Blow-dart target practice and Iguana baths!

Today seemed relatively calm when compared to other days. There were most definitely exciting moments, but they were lengthy and few in number.

We started the morning washing iguanas. To keep optimum health for those living in the Iguana Sanctuary, they must be bathed every so often. Iguanas can get ticks and mites just like other animals. On an iguana, the tick appears as a tiny red dot and the mites are tiny white bugs. Sometimes these guys are hard to spot, so we had to be very thorough. We started by catching all the iguanas. In a giant, screened room with various rafters and boards for the iguana’s climbing pleasure, on which many were perched, we found this task to be somewhat difficult. It was even more difficult, because Umberto, the Iguana caretaker, had gone up to the hotel to retrieve hot water for the baths. After retrieving as many as we could via poking with broom handles, climbing (in what we though was a precarious manner), and coaxing, we got a large amount of the animals into a tiny crate, all piled on top of one another like something out of Fear Factor.

The males did not like being in close proximity with other males. Tails were whipping aggressively, hisses could be heard, and we still had a few more to catch. When Umberto got back, he laughed at our inability to get the other guys. I said, “Surely there must be a trick you are not telling us,” to which he replied with frankness and a gentle skepticism, “No, you just…get them.” He then proceeded to monkey climb his way up the rafters about twenty or thirty feet and start plucking down iguanas from precarious heights. We all felt a little sheepish after that. The washing then began! Sticking our hand in that little box full of angry iguanas was the first challenge. Once we retrieved one, we placed it in a tub of warm water mixed with iodine. (The iodine disinfects the skin and scales). One person held the angry reptiles, while the other partner used a toothbrush to scrub thoroughly and look especially for ticks and mites to remove. Medication was applied to any external wounds, and they were released back into their rafters. Gomez left with the brown meds all over his face in such a way that it looked like he'd eaten a big Boston cream pie. No serious tail-whipping injuries were incurred, though a few people left bleeding from claw-digging.

We took the injured Iggie back to the clinic with us to check his wound situation. He had begun to show neurologic symptoms of ataxia, inability to right himself when flipped over, and what is known as ‘star-gazing,’ or an unnatural tilting upwards of the head. Likely, these symptoms were due to infection spreading from the leg wounds to his central nervous system. He was given injections of long-term antibiotics and pain medication, the wounds were cleaned thoroughly, and as x-rays determined no breaks, he was sent back to the sanctuary with a check-up visit scheduled for one week later.

As part of our lecture section today, we learned about capture and restraint of wild animals. Part of that lecture dealt with chemical immobilization. As practice in using such techniques, we got to have blow-dart target practice. A makeshift cat was drawn on a cardboard box by our instructor, and we began to joke about the native Belizean cardboard cat—rare, elusive, deformed in appearance, and not good for eating, though high in fiber.

First, we practiced charging darts. The darts using in blow-pipes and guns are filled on one end with medication, the other end with air to pressurize the dart, and have the needle covered with a plastic sleeve to hold the pressure in. As the needle hits the animal, the plastic sleeve slides down and the pressure from the air will rapidly squirt the medication into the subject. We used the long thin pipe (essentially a rifle barrel) with a mouth piece on one end to shoot darts at our cardboard cat. I found that it took a few tries to get a good shot, but eventually made a pretty nice one from about 30 yards.

We all really enjoyed ourselves, playing in the sunshine, testing our strengths, competing, and thoroughly injuring our ‘patient.’

After blow-darting, we came back inside to learn about pharmacology for a while. After the lecture, our TA happened to look outside where we had placed Ziggy (our acupuncture iguana patient) in a tub to sun bathe. Though his movement seems to improve, he still does not seem to have mobility of the hind legs at all when it comes to walking. He had gotten out of his Tupperware crate twice or three times before, but could never make it far. Apparently while we were chatting inside today, he had gone on a little Ziggy adventure…and was nowhere to be found. Immediately concerned, we students and our professor set out on a search for our patient. After about thirty minutes of spread searching efforts, myself being in a field in high grass beside a small creek, prodding the tall vegetation with a stick, a student found him in high grass about 100 feet from his tub. The big boy had really given us quite a scare, so we went inside relieved, and finished up the day with his regular treatments. 

