The culmination of Westminster's first cluster travel course to Belize, Central America, was an eye opener for many of the student travelers.

The Ecology and History of Latin America links a biology class and a history class into a cluster course, which offered opportunities for students to integrate knowledge taught by two Westminster faculty members from different academic disciplines. The tropical ecology portion of the course was taught by Dr. Ann Throckmorton, associate professor of biology, and the history portion of the course was taught by Dr. Eugene G. Sharkey, professor of history.

"This trip made me more grateful for what we have here," said Diana Wells, a sophomore biology and business administration major from Boalsburg. "We have hot showers, flush toilets, and electric lights. There we had to write in our journals at night by lantern or candlelight sometimes. The roads were scary. I prayed all the way to the top of Black Rock. There are only four paved highways in Belize."

"I climbed into Mayan caves and scaled walls," said Kelly Sloan, a senior accounting major from Indiana. "That's something you wouldn't be allowed to do here because of liability insurance. You have to carry your bags there because wheels don't work so well on dirt."

"We always checked our beds for scorpions, but only found one crawling up the wall," said Corrine Gaglia, sophomore neuroscience major from Pittsburgh. "Some of the places had mice&lots of them. The roads were black rocks and mud. I'm surprised we didn't break down all the time."

"I was surprised by how people lived there in tiny homes and garbage in their yards. I guess there must be no regulations there," said Wendy Moore, junior history major from Allison Park. "It shocked me, and Belize is one of the richer and safer places around that part of the world."

"There were ants in the light fixture above my bed in the lodge where we stayed. They infested my hair while I slept," said Gaglia. "One of the men who worked there came and put two rusty swords in a cross position. He told me that the swords created a magnetic field' that would keep the ants away from me while I slept."

"The people were friendly and seemed happy much like the Amish community here," said Sloan. "Everyone knew everyone and helped everyone when they needed it."

Besides having to do without most modern conveniences, the students were enthused about what they saw while in Belize.

"I saw ruins still covered by dirt and trees. They we not excavated yet, so we had to use our imagination," said Moore. "I didn't realize that there are more ruins covered than are uncovered."

"My favorite place was seeing the ancient Mayan civilization," said Gaglia. "The buildings were impressive. I wouldn't want to be the guy putting the stone on top. You have to wonder how they built those massive structures with such primitive tools."

" I liked snorkeling and caving the best," said Sloan. "I saw parrotfish, eel, stingrays, and sea turtles. We went tubing through the caves with lights on our heads. We looked like floating candles. I actually saw a Mayan pot that was still hidden in the rocks where I climbed."

"The orchids were more delicate in real life than in the photos," said Gaglia. "They grow like weeds on the trees with their aerial roots getting the moisture they need just from the air."

"I held a tarantula. Our guide teased it out of its home by taking a weed and sticking it into a hold. He moved it back and forth until the animal came out," said Wells. "It didn't bite, although I'm not sure why, but I was very careful not to scare it.

"When we went swimming in the South Stann Creek, Ryan Rice put his hands down into the water like he was trying to catch a fish, but he brought up a boa constrictor," continued Wells. "I held it with him. That was a bit adventurous - even for me."

Most everyone had comments about the local cuisine.

"Dinners were rice, chicken and beans over and over again," said Sloan. "I found out that chicken was a special dish served to honor us, but everyone served us chicken."

"At Calabash Keys there were two ladies that cooked for us," said Wells. "They tried hard to please us, but they always had peanut butter and jelly if we did not like what they cooked. We went through 17 jars of peanut butter. We had some form of chicken, rice and beans 15 meals in 20 days there, so we started a song and sang it in rounds about beans and rice and rice and beans."

After a seven-week classroom experience, the 24 students of this cluster course traveled for 20 days to Belize, Central America to see what they had studied.

"Dr. Throckmorton was patient and knowledgeable. She crawled through the bat-filled caves with us," said Gaglia. "We saw pottery that was untouched for hundreds of years. Pottery that was filled with things to honor the gods."

"I enjoyed Dr. Sharkey's class. He doesn't just teach - he has his heart in making you think," said Wells. "Dr. Thockmorton likes the interactions with the students. They are two different professors with different teaching styles and both are unique."

"We saw 99 percent of what we studied," said Gaglia. "My favorite was the Cecropia Tree, a tree that was revered by the Mayan people. It's huge and makes a beautiful skyline."

"We saw the Olmec head carvings in the ruins. They were just like we learned about in history class with their high cheekbones, slanted eyes, thick lips and big noses," said Wells.

"The structure of the pyramids were exactly as Dr. Sharkey explained in class with their step constructed sides instead of the Egyptian smooth sides," said Moore. "We even saw the ball courts we talked about in class. The resembled basketball courts with a metal hoop to put the ball through."

"This is the first time Westminster College has taken a class to Belize," said Throckmorton. "This is also the first time anyone has ever done a cluster course with a travel component."

"Biology and history are ideally suited to examine the causes and consequences of human intrusion on people and the environment," said Sharkey. "I tried to show how lessons from the past can be used to make decisions that will positively affect the people of this area and preserve its unique natural habitats."

"I really think that having a semester of course work before travel is beneficial," said Throckmorton. "I've taught a travel course in a month with two weeks study and two weeks travel, but there just wasn't enough time to teach everything to the students before we left on the trip. Now I feel that the students are better prepared and enjoy it more."

"Students should go on this trip if they get a chance. We went to places most people never get to see and may never get another chance to see," said Moore. "I'll remember it all my life."