Copan Adventure

We heard about a beautiful Mayan pyramid site in Honduras named Copan so we decided to check it out. Honduras is the next country over from Guatemala and Copan is just a half an hour over the border. This part of Honduras was a lot like Guatemala. The buildings and temples of Copan are made out of a harder stone than other Mayan site we visited. This hard rock is more difficult to carve but that means it does not erode as fast as softer limestone rock. So there was very beautiful detail on the carving work. We saw very fine detail on the dozen stelae and statues around Copan. A stele is a large stone marker made for a king or ruler and it gives their history in carved pictures. They were also very large and almost twice as big as my Dad. They must have laid the stones down to carve them or use a ladder. It was fascinating looking at these stelae and seeing the way they used to dress.

The beautiful site was very compact so all the temples were very close to together. These pyramids were medium sized and one of them had a large carved staircase filled with lots of hieroglyphic picture stories as well as statues in the middle of the staircase. Imagine if you had a staircase like that. Growing out of one of the temples in the back was a giant beautiful ceiba tree. The ceiba or kapok tree was sacred to the Maya and I can see why. They believe that the ceiba was the axle for the world. Copan was pretty hot and muggy but was a really cool experience and left me feeling amazed.

Another fun place we went after the hot and sticky ruins was a bird rehabilitation park under a shady canopy. We got there by a very bumpy slow tuk-tuk which had trouble going up hills. So what is a tuk-tuk? Let me tell you. A tuk-tuk is a cross between a teeny weenie car and a motorcycle and they are everywhere. I think they call them tuk-tuks because their horns make that sound. Anyway, we arrived at the bird park safe and sound. We entered through a gift shop and Dad got tickets for us. Inside the park we soon heard a lot of squawking and saw a big cage. Inside the cage were two big noisy scarlet macaws. We visited with these two macaws then walked on a bit. Soon we came to an open area with lots of cages and parrots and toucans were perched on sticks outside their cages. I got to hold two of them. They were pretty heavy but well behaved. And don’t think the term light as a bird fits these guys. One of them tried to eat my Dad’s sunglasses and apparently they have a taste for plastic. There were toucans which had been capture for pets and were no longer wanted so they were sent to the park. We had a nice relaxing time and the adventure there was a lot of fun but time to go back to Guatemala. See you next time on the Nudibranch Network. PS: a nudibranch is a type of sea slug that lives in the ocean.

Guatemala Adventure in Lake Atitlan

Our next stop in Guatemala was Lake Atitlan. We got on another shuttle bus in Angitua for about 2 hours and it was a very bumpy ride. Lake Atitlan is a crater lake which used to be a really huge volcano before it exploded. The lake looked like an ocean and we took a boat across it to a town called San Marcos. Usually San Marcos is the quietest town on the lake but there was a festival the day we arrived. They were continually lighting off fireworks some of which were as loud as a quarter stick of dynamite. I felt like I had to hold my ears the whole time I was there so we decided to go to San Pedro the following day.

In San Pedro was much quieter but it was a much bigger town. We stayed with a nice family and they had a house right on the lake shore. The family had parrots called loros in Spanish. I liked them and fed them pieces of banana. Whenever I went over to their cage they would say hola which is Spanish for hello. We went to another Spanish School in San Pedro and we could walk there along the lakefront. The walk was really nice because you could have a view of the lake between the trees. We saw of birds and plants and lots of people in the water. Our school was also on the shore. The San Pedro Spanish School was really nice but not quite as nice as La Union in Antigua, but I liked it still. The grounds were really pretty with lots of plants. The classroom was outside and there were days when our desk was right on the waterfront. It was beautiful. I also saw a bird called a roadrunner but it did not go ‘beep beep’ like in the cartoons. It sounded more like a squawk. After a while, we needed a break from Spanish school so we went back to San Marcos which was now a quieter town since the fireworks stopped.

San Marcos is a little like San Pedro but smaller. There was a center of town with only one road through it for cars. There are many little dirt trails leading though the forest surrounding the center of town. And I have to tell you it is very rural here with lots of woods which I really like. It was very peaceful and tranquillo with is calm in Spanish. Lots of buildings there were made out of cob which is made from clay. They also have palm thatched roofs on many buildings like the hotel we stayed in called La Paz which means peace. La Paz had amazing gardens.

