Satellite images, rosewood and neighbors

I start this blog entry with a satellite image. Well, with news also: we have another Spaniard in our team! His name is Jaume, he is from Barcelona and he was here last year working as GIS technician, and he has come back to do the same for a longer period (my god, how much did I need those skills in my project!). And this picture is his first output, after a single day of work( damm, he's good).

This pictuee was taken this year, and we can see many things on it. In red, the boundaries of Belize and its districts, as well as the islands of the cayes. In blue is the Maya Golden Landscape, our working focus area. In the sea, we can see the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the second biggest in the world. But that's not the point. The country that borders with Belize is Guatemala in most of the line and Mexico in the North, and Honduras is visible in the lower right corner. You can see that the color of the terrain out of the boundaries is of a light green, in opposition to the dark green inside Belize. The former corresponds with agricultural land, pastures and clearing of the forests, whereas the later are extensions of more or less intact tropical forest.

Briefing: Guatemala, due mainly to its high population density, strong pressure on natural resources and lack of regulations suffers a very high deforestation rate, whereas Belize, mainly due to a ridiculously small population (compared with neighboring countries) still maintains much of its natural vegetation cover. And that is what makes it so relevant for biodiversity and conservation. This is that much, that in the image without lines, you can tell where the border between these countries is just looking ant the color change!

Next issue: the hottest topic in environmental issues during the last months was the accelerated exploitation of rosewood, to sell mainly to the Asiatic market, hungry of all kind of precious timber and animal products (let's not mention ivory and rhino horn...). Rosewood and other kinds of timber have traditionally been a part of the economy of Belize, but the situation had evolved in a pillage of the kind "take as much as you can, as fast as you can", wich was deplenissing the stocks and natural population of a species with a very limited distribution range (only Belize and reduced areas in neighboring countries) and of which very few was known.

Ya'axché was advocating for a moratorium in the extraction, until a population assessment were performed and a management plan put in place. Pretty much unsuccessfully, as there are too many fat cats involved in this business. Until this week. The new minister Alamilla (our ex-Executive Director), as a first measure of her mandate, has proclaimed the moratorium! That's a wonderful beginning! Will se be allowed to do things the right way for the full 4 years? We will see...

And for saying goodbye, I want to remark that in PG there are tons of dogs... they are simply all around the place, and most of the times very friendly. And yesterday I discovered we have four new neighbors in our house!

New puppies!

Bur Sergio, what do YOU exactly do there?

Well, it is time for me to explain what the hell I do in this remote corner of the Caribbean, and what the fuck the NMBCA Project is...

Basically, I came here to be the manager of the NMBCA Project. The NMBCA (Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act) is a policy text of the USA aimed to protect (surprise surprise!) migratory birds, concretely those that breed in North America during the summer and overwinter in Central and South America. Under this Act, grants are awarded to organizations that work in the same direction, and here is where Ya'axché enters the scene.

Birding in Nim-Li Punit (mayan ruins).

So we find a situation in which the US Fish and Wildlife Service gives as a grant to protect migratory birds. And what we do with it? A thousand things. For instance, we work in Agroforestry systems with the local farmers. These are farms in which certain crops (in our case cacao, and in other parts of the world also coffee) are grown under the shade of trees, generally those from the local forests. This has the advantage that the converted land is not cleared, remaining a good habitat for birds. Also, this kind of farming is sustainable, organic and long-term oriented, as the shade trees may and generally are timber trees, which can be eventually extracted, and grown beside the main crop. Moreover, we work directly in community development, and Community Development Plans occupy a big piece of our agendas and meetings lately.

One of our rangers, the ones who patrol a monitor.

We do Biodiversity Monitoring (a.k.a.: what and who is where, when, how and how many of them) which helps to the correct management of our protected areas. Outreach activities also have an important role to play in this project, and these ones range from field trips to Bladen Natural Reserve with the kids from the schools...

School trip to BNR.

