My Adventures in Belize by Kathleen Dwyer

Alligators, a Cat Named Junior Buddy, and the Search for Sea Turtle Eggs: My Adventures in Belize by Kathleen Dwyer MRH High School science teacher Kath- of cultures, languages and ethnic leen Dwyer was selected to participate groups make up its population, with other scientists and educators from predominantly Mayan, African around the world to study conserva- and Spanish. tion and marine ecology in the Central American country of Belize. The follow- As soon as I stepped off the ing is her account of her experience. airplane, I realized I was nowhere near Kansas anymore. Belize greeted me with a wall of hot air hen you think of a trip to the that made me catch my breath. tropics, what do you envision? Descending the airplane’s stair- Lazy naps in a hammock? case, I started sweating and didn’t WAttractive wait staff serving margaritas? stop for weeks. Quiet sunsets on the beach? Some may consider those scenarios paradise, but The Goodson Airport is about I had a different idea. This summer, I the size of our high school, so had the opportunity to visit Belize as it didn’t take long to collect my Counting manatees with Sidney, a high school teacher from part of Miami University’s Global Field backpack. I was introduced to Dagringa, Belize. Program. the members of my cohort on line, and now anxiously scanned An online course in the spring intro- the people at the airport for a familiar base at the Belize Zoo. With sweat pour- duced me to this unique country. It face. The dark skinned natives greeted ing down my face, I boarded the bus and is the only nation whose flag pictures their families, then departed. The young greeted my new friends. multiracial people and plants, an American couples hired cabs to whisk indicator of the diversity to be found them to their destinations. Only I re- The adventure begins here. Although only about the size mained in the arrival terminal with two The bus lumbered away from the airport of Massachusetts, Belize possesses a security guards and a magazine vendor. and into Belize City. On the congested variety of habitats: dense rainforests, Trying to stifle panic and ferverently roads, bicycle riders cut carelessly in marshy swamps and a coastal reef that hoping I had not miscalculated the date, front of cars while vendor carts forced is second only to Australia’s. A variety I began rifling through my backpack for pedestrians onto miniscule sidewalks. emergency contact information. Because Our bus driver expertly maneuvered of the humidity, every item had been through the crowded streets. Colorful packed into its own Ziploc bag. The wooden buildings lined the road. All pile of individually wrapped socks, houses are built on stilts to catch more shorts and sunblock was still growing breezes and to avoid the flooding that when a multicolored school bus pulled would accompany the next inevitable to the curb in front of me. The khaki hurricane. clad occupants looked like the group I was seeking: scientists, zoo educators When we drove away from the city, and teachers from around the world. the paved streets tuned into dirt roads. Cows, goats and dogs wandered freely As I hurriedly repacked my posses- in our path. Our bus slowed to a crawl sions, a tan and smiling young woman as it negotiated around muddy ruts in introduced herself as Reema, our cohort the road. The worn out shocks made leader. She explained that security our bumpy ride treacherous; I wondered regulations did not allow them to park. how many in our group had whiplash. As I was the last to arrive, they had been circling the airport for quite a while, but We were rewarded for our adventure were now ready to head to our home with luxury accommodations at the A colorful toucan. Page 2: My Summer in Belize by Kathleen Dwyer Tropical Education Center. Screened We finally navigated our way to the zoo, wooden cabins (on stilts, of course) sat where we met a tall woman dressed in the dense forest surrounding the zoo. in beige camouflage. She introduced We hastily discarded our backpacks and herself as Sharon Matola, the zoo direc- set out to explore our new home. Every tor. Her experience with Romanian lion mosquito in Central America decided taming and a Mexican circus netted her to personally welcome us. We sprayed a job as animal handler for a documen- and resprayed every inch our bodies tary shot in Belize. When the filming with bug spray. Covered arms and legs was complete, she was left with the task offered some, but not complete protec- of disposing the animals. Because they tion