We had the first proper rain of the week overnight and it felt very welcome. Mr Mesh, who worked for the Belize Forestry department for years and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of trees, took me out to go over some more plant names along the Maya trail in the morning, while Jonathan headed to the airport to meet the students. It was enormously reassuring to make sure my identification of the most common species along the trail was accurate, but also to realise that even Mr Mesh, who has worked at Las Cuevas for 13 years, can’t recognise all the smaller trees. He taught me lots about the commercial and medicinal properties of the forest trees and told me about the excellent ‘Field Guide to Trees of La Milpa’ available as a pdf to download This turns out to be an invaluable source of basic information on leaf form, bark and other identifying characteristics of plants which had been really difficult to find elsewhere. Mr Mesh also pointed out that the bedrooms in the main building at Las Cuevas, which are named after trees, have doors made out of the eponymous wood. I’m in Billy Webb (Sweetia   but now called Leptolobium panamense)!

We saw Blue Morpho butterflies which were as difficult as ever to photograph – they don’t stay still for long – but also a very compliant Owl butterfly. I’m afraid the slight purple tinge on its wings are something to do with the way my camera is reacting to high humidity rather than reality!

After lunch I ventured out on the trail by myself for the first time, to make sure I’m confident of the route before doing it with students for the first time. Although I was initially a little nervous, it was a lovely experience and I had time to stop and look closely at things whenever I wanted to. The only sticky moment came after I bumped into Steve and Mr Mesh clearing the trail and they suggested I try a new loop back to the camp – it wasn’t quite as straightforward forward for me as it would, no doubt, have been for them!

By the time I’d showered, the students had arrived and the peace of the last few days is just a distant memory. The Macaws and Oropendulas put on their regular dusk show, to everyone’s delight, and some of the students went off on a night hike with Steve, despite their tiredness. I was tempted but wanted to carry on consolidating my plant notes using the new book to make sure I’m ready for the first day of teaching tomorrow.