and myself on the Western Highway between Belize City and Belmopan. Keri had helped organize a cleanup of Dangriga with Friends of Gra Gra Lagoon and then a presentation on the watershed hosted by STACA at one the Steadfast villages. Finally they were going to take all the kids to Billy Baquedier National Park to cool off after all their hard work. (Pictures of the event)

They started out with the cleanup in Dangriga and really spiffed the place up quite a bit! By the time they were done, the kids had amassed quite a bit of trash. Keri and the crew then made there way out to Steadfast village and Dr. Boles presented to the children on the importance of protecting the watershed. Of course no meeting can go without food and the women's group had prepared some tamales for everyone to enjoy! After a while, everyone hiked into the forest and had great fun at the Billy Barquedier's waterfall.

So while Keri was busy in Dangriga, I was with the PC group doing a trash pick up on the Western Highway sponsored by the Audubon Society. We were joined by the group from the US Embassy and even hung out with Ambassador again. He really is a great guy! After we finished up our stretch of the highway, we heded on down to a aprk where there was the obligatory BBQ chicken. Nothing goes on in Belize without food!

Easter in the rainforest!

So yes.... we admit it. We are big liars! We have not been updating like we promised. But we WILL try more! Anyway.... enough verbal self flagellation.

Keri and I took off back down south for Easter and spent the weekend hiking some more of the trails at Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary. You guys will remember we went there with Amy and were so impressed we wanted to come back and see some more. We stayed at the dorms they have available and were entertained at night by the little mouse trying to get at our raisins & peanuts. Little bastard got to them once when I forgot to seal the container and then spent the rest of our trip like some cartoon character trying to sneak around us. But I was not going to play "Sylvester" and he certainly was no "Speedy Gonzales" so I was able to foil his attempts.

The highlight of the trip was our hike up the Ben's Bluff trail. At the top you get a panoramic view of Victoria's Peak, the highest peak in Belize. Some other PCV's hiked Victoria's a few months after our trip and it tore them up. Keri & I were quite happy just looking!

We spent he rest of our time hiking around the Sanctuary and trying not to get lost. Can you believe we came across another Fer de Lance?!?! We were walking down a trail near the river and right in the middle of the trail, here he comes right toward us! They are supposed to be pretty hard to find and somehow we have seen them both times at the Sanctuary. Anyway, other than that excitement, we had a pretty good time. We actually met some folks from Australia who were on vacation as well as a nice couple from the UK who were doing the same. We had some great chats with them in the evenings and gave them a little advice on traveling around Belize. We hope it was good advice!

And yes.... that's Peeps candy Keri has at the top. We snacked on them while waiting for the bus back!

Our March Update.... also WAY late!

Well, hope everyone found some of what happened in February interesting.... it's all just so exciting down here. Believe it or not we actually do a little work down here too! Keri is evaluating all the members of her organization with the intent of creating a base line before they are trained in capacity building. Depending on the needs of the group, this could be financial reporting, strategic planning, record keeping, leadership, or the like. In March, Keri went out and visited some more Co-managers to assess them. Before we go into that, let's first give you a brief schooling on how national parks and protected areas are run here. While there is a National Park service here run by the Government of Belize, it consists of only 4 park rangers and a budget of approximately BZ$50K. Nowhere near the manpower to manage and patrol over 43% of the country that is parks! So the government signs co-management agreements with locally based groups who in turn monitor, maintain, and run the protected area.

Anyway, Keri visited with Mr. Lewis from the Friends of Gra Gra Lagoon in the Stann Creek District in March and learned about the issues they are facing in managing their area. On the same trip, she met with the managers of Mayflower-Bocawina and Billy Baquideer. She actually later worked with all of these groups for a big event on Earth Day in April.... more on that later!

So the other big news was our first visit from a friend while we have been in country. Amy is having a pretty tough time in the states, so she decided to come see Belize (and us) to get her mind off things. We managed to show her a pretty good representation of Belize in the 9 days she was here including the 3 "R's" of Belize.... Ruins, Reefs, and Rain forests! We started out with a trip to the ancient Maya city of Lamanai, then out to Caye Caulker where we snorkeled the reef and swam with sharks, a few nights in Cockscomb Wildlife Sanctuary, and ended up in Placencia to chill on the beach. It was great fun.... even though Amy did get WAY TOO CLOSE (8 inches away) to a Fer de Lance (one of the 10 most deadliest and aggressive snakes in the world!). But really, take a look at the following videos to get a good picture of how things went!

So as you can see, we had a blast! It was great to see Amy and hang out in all those cool places! So really guys.... if you want to come visit, we will make sure you have a good time no matter what your budget is! Next thing you know, we will be back in the USA.... still can't believe we have been here for almost 9 months. Can't wait to hear from you all and read your comments!

February Update that is WAY late!

Ok, we admit it.... we are lame. It has been three months since we updated our blog and that is just inexcusable. While we have been busy, we have not been that busy. But here goes! I'm going to put together some updates, and within 3 or 4 posts, everyone will be current on all the excitement that is PC in Belize!

