September 18
Life in the jungle: There was rain in the night, and it was still raining when I woke up. I posted my Bike Touring by Yourself or with a Partner blog posts to only a few Facebook bike groups to see if posting only to a few groups at a time helps my algorithm. I also organized some of my unedited short reels for this possible YouTube collaboration that was discussed yesterday.
With no clear direction of motivation, I went on autopilot and posted Belize blog Parts 180, 181, and 182. This technically has me 100% caught up to the end of August on my Life in Belize blog posts. I can’t start posting September’s blog posts until the end of the month, as I need to see and sort all of the month’s photos before posting blogs.
When the rain still hadn’t stopped by 8:30 AM, I fed the chickens in the rain. Returning inside, I wrote Belize blog Part 185.
After lunch, I finished cleaning the gutters I had started doing the other day. I then headed to the ponds with the chainsaw. I started working and finished clearing mound 3. I was also able to start and finish cutting and clearing on mound 2. So now, all the fallen (cut down) coconut trees that I cut back in May and June are finally removed.
This morning’s discovery at the ponds
September 19
Life in the jungle: First thing, I shared my Biking touring by yourself or with a partner post to a few Facebook groups. But my posts are still not being approved for sharing. This is extremely frustrating.
I then went with Andy to Belmopan. It’s his passport stamp day. My Permanent Residency card wasn’t available, which was no surprise. The main reason I went was to stop at the Lands Department to figure out if they could help me with my survey approvals. We arrived at the Lands department at 10:45, only to discover they were closing at 11 for the Independence celebration/ holiday. This country seems to have more holidays than Canada.
After getting home, I headed to the ponds with the lawnmower. I was able to cut mound 3 and get a start on mound 2. There was only some rain in the night and morning.
September 20
Life in the jungle: Fairly heavy rain started in the night and continued throughout the morning. I didn’t even get to feed the chickens until 8 AM. I’m not sure if it’s an oxymoron to get up at 4 AM, due to my morning routines, and then go lie in my hammock for about two hours. I was still tired, and I didn’t want my day to drag.
I did some research work on blogs, which resulted in my inspiration for my next Jungle lifestyle blog – dealing with the rainy season in Belize. I worked on the blog all day, finished and cut and pasted it to my website, and started SEO and AI optimizing the post.
My breadfruit tree is starting to produce some nice breadfruits
September 21
Life in the jungle: Today is Belize Independence Day. I started my morning working, completing and posting my Managing the Rainy Season in the Belize Jungle: Tips for Daily Life blog post. I didn’t mean to, but somehow, I got an idea and was inspired for my next blog post: – Exploring Belize’s Black Howler Monkeys. Because of the nature of the post, it was easier to compose, write, and post. Before bed, I came up with even another blog post idea!
There was some rain last night, but all day today has been clear.
September 22
Life in the jungle: I think it was about 3 AM when the rain started, and ended around 6 AM. This morning, I started a new jungle lifestyle blog called Creatures That Find Their Way Into Homes in the Jungles of Belize. It’s interesting because for months, I had trouble coming up with any blog ideas. There are many subjects that are jungle lifestyle oriented, stuff like building a house off-grid, or solar power, etc. But either I don’t have sufficient experience or expertise, or there are far better resources for that information than I. I don’t want to write about what I don’t have personal experience with, and I don’t want to create filler or unnecessary blog posts that are not helpful. But I do seem to be on some kind of blog roll now.
I spent the afternoon cutting grass at the ponds. I finished the middle mound, so that job is complete. I can’t even remember when the ponds looked this good.
At the end of the day, I decided to do a hurricane preparedness blog post and then a Fer-de-Lance snake blog post. I can’t seem to stop coming up with ideas.
September 23
Life in the jungle: I thought we might get a day without rain, but at 5:30 AM it started and continued all the way to almost lunch time.
I worked on my hurricane blog post. Later in the afternoon, I headed to the ponds to chop around trees. I got the first mound done, and a tiny bit of the middle mound started.
By bedtime, I had my hurricane blog post pasted into my website, photos picked, and SEO and AI optimized. I did not anticipate getting that far on the post today.
I was also able to confirm a fear that the blog posts being shared to Facebook groups were being flagged as spam. It took a little bit, but with the help of ChatGPT, I was able to figure out and have my website URL verified by Facebook. I’m nervous that this still might not be enough.
There was no more rain.
September 24
Life in the jungle: The sky was clear. I headed to the ponds and chopped mound 2. After lunch, I mixed some mortar and smoothed some spots on the floor in the new future wine cellar under the house. I also filled two gaps in the floor of the greenhouse where the floor met the wall.
No rain today. I need to be working outside more, but I’m more motivated to write blog posts.
An internet photo of a Ruby Spotted Swallowtail butterfly.
This is what the caterpillars I found earlier in the week will turn into.
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.
