February 4
Life in the jungle: I started my day finishing my chicken coop with lumber that Saul brought yesterday evening. After lunch, I planned to start working on my book. I can’t remember when I worked on it last. But somehow, I ended up falling asleep in my hammock for the rest of the afternoon.
I was able to get my last 400 words of California Part 1 to finish Chapter 8 finished before I made supper. After supper, I started Chapter 9 California Part 2, and wrote until after midnight and was able to write 3,100 words and complete my first draft of California Part 2. (Sidenote- when I say write what I mean is I cut and paste my blog posts and attempt to edit out as much as I can out of the post and edit (rewrite) accordingly to bring the day’s events together).
A nice male Spiny tail iguana
February 5
Life in the jungle: Today is Sunday and spent the day reading and finishing the book called The Man Who Planted Trees. I started reading the book the other week while in Guatemala.
The Man Who Planted Trees
February 6
Life in the jungle: Today was a trip to the city. I need to get my front bike wheel adjusted for a third time. This time I am bringing my bike on the bus. What a pain. The front rotor is rubbing against the brake caliber and this guy can’t seem to position it properly without the whole bike coming in. While I am at it, I will get everything tuned up and cables replaced.
I ended up having to leave my bike with the shop. He doesn’t have time to finish the job today. I also ended up getting stuck in a very heavy rain shower at the far end of the city searching out water pumps. Within about 30 minutes almost all the streets were flooded with 3+” of water. I had no choice but to walk through the water. There was no way around the flooded streets.
Walking home down my road, I got a call from the internet company. They wanted to make sure that I was home so they could install my internet. After 14.5 months I wasn’t holding my breath but hopefully. Anyway, they came down my road and they worked over three hours trying to make a connection to one of three towers in the surrounding villages but right before dark they had to call it a day. We tried multiple options and directions. But no connection.
The new plan is they are going to install (or upgrade) the Isabella Bank tower tomorrow so it can send a single in my direction. And hopefully, they will have enough time in the day to finish my installation.
Will they be able to make an internet connection?
February 7
Life in the jungle: I started my day chopping in the coconut field. After breakfast, I started making a flower pot for my deck. On Monday I bought a bunch of used pails to use as pots and I have some cabbage palm wood offcuts to secure to the outside of the pail for esthetics.
I got a call from the internet guys. They arrived at 2 PM. For 2 hours we (I) swiveled the antenna around trying to pick up a signal. We (they) raised the antenna higher up. Now the antenna is about 55 ft off the ground (crazy high). Watching them put the pipe even higher than yesterday was a little crazy. In the end, we got a signal but with the heavy breezes the antenna was moving all over, they will now have to install guide wires to secure the antenna. I am not sure what the four guide wires are going to look like across my house. They can’t come back till Thursday. So still no internet.
After they left, I finished the flower pot I started and got a second one finished.
I would end up making 4 flower pots for my deck
February 8
Life in the jungle: I started my morning chopping in the coconut field and doing laundry. After breakfast, I took an hour in the hammock. I’m not sure if there is a better way to spend your time.
Eventually, I got myself in gear and headed to the village for groceries. On the road, I saw a Speckled Racer and I think I saw my first Tropical Rat snake (Spilotes pulatus). I only saw the tail end for a fraction of a second. I haven’t seen one since I arrived in Belize and have only seen a small handful of them during my past trips to Belize but have never been close to catching one.
February 9
Life in the jungle: I started my day chopping in the coconut field. After breakfast, I built two more flower pots for my deck. I was waiting for the internet guys to show up. And they didn’t. I laid down for an hour in the hammock. It’s so addictive. I returned to the coconut field this afternoon to do some chainsaw work and I was able to finish chopping the coconut field. Chopping in the coconut field this time was a fairly quick job this time around as it was just bushhogged the other day. Mostly I was inspecting all the seedlings and removing any vines growing on them.
A Ghost Anole
February 10
Life in the jungle: That third Speckled Racer snake that I caught the other week finally shed his skin. He was looking nice. I attempted to photograph him but after only a few photos he escaped from me. Pissed me off.
This morning I am back to writing my book and I wrote the whole day. I am starting and completed the first draft of the Nevada section of Chapter 9 of the book with 5,700 words. I also got 3,300 words completed or over half of my Utah section written.
No internet guys today. Pisses me off. As if waiting 14.5 months isn’t long enough to wait.
February 11
Life in the jungle: This morning there were some rain showers. I think there is an unwritten rule that during a rain shower, you hang in your hammock. I woke up at 10 AM. I decided that maybe it was another good day to write. I wrote 2,700 words and completed my Utah section. I then wrote 4,700 words for the Arizona section.
The internet guys showed up late this afternoon. Apparently, they raised the tower in Isabella Bank by 20 feet to help with a connection. In the end, they couldn’t get me a connection from any tower. They now have to reconsider options. I probably won’t see them again until mid-next week.
Still no internet signal
I got a ride out with them to get some groceries. The road is bad from this morning’s rain. And going out in the truck you really feel all the potholes and ruts and slippery mud compared to zig-zagging through on a bike. Heavy rain shower tonight. Not good for the road.
Belize Part 67 (Jan 29 to Feb 3)
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.