Since the last you heard from us was the end of January, you're probably wondering what we did for Valentine's day. I managed to find some chocolate playing cards, well really chocolate shaped playing cards, and figured they would be perfect for Keri. Yes, they aren't chocolate dice, but she liked them all the same. Since wine here is ridiculously expensive, we went with the local cashew wine. Let me just say it is totally worth the US$3 we paid and not a penny more. We still have half the bottle that we are trying to give away to anyone that visits!

The following weekend, we decided to go check out Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary about 40 miles north of us. We found a bus heading directly to the village of Crooked Tree and after stumbling around in the dark (we arrived late) and scaring some locals, we found the Crooked Tree Lodge. We pitched our tent and enjoyed a relaxing evening only to discover that we could not have picked a worse spot to camp. You see as it was dark we couldn't see very well. In the morning we discovered we had set the tent right in between the two biggest fire ant mounds in the darn field! Move the tent and then we were off to hike the park. The park is a little strange as it is located in a populated village so you find yourself walking through people's yards at times checking out the wildlife. We saw tons of birds and even spotted a Tayra, a weird weasel-like animal the Belizean refer to as a "bush dog". For the record, it looked nothing like a dog.

After a long, hot day of exploring the park, we were really looking forward to a few beers after dinner. We were expecting the usual choices of Belikin beer or Belikin beer (the national beer) but were very excited to see we had the option of Miller High Life. We have never been more happy to see the champagne of beers! After exceeding our "we'll just have 2 beers" limit and having a great talk with the owner, Mick a retired British Army Air Corps member, we crashed in a non-ant-zone tent and fell asleep to the sounds of the lagoon.

Just as a little back ground, Crooked Tree is called so because of the abundance of cashew trees that grow in the village. And they certainly are crooked! Now if you don't know, cashews are an absolute favorite of Pat's. Too bad they weren't in season.

Pat with a cashew tree

Finally, as part of Keri's assessment of all the members of APAMO, Keri went out to visit the Community Baboon Sanctuary. The sanctuary is a very successful project of a group of villages to co-manage a protected area that has a high population of Howler monkeys.... they call every monkey a baboon in Belize. Anyway, if you want to check them out, here's their link. Keri met with the director, the guides, and of course the monkeys! Just can't get enough of these guys.

Mayflower Bocawina National Park

We decided to go on a day trip to the south of Belize to visit the Mayflower Bocawina National Park in the Stann Creek District. It was going to be a long day trip so Keri suggested we try out the new tent and camp overnight to give us more time. We threw together our gear, made about ten PB&J's for sustenance and grabbed a bus heading south out of Belize City. We made it to the drop off after the town of Dangriga and started the 4 mile hike down the entry road to the ranger station. A jeep rolled up about 2/3's of the way into the hike and gave us a lift for the last mile. The guy, named Mora, was the manager of a jungle lodge called Mamanoots located right by the park. We had a great conversation with him and found out he had been running dive tours out at Glover Caye until recently. The economic downturn had slowed things down so he had to take this job in the meantime.

After he dropped us off, we wandered around and looked at the Mayan site at the park. The site is unexcavated and very different from the usual sites. It is cleared somewhat of vegetation but really puts it in perspective of how quickly the jungle can reclaim things. Other areas of the park have structures less cleared and it was striking to see them appear as you walk down a trail. We then headed straight for the trailhead to Antelope Falls so we has time to make it back before nightfall. The sign at the ranger station stating the trail would have some steep parts.... the trail proved that "some steep parts" is relative! The trail started out pretty normal and then progressively became steeper and steeper until finally we were having to use ropes to pull us up the side of the mountain! It was well worth it though as when we reached the end, the falls appeared before us and was a glorious sight. We took a rest, stripped down to our suits, and enjoyed the cool water flowing down the mountain. There was a pool at the very top to swim in but we only made our way up half way to a shelf since we were so pooped from the hike in. Without sounding cliche, it was truly amazing. We even spotted a bright red hummingbird feeding right at the waters edge.

We made it back after the refreshing dip and set up our camp at a beautiful spot on a bluff overlooking the creek that runs from the falls. We started to relax and Pat started to fantasize about beer trucks appearing on the lonely road. Keri suggested a trip to the jungle lodge as a more realistic alternative so we went down the road to Mamanoots. There was another couple at the restaurant and we talked with them about the Peace Corps and such. Another couple in their party joined them and by the end of the evening they had invited us along in the morning for a guided birding walk. So we joined them and their guide the next morning and had a wonderful time. We found ourselves standing on the top of an unexcavated Mayan ruin in the middle of the jungle watching Keel Billed Toucans feeding in the tops of trees.... a beautiful experience. After the birding hike, we discussed our experiences in Belize with their group a bit more and then had to head back to the city. The entire group were very gracious and generous to share their guide, and vacation, with us. We were very thankful for the experience.

Check out the quick video below of the falls and we added some more pics of the area. Take care everyone!