Belize 2011 begins with a clap of thunder

Here goes another round of Belize blog posts from muggy, soggy, hot, and sweet Toledo District. Ethan and I flew in two days ago and we're getting our Maya feet back, bo'otik. We were met in Belize City by some typical days' experiences. The layover was several hours long, mostly spent talking with "Jet", the aged 4' 1" tall owner of the local airport pub who has a penchant for snuggling up to the bosom of every womam who come though the door. Its pathological. Hmm. Why do I keep coming back here?

By the time our little puddle jumper to Punta Gorda was ready to depart most of the airport workers were asleep on the tarmac (see the first picture). Ahh, welcome back to the tropics. I feel so much safer flying now.

Once we got here more fun ensued. We stumbled up a large hill yesterday as the rains threatened and the sky grew dark. On the top we found a large collapsing building that had just been burned as Ronaldo was preparing his farm field for the season. This bodes pretty well (the building, not the dark skies) for a fruitful season. But... It's not my first trip here of the season. In early April I was here with our new climate working group from the UK. They took the very posed image of me in the cave we are currently monitoring as part of our long-term paleoclimate study. More soon!