January 11
Life in the jungle: I continued working on the Belize chapter of my book. This morning, I mostly mapped out the 42 pages already written. Chapter 1 lays out my world before my bike ride, and the next three chapters are fairly chronological with my bike ride, but my Belize chapter is all over the place.
I worked on that until Joe from across the river came by with dragon fruit plant cuttings. My day then shifted to the greenhouse for the rest of the morning and a bit after lunch. I prepped the cuttings and also transplanted some Mallay apple seedlings.
I did get a little reading on my book, which I started a few weeks ago, until I got sleepy enough for my Sunday nap in the hammock. No rain today.
I was pretty excited to recieve these this morning – Dragon fruit cuttings
January 12
Life in the jungle: First thing, I wrote Belize blog Part 201, and posted Belize blog Part 198. I then headed to the village to drop off eggs and get a sack of chicken food. These are the times that I miss Andy around the farm. Too many trips to the village.
On the way home, I broke an important rule and was caught daydreaming. I basically biked past a large, gorgeous Blacktail Cribo snake fresh out of a shed. It’s extremely important not to daydream while travelling on my road because it takes a jaguar or mountain lion less than three seconds to cross the road, and if you are zoned out for even two seconds, it’s too late.
After a late breakfast, and for the afternoon, I cut grass at the ponds. Got mounds 2 and 3 finished.
Every time I go down my road, I see jaguar and/or mountain lion tracks
January 13
Life in the jungle: I shared my Frustration: It Will Make You or Break You in the Jungle blog post to Belize Facebook Groups. I was frustrated to discover that a large number of groups did not approve my A House Is Not an Asset in the Jungle blog post. I don’t understand how this happens so randomly and with numerous groups at the same time. It’s like a conspiracy.
Because of some rain in the forecast, I spent almost the whole day doing housework. Later in the afternoon, I did some exterior caulking of the new cabanas.
January 14
Life in the jungle: Same as yesterday, I continued to share my Frustration post and discovered that most groups did not share my house is not an asset post. My assumption is that Facebook has flagged my post as spam. Which drives me utterly crazy that Facebook is identifying my Belize content URL link as spam to Belize Facebook groups, considering how much utter crap is already on Facebook. I also worked on the Belize chapter of my memoir.
After breakfast, I painted primer paint on the cabanas all afternoon. There were a few weird clouds in the sky, but no rain.
January 15
Life in the jungle: First thing, I continued working on the Belize chapter of my memoir. Paul finally released Episode 2 of our show on Snakes and Coffee. I was hoping it would have been released closer to the first episode, but all good. Before breakfast, I headed to the village to drop off some eggs and get groceries.
I almost painted again today, but chopped on the road instead. The last mile of my road was extremely overgrown with vegetation and grass over 15 feet tall. The vegetation was so tall and thick in places that you could barely get through the road. I can never let the road get this bad again. I caught a blacktail Cribo snake and got rained on coming home.
I planted my Dragon fruit cuttings
January 16
Life in the jungle: I continued working on my Belize chapter. It’s a tough chapter, but slowly, I’m making progress. After breakfast, I did another episode with Snakes and Coffee with the Blacktail Cribo snake from yesterday. We ended up talking longer into the early afternoon.
I feel a little guilty, but I did take a nap in the hammock. The last part of the afternoon, I also did some yard work Including adjusting my bike brakes. On Sunday, I’m planning to do a bit of a bike ride to Lemonal (further up the road), past Bermudian Landing, towards Issabella Bank, and then left as far as the pavement goes to Lemonal. I’m a little nervous as my bike rear derailleur is on its last leg.
Black Tail Cribo Snake
January 17
Life in the jungle: My allergies usually act up in the mornings; they were particularly bad this morning. Mornings continue to be cool (17-19°C). I needed a break from my Belize chapter, so I posted Belize blog Parts 199 and 200. I still can’t believe I have so far written 200 blog posts of daily Belize journals.
I then started working on my Month 5 Belize jungle lifestyle post, written mainly for Google ranking, called – How to Thrive and Be Self-Sufficient in the Belize Jungle.
I lacked motivation after breakfast, so I painted a fair bit of the first coat of exterior paint on both cabanas. When laziness hits, the best thing for me is a repetitive menial task. I just sort of go on autopilot, and before I know it, my day was productive. Later in the afternoon, I did yard work until dark.
January 18
Life in the jungle: I worked on How to Thrive and Be Self-Sufficient in the Belize Jungle. I took a slightly earlier breakfast and headed to the village to drop off eggs and do a bike ride up to Lemonal.
While I have been to Isabella Bank, I have never gone left from Isabella Bank, ever. The other side of Bermudian Landing to Isabella Bank and Lemonal is very different from my side of the river. Pine trees and scrubby areas, where the trees don’t grow nearly as tall. I biked 45 kilometres, but it’s 20 kilometres to the end of the road from my house. Two notes of interest: I saw an acorn woodpecker. The first and only time I have ever seen them was on my bike ride at Copper Canyon in Mexico, and I heard but didn’t see a Green Jay. I’ve never seen them before. I heard it in the bush, but there was no way for me to enter easily.
On the way back, it took about a 2-kilometre ride down Texas Road until the road got too rough. It’s the closest road to my road, but in all my years in Belize, I’ve never been down it. Halfway down my road on the way home, I got absolutely soaked in a rain shower. I’m a little tired but not bad considering I bike 45 kilometres.
On the road to Lemonal
Where the pavement ends
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 Life in Belize blog post.
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 rainy season starts around June 1 and goes until the end of the year. It seems June, November, and December are the wettest times of the year.
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.
I arrived at my home on November 25, 2021, by bicycle from Canada. I have journaled my daily adventures every day since. Since I have arrived, I have built a 1,000 sq-ft shade cloth greenhouse, a tiny apartment that I refer to as my greenhouse apartment. I also started and am close to completion of two small cabanas that I refer to as my smaller cabana and my larger cabana. The apartment and cabanas are for visitors and people wishing to move to my farm. I’m also getting close to completing an additional 1,600 sq-ft shade cloth greenhouse.
