Jaguars, gardens, and guitars.

 

A week of celebrating all things Belize was capped last Saturday morning when my friend Vicky and I saw a jaguar crossing the road on our way to Spanish Lookout (about 40 minute drive from Gallon Jug) to pick up last minute supplies for our Independence Day BBQ.  Naturally it took me not having a camera in the car to see arguably the most sought after photo op in this part of the world.  Wildlife sightings here are so common, that it actually took a few seconds to register that the animal ambling across the road 30 meters in front of the jeep had spots and was indeed a jaguar.  The jaguar hardly took notice of the jeep bouncing down the pitted gravel road towards it, though it did look right at us before it disappeared into the jungle on the other side of the road. 

It was very validating having a Belizean with me when I saw the jaguar, both as a credible witness, and a testament to just how special the sighting was.  The Chan Chich Lodge has several trail cams that track the jaguars and cougars in the area.  Every week there are updates on facebook and the sighting board at Chan Chich that show where the big cats have been seen, but verified sightings by people are rare.  I’ve asked just about everyone that I’ve met here when the last time they saw a jaguar was.  For most it has been years.  It simply comes down to being in the right place at the right time, and lucky for me, after only 6 weeks I got my first glimpse of the elusive cat. 

As if the universe needed to send a reminder of where in the world we are, just a few hundred meters after seeing the jaguar, while still euphoric from the experience, we saw a huge red-backed tarantula crossing the road.  Yuck!

On the topic of missed photo opportunities, my friend Alan shared this one from our Casey Community School parade with me. 

That moment when you have to decide between posing for another photo, and going to get the free pop and chips at the end of the parade route.

Though everyday here holds the potential for something extraordinary, my daily routines are starting to take shape.  I am lucky to have extremely comfortable accommodations at The Loft.  My apartment suite consists of a bedroom/bathroom with an attached living area.  Additionally the four of us living at the loft share a kitchen/ living room.  We are also spoiled in that we get to share the services of our wonder-woman of a cook and housekeeper, Maira.  

Rooms 6 & 7, my new home.

Most mornings here start with the sunrise, a little before 6am.  This is the time that the birds start chirping and the horses and cows start stirring.

Breakfast consists of cereal or toast, and most mornings I try to eat on the deck.  On my second morning at the loft I saw a toucan while I was eating breakfast, and no I wasn’t eating FruitLoops.  Though I have not repeated that encounter, it is still a nice and cool part of the day to get in some quality outdoor time.  

After breakfast I make my trek across the pasture to the school.  

Who needs a scale when you have to fit through gates like these every day?

Reverting back to some of the fairytale aspects of my Gallon Jug experience, I have grown very accustomed to having conversations with the horses, deer, and turkeys I encounter each day going through the pasture to school.  Most mornings, the time that I head to school is when the horses make their way from the pasture to the gate at the stables to get let in for their morning grooming and snack.  Though I would consider myself a bit of an animal lover, I have an innate mistrust of anything larger than me, namely horses and cows here.  I started talking to the horses that I met on my walk to school in the morning, mostly to occupy myself as I negotiated my way through the horses as they surround the slot in the gate that we use to get to the pasture. 

I think that my talking to the turkeys and deer grew out of my conversations with horses.  For whatever reason, the deer and turkeys are much less nervous when I talk to them.  Though I’d like to think that I have some sort of Dr. Doolittle quality, my talking probably just confuses them long enough for me to pass.  My conversations have also yielded a few better photo opportunities, especially with deer.

On the topic of close encounters with animals, I could probably add a category for near misses.  At our school we have a beautiful garden, that for some reason the cows seem to love.  I’m not sure why, but it seems that every time that the garden gate gets left open an escaped cow, or two, or three sneak in.  I feel like it is a tight fit for me to get into the garden through our tree trunk gate, but this hasn’t stopped the cows. 

The students recently started planting sunflowers in the garden, so we’ve gotten a little more vigilant about keeping the gate closed.  It is hard enough protecting our plants from the deer and turkeys.  We don’t need to reward the runaway cows for their efforts.

For anyone wondering, during the school days the cowboys patrolling the ranch do a great job of keeping the cows where they are supposed to be.  After 5pm though, when the cowboys head home, cows are a common sight on the school grounds.  One of my scarier episodes since arriving in Gallon Jug came courtesy of an escaped bull.

One evening we spotted this guy on the soccer pitch at the school while enjoying a sunset drink on the deck.  To give some perspective, our soccer goals are 9 feet across and 7 feet high.  This fellow also has a very high SC score (if you are not familiar with cow breeding I will tell you that the C stands for circumference…).

Anyways, about 40 minutes after taking the picture of the bull at the school it dawned on me that I’d forgotten my computer charger in my classroom.  I decided that it would be a nice night for a walk to the school - completely forgetting about the bull - I decided to take the long way down the hill and around to the school on the road, avoiding the pasture after dark.  With the help of my little flashlight, I immediately became aware of an abundance of deer sitting under the trees lining the road, watching me pass on my way to the school.  During daylight this is one of the things that I love about Gallon Jug.  I will admit though, after dark it was pretty creepy.  Three quarters of the walk to the school is on pavement.  As soon as I hit the gravel I remembered the giant escaped bull.  Being well past the point of no return, and with the bull as likely to be behind me as in front of me, I made the decision to keep moving forward.  I quickened my pace, and with the limited range afforded by my small flashlight, I kept close tabs on my immediate surroundings.   

 After quickly grabbing my computer charger, I started back to the stables.  It gets pitch black dark in Gallon Jug early in the evening, and there are no street lights and only one house between the school and the stables.  As I cautiously started my journey home, being sure to stay close to the pasture fence in case I needed to take cover from the bull, I become aware of a scuttling sound ahead of me.  Cautiously I continued on.  As I came around the bend and in view of the lights from house, I saw that I was trailing about 20 meters behind a raccoon.  The raccoon kept scooting on its way, unperturbed by the creepy deer, and as we approached the stables it took a right and headed directly to the stairs leading up to The Loft.  I enjoyed having some company on my walk back from the school, but when the raccoon started up the steps towards my room I had to raise my objection with a “Seriously?!?”  The raccoon took a moment to consider its options before heading down the stairs on the other side and into the pasture.

Well I’ve rambled on long enough.  The guitars will have to wait until my next post.