After 16 days of flooding, the floodwaters from Tropical Storm Nadine receded on November 7. Because of recent flooding outside work is almost pointless.
November 8
Life in the jungle: This morning, I found an opossum in my live trap by the chicken coops. The discovery was kind of amusing as the opossum was sound asleep when I discovered him. I walked him to the ponds and released him. With the flooding gone, everything is turning to mud and stinking. Fortunately, even the mud is a fraction of what was experienced last year. During this past dry season, I made a driveway and a walkway around most of the house with patio stones, and the chicken coop area has a cement block floor.
I spent the whole day editing my bike ride book. I worked on and completed Chapter 4, Ontario and Back on the Road – 4,600 words through ChatGPT for grammar and clarity. There was no rain today.
I caught an opossum in my trap at the chicken coops
November 9
Life in the jungle: First thing, I ran up to the village for groceries, and before lunch, I also slaughtered two chickens. After lunch, I proofread Chapter 5 of my book – The Prairies and Badlands. I completed Manitoba and Saskatchewan (2,100 words). Nothing to do with my writing, but I became overcome with exhaustion and was forced to take a nap in the hammock.
On the way to the village, I came across multiple jaguar tracks and posted a few photos on Facebook. A friend and follower inquired about the safety of my dogs – Saucy and Pepper, except called them Sweet and Salty. It’s been a while since I laughed that hard. No rain today, and the river continues to slowly drop.
Mountain lion tracks on my road
November 10
Life in the jungle: As soon as I finished feeding the chickens, I got my Sunday nap out of the way. After lunch, I worked on my book editing. I finished my Alberta portion (3,200 words, which means Chapter 5 is now finished.
I discovered a brand-new Staphylococcus infection on my leg! The staph infection on my arm has been healing nicely over the last week. But the second infection this quickly is worrisome. At least I know how to treat it and gave it a spray with my dog’s medicine. I could feel the infection healing almost instantly. No rain today.
Pet medicine – the cure for a staph infection
November 11
Life in the jungle: I went to the city to get the last few items I needed for my future cabana build. I believe I am only short four pieces of lumber. And I have no idea when they are arriving. That being said, because of the mud there won’t be any building a cabana anytime soon.
Heavy flooding on the road
November 12
Life in the jungle: There was rain last night. This morning, I worked in my seedling greenhouse. I had some baby trees that needed repotting. I also filled about 100 small cups for some seeds I am soaking overnight.
My motivation is very low today, but I managed to edit the first 1,700 words of Chapter 6 The Rockies and West of my book. This evening, I received a message from a Dutch cyclist looking for hosting in a few days.
A Mottled Owl on my Merlin app.
I have never seen one, but I hear them all the time.
November 13
Life in the jungle: This morning I chopped in the coconut field. I haven’t chopped since before the flooding. After lunch, I planted over 50 Annatto tree seeds which is where Ricardo seasoning comes from, and over 50 Sugar apple seeds. [Only one of the Annatto seeds ended up germinating, but good success with the Sugar apple.]
I then vacuumed the loft in the house. It’s been a while since I have cleaned the loft and if this guest shows up I need to move into it for a few days.
There was no rain today, but they are forecasting for Tropical Storm or Hurricane Sara on Monday.
I didn’t realize that yesterday was my 5 year anniversary of my 2019 – 2021 bike ride start day. Which is weird as I daydream about bike touring all the time. But I also thought today was Tuesday.
November 14
Life in the jungle: This morning, I again chopped in the coconut field. I also did laundry and ended up having to take the laundry down twice because of rain. We ended up getting lots of heavy rain today. The beginning of Tropical Storm Sara. I am so screwed tomorrow when I head to Belmopan for my passport stamp.
This afternoon, I mostly cleaned the house in preparation for my cyclist guest arriving tomorrow. It sounds like he will stay here for the duration of the storm.
November 15
Life in the jungle: I got a little wet biking to the village to catch the bus to the city. My residency application is still stuck in the abyss of the vetting stage. I feel like my residency should have been approved by the end of August. It only took about 20 minutes to get my stamp.
It was a long day, and it rained most of the day. All things considered, I did get that wet in the city. Andy welcomed the cyclist at about 1 PM. So, he made very good time cycling from Orange Walk. I got home just after 5 PM and got completely soaked by rain coming home down my road.
I came across a Mammey tree in Belmopan and had to reach out for identification, only to then realize I have a young one growing at my ponds that I started from seed.
A Mamey Sapote or Mammey fruit tree. Notice the blooms on the branches.
November 16
Life in the jungle: I woke up to top-gallon this morning, meaning the yard is once again completely flooded. It rained all night and all day today. I am fearful that the water level will be even higher than from the last Tropical Storm. The day was largely uneventful, and while I did do a little book editing most of the day revolved around entertaining my guest.
November 17
Life in the jungle: It rained in the night and continued until about lunch today, and then it all stopped. Mostly, I worked on my book edits. Dries (the Dutch cyclist) and I took a walk to the ponds. Everything is flooded.
November 18
Life in the jungle: My cyclist moved on, headed to Guatemala and then Mexico. I headed to the village for groceries. On my way home, I got the shock of my life. Jill, one of my ex-property managers, is living back in the village. She’s in her 70’s and was abandoned here by her husband and almost died because she severely broke her leg and was discovered lying on a dirty concrete floor after lying there for over three days. Then she hurt her back badly. Finally, her husband flew her back to Canada, but now she appears to be back in Belize. She helped manage my farm for about 20 years until her husband declared “war” on me when I arrived here in 2021 on my bike and decided to live here.
My guest snapped a photo of me on our way out. Notice the flooding.
Andy headed to the village for groceries. On his way home, he got a 5 minute video of a mountain lion on the road. My afternoon was spent cleaning up and moving back into my room. I also slaughtered a chicken and the last duck I was planning to slaughter. That leaves me with three females and two male ducks. Blue skies and no rain today.
Screenshots of a mountain lion Andy recorded on our road
Belize Part 139 (Nov 1 to 5)
Of Note: At this time I am currently 3 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 assorted 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, and orange), all raised from seed since my arrival in Belize in 2021.
The river lot – my house sits on a 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.
