It's a small world, but it's full of nature and stuff

The world is small.

This morning the adults were having breakfast at Chan Chich while the kids ate Rita’s delicious egg scramble up at the barn. The new manager, Jennifer, came by to introduce herself and in conversation we discovered that her boyfriend’s mom, who has just arrived, is the head at Fay School. Our Fay School. She was as boggled that we were here as we were to meet her. She is Lanie Schuster, and is currently happily sitting by the gorgeous Chan Chich pool. Sometimes it’s good to be a teacher, I guess!

Let’s see – where was I in the narrative … Last night for dinner Rita made us shredded chicken burritos in homemade tortillas. Colleen was thrilled for the chance to observe Rita and Duna’s tortilla-making method, and even took video. I hope to reap the benefits of her scholarship sometime at home!

While we were waiting Matt went out to bring something exciting back for the kids to see. We had heard there was a boa living around the barn and hoped it wasn’t that. While he was gone our friend Jackie Bowen arrived – her husband Zander is Barry Bowen’s son, and they’re running things out here since Barry’s untimely death this time last year while piloting his own plane. She was carrying something coming up the stairs and I thought maybe it was more waters – nope – it was a basket of puppies. I’m not kidding - 9 5-week old Shi-tzus from her 2 recent litters. She now has 19 dogs. I think she might be a little crazy. Anyway, the kids completely melted and everyone cuddled a puppy for a while as we chatted and caught up. Jackie lives here and has invited us over tomorrow night to watch Glee at her house – some of this group of kids is in the weekly Glee group that meets at my house, so it will be perfectly natural for us to gather and do this again … in the jungle. Nothing weird about that ….

Chan Chich is a huge birding destination, and this morning I heard something that almost made me laugh out loud – an older man chatting with the waitress about his plans for the day said, “Yeah, we’re not really going to bird too hard today ….”  I’ve never considered the idea of “birding hard”, but you can be sure I’ll be working it into my vocabulary more often going forward.  With all the talk of birding “life lists” out here, my coolest sightings so far today are a collared aracari on the tree beside me at breakfast; I spotted a great currasow on the side of the road; lots of different hummingbirds flitting around, lots of oscillated turkeys (this place has the largest population of them in the world) … and I hear tell there is an ornate hawk eagle nesting nearby which I hope to see. Yesterday staff members saw 2 different pumas and 2 baby ocelots in the evening. All I ever hear are the stories – I never see them!!

Half of the kids rode this morning and got 2 good hours in the jungle with Emil, our favorite guide. The rest of us headed to the school for the first time since our friends Mike and Jill Casey, who had run it for years, also died in the plane crash mentioned above. It was a bit eerie for us and hard to get used to, but all our students saw were 52 very, very cute kids who were happy to see them.  Colleen and I settled into the 4-5 grade class with Reina, the only teacher we still know, and Colleen got to share some fun science facts about fossils, the 5 kingdoms (there was some consternation that she put us humans in the animal kingdom, so we had to detour there for a minute), bacteria, the age of the earth, and how geckos stay on the ceiling. I’m not sure they entirely bought her science mumbo jumbo, but they sure were paying attention!

After lunch (baked chicken, roasted potatoes, salad), Matt took the kids for a tour of the estate and they learned where chocolate comes from (see the picture of the mushy cacao fruit), where coffee grows and how it’s processed, and a bunch of other stuff. This place grows its own fruit, vegetables, herbs, chickens and cows, so they’re getting a real look at a self-sustaining enterprise. We’re now settled back at Chan Chich for some pool time, some trail hiking (have I mentioned that this place is built on an unexcavated Maya plaza? I uploaded an illustration of the entire site – we are located on “Plaza A”, if you can make it out. The ghosts of the ancient Maya are everywhere!)

Keep an eye to the right of the blog under the heading “links” – I’m trying to figure out the best way to get video up, and so far I’ve only gotten Indie the hysterical tapir up. He’s pretty funny, though.

The ferry at Spanish Lookout.

Sam doing her Titanic thing.

The map of the Maya site on which Chan Chich is situated.

A rare Ocellated Turkey.

The barn where the kids stayed.

Dr. K getting cooking tips from the local ladies.

Caleb and a new friend.

Dr. K talking fossils with the Standard 4-5 class.

Lauren tries the cacao "goo".

Cacao seeds. Just add ... sugar, cream, a bunch of other stuff ... and you have chocolate!

In the photos above you can see the barn the kids are staying in, some shots of the school, the common room in the barn and Rita and Duna cooking, and more. If you have any questions post them in a comment and I'll answer when I can!!

Tonight we’ll all enjoy a meal here at the Chan Chich restaurant with Jackie and Zander, and before that we’ll have a lecture from Bruce & Carolyn Miller, resident naturalists who came down here 2 decades ago on a Wildlife Conservation Fund grant to study jaguars and who never left. They always have fascinating information to impart – the kids will learn something whether they want to or not!

That’s all from here. Time to jump in the pool ….