OK, the DNS configuration at the internet cafe has been borted for the last few days so I couldn't post. Basically we've been caving every day. We've seen some very impressive caves (e.g. Chechem Ha and Migdalia) and some more or less worthless ones. I have some thoughts I'd like to articulate regarding archeological relics in caves, public access, looters, private ownership, etc. and how it all relates to Belize, but I don't have time tonight. So if you don't see a post on that sometime in the next month, someone bug me.

Today I saw a howler monkey up close. I got a great video of it doing its thing (it sounds like... Jurassic Park T-Rex w/ asthma or something). Weirdest sounding animal EVER.

Also today, we drove the truck off the road and high-centered it on a rock. Very exciting. In the end, we managed to get it mostly out of the ditch right when the guy with the tractor arrived...

They have vampire bats here, and today I saw a couple bats that were large enough to possibly have been vampires. But I can't be sure. As far as I know, I was not bitten and have not become nos veratu. If I wake up in a coffin and there's blood everywhere, we'll know I was wrong.

It is raining like you wouldn't belive here. An incredible amount. The good news is that it keeps the bugs down.

I was walking out across a field to meet a couple archeologist friends of Holley's who were working in the field. It was raining and there were massive puddles everywhere... and I walked right into a dig site which had filled up with water. Nice. On the way back, I noted its location and walked cleverly around the side... right where they had done a loose back-fill, and it had the consistency of quicksand... so in I went again. I'm SMRT.

It turns out that using a machete is really really fun and addicting. I find myself wanting to clear vast tracts of jungle whenever I pick one up. There is a very pleasing "ching" sound whenever you slice through a branch. Reminds me of the sound effects from bad samurai movies. And, of course, this requires me to make cliche kung fu references as I clear trail with my machete. Tomorrow, we're going to go several miles into the jungle to some caves that are not near any trails. So the cave ninja will make another appearance. Powdered Swords.

Goodnight!