Birding, Iguanas, and Mayan Ruins

DAY THREE:

I can scarcely believe so many good things were packed into one day. In a way, I wish every day was filled with such adventure and wonder. It would be tiring, however! I’m fairly spent at this current hour.

The morning started at 6am with bird-watching. In Belize, there are over 600 species of birds. We set out with a local expert to a place where 3 rivers meet in hope of spotting some aves.

The first animal we were excited to see, however, was not a bird. Swimming in the river, popping its head up every few feet was an otter, and we all gazed excitedly from the bank, watching it play. Shortly after, the bird sightings began. We covered about half of mile watching and searching for birds. After spending some time by the river, we crossed a rickety, wooden swinging bridge which made us feel like we were in Indiana Jones, and I nearly fell off trying to take over-river photographs while on such an unstable surface.

On the other side of the river, we saw 3 lovely horses grazing in a field. They were surely owned by someone, but as Belizeans do not use fencing for their animals, it could not be sure to whom they belonged. In a way, their timid manner made me feel that they were nearly wild horses. Of course, I became determined to pet one. I had seen a few other students making attempts, but had yet to see a success. After trying and failing about three times, I started a more cautious approach (everyone else was off by a fence watching a warbler at this time). I eased up to the horse, looking at him, allowing him to be nervous, and I gently held out my hand beneath his nose, until curiosity got the better of him and he had to smell it. When his smooth nostrils got just close enough to get a healthy whiff of me, I took a finger and gently stroked his muzzle. Success! I was very pleased!

We then crossed back over the bridge and headed down a dirt road, mostly in hopes of seeing a Toucan before departing. Unfortunately, we did not see a toucan in the wild, but we did see a most adorable and beautiful pygmy owl, not much bigger than a softball. We also saw an iguana about a hundred feet high up in a tree and about 4 feet in length. It was amazing! Twice we heard giant thuds, which turned out to be iguanas dropping from the trees when they wish to descend, because climbing down is too steep and difficult. Crazy!

For any of you interested in birds, here is a list of what we spotted today:

Little Blue Heron, Spotted sandpiper, Melodious singing blackbird, Baltimore Oriole, Amazon kingfisher, White-fronted parrot, Neotropic cormorant, Snow-billed egret, Duskycap flycatcher, Grey catbird, Great kiskadee, Tropical Kiwi, Parakeets, Golden-fronted woodpecker, Grayish saltator, Ruddy ground-dove, Boat-billed flycatcher, Grey-necked woodrail, Red-legged honeycreeper, and Pygmy owl.

Next, we went back to the clinic and took care of Iggie. I restrained him while another student removed some stitches from under his tail, and he dug his nails into my arms in a most human manner as the stitch was pulled out. I also got to help perform some physical therapy on him as well as acupressure, because his acupuncture treatments are finished. In essence, I gave an iguana a therapeutic massage today! It actually seemed to increase his mobility and help him.

After his care, we had lecture and discussion. Just a few interesting facts I learned about Belize include that 2 of the first 5 laws passed in this country after independence were for protection of the environment; 65-70% of the country is covered in natural, secondary forest; and it is estimated that over 1 million Mayans lived in Belize, and the place is littered with “Mayan trash,” also known as artifacts.

Our discussion about the role of veterinarians in re-introduction of species and in education was a most poignant one. I thoroughly enjoyed sitting around and approaching some difficult ethical questions from many angles and opinions, but with a unified theme that we should care for and protect what is living, beautiful, useful, and important here on earth. Two of the topics we touched on today were so very important that I feel I must mention them here:

           

1. Keeping wild animals as pets is never a good idea. One of the huge differences between a regular veterinarian and a wildlife veterinarian is interaction with patients. In some cases, particularly those of highly injured animals (such as Iggie), more contact is achieved than is strictly normal, but overall, a wildlife veterinarian seeks to have as little contact with the animal as possible. A wild animal is very much in danger when it loses a fear of humans, and our aim is not to make friends with these animals, but love them by letting them be what nature intended for them to be.

