April 19
Life in the jungle: This morning I was informed that guests of Andy on motorcycles were ahead of their schedule and now showing up tomorrow. That put me into house-cleaning mode.
This morning a bulldozer came down the road for the guy who owns land on the other side of the road, but past me (because of how the river winds). While the road runs to the end of my place to the river, the section of the road that passes my house to the river is barely a trail through the jungle.
Today a bulldozer tore it all up. And then spent most of the day clearing a section of jungle on his property. It always makes me sick to my stomach when a bulldozer rips up the jungle. But they ended up tearing up the ground in front of my property. Which is technically the road allowance but instead of pushing through the centre of the road they stayed right and ripped up the half of the road that runs right next to my fence. This is typical Belize.
When the bulldozer removed a bunch of trees it exposed an Armadillo wasp nest, home to the Warrior wasp.
Considered to have the worst wasp sting in the world.
April 20
Life in the jungle: First thing I mixed half a bag of cement to pour around my newly installed septic tank. I was going to then plant 100 papaya seeds in cups but Andy did that job so I could focus on plumbing his apartment. I installed the drinking water line and the utility water line which included installing a toilet connection and the shower. We don’t have a toilet for the apartment yet but Andy now has a shower.
Plumbing for a shower and the toilet
Andy’s dirt bike guests showed up with a dog riding on the back of one of the bikes. Supposedly Andy mentioned they had a dog but mysteriously I have no recollection. And supposedly this dog has never slept apart from its owners. [When guests arrive, I give up my room and sleep in the loft.] I allowed the dog in their room only right when they went to bed and not to leave its dog bed. I am not a dog person and under normal situations, never ever let a dog be inside the house. There was no point in making the situation awkward. Pepper also did not like the presence of this dog at all. Saucy had no problems with the dog but Pepper was quite upset about all of it.
Surak the wonder dog on the back of a motorcycle
Today Andy caught a 7ft boa on the road that is easily the prettiest boa I have ever seen in Belize. With everything going on with the guests arriving and the standard Saturday night BBQ at the same time I went to bed at midnight; which is ridiculously late for me.
Seven ft boa running loose in the house
April 21
Life in the jungle: With a full house, this morning I escaped to ponds to water seedlings and a little chopping. On my way to the ponds, I noticed my “new” neighbor (the ones that just ripped up the road with a bulldozer) dumped 10 used vehicle tires in the bush across from my property. On my way back to the house from the ponds I transported the tires to his property. The typical attitude in this country is that common courtesy is NEVER EVER considered – EVER. Because I was motivated to keep cleaning up after neighbors, after breakfast I headed down the road to burn the large pile of garbage that was dumped in the jungle, on the side of the road by an old guy in the village a few weeks ago. I’m not going to waste my time venting in this post.
Today I had chicks from two hens start hatching.
Dumped in the jungle the other week
Dumped across my road
April 22
Life in the jungle: It was kind of a late start this morning. My first job was to set up hens and new chicks. I have 13 new chicks. After that, I chopped in the coconut field and finally finished the current round of cleaning each coconut and fruit tree. Andy’s dirt bike guests left which ultimately was a good thing as Pepper refused to get along with their dog the whole time. I would also discover a fair bit of dog hair in the bedroom – gross. I got through the experience and it was what it was. I had no problems with the guests but moving forward, no more guests with dogs.
After a late lunch, I painted the rest of the day. I painted some trim on the apartment and some frame modifications to the greenhouse’s front entrance.
April 23
Life in the jungle: First thing I mixed cement for the septic tank whole. After breakfast, I painted the trim on the apartment. Later in the afternoon, I headed to the village for some corn for the chickens. It didn’t seem like I worked that hard today but I am always exhausted by the end of the day.
April 24
Life in the jungle: Orlando came this morning. We spent the entire day building the forms for the steps for the cement deck that I never finished building last year. It was a very long day. I was exhausted by day’s end.
Concrete forms
April 25
Life in the jungle: Orlando arrived this morning. With Andy’s help, we mixed four and a half bags of cement by hand for the rear deck stairs we framed the forms for yesterday. It was exhausting. After lunch, we framed the roof for Andy’s dirt bike shed that I built attached to the greenhouse.
Cement steps
April 26
Life in the jungle: It’s been a while since I watered seedlings at the ponds, so first thing I headed to the ponds. Overall, everything is looking good and my watering over the last few weeks has paid off. After breakfast, I finished the bike shed roof that we installed yesterday. At 3 PM when that job was complete, I decided that for the rest of the week except for my morning work routine, I would be done working for the week. It’s been a long few weeks. In a few days, I am supposed to leave on my canoe trip down the Belize River. [That would once again be pushed back.] It has been pushed back a few times and I don’t want to be exhausted before it starts. I took a short nap and then I wrote Belize blog posts Part 117 and 118. And then Jamie and a few others showed up. I guess this week’s Saturday BBQ is today instead of tomorrow. These BBQs generally go to about 11:30 PM but I always bid everyone good night between 9:30 and 10 PM.
Andy’s new bike shed (minus exterior walls)
Belize Part 117 (April 10 to 18)
Belize Part 116 (March 30 to April 9)
Of Note: At this time I am currently 8 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.
Orlando – Orlando is an older gentleman from the village. He’s the guy I call on when I need construction help because he is actually fair with me.
