Day 01: February 18, 2014

Today our Road Scholar group arrives for the Birding the Route of the Maya program. I checked out and took a 10 a.m. hotel shuttle to the airport. Cost was $13.50 and a much better option than the $25 cab fare, but it is advisable to book one day in advance.

I arrived to the airport and met the two birding guides that were going to be with me on this trip, Alex Alvarado and Kelvin Blodden.

We found out the Delta flight had arrived 15 minutes early and went outside to wait for the passengers.

We met the guide/driver from Bird’s Eye View Lodge, Leonard, and we were all there to welcome them to Belize.

We had six of the ten passengers come in on this flight and four from the West Coast that would arrive at 3:25 p.m.

Alex is a very enthusiastic birder and as soon as we drove out from the airport, he began birding.

 The driver was also a birder and slowed down for everyone to get good looks.  It went this way for a lot of the drive, but especially when we turned off the main highway to Bird Eye’s View Lodge.  You could tell that the road had just recently dried from being completely underwater for over a month.  So the lake/lagoon was very full and these conditions do not support an easy feeding area for the aquatic birds as when the water level is low.

After some twisting and winding on dirt roads, we arrived to the lodge.

After lunch, we went to our rooms for a short time before meeting outside for birding around the lodge; the lodge is away from the lake on a small shallow wet land.  We saw many species and got to know each other.  Everyone was really friendly.  By 6 p.m., the other four arrived and we all sat together and had a short orientation and introduced ourselves.  We moved to the dinner table and continued getting to know one another as Alex explained the plans for the next day. We unloaded the luggage and rooms were assigned.  While the bags were being taken to the rooms they served us a delicious lunch.  This meal was NOT included in our itinerary and the cost is approximately $12 a person.

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