A particular story that came up in discussion was one of the professor. She was brought a howler monkey that had been a pet. For over a year, this monkey was unable to do anything but lie upon the ground, and occasionally drag itself a few inches with one arm. We saw pictures—every part of its body was misshapen. Arms, fingers, legs, and spine all bent in unnatural ways. All he could do in life was lie and be miserable. What caused such a condition, you may ask. The situation described was a case of malnutrition. This monkey had not received proper calcium or nutrients to keep his bones strong, and upon x-ray, tens of fractures were seen all over his body. The bones had broken simply because they were not strong enough to support weight. Once the bones had broken, they healed in unnatural ways. My comment in this type of situation is this: only specially trained people should ever care for wildlife. Even these people (rehabilitators and zoo employees) are still learning so much in the field of wildlife care. If those who have dedicated their life to this work are still learning, it would make sense that common citizens would have no means or full understanding of how to care for wild animals.

2. People will sometimes say to those in this business that we should just ‘let nature take its course,’ and ‘what is helping just one life going to do, when it will go back in the wild and die eventually anyway?’ My professor put it beautifully today when she spoke of her conviction in helping individuals. Consider a species where there are only a few hundred of the animals left in the wild. If a veterinarian can assess and help but 5 of these animals, that is already a great percentage! And indeed, what is a population composed of but individuals. We must what we can, and that involves taking enough tiny steps, hoping others will take many other tiny steps, and seeing that these can all lead to a great journey.

After lecture, we traveled to the Green Iguana project. The aim of this project is to breed iguanas, raise them in protected environment, and release them into the wild when they mature at around 2 years of age. Some older ones are kept on-site so they may be used for breeding purposes and so the social group won’t be too disrupted. In regard to the social group of the iguanas today, we met the king of the enclosure, Gomez.

 He is an orange color because males become bright during breeding season. The females are green and the juveniles are green. The males are highly territorial, and when any other male would approach Gomez, he would bob his head up and down, up and down, as if listening to some song with a strong bass beat. This behavior is a warning sign to others to stay away. In fact, an iguana that had received an injury (two arm cuts) from Gomez, is coming back to the clinic with us tomorrow for repair.

We observed many of the iguanas climbing to impressive heights and got to hold Gomez to study his anatomy and strength better.

Our tour guide was a vivacious, young, dark Belizean who kept referring to all manners of things as ‘little,’ in situations where the word seemed awkward and superfluous. It was endearing. One of my favorite quotes from him was a response to a student question. Someone asked how the iguanas breed. He replied, “Well, we try to be discreet to the public, but since you guys are going to be vets…well, it’s kinda like rape.” It was an entertaining time to say the least.

After we viewed the adult iguanas, we got to handle and see babies!!! The little group of juveniles was extrapolated from their tree by the guide and gingerly places all over our shoulders, arms, and heads! One of mine was pretty aggressive and took to whipping me with his little tail in the face every time I would move. A strong whip from an adult with those spiny scales can definitely do some damage. We will get to test our restraint abilities tomorrow as we go early to bathe all of the adult iguanas, an activity they apparently hate!

Finally, we went to a site of ancient Mayan ruins, called Cahal Pech. If anyone wants to brag about what they did for exercise today, I will gladly tell them I ran stairs on an ancient Mayan temple up to the sacrifice stone, and I’d say my story would win. The whole place was made of stone and very interesting. There were many layers to it, and many steps to get to other parts. A few of us climbed to the highest point of the largest structure and lay upon a flat stone overlooking the lush forest. The sky was a perfect, clear blue and the trees were a perfect, bright green. A light breeze passed over my hot skin, and I felt so spiritual and alive. Goodness and peace seemed to flow in and out of me, as I thanked God for the beauty of this world and for history and for my experiences.

Iguana acupuncture, etc.

DAY TWO:

Over the night, I slept quite well. There was one point where I woke up, felt confused about my surroundings, heard jungle animal noises, and immediately upon recollecting where I am, burst into a smile and drifted back to sleep.

The morning began with a light misting from the sky, but it was very warm, and I donned my shorts and t-shirt happily. We had breakfast at the resort from a small kitchen where the owner prepared toast and scrambled eggs for us. We next headed for the wildlife clinic to have our classes for the day.

The clinic is a few miles from where we are staying, and is nestled down a little dirt road in a beautiful, open field. The small, metal building was apparently an ice cream shop in a previous time. Our professor greeted us and gave a tour of the place. She is a French woman who grew up and lived in Germany, looks very European, speaks with an accent that reminds me of my late Dutch grandparents, and has a relaxed, but hardworking air about her. The building contained just a few rooms—an office, an x-ray room (which was apparently a new and wonderful addition due to grant money), an ‘exam room’ (which we used as a classroom, as well), a laundry room, and a small area for storage. If you are picturing something like a doctor’s office or veterinary clinic you’ve seen in America, you are not correct. Think more along the lines of your unfinished basement, make it a little more cleanly in your mind, and then imagine that as a clinic here. There are only 14 veterinary clinics in this whole country.

