Going back home, thanks a lot, and last entry

This is the end, my only friend, the end...

Well, the year of world traveller is coming to an end. But not my travels. This Wednesday I will take off from Belize, and on Thursday I will land back in Spain, at home. Time for a short break, before departing for Budapest in the end of the month, with a short stop in Paris (such a short holiday, snif...). Sincerely, I am looking forward to go back to university!

I just want to use this last entry to thank you very much for reading this blog. More than 3000 visits already! Frankly, I am very impressed. When I started it, I didn't expect so many. Thanks a lot for following it, I really appreciate it. And not only the numbers, but the origins: USA, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Perú, Brasil, Kenya, Tanzania, Norway, Ucraine, Russia, India, Indonesia, Spain, France, Italy, Germany... some of them I expected, some others... I would love to know who visits this blog from Argentina!

However, writing it is becoming a commitment I cannot fulfill. Lately, I have often lacked of the necessary time to invest on it and the inspiration to write something worth reading. And I am afraid that, from now on, my studies will keep me too busy as to stick to my commitment. That's why I want to officially close the blog today. Only for nobody to expect new contents: the page will still be open, but there will be no new inputs.

I has been a great exercise. And it has helped me a lot to keep in touch with so many friends all around the world. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have.

See you soon on Facebook, email, or (my favorite option) in front of a nice coffee, hopefully in a nice european boulevard.

Muchas gracias, thank you very much, merci beaucoup, takk, danke, spasiva, asante sana, azafady,

Sergio

Legends and spirits from the forest

I always try to give some insight into the culture of the places I visit. And one particular topic that interests me is the local beliefs and traditions, specially the esoteric ones. I can refer you to older entries in this blog about the spirits of the kayas in the Shimoni forest (Kenya), the witch-doctors from Zanzibar and Pemba (Tanzania), as well as local legends in both places. As an example.

In the mayan villages, magic, spirits and the unknown seem to be a part of everyday life. There is not a single person who hasn't had a scary or creepy experience at night (but not only), specially in the forest or its edge. Here, I want to introduce you to some of this experiences or tales.

The ancient mayans are still alive: the current mayans believe that they are a different race than the one who built the old pyramids, temples and cities. How did they transport all those enormous blocks of stone, if they didn't have nothing such as wheels, horses...? And how did they transport them such enormous distances? Also, how were they able to carve the jade, and why this art of craftsmanship hasn't been transmitted to more recent generations? We can also refer to the enigmatic crystal skull from Lubaantum (archaeological site close to Big Falls village).

The Lubaantum crystal skull.

It makes sense, hence, to think that those ancient mayans were of a different nature than their current descendants. But, according to the former, the latter were kind of spiritual entities, with magical powers, and the ability to transform into animals as they wished (I would love to be able to transform into a hummingbird!) or even to turn invisible. They also believe that, when the mayan civilization collapsed, this mighty beings moved to live in the depths of the forest, where they still reside in trees, ruins, caves... And they don't want us to see them, and often they don't like us in their territories.

Jade mask.

The Xtabai/La Sucia: be careful when you walk alone at night close to the forest. You may encounter a beautiful young lady, maybe the same one you just dropped at home, who will make you follow her into the bush with her sweet voice. When you will realize, you will be lost in the middle of nowhere, absolutely incapable of finding your way back, or you will have fallen onto a cave from which you cannot get out of... all that, if she suddenly doesn't let you approach, just to discover that she's an ugly monster that will devour you! Xtabai is the mayan name for this spirit, whereas La Sucia is the one given by the garifuna and mestizos.

Spirits in the forest that don't like you: the forest is heavily inhabited. And those inhabitants don't like unexpected visitors! When you walk in the depths of the forest, both day and night, you may hear voices of people speaking in a language you don't understand, often laughing (presumably at you). You may be also thrown sticks or stones, aiming to hurt, from the bush (no monkeys, for they don't come from above).

