Belize, Day 1: Arrival and the Belize Zoo

Saturday, Dec. 12. As with the trip last year, we were at the airport hours before the crack of dawn. I stayed with Jane in Elgin to save myself an hour of driving. Paul took Kate as far as the 7/11 by the interstate, where we picked her up at 3:00. Due to the extremely low volume of traffic at that hour, we got to O’Hare at 3:35.

Both our flights were on time. We arrived in Belize at 1:30. The hot, humid air hit us the minute we walked out of the airport. It was hotter than last year, certainly. The Sleeping Giant van was waiting for us. A pickup truck took luggage. All 14 of us plus the driver piled into the van. It was a tight fit, but I was glad we were all together.

Our first stop was at the Belize Zoo, where we arrived at 3:00. The Belize Zoo has only animals that are native to Belize and only animals that have been rescued and can no longer live in the wild because they are permanently injured or too tame. We gave the students an hour to look around. One group saw the neighbor’s dog barking at the howler monkeys, and the howler monkeys responding with territorial displays. Kate wanted to go to the tapirs first. They are her favorite.

The tapir

The peccaries had a terrible odor to them. The stench is apparently how they communicate with one another. Beauty is in the nose of the beholder.

Stinky peccaries--like pigs only way worse

This brown pelican has an injured wing.

Brown pelican

Lots of fish and several painted turtles were in this pond.

Turtle and fish

The ocelot was just hanging out in the tropical heat.

Ocelot (I cropped out the bars of the cage)

This is a coatimundi.

Coatimundi

Chachalaca birds were all over, foraging food from the zoo animals. They have a striking red throat that does not show up well in this picture.

Free ranging chachalaca

I remembered that the flies were bad at the zoo. Most of the students sprayed on the bug repellent even before we left the airport. I should have taken my own advice, as I ended up with a bite on the back of my hand and my neck before the day was out.

At 4:05, I found most of the group in the gift shop. Rousting them out of gift shops would become a recurring theme. By 4:15, we were back in the van on our way to Sleeping Giant. The resort manager, Eugene, introduced himself. He explained that he had not been present at our visit last year because his wife was having a baby. His son just celebrated his first birthday on Dec. 10. Eugene was confident and efficient, while still being extremely nice. He explained that this year we would have two dinner choices each evening rather than ordering off the menu as we did last year. I had no problem with this. It made ordering dinner faster and was better than a buffet.

We all had creamed corn soup as a starter. We had two dinner choices: fish with coconut rice or chicken with Kriole potatoes. I got the chicken, thinking that I might have quite enough coconut by the end of the week. The potatoes had a spicy cream sauce that was wonderful. I tried to make the steamed vegetables palatable by dragging them through the sauce left on the plate.

Given the early start to the day, I could not even work up enough ambition to go to the pool after supper. Kate and I advised the students to get a good night’s sleep because we had an active morning coming. It seemed unlikely that they would take us seriously. Kate and I turned in early because we knew what the next day would bring.