On our first day, walked to the main square and heard some marimba music. We walked over to see what was up. There were a bunch of dancers in bright colorful costumes who were wearing masks and big feathery hats. This is the conquistador dance which is tells the story of when the Spanish came to Guatemala. The local indigenous people perform the dance and their families and friends were watching. We were the only people in the bunch that did not live there but they were very nice us anyway. I met lots of local kids and let them try out my camera. The dance had been going on for over 8 hours and the conquistador dancers were very hot and tired. Imagine if you were dancing for such a long time. I had a lot of fun watching and took a lot of photos and want to show you some.

There were lots of people from all over the world living together with the indigenous people in San Marcos. One of these people is an amazing one of a kind person named The Real Toothfaire. We just call her Toothie for short. She is a friend from California I met 5 years ago at my Aunt Barbara’s house. Toothie now lives in San Marcos with Anha who is a little Kaqchikel Maya girl that she adopted. She is 3 years old and is very energetic and strong. Anha was very fun to play with. We went swimming together at the Lake and had a good time.
We also took a side trip to a town called San Juan (Saint John). We went there to see a woman’s cooperative for natural dying of threads which are then woven into cloth. Many different color threads are woven together to make beautiful designs. The different towns around the lake have their own patterns and designs. The natural dyeing does not use lots of nasty chemicals that pollute the lake. This was their old traditional way of dyeing fabrics. These colors are not as bright and vibrant but they are just as pretty. They gave us a tour and we learned about which plants made which colors. I will show you these in a video clip. We bought some pieces of fabric there what we will make into other things when I get my sewing machine back. This finishes our stay on the Lake. See you next time on the Nudibranch Network and enjoy the videos.

Guatemala Adventure in Antigua

My family and I took an adventure to Guatemala. But where is Guatemala? It is in the middle of Central America right between Mexico, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador. It was the center of the old Mayan world and you can still see many of their descendants today still living a traditional lifestyle and still speaking different Mayan dialects. There is also a very big Spanish culture and Spanish is Guatemala’s official language. The landscape is amazing because there are volcanoes, lakes, mountains, rainforests, and even dry places there. I had a wonderful time and I am going to blog about and share it with you.

Did you ever think you could be on boats and buses for 23 hours, that’s almost a complete day of 24 hours? We left Blackbird Caye in Belize about 8:00 in the morning and said goodbye to our little island. Then we arrived in Belize City and got on a shuttle bus us across Guatemalan border to a city called Flores. We had been there before and knew where to get a good dinner. This was not our final destination. Then we got on a big fancy bus at 9:00 at night and we traveled all through the night to Guatemala City. The air conditioning on the bus was freezing so I didn’t get a good night’s sleep because I was shivering. It was probably to keep the driver awake which is a good thing. Then we got on a third bus to Antigua which was the end of our journey for now.

The city of Antigua is over 500 years old. It used to be the old capitol of Guatemala so it had some really fancy buildings. The city went through a couple of bad earthquakes so the capitol was then moved to Guatemala City. So there are lots of ruins of the old city and some have been restored. We visited a few of those ruins like old churches and monasteries. The streets are still cobblestone which is when they use stones for paving instead of tar or cement. We found a busy beautiful town square called the Parque Central. It was more of a park than a central square with lots of live music and listeners. We saw many Mayan people in tradition dress who were in the park and all around the town. We also had lots of fun in a big big market where many people sold fruits and vegetable, as well as flowers. There were butchers and many many many more things like clothing.

We went to a Spanish language school for 4 hours a day over two weeks. My teachers name was Maria. She was really nice and very patient. We played games and learned lots of different Spanish words and how to use these words. I was really interested in the names of the plants and animals. So we spent lots of time in a beautiful courtyard learning them. My parents were at the school learning too, I had lots of fun going to school with my parents every day. The school also had activities and we went to an organic macadamia nut farm which was a lot of fun because we got to see macadamia nut trees as well as seeing the machines they use to crack them. Not was only was it an organic farm but the machines used no electricity. The used gravity to separate the nuts and cracked the nuts with a bicycle contraption. Another activity making tortillas from scratch and we cooked them over a wood fire. That school was a lot of fun!

One day after Spanish class we went to a 500 year old monastery which is now a restored 5 star hotel with beautiful grounds. There were lots of big trees, nice flower gardens and beautiful fountains. My favorite part was the big scarlet macaws which are a type of parrot which were perched all around the place. They were really cool to watch and take photos of. They weren’t afraid of me and they even posed for me. I took photos for hours while my parents had a few cups of tea. It was one of my favorite places in Antigua.

