October 24
Life in the jungle: I started my morning by basically sending my paralegal one last threat about producing my corporation papers and my deeds. The business registry office is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I told him I was going to Belmopan on Thursday which would include a visit to the Attorney Generals office to file a complaint about him. No more games, apologies, or excuses. That gives him tomorrow to get this figured out. I am so tired of wasting my life here. One year ago, I was leaving Mexico City. Two years ago, I was about to get on a plane to continue my ride into the US. [You have to love Facebook memories.]
I then chopped in the coconut field. It was hot this morning. I only completed about half of my usual amount of area covered. I checked the river level. It dropped a couple more feet. Low enough that it exposed my quick-release valve on my waterline.
I went up to the village for groceries. When I got back the river level had dropped further to the point that the quick release was almost exposed. With the quick release within reach, I could disconnect the pipe and connect a temporary one-way check valve so I could pump water and fill up my vat. Of course, this does not solve my waterline problem but temporarily solved running out of water.
From there I went up on my roof for some maintenance and prep work. Somewhere there is a leak during severe rain showers and a section of the second-floor exterior wall needs prepping for paint. No rain today.
October 25
Life in the jungle: Today I have been unemployed for 3 years now. I was told yesterday that I should stick my finger up my hen’s butt to feel for eggs. But when I tried to find the hole, I couldn’t find it (LOL, SMH). I started my morning in the coconut field. Afterward, it took me a little bit to get into gear. I realized that I have been neglecting to get my greenhouse painting completed. I spent most of the afternoon painting. The last part of the day was cleaning and prepping the top rear wall section of the house I was working on yesterday. No rain today.
Prepping this section of my house exterior for painting. A very inconvenient part of the house to reach.
October 26
Life in the jungle: I started my morning in the coconut field as usual but it was hot and I had trouble even gripping my machete for all my sweat. Needless to say, I did not complete my usual morning quota of area. But I am getting closer to finishing chopping the field.
Today was the first day I let my chicks out of their coop since the “topgallon” river flood over a week ago. I used up all my available black dirt and filled approximately 60 planting bags to plant more seeds (soon). I then started painting primer paint on my apartment windows this afternoon. I also painted primer on the section of my house that I am working on. The last part of my day was washing the last section of eavestroughing on the house. [Topgallon refers to the river flooding its banks.]
Yesterday I left the chickens cooped up all day to see if any of them would lay any eggs. Which they didn’t. Today I found an egg on my deck. I also found that lizard eater snake that I caught the other month in the chicken coop this afternoon. No rain today.
A lone chicken egg on my deck
October 27
Life in the jungle: I bussed it to Belmopan to attempt to get to the bottom of some of my year long outstanding problems. My first stop was the Business Registry office. I discovered that my ass hole paralegal never submitted my corporation papers after all this time. (!!!). Who goes through the trouble of putting together Articles of Association and Memorandum of Association, signs them as a witness and leads me along that he has submitted them for the last 5 months??? At this point I am not sure what the fall out or cost will be. For all intent and purposes this is basically a year wasted on getting this problem solved and fixed.
From there I went next door to the Attorney Generals office to inquire how to make a complaint against him as he is also a Justice of the Peace. I have to submit a letter. I guess writing this letter will be my therapy. I figured since I am in Belmopan I might as well get my passport stamp here and today instead of facing hell tomorrow in Belize City. My timing sucked as it would be 12 PM at my arrival at the immigration office – closed for lunch. I am convinced that based on this last years experience of a living hell that I lived I must have murdered many people in a past life.
A visit to the Attorney Generals office. A complete waste of time.
Anyway, to be wise with my time I had my corporation papers scanned onto a thumb drive as I will have to upload my corporate papers to the Business Registry website at some point. By the time my corporation papers were finally scanned lunch time was practically over. Except arriving at the immigration office, I got the impression that the cashier didn’t shut down for lunch.
My experience with Belize immigration was actually a shock to my system. The lady was nice and polite and she smiled. No stupid questions, no hard time, no hassle, no making me run around the city, and no accusations. I was in and out in 20 minutes. Leaving immigration, I actually came very close to breaking down in tears because my soul couldn’t handle someone being nice to it. What does it say about my world when a woman being polite to me almost breaks me?
I got stuck waiting for the 2:15 PM bus. Walking around for lunch I found one of those Spanish leather repair booths. They are everywhere in Mexico and I suspect the rest of Central America but I had yet to find one in Belize City. I was able to get my new belt that has already rusted (buckle clasps) repaired for $2.50 USD.
I arrived in Belize City at 3:30 PM. Just in time to purchase fruit and vegetables and catch the 4 PM bus back to the village. I biked home in the dark. No rain today.
October 28
Life in the jungle: I woke up at 2 AM this morning and insomnia hit. I never set my alarm for this morning. Who sets an alarm after a day like yesterday? During my sleepless hours last night, it occurred to me that I should just shut down my Airbnb. It’s not like it makes me money and ultimately, it’s a root cause of most of my headaches that I can control. The consideration is that I considered my Airbnb my “future” financial salvation.
I discovered this morning another chick is missing. Eaten by something. This is after I finished building a makeshift roof over the hen house coop. I thought I built the roof in a way to keep hawks out. The grief never ends.
I strung wire between the walls and the roof to deter hawks from flying into the coop. It still wasn’t enough.
My day was spent writing an over 3,000 word formal complaint to the Attorney Generals office against my paralegal. I am ultimately able to send such a letter to the Attorney Generals office as James also happens to be a Justice of the Peace which does fall under the Attorney Generals umbrella of responsibilities. [Of course, the letter wasn’t even acknowledged by the Attorney General’s office.]
I am a note-taker. I wrote down my pros and cons about shutting my Airbnb down this evening. The future of my Airbnb is not looking likely. No rain today, except for the briefest of showers this morning.
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 a 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.
