On May 2, 2000, the 24 satellites orbiting the Earth that were used by the military in tracking the location of all kinds of secret “stuff” became declassified and available to the general public. On May 3, 2000, one enterprising individual named Dave Ulmer thought, “Hmmmm, I wonder if I put a waterproof bucket of stuff in the woods near my house (in Oregon) and posted the longitude and latitude of that bucket in the woods would people come and look for it?” Most sane people (like my dad when I tried to explain it to him) would think, “Why would any one do that?” However. come and look for it they did and currently there are now over 2 million such “caches” hidden all over the Earth, including one on the International Space Station.
Thus began the “sport” or “hobby” of geocaching. In 2008, the Department of Geology purchased some new GPS units. In my efforts to make introductory geology interesting or 
cutting edge, I tried to figure out how to incorporate this new technology in the classroom and in the field. In the process, I got interested in geocaching in a BIG way.
Now, where ever I go, I check on-line at www.geocaching.com and check along my route to see if there are any caches hidden along the way. There always are and I usually try to find some where I am going to stop anyway or at some place that I never knew existed, or a historical feature etc. It never ceases to amaze me with the places that geocaching has taken me that I never knew about even around Waterville or my hometown of Ashley Falls, Massachusetts.
So what does this h
ave to do with Belize you might ask? Good question. On the last trip to Belize, I was hoping to find at least one cache in Belize to get another country on my global map colored in while we were there. I did and it was my fourth country (after US, Canada and Bermuda). There aren’t a lot of caches in Belize and most are around the popular tourist area around Ambergris Caye. However, there is one called Lamanai High on top of the largest pyramid at the Mayan Ruins near Hill Bank and it was my first find in Belize. It was actually found by Sarah Madronal, but she let me share in the victory. The cache was also the highest rated difficulty (how hard is it to find) and highest terrain rating (how hard is it to get to) of all the caches I have found to date with a 5 difficulty and a 4 terrain. When you get there you will understand some of the excitement related to this game of hide and seek.