Enjoy the videos....

Going on a Dolphin Trip

Back on Blackbird Caye, I had a chance to help a dolphin researcher named Izzy. My Mom and I got to go out on a boat while my Dad had to lead a snorkel group. We went out for the afternoon to look for dolphins. Izzy has been working with these dolphins at Turneffe Atoll for years. He often sees the same individuals year after year. He knows because of nicks and scars and patterns that unique to each dolphin and they are much like you own fingerprint. He studies their behavior such as mating, feeding or playing. We saw some dolphins of course. We were lucky that we saw some because they can go a whole day without seeing any dolphins.

It was really cool when the dolphins bow ride. Bow riding is when the boat the pushes a water current forward and it forms a wave with the dolphins ride. It looks like they are having fun. There was more than one dolphin and they had a baby. Unfortunately that made it so we couldn’t get in the water with them. Izzy thinks that they were playing. I think so too. They were amazing. That’s all for now from the Nudibranch Network……

Tortilla Factory

We found a tortilla factory in Orange Walk, Belize. We wanted to get some tortillas and nacho chips so we went inside. They gave us a corn tortilla fresh out oven. It was the best tortilla I ever had because it was made right there before our eyes. The people there were very busy getting stacks of tortillas and serving many customers. We enjoyed watching this so much that we decided to make a little movie and hope you enjoy it too. The first step is batter making where they grind the dry corn into a pulp. The second step is run the batter through a machine that flattens it and stamps out a circle. Next the tortillas go through a toasting machine which is very quick. Out the other side they come and presto, you have a stack of fresh tortillas. These corn tortillas here are much much better than the ones you get at the store back in home.

Birding in Belize

There are tons of birds in amazing Belize. I like birds because; I just like birds even from when I was a baby. I like to watch them and draw then which makes me very happy. I have seen over a 120 species since we have been here in December. Most of them are new to me. They are very very colorful and look exotic. I would like to tell you about each bird I saw but instead I will tell you about the most interesting. We went to different habitats in search of birds such at Mayan temples, lakes, wetlands, rivers, islands and the amazing fig tree.

Pyramids sites are usually in rain forested areas and have many cleared spaces surrounding the pyramids and temples. The birds like these spaces. At Caracol, we saw Oscillated Turkeys which are one of the prettiest birds in Belize. Their feathers are iridescent and shine like copper and other colors. We also saw one of the most amazing vultures. It is the King Vulture. It has interesting head gear and is huge. We saw Keel Billed Toucans which have a large brightly colored bill which is often seen on items such as cereal box labels. This toucan is also the national bird of Belize. There was another pyramid site called Laminai with has lots of birds. There were trogons , which are the size as a crow but with a yellow bill and it has a lot of iridescence feathers especially on its stomach with a blue color sheen and yellow or black eye rings.

Lamanai is on the New River and we had to take a boat to get there. There were herons on the river such as the boat billed and Yellow Crow Night Herons. We saw a Yucatan Poorwhill which is not very common in that area. We saw a limpkin which is a bird where scientists can’t figure out which family to put it in so they made a new one just for this bird. We saw a small colorful bird called a Jacana which is also known as the Jesus Christ bird since it has very large feet which enable it to walk on lily pads and other aquatic plants. Imagine you could do that too. There is also another interesting bird species called the snail kite which only eats apple snails which is a large freshwater snail. It has a special shaped bill to gets into snail shells without cracking the shell. We spotted a common black hawk which also looks a lot like the snail kite except it has a yellow bill.

We had other guided trips to Spanish Lookout and Crooked Tree. These are both wetland sites and the name wetland suits this habitat perfectly because the beaches are mushy muck which I found out was not a good place to walk. At Spanish Lookout we saw a Jabiru Stork nest but not birds were home. The Jabiru could be called the Jumbo-ru because it is one of the biggest birds in the Americas. We looked at a laughing falcon through the spotting scope but it wasn’t very funny. We saw grove billed anis which looks like a grackle with the bill of a puffin. Then there were scissor tail flycatchers and this was the first place we saw the Vermillion Flycatcher which is a beautiful shade of red.

