Josh at BBG

Check out all the fun I’m having! Can you tell! That’s right I’m in Belize and to boot I’m not in class, two facts that bring this beautiful broad smile to my face. Over the past two weeks I have been working at Belize Botanic Gardens (BBG), the only botanic gardens in the WHOLE country. Although a relatively new garden, due to incredible tropical growth rate this restored piece of degraded grazing pasture has become a paradise to botanists and birders worldwide. Throughout the two weeks the tasks and projects assigned to me helped me to get a holistic grasp on the inner workings of this developing new garden. From creating signs and displays, office work, working with Heliconia’s, plants in the nursery to making my very own batch of compost working with the crew here at BBG has been a blast, refreshing and I guess and educational experience too. From the diversified job tasks, educational conversations with the Belizean/Mayan staff to the quick dips in the river and hitch hiking for rides to my Mayan homestay, these past two weeks have been jammed packed full of events I like to call ‘Ultimate Life’ activities.

Eva at La Loma Luz

For my nursing internship I worked at the La Loma Luz Adventist Hospital in the Cayo District of Belize. During my stay I shadowed several doctors and nurses. My days consisted of observation, training, assisting, and sanitation practices. Some of my tasks were checking patients vitals, inter muscular injections, and assisting the doctors with pre-op and post-op nursing care. I was also able to observe two c/section surgical procedures. Working at La Loma Luz has helped me change my perspective on what it truly means to be a Christian. We are not here to be served but to serve others as Jesus Christ did.

Ashlie at The Green Iguana Project

This is a picture of me with my home stay mom, Shelly. She is one of the ladies that cooks for us at the Nab and her husband (Eddy) is who I have been working with for my internship, so I stayed with them for the last two weeks and we made tortillas! For the last two weeks I’ve been catering to the needs of 55 green iguanas. I’ve been interning with The Green Iguana Project at the San Ignacio Hotel and I have loved it! Eddy takes care of the iguanas and gives tours at the hotel so he was my supervisor and teacher. Every day we rode our bikes to work at about 7 am. Once at the hotel we cleaned the iguana enclosure and fed them papaya, bananas, cucumbers and assorted leaves cut from whatever was growing around the exhibit. For the rest of the day we did general maintenance stuff like raking and gardening, but sometimes there were tours. Eddy gave tours about the iguanas and the history of the project as well as tours on the medicinal plants trail. I have learned a lot about plants here, everything seems to have a special use and there are so many different fruits! I tried a new kind called caimito which I love, and I have now had three different kinds of bananas. This week and last week we also got a canoe and went looking for iguana eggs! Locals like to eat iguanas, they call them bamboo chicken, as well as the eggs and people are killing too many of them. Along with habitat destruction they are becoming highly threatened and that is why the project was started. It was really good to experience how a conservation project works, and also to spend time with the other workers who spoke mostly Spanish so it was great practice for me. I was really nervous about the internship before I started, but I really loved the new experiences and just hanging out with some local Belizeans.

Josh at The Belize Zoo

I interned along with Lisa for two weeks at the Belize Zoo. We both shadowed Zookeepers for most of the time, and our main responsibiliies involved feeding the animals and cleaning enclosures. Much of my time was spent chopping, dicing, slicing, peeling, and coring fruit for the animals. Feeding the animals was a great experience, and I loved the opportunity to learn first hand husbandry techniques. For somebody who is considering a continued career in a zoological environment, it was a first-class, first-hand experience that I will take with me for long into the future. The most rewarding experiences I had were caring for Junior, the eight week old Jaguar cub, and helping repair the Zoo fence along the western Highway. It's nice to know that something I contributed to the Zoo will be there for thousands to see.

Lisa at The Belize Zoo

Boasting itself as “The Best Little Zoo in the World”, The Belize Zoo certainly captures the heart of all its visitors, including its interns. I spent my two weeks of internship getting to know the zoo and the animals which call it home. Here I prepared food daily for all the animals, including the mammals, monkeys, and numerous species of birds. Along with feeding the animals, I cleaned the exhibits and made sure all the animals had fresh water for the hot Belizean days. The highlight of my days at the zoo were feeding and caring for Junior, a two month old baby jaguar. Junior was born at the zoo after his mother was captured from the wild after disturbing the Springfield Mennonite Colony. Now two months old, Junior is growing strong and doing well. Don’t let his cuteness deceive you; his powerful jaws and claws leave quite the mark! Fears are meant to be conquered. Another memorable moment from my experience at the zoo was handling the 6 foot Central American Boa Constrictor, Balboa. My fear of snakes had to be momentarily forgotten as I held the snake for visitors to the zoo to touch and hold, convincing them to face their own fears. Irony is a funny thing.

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!