One of our rangers told me that once, up in the Bladen, being friends out of the camp, he set his hammock, and while he was trying to take a nice nap... someone shacked strongly the hammock, waking him up and shaking all his body, like if a person was trying to scare him. Even if the strength was too much for the non-existent wind of that day, he tried to go back to sleep. And the same happened again. There was nobody around in both occasions. He decided to wait for his friends in a clearing nearby the river.

In the Golden Stream river, several villagers have assured me that they were thrown stones at night when coming back home at sunset/night by the road, in a particular spot dogs tend to avoid. Sometimes you don't even need to enter the forest to encounter the spirits!

The tataduendes: these are some short men, very ugly, who wear wide hats. They like to scare people, tease the horses and braid their hair during the night, or or to haunt people's houses. They are blamed to have come in recent years from Guatemala. When I was in San Ignacio, one day the students of the primary school couldn't enter one of the classrooms because one of these little persons was occupying it, in the words of the principal of the school.

Haunted mayan ruins: the forests of Belize, specially those in the mountains, seem to be rich in unexcavated mayan ruins. It is curious coincidence that the most of these stories take place close to this sites.

Witch-doctors: as in Africa, in Central America there seem to happen with-doctors in the rural areas. These shamans may not only treat your diseases with herbs and plants from the forest, but they can make rituals, spells and amulets that can help you to achieve your goals, protect you from other people's spells... and they are even capable of make that person you like fall irresistibly in love with you.

Creepy experiences in Bladen: it seems that the Bladen Nature Reserve, due to the age of its forests, its remoteness and the abundance of old mayan ruins still undiscovered is prone to stories of fear and untold mysteries. Big cavs that are there on your way in disappear when you return home the same way. Paths move and change their shape...

Haunted cacao fields: but probably, the creepiest of all stories are those related to the mysterious cacao fields in the Bladen Nature Reserve. This area is believed to have been inhabited in the old mayan times, and there are proves to it. Many ruins appear in between the vegetation, archeological rests can be easily found... for instance, Quebrada de Oro is a location rich in both rests and tales.

Another prove of the ancient inhabitation of Bladen are the several cacao fields that grow wildly in the depths of the reserve. They have been there since the mayans cultivated them centuries ago. Wild cacao normally grows in the shape of a bush, scattered around the forest. These ones appear in plantations, literally, but in the depths of the forest.

One day, before Bladen was a reserve, a group of hunters passed by one of these fields. It was plentiful with good-looking ripe cacao pods, and they decided to pick some. But they thought it was going to be uncomfortable to carry many of them around with them during the hunt, so they decided to pick them on the way back. When they returned, a few hours later, through the same cacao field, all the pods had been harvested...

But, my favorite story is, with no doubts, this last one: another group of hunters were poaching in the Bladen, and entered one of the cacao fields. It was full of nice pods ready to take and eat (yes, you can eat the cacao seeds raw).  They were enjoying of them when a little boy came from behind the trees. Before running away back into the bush, the only thing he told them, in an strange mayan dialect, was: "don't touch those pods, they are for my father".

Do you believe in the forest spirits? (Source: Google images)

Introducing Venancio

Great news, everyone!

You have all read the "List of things that have parasited me" in an earlier entry. So, I have a new one to add to this list: a bot-fly (Dermatobia hominis), known as "colmoyote" in mexican Spanish. This nice fly comes to you and lays an egg that, in contact with your body warmth hatches and the larvae digs under your skin, where it feeds till it has grown enough to go out, jump to the ground and transform into a pupa. It is a sneaky insect, for it can also trap a mosquito or a smaller fly, put the egg on top of it it, and let it do the transport! I have baptized mine as "Venancio".

