December 23
Life in the jungle: Because of less-than-ideal outdoor working conditions (mud), for the last two weeks, I have mostly been working on my computer, either editing my book or working on blog-related things. It was time to get back to outside work. I started chopping at the river lot. I came across a nest from a small species of wasp. I got stung a few times. There was misty rain.
After lunch, I finally started some house cleaning. I have been putting it off for too long, also.
Temperatures were cool, and there was rain tonight. These cool temperatures have been going on for a long time now.
My Merlin app picked up a few birds this morning
December 24
Life in the jungle: Before the sun came up, I wrote Belize blog Part 146. I then continued with chopping at the river lot. I came across a chicken that was probably eaten last week. After lunch, more house cleaning. There was no rain, and nice weather today.
December 25
Life in the jungle: I continued with my current morning project of chopping at the river lot. I can only give my mornings to this job because that is as much as my hands can handle. It’s been a while since I have had to chop through as thick a bush as I am clearing, and the inevitable result is blisters and sore hands. By only giving my mornings to the job, it enables me to do a little bit every morning.
After breakfast, I went back to house cleaning until later in the afternoon, I received a phone call about heading to the village for a Christmas meal. I was expecting the call, but at the same time would have been happy to keep on house cleaning for the rest of the day. That being said, I had a good enough time in the village and returned home in the dark.
Belize City – from my last trip to the city
December 26
Life in the jungle: It’s been a while since I have been chopping this much. My hands are starting to get a little sore from chopping at the river lot, but I am still pushing through. I found a Red-eyed tree frog while chopping. Finding a Red-eyed tree frog is an amazing experience for me. This is only the second one in three years I have found on my farm. What a way to end the year.
After lunch, I continued with house cleaning and a small nap to recoup from yesterday afternoon’s Christmas beers. Today was overcast most of the day, with no rain.
Red-eyed Tree Frog – one of the most beautiful tree frogs in the world
December 27
Life in the jungle: Rain last night! First thing went to the village for groceries. I did a little chopping at the river lot before lunch, and after lunch, I did more house cleaning.
I got a message from an El Salvador cyclist guest arriving from El Salvador on the 31st. He would cancel (tomorrow). Which was unfortunate, El Salvador is pretty close to here, and I had heard there are buses in Melchor, Guatemala (Belize border) that will go straight to El Salvador non-stop. I would be interested in that sort of adventure and would have liked some first-hand information on visiting El Salvador.
I am also expecting a visit from the Polish people who stayed on the farm last year, the week leading up to Christmas. They are expected back in Belize in a few days. No rain today, but a little bit in the night.
December 28
Life in the jungle: I started my day by chopping at the river lot, and after lunch, another afternoon of house cleaning. The house cleaning is finished. Other than a short shower last night, no rain today.
The El Salvador cyclist canceled, but now two long-distance walkers from Czechoslovakia should be coming in a few days. Supposedly, they have been walking from Alaska over the last two years. [It turns out they are hitchhikers.]
December 29
Life in the jungle: I started my morning chopping at the river lot. After lunch, with my house cleaning finally finished, I cleaned the front entrance area of the house and deck. That’s where the dog beds ar,e and with everything pretty muddy, they have made a mess of the deck. No rain and good weather today.
December 30
Life in the jungle: First thing, I slaughtered a rooster and a broiler (meat) chicken. Walking the feathers down the road about 500 ft I came across tapir footprints on the road. Man, to find tapir tracks only a couple of hundred feet from my house! This is another super cool find and experience.
Fresh tapir tracks!
I don’t leave any chicken slaughter remains around the house to attract chicken predators. The chicken carcasses I usually feed to my soldier fly larvae, but the feathers I dump.
The rest of the morning I chopped the river lot. I nicked my pointer finger with my machete. This is the first blood in three years from a machete. I got lucky, it could have easily been the whole finger.
In the afternoon, I posted Belize blog Part 125, 126, and 127.
Andy came back from three weeks in Canada, except he went straight to San Ignacio for New Year’s. No rain today.
