January 10
Life in the jungle: Today didn’t go smoothly at all. I missed the morning bus by two minutes. A friend in the village driving by witnessed this. I caught a ride with him to the Hattieville cut-off. Surely the cut-off bus stop was an express stop? Nope, two express buses drove past me. I had to wait one hour for a regular bus.
At immigration, I was told that my residency application had just been accepted from the investigations branch and was now about to start the vetting process. I told the lady that for five months, you guys have been telling me I was already in the vetting stage. I got my one month extension, and then it was confirmed I hadn’t even started the vetting stage. Which means I should have gotten a three month stamp! This means today was a waste of time, along with coming in monthly for the last five months! And now I have to come back in 30 more days again.
The 3:30 PM bus was still standing room all the way to my village.
In Belmopan – I’m not actually sure what kind of tree this is.
Mahogany trees in Belmopan
A very full bus this afternoon – this is no fun at all.
January 11
Life in the jungle: First thing, I chopped along the road. I came out the other day, but there is still a lot of work needed on this road. Partway through, I had to go back for rubber boots for some Polish guests who were arriving later. The road is pretty muddy. Last year, three Polish people interested in living in Belize stayed with me for a whole week. They were back in Belize and wanted to visit. They showed up just after lunch.
Today was kind of weird for me. While I host a lot of travelers (cyclists and motorcyclists), in the sense of what most people would refer to as “having company over,” people they would have a history or relationship with, these Polish people would be the “first company” I have ever had in my life. No one in Canada or Belize has ever come to visit me in my life.
Jaguar / Mountain lion scat on the road this morning
January 12
Life in the jungle: First thing, I slaughtered two broiler (meat) chickens. I then headed to Verna Mae’s to retrieve the rubber boots the Polish borrowed yesterday. Along the way, I received a message from some hitchhikers who I expected almost two weeks ago, who wanted to arrive tonight.
After lunch, I took a nap to recoup from yesterday’s guests and to mentally prepare for tonight’s guests. In the afternoon, I prepared their room. They showed up before dark. They are a couple from Czechoslovakia, and they have spent the last two years hitchhiking all over North America from Alaska.
Tapir tracks on the road by my house again! What an amazing place I live.
January 13
Life in the jungle: Before my guests woke up, I started my new Belize blog post about Belizean snakes. After they had finished breakfast, I gave them a tour of the farm and ponds. After they left to continue on their journey, I made lunch. Being a little tired after having so many guests, I took a short nap in the hammock to recoup.
While I have outdoor work and it was a good day to be working outside, I was off my routine and not motivated, but I was motivated to keep working on my snake blog, so I did.
Setting up my first duck eggs for incubation via a chicken
Today I reached 3,000 Followers
January 14
Life in the jungle: Before sunrise, I continued working on my Belize snake blog. I heard the rooster calling in the dark from a direction that was not the direction of the chicken coops. It was then that I realized that I forgot to close both chicken coops last night. This could have turned bad, but luckily, no dead chickens, and the hen that was sitting on duck eggs was fine with no missing eggs. I got very, very lucky.
This morning, I finished putting in a chicken coop floor. Last month, I laid cement blocks in two coops to deal with the mud. One of the coops I couldn’t finish as the hen house was being used and too difficult to move with how everything was so muddy. I also repositioned the coop’s main door and cleaned up some other pens.
After lunch went to the village for groceries and heel straps. The heel straps are for footings I plan to build. I want to build some kind of trellis to grow passion fruit. I eat a lot of passion fruit. Returning home, I dug three holes and made three forms for the passion fruit trellis.
Before & after – I needed to put a floor underneath the hen house
January 15
Life in the jungle: First thing, I continued working on my Belize snake blog post. Just as I was about to go out and feed the chickens it started to rain! I thought this rain was over for the next few months. The dry season should have started by now. While I waited for the rain to stop, I wrote Belize blog Part 148.
When the rain stopped, I mixed a full bag of cement. That was enough for the three passion fruit trellis footings, some patchwork, and seven patio stones. It ended up being a fairly late lunch.
In the afternoon, I ran the chainsaw at the river lot. I cut a bunch of young trees that I had initially hoped would stay to grow. Unfortunately, later in the yea,r when I prep the land for use and more cabanas, these trees will be in the way of the bulldozer pushing dirt over the lot.
It pains me to cut any trees down, but I will replace them with more desirable species when the time comes. I worked until dark, starting to pile all the cut limbs.
Passion fruit – I need to get serious about growing these
January 16
Life in the jungle: Yesterday, I scarified and soaked Flamboyant seeds that I had collected in Belmopan. This morning, before sunrise, I put them in wet paper towels. [Upon my return home from an upcoming trip to San Ignacio, I would discover most of the seeds were mouldy and smelly. I just threw them all out.]
After sunrise, I cleaned up all the trees and tree limbs I cut down yesterday afternoon. After lunch, I finally got back to work on my greenhouse floor expansion that I had started many months ago. Most of the afternoon was spent doing needed minor leveling as a result of the November flooding.
In the evening, I packed for San Ignacio.
Belize Part 147 (Dec 23 to 31)
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 season (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.
