Belize was amazing! I was not ready for the trip to end; I could definitely have used a few more days on Tobacco Caye and I wish I had more time to spend at the Belize Zoo. Those were actually the two things that made the biggest impact on me during this trip.
I have snorkeled/dove in the Florida Keys, Bahamas, and Cayman Islands, but Belize had the most pristine reefs and amazing biodiversity by far. There were soooooo many different species of fish, not to mention all the different types of coral, Christmas tree worms, sea urchins, and other invertebrates. I was simply in awe of how beautiful it was swimming under the waves in tropical, turquoise water. I was so utterly happy snorkeling every day; it makes me wish I were a mermaid. It also makes me really sad to think about how most of the world's reefs are so damaged and polluted that they won't recover in my lifetime, if ever.
The Belize Zoo was wonderful. I could have spend many more hours there just enjoying the animals and the ambiance. What really stood out to me the most was how differently the Belize Zoo approaches animal encounters than what I am used to in zoos in the United States. It is undeniable that having close encounters with animals has a life changing impact (Curtin, 2009). I feel like in the states, the animal encounters are very controlled, probably mostly determined by legal liabilities. At the zoo I work at, even the keepers are not allowed to enter the exhibit with the tapirs (they use protected contact, so there is always a barrier between them and the animal for safety) and in Belize guests can go in with the tapir. I would never let a guest touch one of the owls that I work with, and when I was at the Florida Wildlife Hospital the permit we had our education animals under required that the public be 5 feet away. In Belize, an entire classroom when up and touched a barn owl's face. And there was a jaguar encounter where a JAGUAR WOULD LICK YOUR FOREHEAD! What?!? I was completely blown away by the animal encounters there.
It seems like the difference is in the states people do not have a healthy respect or fear of wild animals so part of our job as educators is to tell people to keep their distance for their safely as well as the animals. In Belize, people are already terrified of the animals, due to the myths and superstitions pertaining to them, to the point where they kill the animals on sight, so it is necessary to foster a close connection and take away the fear of the animal in order to protect the animals. It was very interesting to see how how the connection between people and wildlife can differ in other parts of the world.
The other most un-belize-able part of my trip was my classmates. There could not have been a better group of people. Miss you all! - Lindsay
Curtin, S. (2009). Wildlife tourism: the intangible, psychological benefits of human–wildlife encounters. Current Issues in Tourism, 12(5-6), 451-474.
I have so many stories from Thailand it is hard to choose only a few to share. By far my favorite time was spent hiking and sitting in the forest. My favorite picture is from a group hike. We came across a gigantic strangler fig, or a parasitic tree that grows up around a host tree growing huge vines that eventually kill off the original tree. I love to climb trees and this was the best climbing tree I have ever come across. It made me so happy to find my footings and climb up into its branches. In the photo (and in real life) am completely dwarfed by the enormousness of the tree. We also ended up taking our group shot in front of this tree. My other favorite nature time was our eco-solo. The monks took us into the woods and found a spot for each of us where we could not see or hear any other person. We sat and meditated in our spot for three hours and it was tranquil and rejuvenating. I watched as giant millipedes climbed the trees around me. Dragonflies of several colors buzzed down the stream that I was seated next to. I watched a butterfly fly over the water as well. I could have spent all day there. Amazingly, while this is the activity I was looking forward to the most, I found out this was what some of my classmates were most stressed about. The second picture is the amazing view I had if I looked upstream.
One of the benefits of my roundabout adventure (besides a fun story to share) was that while I was on the boat waiting to head off for my intended destination, I witnessed two different women practicing Prayer Animal Releases, which is what I had written my paper about. People purchase animals, mostly birds, fish, and turtles so that they can release the animals to boost their karma (Chan, 2006; Gilbert, Sokha, Joyner, Thomson, & Poole, 2012). This practice causes many invasive species to be released which is a huge threat to native wildlife. The National Wildlife Federation cites that “approximately 42% of threatened or endangered species are at risk primarily due to invasive species.” Native animals are also put at risk for poaching to be sold for this practice and the animals are often kept in poor conditions which causes mortality and the spread of disease (Gilbert et al., 2012). I was astounded that a religion such as Buddhism, which has such strong ties to nature and an ethic of doing no harm, could contribute to such an ecologically harmful practice. This concept ties well into my Master Plan revolving conservation education because this is an example of a conservation topic that we generally do not address in the U.S. 
