Poustinia Land Art Park is an environmental project, in which nature interacts and develops, simultaneously. Poustinia was once a sprawling, eco-insensitive cattle ranch called El Dorado, where trees were cut and hills leveled to produce flat land for grazing. When the pot-of gold failed to materialize, the goals changed and over the years since the late 1980s, the land has been transformed into a magical, eco-sensitive art centre where one can lose oneself in the admiration of nature, and find oneself both intellectually and spiritually. It is a place where the beauty of human inspiration can be contemplated within the beauty of nature.
Here you can wander freely, as the Mayas once roamed, and their spirits still do, among their many mounds, which provide inspiration to many of the artists. You may catch a glimpse of the ghosts of the cattle ranchers (or the rustlers who terrorized them) who razed the land; the loggers who cut the precious wood, to send it rafting down the Mopan River to Belize City, and thence across the ocean to England; the chicleros who tapped the sapodilla trees, collecting the sticky resin to be shipped out to satisfy the chewing public.
With its varied habitat- second-growth jungle, now grown into tall canopy trees, low shrubs, fruit trees, cohune palms, ornamental flowers and shrubs, the different elevations and the rain-filled pond, -Poustinia is a haven for birds. Migrating birds can rest and feed undisturbed while resident ones can raise their young in peace. Brown jays, green jays, and chachalacas wake you in the morning; robins, wrens, several species of hawk, warblers, keel-billed toucans (the national bird) and its smaller cousin the collared aracari, Monteczuma’s oropendula, trogans, flycatchers, owls and hummingbirds are only a few of the species found here during the course of the year, feasting on the bugs, berries, citrus and mango, cecropia and gumbolimbo fruits.
The wildflowers and fruit also attract a host of brightly coloured butterflies, such as the blue morph, malachites, white peacocks and zebra long-wings (heliconias) whose wings make a splash of brilliance as they flutter down a dim path; others in more subdued dress are the huge caligos, the ubiquitous Fatima, orange and brown dagger-wings, swallowtails, and ringlets, who play hide-and-seek in the shadows while sipping juice from the fallen oranges, mangos or guava.
Many varieties of trees grow naturally on the 60 acre site (part of a 270 area forest). Although most are second-growth, twenty years of growing in a tropic climate allows them to attain great height already. Many other tropical trees and shrubs, flowering and fruiting (commercial-type fruit, and wild) have been planted. Some 200-400 trees are planted each year. These line the paths and fill hollows or other natural clearings. A lovely African tulip tree blazes over the entrance drive, as you pass a stately stand of golden bamboo, poincianas (flamboyant- Delonix regia) and their smaller relatives, the pride of Barbados, are bright beacons of colour, while several varieties of heliconia (lobster claw, bird of paradise) stand out against the dark of the palm trees and the tangle of vines, lianas and philodendrons.
Medicinal plants can be found among the growth. Yucca (Yucca elephantipes), cow’s tongue, wild yam (Dioscorea sp.), trumpet tree (Cecropia peltata), provision tree (Pachira aquatica), tamarind (Tamarindus indica), bucut (Cassia grandis) are but a few. Other trees are used for wood working, such as the stately mahogany (national tree), zericote, ceiba (sacred tree of the Maya) prickly yellow (Zanthoxylum sp.) and sapodilla. The Mayas used sapodilla wood as house lintels and some are still in place in the restored ruins around the country. Scores of bromeliad species can be found in many of the trees, especially those with rough bark. Bromeliads are often mistaken for orchids, but are a separate group of interesting plants. Along with a host of smaller aerial plants, orchids and bromeliad are epiphytic; neither orchids nor bromeliads are parasites on their host, but are saphrophites, using the trees only for support.
There are many species of orchids found throughout the jungle. Common is the national flower, the black orchid (Encyclia cochleata), the golden shower (Oncidium sphacelatum), lady-of-the-night (Brassavola nodosa) Catesetum integerrimim, Epidendrum ciliare, Maxillaria tenuifolia and ringens, Sabralia macrantha, Trigonidium egertonianum, Oncidium ascendens, Stanhopea ecornuta and many others, hidden away in the forks of trees or hanging overhead, just waiting to be discovered as each blooms in its appointed season.
Of course, there is a cornucopia of other wildlife, from the inquisitive squirrel, the silent little grey fox, bats, the nocturnal kinkajou (called night-walker), deer, gibnut, frogs, lizards and their kin, and maybe even some of the wild cats that are a part of Belize’s attraction. The habitat is mostly moist, since it is on the verge of the rainforest of the Maya Mountains, so mushrooms are found on the forest floor, of different shapes and colours. Insects are abundant from the pesky mosquito to their nemesis, the dragonfly, and beetles and bugs are everywhere, carrying out their assigned duties of returning everything to nature.
Poustinia has introduced to Belize a new art form- environmental
art. Artists from England, Wales, Norway, Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuala,
Guyana, Barbados, Guatemala, the USA and Belize have contributed
to Poustinia. Once the artists has completed his work, nature
is allowed to take over and reshape the piece. If it is wood,
it slowly decays; if metal it will rust; trees will grow up
through it and distort the shape eventually, or even dislodge
it when the roots grow large enough. The pieces take nature
as their home while at the same time providing a home for nature,
such as tree seedling, spiders, other insects, bird’s nests,
centipedes and snakes.
To view these sited pieces at their best one must trek the trails, climb the steep hills and temple mounds, tramp through the bush, and around the pond, actively interacting with the unexpected stations- a carved face looking out at you from a tree, a giant spider poised in her web- the trip becomes an exaggeration of the classic maze found at the peak of the lookout.
