A Race Against Fire, opossums, whale sharks and Spain

The dry season is coming. Actually, it is more than arrived. And it is hot. And sweaty. And humid (the dryness refers only to rain). In fact, my hair has gone curly, for the first time in my life.

This means that the farmers in the area will start clearing land and making fires. Sometimes to clear the land, sometimes by accident and, sadly, sometimes for fun... and the dryness and heat of this time of the year involve that these activities can easily go out of control.

This is why Ya'axché organizes every year the Race Against Fire, a bicycle race (accompanied by many other activities) that becomes a big awareness rising event, in which we try to emphasize the importance of using the molching instead of the burning to clear the land and, if not possible, to promote safe fire-use practices. This took place last Saturday (the day before yesterday), and there was the normal bicycle race, a slow bicycle race, sack race, kid games, corn seeding contest, dancing contest, music... had tons of fun, but it was tiresome, as I was in charge of documenting everything with pictures, which meant I had to be everywhere. I present many pics from the event below.

This means we didn't really have an Easter break... but we are taking it next week! I am going with Erik, James and Jauma today to Placencia to try to see the whale sharks, which are supposed to be around after the full moons during the dry season. I can't wait for that!

On the other hand, I am having more and more new neighbors at home... OK, not really new, they have been there all the time: the unavoidable cockroaches (you can't get rid of them in tropical climates), scorpions (yes, already got some at home), mosquitos (clouds) and, on Friday... an enormous opossum walking around our house!

And last, but not least, I want to tell you in advance that it is very likely that there will be no blog entries the next couple of weeks. I have to go to Spain for 10 days, kind of a last minute change of plans... I must recognize that I am looking forward to it: some days in Madrid, some in Vitoria and, most likely, a lightning strike over Pamplona! But I will be back before the end of April. Don't desperate meanwhile!

Julio, proud event organizer and our
environmental education and outreach officer.

Getting prepared. 

Go!

Having fun!

Competition was tough!

Drawing and painting.

The winner!

Corn seeding contest.

Little friend.

Another friend... aren't maya kids cute? 

Me and friends.

Slow bicycle race.

Aerial sack race.

Watermelon eating contest. 

Dance contest. 

Barts, COL Program Manager and showman.

The garifuna

Once upon a time... sorry, in 1635, two boats charged with human cargo, coming from Western Africa and on their way to the New World, capsized in front of the Caribbean island of San Vicente. The slaves managed to scape the boats and get ashore, where the locals welcomed them and offered them protection. Eventually, both groups hooked up and mixed, giving birth to the "garinagu" people, once known as "the black caribs", and nowadays know as Garifuna. This people, on their fights against the neigbouring French and British colonies captured more slaves that found shelter in their society.

The Garifuna flag.

In the days prior to 1796, the Brits and the French were in war in their Western Indies colonies. The Garifuna were allied of the French, who eventually lost the confrontation, surrendering the island of San Vicente to the Brits. The former considered the Garifuna enemies for their alliance with the later, and decided to deport them. These people had suffered enormous looses during the war, but the worst was still about to arrive. In a journey that led them first to Jamaica and, finally, to Roatán (Honduras) about a half of the 5000 Garifuna died.

The Garifuna journey.

Roatán Island turned out to be too small for its new inhabitants. Hence, they asked permission to the Spanish authorities in the nearby coast of Honduras to settle down there. The Spanish, very intelligent, agreed in exchange of using them as soldiers, shall the occasion arrive. The sign of the times was close to come, and with it the end of the Spanish dominion over their American colonies, which soon got their independence in different moments of the XIX century.

Don't get lost in Central America! (not kidding, I've discovered friends that
didn't know where Belize was!).

The Garifuna thrived in Roatán and Honduras, and they needed to expand their territories and find new lands in which to look for a living. This resulted in an expansion that made them spread towards Nicaragua, Guatemala and what in those days was the British Honduras (nowadays Belize). In Belize, for instance, the "Garifuna Settlement Day" is a National Holiday. In the XX century, the Garifuna, as well as many other Belizeans, have continued their particular diaspora towards the USA.

Celebrating Garifuna settlement day.

The Garifuna are famous for their extremely erotic dancing (that makes reggaeton look like a kindergarden yard game), their music style named "Punta" (or its modern and electric version, "Punta Rock") and their colorful arts, crafts and lifestyle. Actually, Garifuna culture has been declared Non-Material Cultural Mankind Heritage.

And guess what... PG Town is full of Garifuna people!

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.