March 3
Life in the jungle: Even though this is my day off I started my morning digging my septic trench. I need my mornings to myself. Jamie from across the river now comes over Saturdays and spends the night and now Andy has his friend visiting from Canada. After breakfast, I found myself napping in my hammock. The guys attempted to get the new water pump running and ended up discovering something got broken yesterday. I spent the afternoon working on blog posts. I am so far behind on that job. I published Belize blog Parts 64, 65, and 66. This morning I woke up sore, the back of my neck was really sore.
March 4
Life in the jungle: The morning became a bit of a gong show with nothing really being accomplished. I did take some photos of the Fer de Lance I caught the other day and a Red Coffee snake that Andy caught last night. I spent the afternoon painting the greenhouse.
Later in the afternoon, I attempted to start on a new chicken coop when I realized I had the wrong size cement blocks for the perimeter foundation. Andy came home this evening with his guest riding a brand new (cheap) Chinese-made motorcycle. Their initial search in the city did not find the broken pump part required to get the water pump running.
Baby Fer de Lance, I caught by the house the other day. Extremely deadly.
March 5
Life in the jungle: I wasn’t prepared to keep digging my septic trench yet with a really sore neck. I did some yard work until breakfast and then I spent the rest of the afternoon painting the greenhouse. I did a little chopping of the river lot at the end of the day. Still no fixed water pump.
March 6
Life in the jungle: First thing this morning, I was back to digging my septic trench. When it was time for breakfast, Andy needed a switch guy (on/off) at the house to finally get the pump running. This actually took a few hours to get everything working properly. I had a late lunch and then a long nap in the hammock.
Not having water for five days and Andy’s guest has had some disruptions in my day-to-day. The pump is running and Andy and his friend Justin leave for Hopkins for two days tomorrow morning, a much-needed reset for me.
March 7
Life in the jungle: Now that we have water again my morning started with making patio stones again. And then I installed my four greenhouse doors. Before breakfast, Andy and his guest headed to Hopkins. It’s been a while, but I have the place to myself for the next two days. After breakfast, I headed to the village for groceries. I ran into the road guys on the road. The supervisor I spoke to the other week in the village told me he came down the road the day we met and saw a tapir. This is the first tapir sighting that I am aware of since my arrival in 2021.
A few moments later I saw the tail end (literally) of a jaguarundi crossing the main road. Getting home I continued painting the greenhouse. At the end of the day, I planted two pineapples at the ponds.
Sunrise in the village
March 8
Life in the jungle: I started my morning by making patio stones. After breakfast, I continued painting the greenhouse. I wonder if I will ever finish painting the greenhouse. At the end of the day, I calculated the materials needed for the next chicken coop.
March 9
Life in the jungle: I started my morning making my patio stones. After breakfast, I painted the greenhouse. I have basically finished painting the water tower. Other than some touch-ups I suspect I will let Andy finish painting the greenhouse. At the end of the day, I attempted to figure out why septic water was still surfacing around the septic tank. Digging dirt away from around the tank I ended up exposing some kind of a crack causing the entire tank to release all the sewer water (and stuff). I officially have no septic system on a Saturday night. What a disaster.
Today was the hottest day of the year so far with no breeze. I was exhausted by the end of the day. Andy and his guest returned from Hopkins late this evening with two new guests.
March 10
Life in the jungle: I made patio stones first thing this morning. With so many guests, and the house so crowded I decided just to work outside on my day off. I had to deal with this imploded septic tank. I moved almost all the dirt I already dug up for the septic in my yard and then hand-shoveled that dirt into chicken coops all day. I had to hand shovel the dirt because the coop doors were too narrow to push the wheelbarrow through. By moving the dirt, the area around the septic is “cleaner” to help me decide how to proceed. I filled my septic hole with sawdust to soak up all the “water” that escaped from the tank.
I got one of my chicken coops filled with the dirt I moved and a little bit of dirt in my newest chicken coop. By adding 6″ of dirt to the coop(s), hopefully, they won’t be flooded with water during the rainy season. It was a long day. With all the guests, Jamie also showed up and today was the La Ruta Maya canoe race past my house on the Belize River.
Red Coffee Snake
March 11
Life in the jungle: There was a short rain shower last night. The two (extra) Canadian guests living in Mexico that Andy brought from Hopkins left first thing this morning. I made patio stones first thing and before breakfast, I headed to the village for groceries. After breakfast, I slumped in the hammock and that was the end of my day. Between yesterday’s dirt digging and all these guests, I was utterly exhausted.
March 12
Life in the jungle: First thing I made patio stones. Andy and his friend Justin left for Mountain Pine Ridge Reserve to dirt bike ride until tomorrow. I received a delivery of cement blocks and started building the perimeter foundation for a new chicken coop.
March 13
Life in the jungle: I made my patio stones first thing. After breakfast, I did some touch-up painting of the greenhouse. The greenhouse painting for me is done for now. I then dug dirt out of one of my front yard ponds. Sometimes when I need dirt and the ponds are dry, I dig out dirt. I get the dirt I need and the ponds are just a little bit deeper for it. I was able to fill half of my new chicken coop floor. Andy and his guest arrived home from their dirt bike ride right before dark.
The perimeter of the newest chicken coop and the process of filling the foundation with dirt. Notice to the left the cement blocks help the lumber raised above floodwater levels.
March 14
Life in the jungle: Today was a trip to the city and it was a hot one. I had very little motivation when I got home. This dry season is becoming hot and dry. I did spend the last part of the day laying some of the cement blocks to make a floor for the chicken coop.
Belize Part 113 (Feb 20 to March 2)
Belize Part 112 (Feb 11 to 19)
Of Note: At this time I am currently 9 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.