Once you have a colmoyote, you have two options: let it fulfill its life cycle (let it grow and drop out... eventually) or tackle the issue. This second option is pretty likely, for you probably don't like the idea of something living, growing and feeding on an inside you. Also, it itches pretty much, specially when the little bastard comes out to breath through its little hole, or when it feeds. Consequently, you may choose to kill the bug. For that, you have to asphyxiate or poison it (with gasoline, nicotine or other nasty chemicals). In my case, particularly, I enjoy of being on top of the food chain, and I am not keen on being part of nobody's menu.I opted for the first option.

Venancio is down there. You can appreciate the little breathing hole.

For that, I first tried simply asphyxiating the bug. You should only put tape on top of it, and let nature follow its curse, for it needs to breath. The problem is that in this extremely warm and wet climate sweat drops the tape off too rapidly, so it was pretty useless. Consequently, I had to jump onto more extreme measure.

The second option was poisoning it. For that, you take a little tobacco, you chew it a little (it is not as disgusting as it seems), put on top of the bug, and seal with tape once again. It's way faster than asphyxiating, and nicotine will make a good job drugging the little worm to the death.

Once death, you can either squeeze it out (not a good idea to do it when it is still alive, it is possible but very painful), or let your body deal with it.

I include some pictures of the process, and how the colmoyote looks like in your skin:

Venancio before treatment #2.

Treatment #2: chewed tobacco.

Treatment #2; tobacco on top of the bug, and sealing tape.

Some of you have also heard from me about the evil malagasy parasitic flies. This is one video we took in Madagascar in which you can see how to extract on the egg bags these nasty little animals lay inside your feet every time they can (literally, I got one almost every time I took off my boots...). Pretty bloody, so no good for delicate stomachs!

Camera traps

Here you can see some of the pictures our camera traps have taken in the Golden Stream Corridor Preserve. Featuring some interesting wildlife!

Agutí.

Jaguar.

Red brocket deer.

Tapir.

Puma.

White-collared pecari.

Red brocket deer.

Puma.

Grear curassows. females.

Jaguar.

Jaguar.

Local characters: people you must get to meet in PG

One of the most surprising things of living in PG, is discovering the amazing life histories of many of its inhabitants. It is simply so amazing the quantity of people who come from other countries in the Caribbean (Antigua, Dominica, Jamaica…) the places some of these people have travelled to, how many of them have lived a part of their life abroad, how many have family in the USA and travel there frequently… These includes New York City delivery boys, LA cab drivers, Michigan babysitters, Spain cooks… but most probably, the ones I am going to introduce you are some of the most charismatic you will find in this picturesque town!

Drum-master Mr. Emmeth Young:

Expert in African percussion, he is one of the most applauded drum makers, teachers and players in Belize. He travels all around the country frequently, offering gigs with his different bands.

Natural from Gale’s Point, a maroon village near Belize City, he currently lives in PG with her American wife and their daughter. Here, they run a restaurant (Driftwood Café: one of our favourites, given they possess one of the very few espresso machines in town!), and offers drum lessons and hand made drums. Watching him playing live is simply amazing!

Mr. Gomier, chef and plant guru:

Natural from a small island in the other side of the Caribbean, he owns a little vegetarian restaurant close to our office: the perfect choice if you are looking for healthy food, like home made tofu, seitan, bread... He is not only a master chef, but an expert in local plants and traditional medicine, growing all kinds of plants in its little garden and knowing all the secret properties of them all. During the Sierra Leona civil unrest, he travelled there as a volunteer in a project to teach local people how to grow soya and then process it in different kinds of food.

And these two guys are just a couple of examples… 

Patrolling the the Golden Stream River

Ranger Octavio, upstream.

Ranger Coy.

Golden Stream Corridor Preserve Conservation Area.

The plant locally know as "sweet lips". Guess why?

Lower part of the river, in the delta.

Post lobster fest

After a weekend of scuba diving and partying in Placencia, and once all the news have already been adequately contrasted and double-checked, I can finally made some official announcements about my future.

Finally, it seems definitive that I am going to study the Erasmus Mundus Master in Environmental Studies, Policy and Management (MESPOM). The first year takes place in the Central European University, in Budapest, may be in different universities and countries according to your choice... but I know where I will be next September!!!!!!

