Marco Gonzalez Maya Ruin Site Ambergris Caye

It’s not easy organizing a major volunteer effort from another country but Heather is pulling it together and in spite of the enormous challenges ahead of her. She managed to round up 8 of us to go collect and bag mangroves that were brought back to Karina’s house in San Mateo for future transplanting to help detoxify the soil and preserve the environment.

The mangrove collection at Marco Gonzalez Maya ruin site was a lot of fun and it was great to spend time with everyone that is getting involved in the San Mateo Sanitation and environmental education project.

While in search of black mangrove seedlings, Jan Brown gave us a tour of Marco Gonzalez Archaeological Reserve and explained about it’s rich Maya history. We could see pottery shards everywhere, mountains of conch shells and even some human remains. The ground is very high and I could just imagine how much has yet to be discovered under our feet.

While we were doing our mangrove collecting, Valentine Rosado showed up to help us. I had met Valentine before on a trip to Bacalar Chico, so I knew how knowledgeable and environmentally friendly he is. What I did not know was how involved he has been very involved in mangrove transplanting projects and has been working in different areas on the island to help get new mangrove plants growing. He brought us some red mangrove propagules which are oblong and slightly curved, kind of lima bean shaped. Propagules resemble seed pods but they are actually undeveloped root structures. Propagules become fully mature plants before dropping off the adult tree and are distributed by water until eventually embedding in the shallows.

On the way home Valentine suggested we stop off at Kakaw, Belize chocolate factory so he could take us on a mini field trip and show is some of his red mangrove replanting work. He explained how the mangroves grow inside the tubes and pointed out one that was just peeking out of the top.

I will be doing a Maya site specific Marco Gonzalez post soon and highly recommend a tour with Jan if you are staying on the island. Do not forget your bug spray, pants and a light shirt helpful protection as well. This tour is not strenuous but I would still say it is geared more towards adventure seekers – about 1/4 mile walk to the site from the entrance.

Click here to read the rest of the article and see more photos on Tacogirl's blog!