My Awesome Experience Working on an Earthwatch Mayan Dig in Belize

I always wanted to work on an archaeology dig and Earthwatch, a program that matches volunteers with research projects around the world provided the answer in 1985 on an expedition led by Dr. MacKinnon.

Pre-Mayan Dig Expedition Trip Briefing

The first step for me in joining an Earthwatch expedition was to order the expedition briefing. It allayed all my concerns by providing an overview of the research project, the project goals, the planned tasks and duties as well as information about the region including State Department advisory information about women traveling alone to Belize city. The briefing provided a list of required medications and shots and equipment. It explained how to meet up with the project, provided project tags, and explained how to schedule travel.

Pick Up at the Airport

I didn't really worry about anything until I got to the airport. Our bags were searched and surprisingly all peanut butter confiscated. Then I went out to find Dr. MacKinnon. No one from the project was anywhere around. Luckily, Belize's official language is English and I had no problem asking questions. Eventually, I saw another couple taking a taxi into town and decided to share the fare and go to our next meet up point at the hotel. Luckily everyone met up at the hotel including Dr. MacKinnon and his four graduate students.

Training in the Belizean Cays near Placencia

Our first stop was Placencia (see photograph 1) where we were given a lecture about Dr. MacKinnon's work including the fact they'd discovered the Mayan's were a seagoing culture and his use of computer models to locate potential cities. It poured rain in buckets and we found a scorpion on the second floor sleeping area. Showers were outdoors, smelled bad and were cold. We took boats out to one of the keys and there learned how to set up a square, dig it, screen out potsherds and gently move hand sized tarantulas to the other side of the key (see photograph 2).

Mayan City on the Citrus Plantation

Finally, it was time to go to the citrus plantation where'd they'd discovered a Mayan city. Dr. MacKinnon's work was to prepare it for tourist activity by documenting the site and making it maintainable. Our first view of the city looked like jungle (see photograph 3). While we got settled, local men were hired to cut down the jungle for a whopping total of $5 a day. When we returned, mounds were visible, but our first job was to clear off all the debris. Then the grad students set up the grid. When finally settled, we began clearing dirt from around the stones on the main pyramid. It was wet, muddy, mosquitoes were bad but the no-see-em's were worse.

Exit out of the Country

I had tons of fun, learned a lot about Caribbean culture such as the walking music party on New Year's day where everyone went from house to house and drank the owner's dry while taking turns playing music. New Year's eve, on the other hand, was quiet and contemplative. When I finally had to return home, I was saddened. We shared drinks on the runway, I was last to leave so I inherited the remains of the rum which then spilled all over me. It wouldn't have been so bad, but when I got to my first layover, my next flight was delayed and three airplanes of people were reduced to two airplanes. Taca Airlines at the time had a no reservation, first come first serve rule-I managed to get on, but missed my next flight in Los Angeles and had to wait 10 hours to get on it.