Related with this two last things (monitoring and outreach) comes a thing that, even though not the biggest in the project, is probably the one that takes much time from me, and sure makes me work many weekends. Those are the Bird Clubs and the Farmers-Birds Alliance. The formers are groups made mainly by young people from the villages that meet to go birding and learn about birds and the environment. The later are groups of farmers that we are training to do bird monitoring in their farms, getting paid for that and helping us a lot (eventually, we have to wait for the data).

Birding trip to Crooked Tree.

And last, but not least, being the PM means that you are kind of a "one fits all": you are involved in a little of everything, may be required to fill many gaps and do many tasks other people cannot, as well as the regular PM tasks as managing the budget and ensuring that the objectives are on their way to be achieved.

Monitoring birds with the farmers.

Seems a lot? It seemed to me in the beginning. A hundred small things to keep in mind at a time... but it is very varied, and I am learning a lot about it. I love my job!

Life in the Caribbean and other staff

Well, I am so sorry. I am sure that most of you have noticed the decrease in the frequency of my blogging and in the contents... but there is a reason valid enough for it. Simply, days, weeks and life pass pleasantly, fast and enjoyably in this town, but with this Caribbean peace that makes everything move slowly and time pass rapidly. When you like your job, your colleagues, the country... time flies.

Fisherman in Crooked Tree.

Some news happen, though. Last, elections took place in Belize, and this week, the new government was appointed. For our general surprise, our Executive Director (Lisel Alamilla) has been declared Minister of Fisheries, Forestry, Sustainable Development and Indigenous People. Fuck yeah. Almost nothing. And curiously, she has never been into politics. It comes from the decision of the new Primer Minister of taking some experts for certain positions, instead of politicians. And he chose Lisel, even if during his previous mandate she and Ya'axché brought her government to the Court due to some nasty issue related with illegal concessions to build a dam in a protected area. Good news for Belize!

Sometimes, after the rain, the air turns yellow... I'm not kidding!
It is such a surprising effect. The image is what turns up when you
try to trap that with a picture... even if you fail, the effect is nice.

Also, after the inaugural party for our apartment, we went to spend the remaining part of the weekend (as Monday was a national holiday) to Placencia. Placencia is a little town in the coast, kind of a touristic, but still undeveloped (in tourism terms) enough as for keeping its charm intact. You know: diving, nice restaurants, beach, relax, some nightlife... The plan of the construction of a big deck with the aim of attracting cruise ships menaces to destroy the attractiveness of this town. But meanwhile, we pretend to enjoy of it as much as possible, and we will be back in a month to try to see the whale sharks.

Placencia Beach.

Laughing Bir Kaye, just a short sail from Placencia.

Terns, pelicans and cormorants in Placencia.

Magnificent frigatebird, very common in these waters, and one of my
favorites.

Meanwhile, if you want to read more about our adventures and see more pics, Erik (my roomy and colleague) writes his own blog: http://blog.erikhammar.se/ Enjoy of it!

New appartment

Well, many of you already knew about my plans to move in to PG. So finally it has happened! Erik (mu Swedish buddy) and me have moved today to an apartment in PG Town, which has kept us busy. Lovely place to live in, and it's nice to go back to a place slightly more civilized (specially for me, as I know I will have to be back and forth the field station anyway) and a good opportunity to get to know the place and the people better!

The house we live in. Our apartment is in the basement, which is better because
are less scorpions.

The back terrace, best venue for barbecues in PG! And with sea breeze.

View of PG town from the back terrace. In the back, the Caribbean Sea.

The coffee shop of our landlords, just next door: nice coffee, tea and snacks
(delicious frozen choco-bananas!).

We were looking forward to move, as having to go to town to do everything is pretty uncomfortable. But specially to get rid of the myriad insects that tormented us up there in the forest edge. Those dammed bottles flies drive me crazy! I can't understand how such a small animal can make such nasty and long-standing itch!

Out neighbors seem to be very nice, and for sure they form an international environment! A British boy that works as freelance journalist, and three japanese girls that work for the Japanese version of the Peace Corp who, by the way, own two lovely dogs called Caffelatte and Milky (they also had a small pup called Chocolate, but it died recently).

