July 4
Life in the jungle: I started my morning chopping in the coconut field. After breakfast, there was a little on-and-off rain which kept messing with my plans. So, I went back to the coconut field to chop so I would have something to show for the afternoon.
At 4 PM there was a short but fairly strong breeze with some rain that came through. That would be the extent of Tropical storm Beryl. Other than a few short, light rainfalls that was it. We got soooo lucky as at one point Tropical Storm Beryle was a Category 5 Hurricnae.
Hurricane Beryl
July 5
Life in the jungle: I headed to the village first thing but was unable to find extra strength caulking to work on my new cabana septic tank. I spent a good part of the day installing a piece of shade cloth on our herb garden greenhouse (though it’s been mainly used to help germinate seedlings).
I also bagged and planted Ziricote seeds, Rambutan seeds, and three mango seedlings. No rain today but overcast skies all day.
A new mini greenhouse
July 6
Life in the jungle: I started my morning chopping in the coconut field. After breakfast, I was desperate to cut grass at the ponds but a short rain shower passed through and that was that. So, I headed back to the coconut field and kept chopping, that was until a really heavy downpour ended the day.
A green iguana I found in the field
July 7
Life in the jungle: For years I have often wondered how I arrived at my current place(s) or occupation(s) in life with no clarity and often not feeling I was serving or fulfilling any real purpose in life. My path never made any sense to me and it still doesn’t. Lately, the question on my mind was – why? Why do I even get out of bed in the morning? Truthfully, I couldn’t even figure that one out, and my alarm is set for 6:00 AM every morning. I gotta tell you that at my age it becomes pretty discouraging and unsettling to have no sense of purpose and even know why you bother to get out of bed in the morning.
Last night I felt like I realized my reason “why.” Why do I get out of bed in the morning? I get out of bed every morning because of the anticipation of a new adventure and the numerous possibilities of crossing paths with creatures of the jungle. It’s kind of funny because when someone asks me why I love living in Belize it’s because I never know what adventure or creature is around the corner. It never occurred to me that it was basically the same reason I got out of bed in the morning. Which is the more important question to be asking.
Screen shots of a jaguar I recorded on my road – the reason I get out of bed in the morning
With my newfound clarity on my why; I thought a little bit about what my purpose is. Truthfully, I find I serve very little purpose in Belize. While I love living here; when I reflect on what has happened to Canada since leaving, I almost feel cowardly for living in a paradise when my own country is being socially and economically destroyed by the woke and left agenda. Not that I feel like I could accomplish anything by being back in Canada. I would just be one more prisoner.
I have often come to the conclusion that clarity is never given or understood on this side of life. We as humans were never designed or meant to have clarity on most of life’s biggest mysteries. And I have taken great comfort in that in the past. And it just occurred to me that clarity on my purpose in life may not be for me to know. This is definitely not the conclusion that I wanted, but what if it’s the answer to my question about my purpose? It’s simply not for me to understand or know. Part of me at least can take comfort in that.
This year has been extremely busy. Most days I have worked myself to exhaustion telling myself that when the rainy season hits, I will focus more on my writing. Since the rainy season started a few weeks ago I have been pretty lazy about being productive in front of my computer when it comes to writing (blog writing or my book I started a long time ago). I have often said that I am the laziest person that I know. Last night I decided to make a stronger commitment to scrolling on my phone less and more time writing.
This morning the roosters woke me up at 5:30 AM. Even on my day off (today) I usually work outside first thing to give Andy the kitchen to himself, but all morning and well into the afternoon it rained on and off. With my renewed commitment to writing more, I spent much of the day organizing my computer and blog notes. I can’t focus when my computer and notes are a mess.
On this day three years ago, I left La Paz Mexico to take the ferry to Los Mochis by bike, and on this day four years ago I crossed the Longitudinal Center of Canada in Manitoba by bike.
Another reason to get out of bed in the morning – boa constrictors
July 8
Life in the jungle: First thing I chopped in the coconut field and completed this go-through of the field. The next job is to add manure to all the seedlings. Which is going to be a huge job given the amount of back-and-forth walking between the manure pile and all the seedlings.
Andy picked up a tube of construction caulking for me and I installed the in-and-out flanges to the new cabana septic tank (IBC tote). I also wired up the spare water pump so tomorrow I can pump all the rainwater out of the septic tank hole tomorrow. I spent the remainder of the afternoon cutting grass by the house. With such a dry, dry season this is the first time cutting grass in longer than I can remember.
In the evening, I added two new species to my Flora and Fauna Page on my website – Two-spotted snakes and Meso-American slider turtles. I haven’t worked on adding to that page all year.
July 9
Life in the jungle: After getting the water pump wired up yesterday, I couldn’t get the pump to prime so I had to jump in the pit and with Andy’s help scoop lots of buckets of water out of the pit. The clay mud at the bottom of the pit was miserable. It rained on and off all morning. I eventually had to risk it and just drop the tank in the ground. The tank is a little high but I think I can barely work with it.
After lunch, I spent the rest of the afternoon fertilizing my fruit seedlings (not coconut trees) in the coconut field. I think I got a good 1/3 completed. It was a lot of walking back and forth from the house with buckets of manure.
The new septic tank and location for a future cabana
Belize Part 125 (June 24 to July 3)
Belize Part 124 (June 16 to 23)
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.
