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Week 1 (Part 1)

June 17, 2019 by Helena Demarest Leave a Comment

I decided I was going to set these posts up by summing up each day and my feelings about them!

6/8/19 – My first full day in Belize was amazing. At this point, we haven started class yet so it was a chill day. Going cave tubing and zip lining for $55 was honestly maybe one of the most “worth it” things ive ever done. You got the adrenaline rush and exercise from the zip lining and then afterwards, once you are worn out, you get to go into the cool water and get a nice tour of the caves. The best part about this trip so far (I am now writing this on the 3rd day) is not knowing what’s coming next. Obviously there are times where you need to know more information in order to be prepared but going into tubing not knowing how awesome it was going to be and how kind and informed the tour guides were was surreal. I got so much out of my money I’m so glad I got to be a part of it! I have never seen the beautiful jungle and floating down the river while looking up at the sky was beautiful and something I cant describe to any of you. You just have to experience it yourself.

6/9/19 – We went to the Belize zoo for the first time! Back in the states, I am close to the Bronx zoo. I have been there a couple of times so I thought I knew what to expect but I was completely wrong. It was so nice to see a zoo that kept the natural habitat. Granted up where I live in North Jersey almost all the animals aren’t in their natural habitat so it makes sense that everything is artificial. I do love the zoo back at home and being able to see animals that I might not get around to ever seeing, but it is upsetting sometimes seeing them not in their element, even though zoos do put alot of conservation work and alot of them work to make the animals lives better. However, knowing that the animals at the Belize zoo were all within their own nature was pleasing. You felt like you were in the jungle with them. Its difficult to say which was my favorite animal at the zoo, its hard not to say the tapir! But some of the other animals I got super excited for were the jaguars and howler monkeys.

6/10/19 – Today is Tuesday, we went Runaway Creek for a hike and to set up camera traps. I have never been in a savannah or really even a “jungle” before so it was pretty cool to walk around. The coolest part about the experience was that we walked the same trails that the animals walk on. One thing I have definitely learned so far from this trip is to wear pants and prepare for the humidity. My hair is up at all times! The caves were awesome to see and I got a lot of great pictures. 

6/11/19 – We are back at the zoo again, this time to focus on the “problem jaguars” and to do a physical exam on a tapir! This was an unreal experience and something I am so happy to be a part of. Back in the states you could not do this and the zoo is awesome here. The jaguars behind the scenes are so different than the ones on display and you can see that they fear us and dont particularly want to be there but its nice knowing that at least they are safe. As for the physical exam on the tapir, I never thought I would get to be so close to one. I checked his pulse and heard his heart has he laid there so calm and it was unreal how great it went. 

My next post will be about the end of my week!! Here are some pictures from this week. 

Filed Under: C.E.L.A. Belize Wildlife, Health, Ecology and Conservation

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Helena Demarest's Posts

  • Post Belize Experience!
  • Week 2 (Part 2)
  • Week 2 (Part 1)
  • Week 1 (Part 2)
  • Week 1 (Part 1)

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