Saturday: Work Experience Day, or morning (mañana). Every Saturday and Wednesday morning, at 6:30 AM, most EARTH students bike to different farms and fields to work for experience in their desired areas. Fio goes to work with animals (specifically buffalos), but other students work in the food processing center, on the banana plantation, in the genetics lab, etc. At the moment, I do not participate in this program, so I pretty much had the campus to myself this first Saturday

I climbed back into the boat, seawater streaming off me in every direction. After taking a quick look around, I flopped over to reclaim...

We hopped straight into the seagrass, and with fuzzy moss tickling our shins, we began to dance the stingray shuffle, dragging our feet...

No contacts, vision blurred, sea breeze swaying you from one direction to the other. The urge to pee taking over. Stumbling blindly...

Staring contest – you versus Barracuda. Ready… go! I was snorkeling around the dock in the seagrass when I saw this noticeably long,...

Ever since the plane touched down in Belize, I’ve been craving a fresh coconut. Now at Glover’s Reef, I’m a tree’s length away from...

Life finds a way, even deep into the pitch-black, flooded cave of Actun Tunichil Muknal. This cave system is the most magnificent place...

We were on top of the world (or a hilltop in the Maya Mountains). We lay in peace and gratitude on the wooden platform at the top of the...

2:31 am Lily: ZZZzzzzZZZZZZZZzzzz Howler monkey: HUWAOOOO (the phonetic spelling of howler monkey calls) Lily: wakes up halfway 3:48 am...

It’s pitch black outside. You look up, and the stars illuminate the tree silhouettes and snake-shaped vines surrounding you. You flick on...

This morning, Elise and I discovered that there was definitely maybe a jaguar (or some other feline-y mammal) strolling around our cabin....

Now that we’re all situated in our jungle abode, we are really able to maximize the rainforest surrounding us to do field work. After a...

Hi guys! Today felt like 3 crazy, wonderful days in one. Beginning with a nice 5:30 am shower, the day was filled with bird and critter...

(Inside Crystal Lodge - 05/16/25) Here we are, winding down and typing up our day 1 recaps, appreciating the night’s breeze and tuning in...

Hi! I'm Lily, and I'm an Ecology and Evolutionary Biology major at Rice. I'm super excited to be heading out to Belize as a part of...

Hi! It’s been a while; I hope everyone has been finding their way. I sure have, right back to the farm… deep within the city of Houston....

I have been home for over a week, but my mind is still returning from Costa Rica. Yesterday I found myself reminiscing to my dog (in Spanish) and then scolding him (in Spanish) for not listening. I went to Zumba class the other day and broke down when Bachata music (I learned how to dance to it in Costa Rica) started playing. But now that I’m stable enough to listen to Latin music, I think it’s time to reflect and appreciate some of the best two months of my life.  EARTH Univ

While I have endless memories from EARTH, my blog would be incomplete if I didn’t talk about the equally beautiful and chaotic memories made outside of EARTH – always racing to catch the bus, partying like a Bananero (Banana worker), hiking up mountains and sliding down waterfalls (las cascatas), cozying up by the fire, picnic lunches surrounded by dogs, and more.  In order to find a start, I will recall my last few weekends in chronological order, starting with my first trip

Did you know - when using a dough press to make empanadas, you need to separate the dough from the press with a plastic covering, or else it will PERMANENTLY stick?  Oops.  My friends invited me to make empanadas (secretly, using borrowed pans) in the dorms, and fully aware of my inability to cook, I sped over to help “cook” (eat) the savory, post-dinner treat. I had no trouble stirring the chili dip in the pan and kneading the dough for the shell. But I was a bit overconfide

We bustled into the Spanish room chomping on trail mix and plantain chips and expecting another subjunctive lecture. But instead, the professor dimmed the lights and flicked on the projector. You can imagine our surprise when an emotional singer appeared on screen, strumming his guitar and holding back tears while singing his song “El Hubiera No Existe” (“I had” doesn’t exist).  We stopped mid-chew and perked up our ears to find out why he was crying. Some key lyrics: “ Si n