For our second weekend excursion we went to San Ignacio. We stayed at a beautiful resort that overlooked the city of San Ignacio. San Ignacio was a city inland filled with so much culture.
The first day I was there, Meghan, Lauren, Dr. Jensen, and I made a visit to the Belize Green Iguana Conservation. Green Iguanas are endangered in Belize because citizens like to catch and eat them. The Green Iguana Conservation catches these iguanas and tries to keep repopulating them so more can be released back into the wild. While we were in the cage with the Iguanas we got to feed them, when I held the banana the iguanas would all run towards me and even leap onto my back.
On the walk back from the iguana cages our tour guide pointed out a huge termites nest and told us they were great sources of protein. Dr. Jensen grabbed an ant and ate it with no hesitation. She encouraged all of us to try eating one so I ate one to impress her, it even popped in my mouth.
The next day in San Ignacio we visited the Mayan Ruins of Xunantunich. Xunantunich is located atop a ridge above the Mopan River, well within sight of the Guatemala border which is only 1 kilometer to the west. While we were there we got to climb the “wedding cake,” which is what they called the tallest pyramid there.
-Julie
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Learn more about the U of A Community Development in Belize summer program at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/belize
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