Last week was a very stressful week dealing with Belize Immigration. That blog post link is at the bottom of this post.
September 6
Life in the jungle: I slept in quite late this morning. It is what it is. I wonder if Belize as a lifestyle is too isolated for someone like me who simply wants to escape from people. I can’t help but wonder if my challenges are God’s way of saying “I can’t keep you here.” I can only hope that if that is the case, he gets me kicked out at the end of the month.
I moved my hen house from beside my house to beside my chicken coop. The problem was that it was this huge wooden box of a structure and (I think) it weighs at least 200 lbs. So, I moved it tipping it end over end the whole way.
A newly built and then moved hen house
I then planted watermelon and cantaloupe seeds in my watermelon greenhouse. I then planted 4 Indian lime seedlings,16 soursop seedlings and 4 local lime seedlings in the coconut field. That took longer than anticipated as I chopped around a bunch of the other seedlings planted over the last few months. It would seem like some of my chopping is eliminating some of the weed species but at the same time, the grasses are coming in so thick I have to search for the seedlings in the thick grass first before I swing my machete. I also think that some of my newer coconuts are suffering from too much rain this season. No rain today.
A newly planted soursop seedling
September 7
Life in the jungle: I slept like crap again last night. Too much stress. I sent a final warning to James (my paralegal) (again!!!) and threatened to do whatever it took to get my corporation papers including filing a complaint against him at the Attorney Generals office. Twenty minutes later I get a message from him that he is just getting all my messages now and his phone has been broken but now he is at the phone repair shop to drop his phone off. The mental fatigue is very heavy and only getting heavier.
Verna Mae is holding 2 hens for me. One hen is sitting on eggs the other hen’s eggs hatched last week. Today I worked on my hen house. I finally built a roof for it. I then started building nesting boxes in the main coop. She is going to want me to pick up those hens soon.
Mid-way through my day my web/social media guy sent me a pdf requesting me to fill out some kind of questionnaire or something to do with when I send him videos. To help define a call to action for the video we are doing. Internally I flipped. My call to action is to just survive the day right now. I have no call to action for these videos. I get he’s just trying to help me. I get that and he has no idea what I am dealing with right now. But the timing for this kind of request couldn’t have come at a worse time. It was more of an internal observation of how easy I can be set off right now.
There were howler monkeys in the front yard today and there was only one 20 minute rain shower today.
September 8
Life in the jungle: I finally slept well last night. After all, when you haven’t slept well in days eventually it catches up with you. Except I had to set my alarm for 6 AM to go to the city.
My entire day was 100% a waste of time. I walked all over the city in the hot heat looking for an internet cafe. It turns out there are no internet cafes left in Belize City. I found 2 places that had internet. The print shop and the library. I have used the print shop in the past; but at neither place could I upload any files for my work permit application. I have no idea what to do and am stressed right out. I am exhausted on all levels- mentally, physically and spiritually. No rain today.
Bird poop caterpillar
September 9
Life in the jungle: I went to bed at 7:30 PM last night. Even though I was tired I knew sleep would not come. But what else could I do? I had no appetite for supper, I couldn’t be bothered to watch anything (movies) on the computer and I already waste too much time on social media. So, I lay there in the dark until probably midnight. At about that time, it started to rain and rained all night.
Everything was wet this morning so I continued to write Chapter 3 of my book. James messaged me. He is attempting to get me a meeting with immigration in Belmopan on Wednesday. This could save me but I have learned from past experiences to not count on this happening. [And it didn’t.]
Some light rain today. I wonder if the rains will ever stop. Funny during the Dry I often wondered if the rains would ever come.
I finished the last part of writing Chapter 3 Quebec to Covid-19. The chapter’s first draft has 3,700 words. I then started Chapter 4 – Ontario – back on the road. I completed 3,800 words or over 90% finished Chapter 4 today never leaving the house.
I can hear the monkeys in the trees in my yard outside. Later when I hear them hollering, I am reminded that I truly live in a magical place.
September 10
Life in the jungle: I seem to have slept pretty good last night. At some point, it started raining again last night straight through until 11 AM this morning. I added 900 more words to complete my Chapter 4 first draft for a total of 4,700 words.
After lunch, I headed to the village for groceries. I didn’t feel like being indoors. So, upon my return, I organized and replanted some of the local limes that recently germinated. I had to double seed some bags as I had more seeds than planting bags a few weeks ago. So, I transplanted any double germinated bags. I had no idea the tap root for a lime seedling would be so long for such a tiny sprout.
Things are too muddy and wet to do much else. I raked up some leaves and then was motivated to build my roost for my chicken coop. I was able to build that on the front walkway at the bottom of my deck stairs allowing me to stay out of the mud.
September 11
Life in the jungle: I couldn’t sleep last night. I got out of my hammock at midnight and cleaned my kitchen and most of my windows until after 4 AM this morning. It rained again last night. I woke up at 12 PM today.
On social media, everyone is mourning the death of the queen from the other day. I searched and discovered that the royal family is worth $28 billion dollars. Where did all that money come from and what did they do to earn that kind of money? And why would everyone hate me on social media if I asked that simple question?
With a late start to my day, I started installing reinforcement rebar along the edge of my greenhouse floor base. This is to help prevent the cement blocks from pushing out over time. I got the job about half completed. It was also a good project to do given how wet everything is. If I am confined to working in a small area (such as a chicken coop) the area becomes a mud bath very quickly.
Installing rebar guides on my greenhouse floor
Belize Part 41 (Aug 24 to Sept 1)
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’s 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 an 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 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, vines, weeds and unwanted trees.
