Yesterday I woke up to no power. I assumed that it was temporary. It wasn’t until later in the day that I realized that it was just me. By the time BEL came out and figured out the problem yesterday evening, it was too late to come down my road.
June 27
Life in the jungle: There was rain in the middle of the night, which is not good for my road if BEL is to show up. Inspecting my freezer this morning, it looks like most things in my freezer may still be salvageable. The power company showed up at about 8 AM. There was a bird nest on the transfer. After about 30 hours, I got power back. Just in time not to lose any of my food.
The last time I had a power outage like this was during Hurricane Lisa in 2022. This situation did reveal a few things I should do to make the experience a bit smoother.
After breakfast and the rest of the day, I planted 55 assorted trees in the coconut field (tamarind, lime, avocado, calamondin, bilimbi, Mally apple, jackfruit, and soursop) and 16 papayas around the yard.
A bird nest on the transformer
June 28
Life in the jungle: It was so nice to wake up to power this morning. I worked a little on my Canadian chapter of my memoir.
Being Sunday, I headed to the riverbank for my hour of meditation and silence.
Again, the neighbor was “striking” for Central American River turtles. I watched him successfully strike one. I was a little sick to my stomach. When I saw him last, two weeks ago, he had caught an adult female and was aware it was out of season to hunt. It made me wonder whether it’s another critically endangered animal being killed, a piece of garbage thrown into the ocean, or an acre of land being destroyed every minute of every day, and how the planet can sustain itself.
I also wondered about the human design. Before the fall, creation was in perfect harmony with itself. Humans are designed to move through their lives at a certain speed. Technology moves at the speed that it does, and then the destruction of the plant moves at whatever speed that it moves at. It feels like almost a miracle that we survive the day.
A huge tarpon surfaced only 25 feet in front of me.
I took my mandatory Sunday morning nap in the hammock. In the afternoon, I spent a little more time working on my Canadian chapter. After feeding the chickens and watering everything, I bagged some rambutan and mango seeds.
A Red-cheeked mud turtle
June 29
Life in the jungle: I wrote Belize blog Parts 222 and 223. I then headed to the village to drop off eggs and get groceries.
On the way home, my bike’s rear derailleur imploded. I had to push my bike partway home.
After lunch, I spent the rest of the afternoon planting seedlings along the riverbank and river lot. I planted 15 Spanish Cedar, Provision, and Rain trees.
June 30
Life in Belize: Shared my Do’s and Don’ts of Living in the Jungle: A Practical Guide for Belize Jungle Survival blog post to Belize Facebook groups.
After feeding the chickens, I returned to planting more trees in the coconut field until rain forced me inside. I worked on the Canadian chapter of my memoir until breakfast. After breakfast, I planted more trees until rain once again forced me inside. I continued with my Canadian chapter. After feeding the chickens, I got a few more trees planted. Today I got 28 trees planted.
The problem with the rain wasn’t so much the rain, but that it couldn’t maintain a grip on my machete.
I was able to finish my Canadian chapter, and my memoir is over 99% completed. I can’t believe it.
It’s been a while since I seen one
July 1
Life in the jungle: This morning, I discovered Saucy had a large number of ticks inside her ear. Ticks are always a problem, and I spray them semi-regularly, but this was bad. I had no choice but to go up to the village for the expensive medication.
This has been a tough couple of weeks. I’m already overwhelmed with work, I recently discovered my water tower has some rotten support beams, my lawn mower recently broke, my bike rear derailleur busted, an old tooth filling fell out, and now expensive dog medication.
After breakfast, I spent the rest of the afternoon planting 31 more trees in the coconut field and 22 more papayas around the house.
July 2
Life in the jungle: First thing I did was a little bit of work on my memoir, after feeding the chickens, I chopped in the coconut field. After breakfast, I cut the grass thanks to Saul bringing my lawnmower back yesterday afternoon. I cut grass all afternoon. It was exhausted by the end of the day.
A Shiny skink
July 3
Life in the jungle: First thing, I continued working on my memoir. I am obsessed with getting this thing finished. After feeding the chickens, I chopped in the coconut field. After breakfast, I went up to the village to drop off eggs and pick up broiler (meat) chicks.
This afternoon, I cut grass at the ponds. Mound 1, and more of the yard, were completed. It’s been hot all week, and I’m exhausted.
Every morning I wake up at 4 AM, and I do my best to work hard, efficiently, and productively, and every night I go to bed further behind in my work.
July 4
Life in the jungle: I continued working on my memoir, and then chopped in the coconut field.
After breakfast, I cut grass at the ponds, mound 2, and more of the yard was completed. I pretty much only have mound 3 to cut, and I’m completely finished with lawn cutting. Mound 3 can wait a week or two. In the last few days, I have cut more grass at one time than ever in my life. I was exhausted and was in bed by 7:45.
Pepper & Saucy
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.
