April 8
Life in the jungle: There was a ridiculous amount of rain last night. This morning, I headed to the city for supplies. On the way out, I came across a jaguarundi on my road. The road is an absolute mess from all this rain.
In the city, I found myself on North Front Street and noticed that the doors to Holy Redeemer Cathedral were open. Taking the opportunity to take a few photos brought back memories of bike touring through Mexico, where I photographed over 200 churches and cathedrals during that six-month portion of my ride. I really miss those days.
Holy Redeemer Cathedral
This evening, I started hand-pollinating my passion fruit blooms with a paintbrush. [This would result in a nice-sized production of fruit.]
April 9
Life in the jungle: After feeding the chickens this morning, I grouted the kitchen counter in the larger cabana. After breakfast, I spent the entire afternoon painting the cabanas. By the end of the day, I was pretty exhausted. No rain today.
This evening, getting out of the shower, I noticed a tail hanging out of my conch shell. It was a Green-headed tree snake.
April 10
Life in the jungle: I started my morning starting to post Belize blog Part 209. Later in the morning, Saul (from the village) arrived to start laying ceramic tile in both cabana showers. It was actually a very slow day that basically required nothing of me but watching him work. He’s coming back on Tuesday. Watching him work on this made me realize that having him do this job was a good decision. No rain.
Caban shower stalls
April 11
Life in the jungle: This morning, I published Belize blog Part 209 and started Belize blog Part 210.
After feeding the chickens, I did a bunch of prep work for painting. After breakfast, I painted for the afternoon, including the section of my house only reachable from on top of my roof and both cabanas.
The last part of the afternoon, I did a bit of work on my 60-foot passion fruit trellis, installing two wire cloth sections. It’s been a while since I did a little work on that trellis. Again, no rain.
April 12
Life in the jungle: First thing, I published Belize blog Part 210. After feeding the chickens, I continued with my new Sunday morning routine of sitting on my riverbank for an hour in silence. Before lunch, I also took my Sunday morning nap. My afternoon was uneventful. At the end of the day, I bagged 35 planting bags for mahogany seeds. Again, no rain today. Possibly the dry season has officially started – three months late.
The Belize River bank this morning
This evening on my Merlin App
April 13
Life in the jungle: There was a tiny bit of rain in the night and a rain shower at 5 AM. I wrote Belize blog Part 211. After feeding the chickens, I planted 20 lemon and 35 lime seeds in seed bags. Then I headed to the village to drop off eggs, pick up groceries, and some construction materials.
After lunch, I headed back up my road and did some roadside chopping in some overgrown areas in an attempt to stay on top of jungle growth. Before it got dark, I planted 30 Mahogany seeds in bags.
April 14
Life in the jungle: This morning, I shared my Belize’s Snakes: An Essential Guide post to Belize Facebook groups. Saul returned to continue working on the shower floors (ceramic tiling). I spent the day working on assorted jobs, including painting, caulking, cleaning the second greenhouse floor, and cutting grass.
Seedlings in the greenhouse are looking nice & clean
April 15
Life in the jungle: First thing, I wrote Belize blog Part 212. After feeding the chickens, I spent the morning finishing some trim work on the smaller cabana. There was a short rain shower.
After breakfast, I cut the grass around the house and did a little painting. I’m officially finished with the painting from the top of the house that should have been done last year. I spent the last part of the afternoon chopping and cleaning the sides and around the greenhouse expansion floor. Around the house, is looking pretty cleaned up.
April 16
Life in the jungle: I spent all morning house cleaning in preparation for a guest, and then the guest cancelled at the last minute. The part that had me frustrated is that the cancellation was only after I reached out to him about an update on his arrival, and the reasons given were not last-minute reasons.
Saul showed up and grouted and finished the two showers in both cabanas. Compared to the kitchen counters I had recently completed, tiling a shower base was far beyond my pay grade. Having him do this job was one of the best decisions this year so far.
I also got in a tiny bit of painting, and there was also a short and light rain shower. For some reason, I was utterly exhausted and was in bed at 7 pm.
Cabana shower stalls completed
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April 17
Life in the jungle: First thing, I wrote Belize blog Part 213. After feeding the chickens, I headed to the village to deliver eggs, pick up broiler chicks, and get groceries.
This morning, I had two separate but amusing experiences. One guy on the main road and another guy at the shop asked me if I had seen any snakes lately. Neither of the people I recognized.
After breakfast, I painted a little, cleaned, and caulked the shower stalls. In the last part of the afternoon, I partially dug around the (greenhouse) apartment septic. Over a year ago, I discovered it was leaking. I put in a compost toilet outside the apartment, but I want to attempt to fix the septic by enclosing the drain pipe in concrete. It didn’t take much digging to reach water. I now need the water to dry up first.
The bizarre thing is that over a year ago, when I dug into the ground less than two feet from the septic tank, instantly “black” water surfaced – as in sewage. Digging away the dirt surrounding the septic, the water is clean. At the same time, there is no reason why there is water to begin with. We are in the dry season, and the hole is only a bit more than a foot deep. [Over three weeks later, waiting for the water to disappear, the water still remains. Almost like magically, there is a spring where the leach pipe is. All my yard ponds are dried up, but right beside my septic system, which hasn’t been used in over a year, has water about a foot and a half down!]
Green-headed tree snakes are common this month
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.
