January 29
Life in the jungle: First thing I shared my scorpion blog post to a dozen Belize Facebook groups. I also decided to get my village trip out of the way first thing. The road is a real mess. The worst it’s been in over a year.
After breakfast, I took a nap in the hammock. It’s such a guilty pleasure. Nothing feels better, but I know guilt always comes later, considering how much work I have.
In the afternoon, I got the chainsaw going in the river lot. I had cut out most of what needed to be cut out before my San Ignacio trip, but I still had a bit of work left to get the land prepared for an excavator and bulldozer later in the year. Before dark I got almost everything cut up and piled on the burn piles. No rain today.
Guava trees in my coconut yard
January 30
Life in the jungle: I started my morning chopping, and 20 minutes later, it started to rain. I transitioned and went to work on my Snakes of Belize blog post. The post is basically written at 7,000 words. [This blog post is currently unfinished and is unpublished until later in the year.]
After lunch, I finished the chainsaw and clean-up work on the river lot. Except for the three brush piles that need to be burned in a month, the river lot is ready for some heavy equipment.
I also placed and filled four large 20 litre fabric pots (2 for passion fruit, and 2 for Dutchman Pipe vines). And I slaughtered a broiler (meat) chicken.
This is one of my Dutchman Pipe vine pots.
This photo was taken 2 weeks later, but posted here to show what I was working on today.
And I have included a photo of the flower, also for reference.
January 31
Life in the jungle: First thing, I chopped in the coconut field. After lunch, I chopped in the coconut field. I also made two passion fruit planting boxes to surround the fabric pots. Today was a full day, I am tired. No rain today.
Camonea umbellata – a yellow flower in the coconut field
February 1
Life in the jungle: Yesterday evening I realized I was out of rice. I rarely run out of food items. Then it rained in the night. Because of the rain, instead of chopping first thing, I headed to the village for rice. Our road is such a mess and the fact this rain just doesn’t want to end doesn’t help.
Upon returning home, I researched and learned how to add a table of contents to my blog posts. Recently I have been writing some long forum blog posts about Belize’s wildlife and lifestyle. Up to now, I have never added a table of contents.
For some reason, exhaustion overtook me and I ended up in the hammock for an unexpected nap.
After a late lunch, I chopped in the coconut field. Today was not the most productive day. There was heavy rain right before bed.
Saucy & Pepper, happy as ever
February 2
Life in the jungle: A largely uneventful day. Thankfully, being Sunday, I don’t have to feel guilty about it, except I have recently taken a few unscheduled naps in the hammock.
Even on Sundays, my day off, I tend to do some outdoor work first thing. Because of last night’s rain, that was not going to happen. I did work on a little website stuff and then got distracted by a Jordan Peterson YouTube interview. And then discovered the washing machine broke. Which then led to a nap in the hammock. All the while with more sporadic rain showers. The rain over the last day and a half has been strong enough that the frogs are singing tonight.
Tonight, Andy initiated a conversation about his future hot sauce kitchen. Ultimately, he needs a dedicated kitchen to make his sauce. Some issues have come up that put his ability to acquire a kitchen in jeopardy. He planned to acquire a prefabricated house to use as a kitchen. The immediate conclusion, with still more conversation required, is that the new cabana that I have been trying to get built for a few months now might serve as his hot sauce kitchen in the beginning.
An epiphyte vine attached to a Mahogany tree
February 3
Life in the jungle: With all of yesterday’s rain, outdoor work was not happening today. I wrote Belize blog Part 151, and before lunch, I posted Belize blog Part 132 and 133. After lunch, I posted Belize blog Parts 134, 135, and 136.
February 4
Life in the jungle: First thing this morning, I noticed a Facebook post that warned of a highway closure of the North Highway going into the city tomorrow. I quickly readjusted my plans and headed to the city this morning. I had no interest in getting stuck in that on a bus.
My plans were to get my Belize driver’s license. I had to wait over an hour and a half at the medical clinic for the medical check-up part, which was nothing but a series of questions. By the time I got my photos and photocopied my necessary documents, it was just after 12 PM, and the licensing office was closed for lunch. I had no interest in staying in the city beyond the 12:30 bus, so I headed for home.
There was a light sprinkle of rain in the evening; other than that, overall good temperatures today. In the evening, I posted Belize blog Part 137.
A White-lipped Mud turtle on the road this morning
Also, jaguar tracks on the road
February 5
Life in the jungle: This morning I did a little bit of chicken coop cleaning while I watched the sky. Sure enough, the rains came. I posted Belize blog Parts 138 and 139 before breakfast.
There were some heavy rain showers during and after breakfast. I continued posting blogs. I posted Belize blog Parts 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, and 146. I’m only five blogs behind my backlog from arriving in Belize in 2021. I also added Montezuma Oropendola birds to my Flora and Fauna Page
There were rain showers all day long. This rain thing is getting way out of hand.
I still love the fact that passion plants grow on my farm like a weed
February 6
Life in the jungle: There was no rain in the night, but a little this morning. I spent this morning editing my Snakes of Belize blog post. The editing is complete, and the post is over 7,000 words long.
After lunch, in the afternoon, I built a bike repair stand. It is a real pain to have to bring my bike all the way into Belize City on the bus for bike tune-ups. One of the biggest problems (besides the fact that I don’t know how to really work on my bike) is the need for a bike stand to be able to work on my bike in the first place. My bike is always in really bad shape because of how much mud is always on the road.
Homemade bike stand
Belize Part 151 (Jan 21 to 28)
Belize Part 150 – San Ignacio (Jan 17 to 20)
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.
