September 12
Life in the jungle: First thing, I shared my How to Document Your Bike Tour or Adventure blog post to various bike tour Facebook groups. I reviewed last week’s bike tour post and was frustrated by the lack of engagement. I suspect it’s an algorithm issue, as historically, my bike touring with a trailer post got me a lot of engagement because everyone seems to have an opinion on the subject.
The sky looked rough, but I risked it anyway. I headed to the ponds with a chainsaw. Back in May, I cut most of the mature coconut trees to make room for some baby dwarf coconut trees. I left them where they lay to let the trunks dry out to help facilitate easier chainsaw cutting.
I got about an hour and a half’s work done before I was too soaked from the rain to continue. There’s nothing like getting to the house soaked and covered in wet sawdust.
After breakfast, I worked on my book for the rest of the day. I finished adding all the content (still editing to do) for Chapter 2 – The Canada that Took Me In. Chapter 2 is almost 18,000 words.
At some point in the afternoon, it stopped raining. After feeding the chickens, I slaughtered another duck and a rooster. I was hoping to do a second rooster but ran out of daylight.
A Red rump tarantula I found at my ponds
September 13
Life in the jungle: It took a long time to fall asleep last night. Far too long for someone whose alarm is set for 4 AM. I was distracted by purpose and my place in Belize. I’m still pretty clueless about it. I think it’s related to Charlie Kirk’s assassination. There was a guy with a passion and a purpose. I would love to know how to get that!
There was some rain in the night, and this morning I barely got the chickens fed this morning, and it started raining again.
Mostly because of last night’s monkey mind, this morning I worked on the Belize chapter of my book – Chapter 5 – Alone in Belize. I got about 85% of the chapter organized and written before I lost interest in working on it. The chapter currently sits at about 22,000 words.
I then transitioned to Chapter 3 – America the Beautiful. I was able to organize and get as far as my grass fire in Arizona (9,000 words). I’m making good progress on my book. I just don’t want to get bored with working on it.
There was rain this morning, then the early afternoon cleared up, and then later in the afternoon the thunder and rain returned. After so long, the rainy season finally feels like the rainy season.
September 14
Life in the jungle: First thing, I worked on Chapter 3 – America the Beautiful. After feeding the chickens, I did some cleaning of the chicken coops, and then slaughtered a rooster.
Before lunch, I took my mandatory Sunday nap. After lunch, I watched another podcast on fasting. I have been intrigued by fasting for a few months now. Last Sunday, I watched my first podcast on fasting, with a new one this week. – https://youtu.be/MrjIXLQ_OdA?si=jPHX4wN0-0RLzos3
There was rain in the night, last night, and a tiny bit in the afternoon. There was no rain this evening, but it looked like it wanted to.
Passion flower vines growing on my fence
September 15
Life in the jungle: This morning, I continued working on my American book chapter. There was some rain in the night, but this morning the sky cleared for most of the day. For me, that was a good reason to head to the village for groceries. I haven’t left the farm in some time. I saw a young Black-tail cribo snake on the road
After breakfast, I headed to the ponds with a chainsaw to continue cutting up my downed coconut trees I started the other day. Towards the end of the day, the weather returned. This surely feels like the rainy season.
Andy’s making progress getting his hot pepper posts filled with dirt
September 16
Life in the jungle: I’m not sure when the rain started last night, but it was raining pretty good when I got up at 4 AM. I posted my Jungle Lifestyle Discipline post to the Belize Facebook groups this morning. I was extremely frustrated to discover that barely any groups shared my Jungle lifestyle Guide last week. This caused me to inquire via ChatGPT. There is a small possibility that Facebook’s algorithms and spam detectors may be a factor. To me, this is beyond bizarre. I will have to see how this week’s share goes.
Because the rain wouldn’t stop, I couldn’t feed the chickens until after 7 AM. Back indoors, I couldn’t find motivation to work on my book or anything, so I posted blogs as I am able to turn my mind on autopilot for that job. I posted Belize blog Parts 179 and 180.
Things looked like they were clearing, and I had new outdoor plans. But after breakfast, the weather returned, and the internet went out. That kind of messed with my afternoon momentum. Eventually, the weather cleared. I vacuumed and cleaned up the small tool room underneath the house. I also did some minor work to properly enclose the room. I still have a little more work, but soon enough, the room will be ready to store wine. Last week, Andy and I decided to add wine to his hot sauce business. Before dark, I also repaired my front gate.
September 17
Life in the jungle: I shared my bike tour post Bike Touring by Yourself or with a Partner to a few Facebook bike groups, but not many, to test my issues with the algorithm. The sky was miserable all day. In the interest of keeping close to the house, I worked on and cleaned my gutters. I also replaced a twenty-foot section of gutter that got damaged when I put the new section of roof on earlier in the year.
After breakfast, I had a video chat that might result in a YouTube collaboration. Nothing huge or major, but I haven’t done a YouTube video since my bike ride. So, I am excited about the possibility. Stay tuned!
I then continued to clean gutters until dark and in the rain.
This morning, I caught a Black-tail Cribo making his way through my yard.
Glossary of Terms
Glossary of words or people that may or may not be part of this particular 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 parents’ 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 at the end of 2023. When I offered Andy 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.