Last year – the coldest and muddiest day of the year
December 31
Life in the jungle: For the last day of the year, this was not the fullest day. First thing, I headed to the village for groceries. After returning home, I continued with my morning routine of chopping at the river lot. I wasn’t overly motivated after lunch, but I decided to go back to chopping the river lot. While I am now mostly finished with chopping. But I still need to clean one fence line, and I need to go through with a chainsaw. Then I am finished chopping the lot.
My evening was largely uneventful as I now go to bed by around 9:00 PM to be up for 5 AM. I started this new routine about three weeks ago, and so far, it is working amazingly. My mornings are more productive, and I don’t waste time at night in front of the TV (computer).
Taking a moment to reflect on this past year, I have to say this was a good year. I noticed a mental shift during my short visit to San Pedro in October 2023, and since the,n I have been in a very good place. Before October 2023, I had to deal with a lot of stress with Belize immigration and bad experiences with locals and my ex-property managers. It was a tough time for me.
Andy has been living on the farm for almost 14 months now, and while my preference would be to live alone and isolated, there is no denying that Andy living here has contributed to me having a good year this year.
Reflecting on this past year’s accomplishments
- Andy and I got four coats of paint on the greenhouse framing and water tower
- Andy got the greenhouse covered in shade cloth and operational
- Andy wired up the greenhouse and his apartment with power
- Andy worked on starting his hot sauce company on the farm
- I put in a driveway with handmade patio stones for Andy’s motorcycles
- I built a lean-to off the greenhouse for Andy’s motorcycles
- I built a new large(r) chicken coop to facilitate making compost
- Also, putting in a cement block floor throughout most of the chicken coop areas to deal with mud during the rainy season
- I finally completed a rear cement deck project that I had started almost 2 years ago
- I made a kitchenette for Andy’s apartment
- I completed all the painting for Andy’s apartment
- I started to expand the greenhouse by building about 500 square feet of floor area so far of a possible 1,000 square foot addition.
- I put in footings for a future new cabana and installed the septic tank, and was able to get all the building materials down the road. I should start building any week now.
- I also planted 80 papaya plants at the ponds.
- About 2 dozen other smaller projects
- Along with the usual property upkeep, with grass cutting and chopping, and cleaning around over 1,000 fruit trees in the coconut field and ponds at least half a dozen times.
- A year ago, I started my residency application process and am still waiting.
This past year I also
- spent a weekend in San Ignacio
- spent a week paddling the Belize River (300 km) by canoe
- spent a week traveling to Monterrey, Mexico
- and spent two weeks in PEI. My first visit since leaving Canada in October 2020 to continue my bike ride here.
Next year, as soon as things are dry enough, the plan is to widen our road with a bulldozer to help get an excavator down the road to dig out my yard ponds and have a bulldozer spread that dirt over the river lot. This will create a 3/4 acre area and the land to build multiple cabanas in the future. I will also get that excavator and bulldozer to prep a 10,000 square foot area in the coconut field to help Andy expand his hot pepper growing.
Also, as soon as things are dry enough, I hope to start building the first new cabana and, with any luck, start building a second cabana by the end of the year.
Adventure-wise, today I just signed up for a community clean-up in San Ignacio on the 18th. Next week, I plan to reach out to a tour guide who takes hikers up Victoria Peak (1,120 metres (3,675 ft). I am determined to do this hike as soon as possible once the Dry Season hits. I have an Amazon order of necessary hiking supplies en route to Belize as I type this. I also plan to advertise on some Belize Facebook groups later in the year to see if I can find someone in the country with a canoe to do another week-long canoe trip in the country.
No rain today, if we get no rain tonight, I will finally continue with the greenhouse floor expansion that I had to put on hold due to heavy rains the other month.
2024 – A Year in Review
Andy Wilson arrived in late 2023 – which helped get a few projects around the farm completed this year
Shade cloth greenhouse & driveway
Chicken Town turned into Chicken City
My very first jaguar sighting
My 300 kilometre canoe trip with Jamie Madrill
A trip up to Monterrey, Mexico
Two weeks in Prince Edward Island, Canada
A visit to San Ignacio and the Mayan ruins
Lots of amazing wildlife this year
Belize Part 146 (Dec 17 to 22)
Belize Part 145 (Dec 10 to 16)
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, 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.
