April 24
Life in the jungle: I had a dream last night and a girl from my teenage social circle made a very brief appearance. That inspired a quick morning poem called l should have told you.
From there I went to the ponds for a few hours of work. After breakfast, I finally got back to installing Cabbage wood along the back deck. I don’t know why I am so unmotivated by this job. Mostly it’s just pulling all the tools out that I actually need for this job. But once I get going it’s all good. There were a few brief intermittent rain showers today but other than that it was good weather today.
Bamboo & Cabbage wood comparison
April 25
Life in the jungle: Due to a late start this morning I didn’t bother heading to the ponds. I went straight to installing the cabbage wood along the deck. I ended up with enough cabbage wood to actually do another unplanned section at the back of the house. This required a trip to the hardware store for some more framing lumber. By late afternoon I was actually finished the cabbage wood project. I have replaced the bamboo skirt around the front, side and back of the house. Technically I have one whole side of the deck to complete. But that will be for another time way into the future.
I had just enough time to make a second trip to the hardware store for more lumber. Tomorrow, I plan to build a shelf for all the tools and supplies I have been accumulating in the past months. I got home in the dark and by the time I had my seedlings watered, it was 7 PM.
April 26
Life in the jungle: As per my usual, I started my morning working/cleaning at the ponds. But I think this will be my last morning there for a bit.
After breakfast, I built a storage shelf from the lumber that I picked up yesterday. After this main shelf system was built and placed in the storage room, I built 2 more shelves with scrap leftover lumber that has accumulated over the last few months. Now I just need to buy a few plastic totes and everything will be complete and organized. Perfect weather today.
New tool room shelves
April 27
Life in the jungle: I have no idea how to categorize this day. The rain woke me up last night but I didn’t realize how much it rained until I woke to the rain this morning.
I biked down a very wet and soggy (muddy) road. Getting to the village I realized I left my phone at the house. Of all days, the day I have an appointment to be interviewed at the Labor Department in Belmopan for my work permit I forget my phone and it’s raining. By the time I biked back to the house was back at the village and bus stop I was completely soaked in sweat. Not a good look for a meeting. Luckily, I brought a change of t-shirt and deodorant.
Getting to Belize City and grabbing a bus to Belmopan I was in Belmopan by 10:30 AM. At 11:30 AM my paralegal called letting me know that he just got off the phone with the Labor Department and was informed that a meeting was not necessary anymore. For some reason when I went to the Labor Department in Belize months ago to inquire about why I was getting emails about an incomplete application my case worker documented our meeting. And then my “new” case worker deemed that meet sufficient. Even though this was NOT an interview for my permit. But also, supposedly now that I have a corporation in Belize, I supposedly become automatically qualified for my work permit. Of course, I am still waiting for my corporation papers to be put in my actual hands. [Ultimately all this would be some kind of scam that I would never actually get to the bottom of.]
Golden Shower trees in Belmopan
By the time I got back to Belize City I now had to wait 2 1/2 hours for the village bus home. So, I took a bus out to Ladyville to see if there was any news on an internet connection for my house. After 5 months there is still no news on an internet connection, not even an estimated timeline.
The whole day was on and off rain. What a weird “dry” season. Saul from the village dropped off 100 of my 140 ordered fence posts this afternoon. I guess that is good news as I have been waiting for these posts since the beginning of February. Today was a very long day. I am taking tomorrow off.
New fence posts
April 28
Life in the jungle: As planned I am taking today easy. I started my morning with laundry and pancakes. I then designed a layout plan for my future greenhouse for Derrick to figure out the materials. I am planning a 24 ft x 40 ft greenhouse in front of the house. I am very interested in getting into aquaponics and starting my tree planting dream. I simply can not move forward in this country without a greenhouse.
Tool room complete
Last year for my 48th birthday I wrote a blog called 48 of the coolest places I have visited in my lifetime. This morning I wrote or I should say I adjusted last year’s birthday blog post to 49 of the coolest places I have visited in my lifetime. I have no idea when I will ever be able to post that post with no internet connection.
