Pete at Itzmna

For my two-week internship I worked at the Itzamna Society, a community-based organization located in San Antonio, Belize. Itzamna seeks to act as a unified voice for three villages in the region: El Cristo, San Antonio, and el Progresso Seven Miles. All three villages have lost land as it’s sold to foreigners, so Itzamna Society was created to help the communities retain their land while offering training in various subjects to the locals. Currently, they also maintain Elijio National Park, Belize’s youngest national park. I was able to do some work in the park, which is only accessible by horse! My main task was to draw directions to the park for the back of the entrance ticket, do some mapping of the current facilities, and to write a proposal of ways to improve the park. I had a lot of fun riding horses through the beautiful forests of the park and also enjoyed working with the staff of Itzamna. Hopefully they will be able to use the maps and proposal to help develop the park into an asset that can be used by both the community and visitors. In a few years, Elijio Panti may be one of the nicest parks in Belize!