February 23
Life in the jungle: I dragged my morning for a bit. I am physically tired from all the chopping and chainsaw work these last few days. I eventually did a little bit of chopping at the river lot. Then I painted the greenhouse until I ran out of paint. From there I went to the ponds to water my papayas. I also did a little bit of chopping there. Returning home, I chopped and did some chainsaw work at the river lot. Progress is slow going with all the Hurricane Lisa debris and deadfall.
But I did find a baby Fer de Lance! Man, I have been hoping to be able to photograph a Fer de Lance since I arrived in Belize. I have only seen two adults that were on the move in the coconut field. And it would also be near impossible to take good photos of adult Fer de Lance because of how dangerous they are. Finding this little guy makes everything worth it.
My first baby Fer de Lance – so deadly
February 24
Life in the jungle: I was planning to head to the city today, but I wanted to be around if the internet guys might finally show up. Of course, they didn’t. I am so pissed waiting on these people. It’s been 12 days!
It was a late start. I am tired, and when I got going, I had no painting supplies left. So, I spent the whole day chopping and chainsawing at the river lot. I had a top section of a tree fall my way but the longest branch hit the ground and knocked the tree to the side. But somehow, I smashed the tip of my thumb on the falling tree as it went to the side.
I finally got around to framing a painting done for me many, many years ago.
February 25
Life in the jungle: I intentionally did very little today. I am tired. I went to the village for groceries first thing. After breakfast, I burned two piles of brush at the river lot. And then I slept in my hammock for most of the rest of the afternoon. I couldn’t wait until Sunday my day off for a nap in my hammock. Later in the afternoon, I burned the cohune palm top that was lying at the bottom of my dried pond bottom. It was lying there from when I had the tree cut down due to legitimate concerns about where it would land if a hurricane blew it down. That being said, dropping the tree in the pond wasn’t the plan either. But better there than on my chicken coop or house.
Burning a tree top at the bottom of a dried up pond
February 26
Life in the jungle: Being Sunday I took my Sabbath and I did a little reading of The Year of the Turtle. Admittedly, I am not very motivated even to read. I did feel like writing so I wrote Belize blog posts parts 66, 67, 68, and 69. I also wrote 2,900 words for the Mexican chapter of my book. This evening, I received a message about hosting a fellow bike tourer through Warm Showers.
Still reading Year of the Turtle
February 27
Life in the jungle: I spent the entire day house cleaning except when I headed to the ponds to water my papayas.
February 28
Life in the jungle: An uneventful trip to the city. I needed paint and caulking tubes badly. On the way home I stopped at the feed store in the village and picked up six broiler chicks. I currently have three empty hen houses. In a few more weeks I will get another six chicks. For the rest of the afternoon, I did some yard work.
Broiler chicks
March 1
Life in the jungle: I started my morning chopping and chainsawing at the river lot. I actually finished my chopping at the river lot. I only have a tiny bit of chainsawing left but my chainsaw needs another tune-up. I then headed to the ponds to water my papayas and I also did some chopping there. The last part of my day was digging a trench to put a water faucet and water irrigation system for my watermelon greenhouse. I’m exhausted.
Mountain lion scat at the ponds
March 2
Life in the jungle: I spent the whole day building and installing an irrigation system for my watermelon greenhouse. After breakfast, I headed to the village for a few groceries and PVC pipe pieces for the irrigation system. My bike touring guest (via Warm Showers) arrived just before dark. Her name is Macarena and is from Chile and is biking from Mexico back home to Chile.
Installed an irrigation system for my watermelon greenhouse
March 3
Life in the jungle: Most of the day was spent giving Macarena a tour of the farm. I showed her the river, the coconut field, my largest Tubroos tree in the jungle, and then the ponds. Except for a short rest between visiting the Tubroos tree and visiting the ponds the tour filled most of the day.
March 4
Life in the jungle: I spent most of the day slowly moving my fruit tree seedling grow area from behind my house to beside my watermelon greenhouse. I need to start dealing with my (rear) rotting deck shortly and the seedlings are all in the way. I didn’t complete the job. In the afternoon I went to the ponds and watered my papayas. Macarena spent the afternoon in Bermudian Landing and visited Verna Mae. She asked to stay another night.
Two scorpions either fighting or courting
March 5
Life in the jungle: This morning the La Ruta Maya canoe race passed the house along the river. We (Macarena and I) sort of forgot that was happening this morning and never went to watch it from the river bank.
Macarena left at about 10:30 AM headed towards Chile. She was a great guest. By the end of each evening the first two evenings she stayed I went to bed with a sore throat from talking too much. Except for my friend Verna Mae in the village that I see perhaps twice a week for a short visit, I came to realize that Macarena is the first person I have had to talk to in 12 months since my guest Heath last year. Macarena was gracious enough to let me get 12 months of talking out (of my head). We obviously had the commonality of life on a bike but we seemed to be like-minded on many thoughts and experiences in life.
Two different colored blooms on my Desert Rose and a baby seedling Desert Rose
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.