Back at the lodge there was a fig tree which was the most birdee-ist tree that I ever did see. We went there first thing in the morning and we saw Chacahlacas, Summer Tanagers, trogons, Great Kiskadees, and Aracasis which are a small type of toucan. At times there seemed to be more birds on the tree than leaves. The sound was a noisy concoction of calls and songs. And I have to add that the parrots sounded the worse. That’s the story of the magical fig tree.

Our next birding trip was to the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary. We saw thousands of Wood Storks and we canoed real close to them. Mixed in with them was a jumbo Jabiru Stork. The Jabiru has a rufus collar and was much larger than the other storks. We spotted Roseate Spoonbills which are pink birds with a spoon shaped bill. There was a Black Collared Hawk which should be called the Rufus Winged Hawk. It was fun to watch the pygmy kingfisher feed and take its food back to a tree for lunch. It was really neat and is one of my favorite birding places. That’s all for now on the Nudibranch Network.

Sophie

PS if you want to see video of a singing Summer Tanager or Wood Storks of Crooked Tree then click on the play buttons

Life on the Atoll

Life on the Atoll (20 February 2010)

We are in Belize City shopping right now in a grocery store. We are getting lots of food because we won’t see a single store for a whole week. The boat leaves in half an hour. We are too far away to walk so we have to get a taxi cab to the dock. We weave through busy streets filled with bicycles, trucks, cars and pedestrians. Then we turn onto a not so busy tree lined street and pull up to the dock. We get there just in time even though we know the boat won’t leave without us.

People load on a huge amount of gas cans, boxes, rolls of toilet paper and everyday items. Pineapples get loose and roll all over the floor of the boat. The Oceanica is our 43 foot boat which takes us 30 miles to Blackbird Caye and back. We see most of the staff and our new guests on the boat. Mr. Kent is our Captain. Wanda is our cook and some of you have skyped with her in your classroom. There is Alton who is an expert coconut open-er-upper and super fixer-upper of things. There is Rose the housekeeper and Richard the small boat captain. Security is Camille the dog. And there’s a hungry guy named Peckish who works at the nearby fishing camp.

We start off and we pass the little islands called Cayes and the MesoAmerican Barrier Reef. Sometimes there are swells when we hit blue water but today they are only 3 feet high. And there we go through Turneffe Atoll and go by lots of mangrove forests. And then we pull up to a long dock with sandy rocky beaches, a big buttonwood tree and coconut trees. Then we see cabanas on the ocean. We start hitting bumps as we head near the reef. Then we see a big palapa with a thatched roof.

We pull up to the dock and I run down the dock happy to see my island again. I startled some wish willies who are basking in the sun when I ran by. Camilla the evil munching puppy meets me with her tail which is wagging and her whole body is shaking. And it is time for teething. She lunges at me with the mouth wide open and I throw a sea grape leaf like a frisbee. Our place, the Oceanic Society owns about 50 acres of land.

I hear a RRRRRRRRRRRRRR from the generator which is the only way to get electricity until they get the solar working. If it’s not a very windy day then the mosquitoes, doctor flies and sand flies come out and bite. It looks like you have been to the doctor or need to go to one. There may be some bummers here but there’s so much more good stuff.

My favorite thing to do is to go snorkeling and fishing. Before it’s too late, we can go for a little swim. The ocean can be really warm here and you can play in it for hours without freezing. It also makes for good snorkeling but you can’t go swim at night because of the crocodiles. When I snorkel, I see thousands of fish called grunts, schoolmaster snappers, butterfly fish and yellow jack which like to hang out around our dock. After dinner, when it gets dark, my Dad and I go fishing. When it’s dark the big fish bite. We usually see two big red eyes underneath the water. We see a big body that looks like a croc. But it is only a tarpon which is a big game fish and it is like the crocodiles of the fishes. We tried to catch it but it just does not seem interested.

I spend a lot of my time homeschooling. It’s a lot like regular school but it is in your home. You also get the full attention of your parent school teachers. I do math, reading, writing and lots of other stuff like you do. I also get to learn about things that are special to me like field trips to Mayan temples for history class or my science class is about 100 yards away on the dock into the coral reef and seagrasses. And I always get to do art class by myself. You get a lot of attention by being the only kid in the class and it is also a lot of fun.

Well, that’s a day in my life at Blackbird Caye.

Sophie

PS We can see both sunrises and sunsets off our little island. It is only a couple of hundred steps from one side to the other.