So far, this Saturday we will hold a warm-up party to know our neighbors and show off our new flat in front of our friends... just kidding. Wanna join?

Sunrise in Bladen Natural Reserve.

Things that...

Well, lack of time, inspiration and a good connection to Internet (that limits my activity to only write, without many pictures, sorry) means that today I am going to present you a couple of lists about things I have encountered in my trips, many of the here in Belize.

1) THINGS THAT I HAVE FOUND IN MY ROOM IN BELIZE:
- Geckos
- Mosquitos
- Bootless flies
- Horseflies
- Spiders
- Sandflies
- Rats
- Ants
- Tarantulas (due to the size and hairiness, I consider them another category)
- Jesus lizards (also known as basilisks)
- Small lizards
- Snakes
- Pigeons
- Ants
- Scorpions
- Frogs
- A Swedish guy

2) THINGS THAT HAVE TRIED TO FEED ON/PARASITE/BITE (often successfully) ME DURING THE LAST TWO YEARS:
- The Svalbard super-mosquitos, capable of bitting you through two layers of clothes
- The Arctic terns
- The Norwegian crows
- Normal mosquitos (obviously)
- The evil and omnipresent malagasy leeches
- The evil malagasy parasitic fleas, also omnipresent
- Normal fleas
- Wasps
- Bees
- Spiders
- Ants
- Caterpillars
- Horse flies
- Doctor flies
- Sand flies
- Bootless flies
- Fly flies
- Unidentified flies
- Ticks
- Jellyfishes

3) THINGS THAT HAVE ATTACKED ME DURING THE LAST TWO YEARS:
- Crows
- Gulls
- Seals
- Terns
- Dogs
- Baboons
- Pied mantises
- Bees
- Wasps
- Vervet monkeys
- Trigerfishes
- A japanese girl

Sunrise in Crooked Tree, Belize.

PG town

Welcome to PG! This is the town Ya'axché is based in. The full name in Punta Gorda, but everybody in Belize says PG... I forget forget to write the full name for foreigners of "framily" (neologism for friends and family, and also for friends that are so close to you that become your family) at home.
Finally, after a month and a half living in the field station, I am going to move in to PG in the beginning of March, with Erik, the Swedish boy. We even have found a cool apartment there!
Well, coming back to facts. PG is a small town in the South of the country, in the Caribbean shore, and traditionally has been just a passing point for people coming in and out from or towards Guatemala and Honduras. Only 5000 inhabitants, among them a pretty significant expat community, due to the presence of many local and international organizations: Ya'axché, TIDE, SATIM, Plenty International, Peace Corps, Moho Cacao, the japanese Peace Corps (I still ignore the correct name)... most of them arrived in town during the last two decades.
Well, there is not much left I can say. At least till I move here and start getting to know the place more in detail. So I leave you with some pics f this charming place!

Welcome to PG town.

One of the main streets.

Clock tower, in main square.

Chocolate factory.

Asha's kitchen, one of the best restaurants in town, also
known for the drum concerts at nights.

Belizean house.

The bus stop.

Bladen Natural Reserve

Cheers from Bladen! (Picture: Erik Hammar)

Well, as something different, last week me and one of my colleagues (a just arrived swedish boy called Erik Hammar) went to the Bladen Natural Reserve to join for a couple of days the rangers in their activities. Ah! It made me remember of the good all times in Madagascar: hiking the savannah getting in the mud to our ankles, crazy jungle with mysterious footprints in the ground, dinners made of rice around a fire, swims in crystalline rivers, river crossing in the straightforward style... not to mention the numerous jungle parasites! This time, a mountain of ticks.

Just as a little background, Bladen is supposed to be the most pristine forest in a country full of pristine forests, and it enjoys the highest protection level in Belize: natural reserve, which means that no activity is allowed and nobody can enter there without a special permit. The reason we were here is that Ya'axché co-manages this protected area with the forest department of Belice, and our rangers patrol the area. We were there to give them a hand (even though I think we gave them a little extra work).