Something I learned about Belizean life today that I was incredibly impressed with is the ability of people to do with what they have. As we drove in yesterday, we say houses with finished first floors and beams set up in the second floor, but no walls built yet. Apparently, people just build when they have the money, and then add on when they have more money—borrowing money is way too expensive. I come from a culture where things are never displayed if they are not to perfection or completion. I so appreciate seeing people just enjoy what they have and wait for improving. The clinic is another example of this lifestyle. Until just a few months ago, the veterinarian had no gas anesthesia or x-ray machine. To practice medicine solely under injectable anesthesia and without any means of seeing an animal’s internals is quite unheard of in America. Yet, the people here are resilient, and they work with what they have and they work to improve that, but are patient enough to know that it takes time. Things are not so want-want-want. You see a true need-based living, and in many ways, that is beautiful.

We spent the day in the clinic, learning many things. First off, we got to see an iguana, affectionately called Iggie by the vet, get acupuncture. Acupuncture on an iguana, you say? Yes! This guy was found at a breeding facility, dragging his hind legs as if he had an injury of some sort. Looking at the x-rays, the doctor saw a spinal fracture that was only slightly displaced. However, upon consulting with an orthopedist, she found out that his spinal injury was in fact, old and healed. Not sure the cause of his discomfort and lethargy, she began a series of treatments, which all seemed to no effect. After meeting a frequent Canadian visitor of Belize who does Chinese medicine in Canada, she asked her if she’d be interested in trying acupuncture on Iggie. The woman agreed, and had done three treatments before we met here today, when she performed her final treatment on Iggie before heading back home for a time. Because the woman practices human medicine, using the veterinarian’s knowledge of anatomy, was able to determine some points for applying needles in the iguana. The acupuncture needles were left in for several minutes while the kind woman and her husband talked to us about holistic medicine approaches, goals, and benefits. I truly believe we are in a generation where people are more accepting of alternative forms of medicine. I’m certainly not knocking the knowledge we do have, but I believe by combining Western medicine techniques with Eastern medicine techniques, patients can gain the most benefits. The concept of energies and treating on a very individualized basis has much value in my eyes.

Iggie with acupuncture needles in 

Second, after a lecture from our professor on native Belizean animal species, we had lunch. Speaking in a big group with people who share your ideals and goals about conservation, ethics, things that are important, and the like, is the most refreshing activity I can think of. The veterinarian spoke to us about how Hope is everything in our job, because without it, what have we? We talked about various problems with educating the public and pest animals and endangered species, and to be surrounded, for once, by people who get it, who understand where my heart lies made me so happy. When I sometimes feel alone on an island of opposition, disinterest, indifference, or ignorance, I will remember these moments and these people, and thank God they, too, are spreading my message through this earth. The characteristic I have seen most in these people is curiosity. Curiosity seems to be the unifying characteristic of all the world’s best scientists.

After lunch, a speaker from a foundation called Birds Without Borders (o Aves Sin Fronteras), came to give us a presentation. The foundation works in Belize and in Wisconsin, tracking migratory bird species. Birds are caught and banded, weighed, measured, recorded, and released each year. At one point a bird was found to have traveled from Milwaukee to Belize in 24 hours, because of the data taken by this foundation. The group uses long poles with mirrors attached to look into nests and collect data, and data not only tells about migration patterns, but life span of birds. A tanager was found dead in Pennsylvania that was banded in Belize 12 years earlier, giving a much longer wild lifespan than was originally expected. Birds that have been caught each year are frequently caught in the same location, even in the same NET as they were in all previous years in Belize. This data shows the constancy of birds flight patterns, so it begs the question, what happens when a bird comes ‘home’ to find only farmland or buildings where they once came to live and reproduce?

