June 1
Life in the jungle: I couldn’t believe it. I left the chicken coop door open last night and nobody was eaten. Orlando called me first thing this morning. His wife had set three pullets (young hens) aside from me. So, I biked up to the village to retrieve them. While at his house I was able to secure a critically endangered Central American River Turtle shell from him. I noticed a nice-looking shell on the ground. I figured preserving the shell was better than the shell becoming a dog dish. Unfortunately, Orlando regularly eats these turtles and sells the meat.
A critically endangered Central American River turtle shell
The rest of the day turned into a complete gong show. The internet guys finally showed up to install my internet tower at 12:45 PM! Largely because the guy in charge of the tower installation came from Belmopan. And then they came with no tools to install the tower. We had to wait for other guys to bring a safety belt! Who comes to install a tower without a safety belt?! Then those guys left (???). And then the installer couldn’t even get the third of six sections installed without help. So, they had to call the other guys back! Only then did things start progressing smoothly. The installation of the tower was not actually completed because of this idiot installer couldn’t get his shit together. They have to come back tomorrow anyway to pull the radio off the house and install it on the tower. (The radio was installed on a pole on the house from their first attempts to get an internet connection.) If they just arrived at a reasonable time this morning. If the other guy had just stayed and helped from the beginning, I would actually have an internet connection right now. I have never witnessed or been stuck in the middle of such incompetence in my life. I am quite pissed by all of it. [Little did I realize that would only be part 1 of this gong show.]
Before they arrived, I finished the last section of painting the apartment. The apartment exterior is now complete (except for the trim. Whenever that gets installed). While the internet guys did their thing, I moved all my 190 made patio stones to inside the greenhouse. 700 stones still need to be made. It was a “feels like” 111 F today. Lots of thunder tonight.
Internet tower installation
June 2
Life in the jungle: The internet guys showed up this morning before I could mix my cement for more patio stones. This was a shock as they had never arrived before 1 PM and usually closer to 3 PM. I learned a few things. The guy who had to come back yesterday to help put up the tower is actually my closest neighbor Jamie as he lives directly across the river from me. Jamie is Joseph’s kid. And Joseph is one of the guys who helped me build my greenhouse last year. Jamie is only a contract worker for this company. He actually works for all the internet companies that have towers in this part of the country. Without Jamie coming to save the day yesterday I would not have a standing tower.
So, it was Jamie and another guy who was not part of my tower installation who showed up to officially connect me to my signal today. And that’s when I found out some more information that flipped me off pretty good. The quote to install the tower yesterday was $250-300 USD. Even after all of yesterday’s bull shit, I ended up paying $300 because he now had to pay his “helper” Jamie. Jamie confided in me that this asshole only gave him $10!!! When Jamie said something to his boss, his boss gave him an extra $15! I was frigin furious. I was livid. Every time I think these people can’t piss me off more. I am so sick of the shadiness of these people. You can’t trust ANY of them! When I handed the kid an extra $25, he wouldn’t even take it.
Thanks to Jamie Madrill for making a internet connection a reality.
At 1:26 PM local time, after 18 and half months, with 7 and half months [of mostly] waiting on this company in the village I now have an internet connection.
I have made arrangements with Jamie to return privately to finish installing the missing u-clamps, nuts, and bolts that still need to be installed to complete the tower installation. These were all jobs that should have been completed by the installer yesterday. I am happy to pay Jamie as it will help compensate him for being screwed yesterday.
Two and half hours after I got my connection, I got a message from Johnathan (the guy in charge of the installation) wanting $2,500 USD for organizing the tower installation! I am at a total loss of words. Jonathan is the internet company’s owner’s brother and has always talked and walked like he manages the company. Assuming these assumptions are correct my mind right away goes to, did I just lose my entire future in this stupid country? How does this play out? Of course, I am not paying. But if I don’t what happens to my connection? Or does my house get broken into or burned down in retaliation?
I wasn’t really in the mood for any more work after those messages. Until I realized there was likely a rain shower this evening. I had gotten everything ready for a cement mix this morning before the internet connection. I realized I better finish this mix. The rain started even before I finished making the patio stones.
With an internet connection, this evening I updated my laptop updates that were desperately needed. I think it’s been over a year since my laptop was connected to the internet. It took me three hours to update my internet protection due to technical glitches. I am at a complete loss for words with everything that has gone down today. A complete loss of words. Eighteen and half months of pure 100% bull shit dealing with all this.
A Royal Palm tree growing in my front yard
June 3
Life in the jungle: Because of yesterday afternoon’s fiscal I got very little sleep last night. Jamie showed up this morning to finish up the tower. Which was technically supposed to be finished on Thursday. But first, I had to run up to the hardware store to get more nuts and bolts because Jonathan in his management abilities couldn’t even count how many nuts and bolts I needed but of course, he thought he deserved $2,500 USD even though the job was never finished.
Jamie finished the installation and all that’s left is to now ground the tower which is another job that Jonathan was supposed to make sure was completed but of course is not. I had no problem paying Jamie to finish the tower today as it was a chance to give him some money that he declined to take from me yesterday. Jamie will help me ground the tower and do regular tower inspections for me.
Jamie also wholeheartedly reassures me that my internet connection is not in jeopardy as a result of not paying Jonathan his imaginary consulting fee. And mentioned that Jonathan has no say in the company’s client’s connection. This makes me feel better about my situation but I will be on the anxious side until Monday when I go to the office to pay my (corporate standard) connection fee on Monday.
I spent a good part of the early afternoon talking with Jamie. The kid is only 19 but he has his head screwed on straight. It was probably the most intelligent conversation I have had in this country. As mentioned, Jamie is the son of Joseph who helped build my greenhouse last year. Joseph is one of my favorite Belizean.
For the most part, I accomplished nothing today. I am mentally exhausted. Late last night I reached out and sent a message to someone “to talk to” in an attempt to deal with some of the internal chaos inside my head from the latest attempt by someone trying to screw me over. After eighteen months of being so isolated and so many people trying to take advantage or screw me over the mental fatigue starts to become overwhelming. Historically I rarely reach out to someone for help as historically I am always dismissed. Every once in a while, I reach out to someone. I am not sure if it is to prove to myself my choice to avoid people at all costs or the need to go beyond my comfort zone by reaching out. It never occurred to me that this guy would dismiss me, but he did. Yesterday Jamie asked me if I ever get lonely back here by myself. I actually laughed out loud. Hell no, I hate people coming down my road.
Of Note: At this time I am currently 11 to 12 months behind in posting my Belize blog posts due to having no internet for the first 18 months of living in Belize.
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.
Orlando – Orlando is an older gentleman from the village. He’s the guy I call on when I need construction help because he is actually fair with me.
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. In my first 2 years of living in Belize, I also planted about 250 assort fruit tree seedlings (Lime, jackfruit, custard apple, pomegranate and avocado).
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.