Welcome to Bladen.

The savannah, and the forest in the distant mountains.

Erik crossing the rivers the malagasy way. Well, this time, the belizean way.

Some tunes from Kenya

Well... this is something I should have done months ago, but as I have no inspiration for nothing better so far, I am going to give you a small sample of popular kenyan music. This two songs were real hits when I was there and, even if the clips are not my style, I must recognize I love both tunes (maybe just because of the delicious kenyan flavour...). I hope you'll enjoy them!

Flavour Nabania - Sawa sawa lé

Jaguar - Kigeugeu

In the land of the mayas

Well, it is not easy always to find topics to write about. I can say that the previous two weeks have been very busy, getting used to my new position and its myriad details and secrets... because this project is not as small as it seemed at first sight. But it is extremely engaging, in any case!

As I have mentioned, the level of occupation has prevented me from taking pictures or doing a lot of things around... so I have decided to, simply, look around to discover what to write about. Or simply, the people I work with, the Kec'chi mayas. The descendants of the once-almighty maya civilization, which ruled in most of Mesoamerica for almost 2000 years.

Even though the causes for the decline of this culture are still uncertain, it is generally assumed not to have been a dominant power after the uprising of the aztec civilization. However, particularly in the most remote areas of the Yucatán peninsula, some cities and groups remained. These were the groups that opposed more fiercely to the Spanish invasion of the area, and actually succeeding in keeping the spanish conquerors away, a circumstance that kept free the territory that eventually became Belice. This favored the settlement of pirates and british loggers in the coast, and the full area became for many years a dark spot in the spanish dossier of conquests, and finally becoming a British colony only in the late 18th century.

Nowadays, the mayas are peaceful and charming people, and they take big slice of the Belizean pie of cultural groups. And even thought they don't combat courageously against the spaniards any longer (for my relief) or sacrifice human beings on the top of the pyramids or in the depths of the sacred caves, like in days gone by, they still maintain a lot of their traditions and their traditional way of life. That means, the ones that live in the villages and have not emigrated to the coast of the big cities.

Well, I think it's enough of cultural and historical pain, and I am going to leave you with a couple of pictures I took yesterday in the mayan ruins of Nim-Li Punit, only a couple of villages down the road from the place I live in. Enjoy them!

The Ya'axché Conservation Trust

As promised, it's time for the weekly post in the Blog. What to say? The first week in a new job is always hectic: meeting your workmates and getting to know them, getting used to the new place, explore it, buy necessary stuff, the Friday volleyball against a generally friendly NGO (not that friendly during the match)... and sinking in the mountain of documents you have to get familiar and proficient week.

So, let's introduce you to the Ya'axché Conservation Trust (don't ask me how to pronounce Ya'axché, I'm still mastering it), the NGO I'm working with. Ya'axché was founded in 1997 by a number of local stakeholders concerned about the excessive demographical growth in the area, that was leading to an unsustainable use of their natural resources and a retreat of the forest. They were committed to the preservation of the Golden Stream Forest, the last remains of forest connecting the vas extensions of forest  in the Maya Mountains and the less extended coastal forests. A migratory route used by jaguars, tapirs, peccaries, birds and other animals to move between this two areas according to the seasons.

With time, a lot of hard work and effort, Ya'axché has growth to own the Goldem Stream Corridor Preserve, to co-manage with the Government the Bladen National Park and collaborate with many other organizations of the area, as well as being one of the leading local NGOs of the country.

Ya'axché works in an area known as the Maya Golden Landscape, which ranges from the Maya Mountains to the Port Honduras Marine Reserve, and works in many different levels: environmental education in the local communities, lobbying in the political level, patrolling of the forest, biodiversity monitoring... interesting? I think so!

The Maya Golden Landscape and surroundings.

On the road... again

Belizean flag.