And, also good news, my lightning trip to Spain was very successful, as I got the La Caixa scholarship, for which scholarship I was required to attend a personal interview in Madrid. Which means I have also the funds!

Even though I am happy in Belize... I look forward to be a student again in Budapest!

A couple of links, a couple of good news

For all of those who wrote comments on the Gasteiz-Munduan webpage: thank you very very much! Thanks to you I have won the contest!

For everyone: an article I published in the Fauna & Flora International (Ya'axché's partners) webpage.

And thanks for your support! Already 2500 visits!

Lil'owl!

Here is the picture of a baby Vermiculated Screech Owl that was brought recently to our office after being found with a pack of dogs ready to devour it. The little bird was taken care of by the relevant authority the same afternoon.

Caye Caulker and the Blue Hole

So, already back from celebrating my birthday in an exotic destination, taking profit to scuba dive and travel to new parts of the country. This time, we decided that the occasion was worth a cross-country trip to get to Caye Caulker, and from there go diving the Blue Hole, ons of the most relevant diving sites of the entire Caribbean Sea! And, I can assure you, the results of the dive were up to the reputation of the site!

Grey reef shark.

Another shark.

Corals.

Spotted eagle ray.

Tikal, Xunantunich and others

The last days I have been traveling a little around the country and surroundings. Concretely, I moved to San Ignacio (Cayo District), and from there I went to Guatemala to visit Tikal, one of the most relevant mayan sites (a dream come true). Simply unbelievable! I also visited the mayan ruins of Xunantunich, in Belize, the Belize Botanical Gardens and the Actún-Tunichil Muknal cave (a cave ith mayan archeology inside, including human skeletons from sacrifices). Enjoy some of the pictures! Sorry for the lack of pictures from the cave, cameras were not allowed.

Mayan gecko.

Tikal's Gran Plaza.

Temples raising above the canopy, in Tikal.

El Castillo, in Xunantunich.

Ya'axché

But what does Ya'axché mean? Ya'axché is the mayan queck'chi name for the ceiba tree. This tree grows very very tall, and its wood is good for the construction of canoes, but almost nothing else, as it is very light.

The very lightness of its timber means it is the most difficult one to throw down when hurricanes come. That is the reason why most of the trees that grow higher than the rest of the canopy in Southern Belize are Ya'axché trees: the ones that survive the strike of the last big hurricane.

Hence, this tree symbolizes strength and endurance. It also had an important meaning in the old mayan mithology. According to these believes, the upper world was sustained on top of our world by four ya'aché trees, located in the four cardinal points, and which roots connected also with the underworld.

Ya'axché overgrown with epiphytes.

Sunday morning jam session

PG cultural life: Sunday morning Jam in Driftwood Café, yesterday. Starring: Emmeth Young & Friends n the drums, and the previously unknown sax player from New Orleans.

Warm-up.

Introducing drum-master Emmeth Young.

F#dim6add or Dº7?

Gimme more drums!

Ya'axché in the Whitley Awards 2012

The video that was presented in the Whitley Awards 2012, where Lisel Alamilla (previous Executive Director, now Minister of Environment) was recognized for her work and Ya'axché's in favor of conservation in Belize.

But the best part, no doubts, is hearing Mr. David Attenborough talking about your organization!

Back in Belize!

OK, after a nice break of 2 weeks in Spain, I am back to work and clearly determined to save the forest and its birds during the remaining 3 months before the project comes to an end!!!! Just kidding, it isn't that easy.

But the Spanish break was everything but a holiday. Please guys, remember me never to do again such a lightning visit to Spain. Too many people to meet, simply. But it was a successful trip!

I have no much inspiration today to write, but at least I can leave you with some pics of our whale shark dive!

Whale shark

Loggerhead turtle.

And also, and example of the Punta music and dancing I already talked about some weeks ago: