January 26
Life in the jungle: Andy left first thing in the morning for Caye Calker to visit a friend visiting from Canada. I have the whole place to myself until Monday. I mixed a half bag of cement for the new pump shed footing I built yesterday and I was a tiny bit shy so I had to mix another half bag and I was still able to make 12 patio stones out of that mix.
More patio stones
I spent a good part of the afternoon washing my house deck. I can’t believe the condition of the paint job that is only two years old. I need to put a new coat of paint in the coming months. This evening, I did some housework. That’s what I do before guests arrive or after they leave.
Masters of the Air came out on TV today. I have been waiting 14 years for this release (ever since The Pacific came out). Never have I waited so long for something. [After watching all 8 episodes I found myself disappointed in the series after they had 14 years to make it the best of the best. I feel like the story and writing were weak.]
I posted Stop It Already: Why Cowards Hide Behind Rules and How to Rise Above to Substack, Medium, LinkedIn, and my website.
This afternoon I found a Narrow-bridged musk turtle right outside my house. This is my first one since my arrival in Belize over two years ago. Very cool.
Narrow-bridged Musk Turtle, locally known as a Toe-biter
January 27
Life in the jungle: I made my last dozen patio stones for the foreseeable future. I mixed my last half bag of cement and don’t have enough gravel mix for any more patio stones. I now have to wait for the road to properly dry out completely for a dump truck of gravel mix to make it down my road.
My patio stone work area – mud
After lunch and a short nap, I headed to the village for groceries. Truthfully, I didn’t accomplish much for the rest of the day. I have been rather chill since Andy left for the Cayes. I did a tiny bit of housework in the evening.
I got some Ricardo seeds from Verna Mae. Annatto seeds from an Annatto tree is where Ricardo seasoning comes from. Yup, I am going to plant them.
Ricardo – A common Belizean spice
January 28
Life in the jungle: I slept in a bit because it was raining at 6 AM when my alarm went off. I had some plans for today but somehow my day was spent listening to podcasts pretty much the whole day.
I watched Overcome the Enemy’s Targeted Assaults and The Global Mind Jam. I was going to do a little website work and play the following podcast. But you can’t listen to Jordan Petterson and expect to multitask at the same time – Stop Wasting Your Life.
No rain during the day but there was rain again tonight. I collected 7 chicken eggs today – a new record.
Passion Flower – grows like a weed here
January 29
Life in the jungle: Today was not a great day for productivity. I spent some time researching ChatGPT, but truthfully, I didn’t learn anything. I published Belize blog posts 58, 59, and 60 and a poem called Suffocating. I am a little embarrassed by my lack of productivity lately. I posted The Forgotten Middle: Why You Don’t Get Remembered and How to Change That to Substack, Medium, LinkedIn, and my website. Andy didn’t come home from Caye Caulker.
January 30
Life in the jungle: I needed to be productive so this morning I sharpened my machete and biked down the road. There is a tree leaning way over and until it’s removed no dump truck can come down my road. So, I chopped as much as I could with plans to return tomorrow with the chainsaw. I also chopped any bad spots along the road.
Shortly after lunch, Andy returned from his trip to Caye Caulker and that ate into my afternoon a bit. I was able to get 12 social media videos edited though. No rain today but late in the afternoon the temperatures dropped.
The boa constrictor Andy caught the other week
January 31
Life in the jungle: Last night was pretty cold. This morning, I headed out to the road with the chainsaw and finished removing the tree from yesterday. The road is now clear but not dry enough for dump truck deliveries. (I need another load of cement mix for patio stones.)
I spent the entire rest of the day on blogs. I posted a blog post that I wrote a long time ago called When It All Made Sense and Belize blog post # 61. I also scheduled four Goal Coaching posts for my other platforms and finally organized my website blog scheduling schedule. I have daily blog and POD t-shirt posts scheduled up to February 11th. Moving forward I will post a blog or t-shirt post daily. I have been posting a short reel virtually every day for the last 35 days. I tried using a scheduling platform for short reels but my internet speeds are too slow. So, I posted them every day before breakfast/lunch on my four social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok). I posted The Power of a Smile: The Importance of Remembering to Smile to Substack, Medium, LinkedIn, and my website.
There was good weather today.
My YouTube channel – Safari Arie – Please Subscribe
February 1
Life in the jungle: Today was kind of a right off. I headed to the ponds first thing and planted a pineapple top. I did a walk around and cleaned up any dropped coconuts and fallen fronds. I did a little yard work. After lunch, I realized I goofed up yesterday’s Facebook scheduled posts. I fixed that and worked on social media videos. I also took a break to watch How to Win at Anything.
My bantam chicken is sitting (on eggs) in my outdoor fire hearth. That’s where she started laying eggs weeks ago. But I’m not letting her sit on eggs or letting any hen sit on her eggs. She’s my favorite hen but her small size is not worth propagating further.
February 2
Life in the jungle: I started my morning chopping in the river lot. After lunch, I headed to the village for groceries and paid my internet bill. I found a nice Red-cheeked mud turtle on my road.
I worked all day on a Belize blog post called Embracing the Jungle Lifestyle in Belize: A Comprehensive Guide to Living in a Rainforest. I am planning it to be a blog post that ranks in Google for jungle living. I also posted The Power of Exceeding Expectations: Why It’s Always Better to Over-Provide Than Under-Provide to Substack, Medium, LinkedIn, and my website.
I collected 10 chicken eggs today. My new daily record. A nice day but the mornings have been cool.
Rosella (or Ediable Hibiscus) that I grew myself
February 3
Life in the jungle: I started my morning chopping another good-sized piece of the river lot. My hands are feeling quite sore between yesterday and today. After breakfast, I continued working on my Belize blog post for the rest of the day.
Belize Part 109 (Jan 18 to 25)
Of Note: At this time I am currently 11 months behind in posting my Belize blog posts due to having no internet for the first 18 months of living in Belize.
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.
Wayne – He is the son of the original owners of the farm (both owners are deceased). The original farm was two – 30 acre parcels minus two – ¾ acre parcels for my house. In 2017 Wayne sold me 40 acres of land from the original 60 acres (one 30 acre parcel plus 10 acres from the second parcel). Wayne lives in his parent’s house and has a few cows on his remaining 18 acres of land.
The ponds – I have two 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 two 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 my 10 acre parcel. I have planted about 350 assorted fruit trees (lemon, starfruit, mango, soursop, cashew, lime, orange) all raised from seed since my arrival in Belize in 2021.
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 two 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. Generally, when I chop I am removing unwanted vegetation around my baby fruit trees.
Andy – A fellow Canadian who rode his dirt bike from Canada to Belize. When I offered him the use of an apartment that I recently built and the use of my greenhouse Andy decided to stay in Belize permanently and start a hot sauce company here.
