I can’t believe that I have now written 200 individual blog posts about my daily life experiences here in Belize. That being said, I have written over 250 blog posts in the last four-plus years about Belize, my life here, jungle lifestyle, and its flora and fauna.
December 24
Life in the jungle: First thing, I published my Reptiles, Amphibians, and Arachnids of Belize: A First-Hand Jungle Wildlife Guide. The post was finished last week, so I basically just had to hit the publish button. I then worked on the Belize chapter of my memoir.
After feeding the chickens, I put the last coat of paint on the (kitchen) cabana bunk bed. I spent the rest of the day washing/whipping down Andy’s apartment. I got the job about 95% complete.
December 25
Life in the jungle: Heavy rain started at 4 AM, and then the power went out at about 4:45 for about an hour. There was little to do in the dark but nap in the hammock, which made for a motivation killer once the power did return. I started to write Belize blog Part 199.
Andy’s bunk bed and the section of wall the bed is against never got painted in the haste of him originally moving in almost two years ago. I painted a coat of primer paint over all of that until early afternoon.
In the afternoon, I headed up to the village. Every Christmas, Jamie invites me to the Moodys for something to eat. On the road, I saw a Tiger Rat snake, a Rosetta Spoonbill, and a Wood stork.
No rain today, and I was in bed by 7 PM.
December 26
Life in the jungle: I continued working on my Belize chapter book. I think this will be my toughest chapter to complete, as there are many aspects that are repetitive, and I need to slowly, slowly edit that out. There was more rain this morning.
After feeding the chickens, I worked on painting Andy’s apartment most of the day. Later in the afternoon, I started working on the (newest) cabana kitchen counter.
In the evening, I did a little research on a potential book cover for my memoir. I’m not sure how, but the first cover that ChatGPT gave me is what I think is the perfect cover.
I’m thinking this will be my memoir book cover
December 27
Life in the jungle: There was rain throughout much of the night. Again, I worked on my Belize memoir chapter. After feeding the chickens, I again painted in Andy’s apartment.
I finished building the newest cabana kitchen counter and realized that I forgot to build ladders for the (kitchen) cabana and newest cabana bunk beds, so I built them also. More rain today.
The river is getting close to flooding its banks
December 28
Life in the jungle: I worked on my Belize chapter, but am hampered because of no internet connection. I did a little cleanup outside, a little touch-up painting in Andy’s apartment. I still have some more touch-up paint in the apartment, but the main painting (bunk bed and wall section behind the bed) is done. I took my Sunday nap, but I don’t think I slept much. After lunch, I decided to read. I need to read more. I think I need to start dedicating more of my Sundays to reading.
A tiny bit higher
I read the first five chapters of Half the World Away, a 27,000 km bicycle journey from Alaska to Argentina, by Ian Lacey. I have made a few attempts to read this book in the past, never getting to chapter 5.
The interesting part about this book and story is that I actually met this guy during his bike tour on my very first bike tour in 2011, when I was doing my northern and western Canada bike ride. We crossed paths in Watson Lake, Yukon. He and his bike tour partner had just come from Alaska and were continuing down the ALCAN Highway, and I headed south down the Cassier Highway. In his book, he talks about meeting other cyclists in the US that I had crossed paths with on the Cassier Highway section on my ride.
His book reads like literary realism. How anyone can recall so much detail every day for weeks and weeks and use as many adjectives as they do is not my style of writing. It’s a popular and expected format for writing this kind of book. For myself, I find that when people write so descriptively about their experience(s), I still find it hard to picture what they experience, and I have been in many of the places they describe in their book.
A rare day of blue skies and no rain.
A book I have started reading
December 29
Life in the jungle: I woke up to no internet this morning. For over a week, I have been experiencing regular and numerous internet outages. This is frustrating at the least; there is very little I do in front of the computer that does not require a connection. I worked on writing this specific blog post.
With all the painting done in Andy’s apartment, I re-set up the bunk bed. I then built two bathroom shelves (for each of the two latest cabanas) and built a bookcase for the newest cabana. I also started painting primer on them.
There was only a short light rain shower today.
Starting to go down
December 30
Life in the jungle: First thing, I worked on a new blog post that will be called Frustration, It Will Make You or Break You in the Jungle. And, I did a bit of painting in Andy’s apartment, painted shelves and ladders. After breakfast, I cut and placed marly (vinyl) flooring in Andy’s apartment. Except for a small area of painting, everything is done in his apartment.
I then cleaned some remnants of Andy’s mess in the greenhouse. There was only one short rain shower today.
The greenhouse apartment bunk bed painted and marly laid
December 31
Life in the jungle: I continued working on my frustration post. Then, some minor painting and clean up. After breakfast headed to the village to deliver some eggs and pick up groceries. The mud on the road stopped me in my tracks, causing me to fall, but somehow, I didn’t break any eggs. I can’t believe how bad the road got this year, from Andy going up and down it every day for four weeks. I did some more painting when I got home.
I realized, coming into the New Year, I need to re-label a few things now that Andy has been gone for about a month already. Andy’s apartment is now the greenhouse apartment. Andy’s kitchen cabana is now the smaller cabana, and the newest cabana is now the larger cabana.
I was in bed by 8 PM, but didn’t fall asleep right away.
Getting the greenhouse cleaned up & organized
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.
Top-Gallon – The local term for when the Belize River floods its banks during the rainy season.
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.