I was attempting to take a nap later in the afternoon but I got a call from Saul and biked up to the village to pay for the fence posts he delivered yesterday. I also discovered a new bird’s nest in one of the eavestroughs less than 10 ft from the yellow-tailed oriole nest. This nest is from a Social flycatcher.
Yellow-tailed oriole nest to the left. Social flycatcher nest to the righ
Yellow-tailed oriole / Social flycatcher – random photos off the internet
In the evening I edited all my Belize photos since my last camera dump.
April 29
Life in the jungle: I did nothing this morning. I sort of forced myself to do nothing. I spent time wondering what my life in Belize all this is about. I am trying to wrap my mind around my current life situation.
After breakfast, I was planning to write blog posts but I was motivated to do some chopping in the coconut field. From there I found myself weed wacking around the house and yard. From there I did a little organizing of my seedlings. I ended up quickly planting 100 papaya seeds in the seed trays that I seeded 100 watermelons in the other week. The spiny tail iguanas had eaten all the baby watermelon plants on me and the seed trays were sitting there with dirt in them and nothing growing. Whatever was eating my papaya plants last week seemed to have stopped. Hopefully, they will regenerate all their leaves quickly.
At the end of the day, I staked the perimeter and layout of my future greenhouse in the front yard for a visual judgment. The plan calls for a greenhouse 24 ft x 40 ft with a separate attached 12 ft x 8 ft front room working space. I think it will fit nicely. I then staked out an additional “greenhouse” that won’t actually be a greenhouse but a raised, enclosed wire cloth garden for watermelon and cucumbers. Watermelon and cucumbers need to be pollinated by bees. This is a little hard for me in an enclosed greenhouse. Also, the iguanas keep eating all my watermelon plants. I currently buy a watermelon every week in the city (almost $5 USD and it’s heavy to lug around). If it was up to me, I could probably eat/drink 3+ watermelons a week.
I ended up going to bed far later than usual as I was writing out my thoughts and challenges about “ambition.” My thoughts on paper have actually been turned into a blog post that can be read HERE.
My cashew tree produced fruit this year. [I can report that due to lack of rain I would get no fruit in 2023.]
Belize Part 22 (April 13 to 23)
Belize Part 21 (April 5 to 12)
Glossary of Terms
Glossary of words or people that may or may not be part of this blog post. This glossary will be at the bottom of every blog post for Belize.
Jack & Jill – These are my ex-property managers (names changed). They are Canadian, they introduced me to Belize in 1997, sold me their house in Belize in 2003, and rebuilt my house from 2014 to 2018. I have known them for over 30 years. After almost 20 years of me supporting their life here in Belize Jack decided quite unexpectedly to declare “war” on me right before Christmas 2021. They would end up stealing my business license and causing me a lot of grief. They live on the farm, but not on my land.
Wayne – He is the son of the original owners of the farm (both owners are deceased). The original farm was 2 – 30 acre pieces minus 2 – ¾ acre parcels for my house and 2 – ¾ acre parcels that Jack & Jill own which were all originally purchased from the original owners. In 2017 Wayne sold me 40 acres of land from the original 60 acres (30 acres plus 10 acres). Wayne lives in his parent house and has a few cows on his remaining 17 acres of land.
The ponds – I have 2 large (300ft long x 50ft wide x 10ft deep) ponds on my 30 acre parcel of land which is basically jungle. I have about 60 coconut trees (mostly mature) around the ponds. I have plans to plant a few hundred papaya trees here plus other fruit bearing trees around the ponds.
The coconut field – I have about 400 coconut trees planted (various growth states) on about 3 acres of cleared land of the 10 acre parcel. I plan to add various fruit trees to the same field as soon as I can.
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
The dry – Belize has 2 main seasons. The rainy season and the dry (no rain). The wet is obviously the rainy season.
Chopping – using my machete to clear brush and unwanted trees
