Currently, I have been working on rebuilding my rear deck and getting an internet connection.
March 23
Life in the jungle: Things went great with my cycling guests and they got back on the road late morning. Orlando showed up and his youngest son also showed up. We got all the belt bean forms completely finished and ready for cement. The internet guys never showed. No surprise there.
Snake shed stuck in cracked concrete floor underneath the house. You never know what you will find.
March 24
Life in the jungle: I set my alarm to get an early start and prepare for pouring the belt beams. Orlando showed up along with Saul. Saul brought a cement mixer and someone to run the mixer. Unexpectedly Orlando’s son also showed up. Between the mixer helper and Orlando’s son, there was very little heavy lifting for me. We got the belt beams poured and cleaned the mixing equipment all well before lunch.
Belt beams poured
I didn’t expect to have half my day left. I accidentally fell asleep in the hammock for a good part of the afternoon. I woke up to a phone call from Canada. By then all I had time left for was to go to the ponds and water my papayas (or what’s left of them). I found myself quite disappointed with myself for falling asleep this afternoon. Even though the internet guys said they were coming they never did. Again, no surprise there.
March 25
Life in the jungle: First thing I went to the village for groceries. After breakfast, I went out into the coconut field to chop. It’s been a while since I chopped there. There were a few dead soursop seedlings but overall things are still looking better than I expected.
You can imagine my shock when the internet guys showed up. It turns out this was their last attempt to get a connection. Which they couldn’t make. I’m screwed. They say my only option is to put my own internet tower up. More work, more money, and more wait time for a connection. If I recall I first walked into their office in early October!!! After they left, I started digging the first footing for this new tower.
March 26
Life in the jungle: This morning was church. (I started to go to church last week.) Returning home I decided that I don’t think I am going back to church. Today’s preacher was one of the guys who ripped me off for $3,000 USD when I tried to repair my road. It was challenging enough to be there watching him last week in church but when he’s a preacher? After lunch, I took my mandatory nap. After my nap, I headed to the coconut field to water my starfruit seedlings. Yesterday when I was chopping, I noticed my starfruits could use some water (badly) and I took the opportunity to fertilize them.
March 27
Life in the jungle: Orlando showed up this morning and we spent the day building the forms for the deck floor. The day was very hot and because of the heat, I found myself frustrated and irritable though I feel like I kept my cool. The root of my frustrations and irritability had everything to do with my lack of internet connection.
Floor form built
I have been waiting since Saturday evening for platform designs (from the internet company) for this internet tower I need to now build. Waiting, waiting and waiting. Promises, promises, and more promises to send them. No keeping your word, no honor, no integrity. Welcome to Belize. I think I have reached a point where I hate this country. I love my life in the jungle but I have just gotten to the point where I just can’t deal with the people here. I had all these ambitions in this country but I just can’t see myself having any ambition in this country beyond self sufficiently. I am just so tired.
Right before dark I finished my main tower platform footing hole (3 ft wide x 3 ft long x 3 ft deep) that I started Saturday evening.
March 28
Life in the jungle: Orlando showed up and we worked on the deck. A good part of the day was wiring the re-bar together. I worked right until dark. The deck is 98% ready for tomorrow’s cement pour. It was a nice breezy day.
Ready for the floor
March 29
Life in the jungle: Today turned into a complete gong show. Something happened to Orlando this morning. Something about being assaulted and he had to go to the hospital. But it didn’t sound serious and he didn’t call me to communicate. And then Saul showed up with the cement mixer and a helper but no Orlando. So, we had to scramble for extra help. It would have been better to call off the mix but because Orlando didn’t communicate, we were kind of stuck going forward with the deck pour because everyone else was here and ready.
Unlike the belt beam pour I had to do some heavy lifting today. Which is fine, but the acid in the cement burned some of my fingertips. This evening my hands are really dry and my fingertips are still very sore. Saul was supposed to come back in a couple of hours to “float” the cement but instead, he went to another job and didn’t return until right before dark. I tried calling him about a dozen times. In the meantime I discovered the deck surface was showing some cracks. When Saul finally showed up, he showed me how to take the cracks out but I am fearful of how everything will turn out. This deck was a huge investment and on the day it counted, it was a complete gong show. I am completely furious about today!
In the afternoon I went to the internet company office trying to get the answers about getting a tower I was promised Saturday evening. They called the guy on speaker and I freaked out on him because he puts every single customer in front of me and I am absolutely sick and tired of waiting forever to get anything done. In the evening he messaged me most everything I needed to know about getting a tower and the necessary materials. He said that he found a 60 ft tower for me for $500 USD.
Every day it seems that I wonder why the hell I get out of my bed in the morning. I saw a rare and endangered Crested Guan bird on the road today. Perhaps that’s why.
Belize Part 72 (March 16 to 22)
Belize Part 71 (March 6 to 15)
Glossary of Terms
Glossary of words or people that may or may not be part of this blog post. This glossary will be at the bottom of every blog post for Belize.
Jack & Jill – These are my ex-property managers (names changed). They are Canadian, they introduced me to Belize in 1997, sold me their house in Belize in 2003, and rebuilt my house from 2014 to 2018. I have known them for over 30 years. After almost 20 years of me supporting their life here in Belize Jack decided quite unexpectedly to declare “war” on me right before Christmas 2021. They would end up stealing my business license and causing me a lot of grief. They live on the farm, but not on my land.
Wayne – He is the son of the original owners of the farm (both owners are deceased). The original farm was 2 – 30 acre pieces minus 2 – ¾ acre parcels for my house and 2 – ¾ acre parcels that Jack & Jill own which were all originally purchased from the original owners. In 2017 Wayne sold me 40 acres of land from the original 60 acres (30 acres plus 10 acres). Wayne lives in his parent’s house and has a few cows on his remaining 17 acres of land.
The ponds – I have 2 large (300ft long x 50ft wide x 10ft deep) ponds on my 30 acre parcel of land which is basically a jungle. I have about 60 coconut trees (mostly mature) around the ponds. In my first 2 years of living in Belize, I also planted about 250 assort fruit tree seedlings (Lime, jackfruit, custard apple, pomegranate and avocado).
The coconut field – I have about 400 coconut trees planted (various growth states) on about 3 acres of cleared land of the 10 acre parcel. I plan to add various fruit trees to the same field as soon as I can.
The river lot – my house sits on an ¾ acre lot. I have a second joining ¾ acre lot that allows me river frontage on the Belize River. I call that my river lot.
The dry – Belize has 2 main seasons. The rainy season and the dry (no rain). The wet is obviously the rainy season.
Chopping – using my machete to clear brush, vines, weeds and unwanted trees.