You land, after a strenuous two-day long trip, and the first thing you notice is a sticky and stifling heat. You have survived the insufferable bureaucracy of the US customs, but the best part is still to arrive: looking for the bus station, getting into a bus and staying awake till you get to the adequate stop, in the middle of the forest, in the middle of the night... yeah, definitely you are on the road again!

You realize you have arrived, for the first time, to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, and more concretely to Central America. My new job is in Belize, a little English-speaking country and member of the Commonwealth for having been a British colony, and renowned for its financial paradise status. But that's other story.

Belize. Important, check Punta Gorda, in the
south: my new town.

Despite its fiscal condition, Belize is still a developing country. But a high-end one, we can say. Good roads, safe drinking water easily available in any top... a country of about the size of the Netherlands, with little more than 300.000 inhabitants, covered a 60% forest cover and enjoying of a enviable 40% of its surface under some kind of official protection. It borders with Mexico and Guatemala and, even if English is the official and most widespread language, even though Spanish is widely spoken, and both of them co-existing with other languages as Garifuna, Creol, Maya, German... even Hindi.

The economy of this country relies mainly on tourism (ever increasing) and agriculture, as well as other forms of exploitation of natural resources (traditionally, timber). Also, its population increases a 3% per year, mainly due to immigration. 

This demographic growth, as well as the increase in size of the tourism in the area and the demands of international markets (which are leading to a rosewood crisis, mainly due to the influence of the Chinese market), have lead to an ever-increasing pressure on natural resources... and that's the reason I'm here (a.k.a., the reason I found a job here). But that's a topic for other entry.

1000 visits!!!

This special entry is to celebrate that the blog has already more than 1000 visits (actually, way more: 1200). I just want to say... thanks to all! Next week I head for my new adventure, and I can promise you that the blog will remain active! However, I am afraid that the rate of an entry every 3 days is way too demanding, and difficult to cope with too often (as you have already guessed in several ocassions). So I will have to drop down to an entry per week...

Thank specially to Asier Solana, for making Brazil (or Peru) the second country with more visits, just after Spain.

See you soon!

Bye bye Kenya

It is never easy to say goodbye to a place in which you have lived for half a year. And even more when it is a place you have enjoyed so much of. And even more if you know you are not going to return probably in a very very long time...
So yes, now is the time to announce it. I am leaving GVI, as a consequence of a new job offer I've got in Belize (Central America, and yes, it exists!) last week. I will move there in January, so I will return to my blogging activities then. So please, excuse me if I don't write during the following days, but I have to farewell to many things and people. I would like to meet for the last time with colleagues and friends in Mombasa, have a last dinner in Road Runners... and tomorrow, heading up to Nairobi, to explore the capital and, hopefully, the Rift Valley.
So, I only can say... see you soon! To some of you, next week in Spain. For the rest, when I will return to writting in January.
And to all the people that made this experience unbelievable: Asante sana!
Baadai! (see you soon, in kiswahili)

One of the last sunsets in Mkwiro Island.

Last diving days

OK, expo is over, people are already out or running away from Shimoni... so what better than meeting my good friend Yatin, the diving instructor, and going with him for some last nice dives? The plans: Nyuly, Secret Place and the Marine Reserve, two days diving... I'm going to miss diving with him...

And also, before I myself leave, it's time for having a last dinner in Smugglers, a last lunch in Abduls, saying goodbye to everybody... Next stop: Mombasa!

End of Expo

Today, the Expedition comes to an end. Probably I have already explained it, but we call Expedition to the 10 week blocks in which we organize our time, in order to planify the arrivals and activities of our volunteers. So, it's the end of 10 weeks of rush, stress, hard work and activities, but also of meeting amazing people, having fun, learning loads, travelling and having some unbelievable experiences!
Tomorrow, it's time to say goodbye again to all those people! It's surprising the regularity with which this is starting to happen in my life... but, hakuna matata, tonight is the end of Expo party, and I intend to enjoy of it. Let's leave farewells for tomorrow!