from these persistent pests. While I were domesticated, these animals could brought two bottles of spray with DEET, not survive in the wild. So Sharon hand I began to think I should have packed painted signs next to the cages, visited twenty. If things didn’t get better, I schools to teach children about Belizean might start drinking it. wildlife and solicited the money needed to found the zoo. Thirty years later, the We set off down the path to find the zoo still houses native species of animals bathroom. As we walked, several lizards in natural vegetation. hurried away from us. Some of the more timid members of our group balked, so The Belize Zoo also continues to fulfill we created a mantra to help us as each its role as a haven for animals need- person stepped outside of their comfort ing a home. In 2007, a jaguar entered zone, “It’s all part of the adventure.” As the zoo’s rehabilitation program as a we continued our hike, tarantulas scur- “problem animal” when it reportedly ried across the path. It didn’t bother me, preyed on sheep. Three months later, but some others needed to be reminded, she gave birth to a cub, then rejected “It’s all part of the adventure.” The it. Since he was raised by humans, the next resident to greet us was a small boa cub, now fully grown, is very friendly. constrictor. Was he scary? Not really. Named Junior Buddy, Sharon taught Would he hurt us? Of course not. It was him to somersault on command, come all part of the adventure. I had lived in when called and give visitors a “high- Yellowstone National Park as a college five.” She reasons that if people have an student. I had camped for years as a Girl enjoyable experience, they will become Scout leader. I was confident that I could partners in the protection of jaguars and handle roughing it in Belize. But then I their habitat. saw a creature that made me stop in my tracks and forget the mantra. I was fine During our stay at the zoo, our group with the other critters; the lizards were had the pleasure of working with small, the tarantulas were timid and the and helping care for rescued animals. snake had no interest in any member of Ceibo and Navidad, a pair of tapirs, our group. But this new creature chal- are housed together in hopes that this lenged my confidence. In the middle of endangered species will breed. Tapirs Top: Me the baby tapir. Middle: A howler monkey. Bottom: Feeding chicken fingers to Junior Buddy, a the path, freely roaming the grounds of are also known as “mountain cows” and rescued jaguar. the zoo was a crocodile who was as big use their short trunks to grab cucumbers as my Labrador. He would probably from volunteers. While adults resemble eat my dog as a snack. What if I needed giant grey pigs, babies are brown with to go down the path to the bathroom in white spots and stripes. A baby tapir the middle of the night? I was sure he arrived during our visit, demanding would be lying in wait, ready to con- frequent bottles of milk and bananas sume my leg in a single gulp. I decided with belly scratches. I happily obliged. that I wouldn’t be making any midnight trips to use the bathroom. In fact, to be Other species we had the opportunity on the safe side, for the remainder of the to observe included beautiful scarlet trip, I wouldn’t be using the bathroom macaws, the magnificent harpy eagle at all. and coatimundi. But our experiences Page 3: My Summer in Belize by Kathleen Dwyer were not restricted to the zoo grounds. grey water for hours. I grew so weary, to crawl above the tide line, dig a pit, Every morning, we would pile into the I started seeing manatees everywhere. then deposit 50 to 200 eggs. To reach school bus to travel to another Belizean Heat exhaustion and eye fatigue are their nesting site, we traveled across a destination. probably the reasons that sailors once lagoon for an hour, then hiked through mistook those chubby, whiskery faces dense forest for another hour with the “No one spoke” for mermaids. hungriest mosquitoes in the world, until The Community Baboon Sanctuary at long last, we arrived at the ocean. As is a unique mixture of dense forest, Observing the ecosystem beneath the we hiked along the shore, the waves farmland and villages. Local residents surface of the water was a welcome filled our shoes with sand, making us worked together to establish a conserva- change. After two weeks of sweating, tired and uncomfortable. Even heavier tion program that protected the howler bug bites, crocodiles and exhaustion, was the depression that accompanied monkeys in the sanctuary.

Load more