Next, the forestry department came to speak to us. A very charismatic, dark-skinned, young fellow gave the presentation, and his Belizean accent sounded like a lovely blend of Jamaican and Hispanic to my ears. My favorite word he said was number 3 as “shree.” He likely said it shree times or more. I very much enjoyed his talk, because I honestly haven’t had tons of exposure to government’s role in animal ecology.  Because people are always changing their environments, the ability to interact with and educate them is so important in conservation. I liked the way he put it, regarding the job of the forestry department, “We are not here to manage the wildlife, they can survive fine on their own, but we are here to manage the people’s response to it.”

The man had many amusing anecdotes from his job, and I learned much from him. Turns out keeping a donkey will discourage jaguars from attacking your livestock. This phenomenon is because donkeys will run toward danger rather than away from it, and this brazen attitude confuses the predator species. He also stated that catching crocodile was quite easy, and all you need is “rope, duct tape, and quick feet.” We learned how jaguars cannot be relocated in Belize at all, because their home range is half the size of the country, so they will always return to wherever you moved them from. We also learned about what a problem hunting iguanas is here in Belize. Many people will kill pregnant females to eat them and their eggs in mass numbers during Iguana Fest’s, and there is about no faster way to wipe out a species than to kill pregnant females. Though illegal, it still happens, and that is very sad. One major plus of the forestry department here is that they are willing to put forth money to help those farmers who show a real interest in managing their livestock against wild predators. These farms can then be used as experiments to see what methods work best for managing livestock.

In conclusion to his speech, I asked the man what his craziest case was. I’ve included a synopsis of his story, because I just found it too darn funny not to! At one time, he was called to a hotel to pick up two spider monkeys that had been living there illegally under the hotel owner’s care. Having never been trained to capture monkeys, he drove out and with help of the disgruntled hotel owner, got the monkeys in two dog crates. The crates were put in the van, and they drove down the road. Shortly after, the driver looked back to see both monkeys had opened the crates with ease and were sitting atop them. Getting the notion that the monkeys were only being calm due to the moving vehicle, he slowed it enough that he could roll out of a moving van and close the monkeys in. In trying to capture the monkeys again from the van, he was flung with feces, one of the monkeys grabbed a police officer’s rifle from his hand, and eventually both of them escaped the vehicle and ran into the trees. Sheepishly, the men had to return to the hotel owner, whom they had just angered very much by taking her monkeys, and ask her to help them retrieve them. One of the monkeys was gotten, but catching the other did not come to fruition. According to the hotel keeper, the second monkey returned to her the next day, and our story teller forestry man decided to let her keep that one.

After this speaker, we tube fed Iggie, the acupuncture patient, because he has not been eating well the last few weeks. This activity concluded our day at class, and we headed back to town for a pleasant dinner in the 75 degree night air and a little shopping around for souvenirs. Bird watching bright and early tomorrow!

Getting tube-fed

Day one in Belize!

Looks like I’ll be posting these the day after they occur. Blogging in this manner allows me to fully capture a day’s adventures from waking up until the time I go to sleep. Here’s what I wrote from yesterday, DAY ONE:

You know it has been a good day when you just got done shuttling a tiny, quarter-sized frog out of your shower into the outdoors. I now sit on my bed, recollecting the day’s events.  

           

I woke up surprisingly calm (for me). My calmness may have been due to the fact that I was exhausted from Christmas and had a very early drive to the airport. However, I mostly felt numb. The three flights went well, just a few airport agitations (but those are to be expected), and I didn’t truly get excited until I was awoken by the pilot’s voice over the speaker in my final flight.

As I heard that call of “15 minutes to go,” I decided it was time to open up the plane window. Lo and behold, it was the most beautiful site I ever did see! The crystal blue waters spanned beneath me, and they were so translucent that I could actually see the drop off of the continental shelf.  A variety of islands were interspersed in the waters, covered in lush green trees. As we passed from ocean to land, I noticed an incredible amount of something you don’t always see flying over America—and that was exactly it—LAND. There was such a glorious green about the place. The houses were few and miles apart, dirt roads connected what dwellings did exist, and the whole of the earth seemed to be just as it should be, alive! How my heart blossomed at the sight of so much untouched nature! I could only imagine the jaguars hunting those forests by night, toucans flying by day, and I was ready to be down in Belize!

After passing through customs and meeting up with a wonderful group of students who are taking various courses with this program, we rode in a bus with our luggage for 2 hours on the way to our lodgings. The ride was positively marvelous. We were on the major and only true ‘highway’ in the country. Essentially, it is just a general strip of pavement with no lines that serves as a highway because of its length and the fact that is actually is paved.

