Back into the jungle

Today’s activity consisted of a hike to a waterfall. It was a little over a mile in and about 3 to 400 feet elevation gain. For me it was a little bit of a challenge. Berni just kept running up the trail. We didn’t see many animals. We did see a bunch of monkeys on the way into the preserve. You have to get a really early to see any animals. We were also on pretty well traveled trails, which I’m sure animals also stayed away from. At the waterfall, I went into the water, but didn’t totally submerge because it was quite cold. Our guide was Julian and we enjoyed getting to know him better. Julian is the oldest of seven children. They were born and raised in the jungle. There was no primary school available to them. Their family was kicked out of the jungle when they decided to make a nature reserve of the area. Greg, his brother is the one that owns and operates the cottages. In addition to being a guide, Julian also has a farm where he grows many different fruits. He used to be primarily an orange grower, but the orange crop in Belize got wiped out over 20 years ago by some kind of disease.

The three black spots in the tree are actually monkeys. We spotted them on our way up to the reserve.

Julian and I resting. Julian made me the walking stick with a machete. I don’t know what I would’ve done without it.

Really interesting bark. I haven’t been able to identify the tree though.

Looking at the area that was originally Julian’s family’s home.

This plant was a staple of their diet. They ate the root. They also were able to kill pigs.

A butterfly right outside the women’s restroom

During dinner, we again had an interesting chat with Greg. He told us a crazy story about him. He was almost bit and killed by a snake. We also had quite a discussion on vaccinations. He is really distressful of the government and hesitant about certain vaccinations especially Covid. In general, his views were actually pretty conservative. He is religious and I believe a practicing Baptist. He also has been involved in politics. It is amazing what he has done with only a couple years of education. He was 13 1/2 years old when his family left the jungle. Before then he had no schooling. in the jungle, his family had either grown, gathered or hunted all their food. They lived in a small community of about nine families.

In some ways, being in the jungle has been disappointing because we didn’t see many animals. Instead, though we got to know an amazing family. We got to know them pretty well and learn quite a bit about their lifestyle, both in the jungle and in the community that they live in now.