| Visit to Las Cuevas Research Centre, Mayan Mountains, Belize, October, 2002. |
Ok, so I got sent out to the jungle in the Mayan Mountains of Belize to send webcasts back to the museum via satellite and collect footage of our museum scientists hard at work. I am not going to tell the story here, just going to show photographs. If you want to hear about all my experiences what I recommend is that you read my log entry which tells the full story. The image here is of the Las Cuevas Research Centre where I was stationed during my time in Belize. It may not look like much, but when out in the middle of vast jungle, having a place with insect nets, toilets, and running water to return to makes a real difference |  |
 | Here is the front view of the station along with the jeep that brought me out from Belize City. |
Well, I didn't waste any time when I got to the station. After spending an evening trying to sort out why our satellite connection was so poor and attempting to send FTP files without costing the museum a small fortune I went over to the nearby mayan cave for a bit of exploration. |  |
 | The cave was utterly amazing. And huge! Stairs ran down from its mouth to a small subterranian river which is where the station pumps its water from. What is amazing though is the fact that the stairs are actually carved into the rock of the cave... and this was done by the mayans over a thousand years ago. There was a rough hewn altar inside along with hundreds of bits of broken pottery. |
While the mayans may have chopped peoples' limbs off and done sacrificial stuff in there in the past the cave serves a mighty different purpose today. This is Frank, he's a bat researcher, and he's looking into a harp trap that he built inside the cave. The gadget he's carrying allows him to listen to the bats' squeaks and record them. |  |
 | But the cave was not the only place where the mayan presence could be seen. All around the research facility there are these hills that are covered with vegetation. |
And once excavated they can be seen in all their glory for the ancient temples that they really are. This is a pyramid at Caracol, a mayan ruin not more than an hour away from the station. |  |
 | And of course, since the the Mayan's played such a pivotal role in the history of the forest, for work related purposes I felt it necessary to go collect footage and photographs. |
But the jungle isn't just about big things like caves and ruins. If anything, jungles are all about the little things. And some people deal with the little things better than others. My roomate for example, one of the bat researchers, was just a wee bit paranoid (guess which bed is his). |  |
 | But the head of the research station seemed to have no problem with the bugs. Chris is happy enough in this picture, but you should have heard the words that came out of his mouth when the mantis clawed onto his little finger! |
And then there's the humidity, muck, and mire. This is me in my waterproofs. I have goretex equipment, but gortex depends upon water turning into vapor. That doesn't happen in 100% humidity, ever. And mosquitos can bites throught the holes in goretex, they have a much tougher time going through solid plastic! |  |
 | But the insects, humidity, and generally nasty terrain were worth every moment. There serenity is unbelievable. This is the jungle at sunset. |
And on one evening the Las Cuevas team went out to do a wildlife survey using the spotlights on the jeep, so I grabbed my camera and went along. |  |
 | We saw a tapir along the way (it eluded us before I could get a picture) but we did meet up with the bat collectors in the field. They were using this light to attract insects into an area where they had placed mist nets. The bats would fly into the area, hit the nets, and then get studied on the bonnet of the jeep before being let go. |
But the bats weren't the only ones interested in the feast generated by the lights. There were some other uninvited guests. |  |
 | And after a night of bugs and bats the station with its generator humming away was a welcome site. |
On most evening folks would open up drinks and sit out on the veranda. There were some laptops that would make there way out and I originally thought "boy, these researchers must be really dedicated if they are still looking over their data at 9pm". Then I heard the echo of a machine gun and the death cries that I knew all too well belonged to Doom2. |  |
 | And then there was the occasional evening chess game. You know you have to worry when you mistake beetles for pawns. |
This is me hard at work, sweating bullets, and hoping that our final day webcasts were going to connect at 128k via satellite. |  |
 | And on my second to last day, seemingly from nowhere a storm came crashing down on us and the station manager made the call for me to be taken out early to make sure I made it to my flight since they were expecting bridges to be flooded. The jeep journey was five hours long and one hell of a ride. |