Turns out there are no traffic lights here, just speed bumps every once in a while when you get to a busy area. However, traffic here is minimal, so it was nothing to be concerned about. One thing I automatically noticed about Belize is that it doesn’t seem to be too crowded. The airport in the major city was one random airstrip in the middle of the forest. I couldn’t believe the plane was descending into the trees, I thought we might be crashing, when all of a sudden, we hit the ground and slowed. As it would turn out, Belize is not very populated at all—320,000 people in the whole country! Interestingly enough, most of these people who live here are below the age of 35, because Belize, as a country, is only 31 years old, and many of the older generations left as it changed from British Honduras to Belize.

Along the way, we passed interesting sights and learned interesting things. Belize as a country is highly diverse in its people groups. It is unique in that it is in Central America, but also on the Caribbean. There are a mix of people descended from pirates, Mayan, creole, British, Spanish, etc etc. types of people. Markets for groceries are called ‘China stores,’ because it is often the Chinese who run them. The Spaniards tried to colonize Belize when the ancient Mayans were living here, and though they made attempts at converting them to Roman Catholicism, but the Mayans would always burn the churches as soon as the Spanish left the area.

We passed by a few cemeteries, which in Latin America look very different to those we are used to.

Many of the houses were painted bright colors, and I found out that it is a Belizean tradition to paint your house on Christmas with a fresh (and often new colored) coat of paint if you can afford it.

There is only one prison in the whole country. We passed it on the way to San Ignacio, and it turns out they have their own little ‘gift shop.’ Interesting.

The country is alive and beautiful, and the drive through it left me in wonder and happiness.

We arrived at our resort in the afternoon, and we got our roommate assignments and keys. The quaint, colorful lodges are nestled along a thin, stone path blooming with palm trees and bushes of bright pinks. I heard so many unfamiliar bird calls, and eagerly kept looking for their sources. As my roommate and I explored around the cabanas, we saw a small corn field and a great flock of birds flying from it to the trees and back to the corn again. Upon closer inspection, we saw that they were green parrots. I saw hundreds of green parrots all flying around together in their natural home, and it was incredible. We’ve got a comfortable place to sleep, a breakfast provided, and a pool to swim in. I had a delicious dinner, and I loved getting to know everyone on the trip. I saw a few lizards, heard some gecko calls, saved a tiny frog, and eagerly await the 4am rooster calls (which means these guys are the same kind as those pesky ones in Honduras I heard at 4am a few years back!)

I’ll finish with some pictures of where we are staying, and that will be it for day 1!

My own little cottage :) 

Another Journey Begins--It's Unbelizable.

and so they always seem to do and be.

I wish my spirits were more of fervor at this current time, but I am unconscious of the passing of time, and this trip has approached too fast for me to feel much. Surely it will be the same as the summer, where I suppress all emotion until I wake up the morning of the flight and feel it all so strongly I should nearly faint.

I am in the middle of reading some Jane Austen, as I happily do every Christmas, so I daresay my writing will be riddled with vernacular of that time and sentence structure that is so wholly pleasing to my ears, but very well may not be easy to read.

I would write closer to my trip, but as the next two days are Christmas Eve and Christmas itself, I should not likely have the time to sufficiently express myself. My fingers are very cold from the winter winds against my home, and I even saw snow two days ago. How I long for the warmth of Belize!

The weather forecast for my trip is: between 80-87 degrees each day! It will likely be rainy quite a bit, as well, due to the start of the rainy season there, but surely I do not mind! It will be again as my Elizabeth Bennett traipse through the woods picking wildflowers in Texas, but in a rain forest! This will perhaps feel more of a Jane Goodall traipse, and how much I look forward to it!

For those of you who don't know about my upcoming trip, I am headed to the small, Central American country of Belize. I am taking an intensive, short course on Wildlife Veterinary Medicine. I will get to practice my suturing techniques, blow darting as a means of immobilizing zoo animals for procedures, and learn many things about the wildlife of Belize and zoo/wildlife medicine in general. I am so excited!

It feels so medically real, too. I get to pack my own stethoscope, gloves, thermometer, scrubs. I will be properly outfitted with all of these, as well as hiking boots. SO many good items in one packing list.  Speaking of which, I must return to that packing. Expect new posts from Belize!!!