In July, 10 students embarked on the Robert S. Peabody Museum and Spanish Department’s 2nd annual Bilingual Archaeological Learning Adventure to Mesoamerica (BALAM).  For 17 days, students Daniel Silk ’07, Susannah Poland ’07, Simone Salvo ’08, Jaime Harisiades ’08, James Rockas ’08, Alexandra Tayara ’07, Joel Camacho ’08, E. Zack An ’08, Declan Cummings ’09 and Michael McDonagh ’09, along with expedition leaders Donald Slater of the Peabody and Susan Friedell of the Spanish Department, traveled through Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala to study the ancient Maya civilization and contemporary Latin American culture and language.

Participants visited the local area of the Colonial Mexican city of Merida and also had the opportunity to spend several days at a jungle lodge in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. There they visited several remote ruins and observed many species of animals such as ocelot, howler and spider monkeys, and a host of amphibians, lizards and insects. 

After exploring two ceremonial caves and 14 ancient sites, including Calakmul and Tikal, students excavated ruins of their own at the site of Cahal Pech in Belize. They eagerly filled several bags with 1,600 year old pottery and stone tool fragments while uncovering a 2,000 year old staircase at the base of an ancient temple.  The expedition culminated with a day of relaxation on the tropical Belizean island of Caye Caulker.  (Photos by Don Slater)