March 10
Life in the jungle: There was rain last night and even a little rain this morning. The first thing I worked on was updating and further SEO and AI optimizing my Exploring Belize’s Black Howler Monkeys blog post.
After feeding the chickens, I worked on my greenhouse, and after breakfast, I headed to the village to get a few pieces of lumber. On the way up, I caught a boa!!!! I never caught a boa constrictor during the entire year of 2025, and this was the first one of 2026.
Returning home, I finished trimming the windows on the larger cabana, and I caught a Green-headed Mexican Parrot snake in the eavestroughs. The last part of the afternoon was spent doing more work around the greenhouse.
My first boa constrictor of 2026
March 11
Life in the jungle: First thing I continued working on my Howler monkey blog post. After feeding the chickens, I did a little work on my seed greenhouse, specifically building the door and then the seed pot shelves. [Later in the week, I would conclude that my old seed pot shelves are not practical, being built too heavy and cumbersome.]
Then I took a video chat that caused my breakfast to become lunch. When I finally headed outside, I did a boa constrictor video. I have been planning for well over a year to do a video on how to safely catch and remove a boa from a chicken coop instead of killing the snake, which is usually what happens. I then slaughtered a broiler (meat) chicken and then cut grass for the rest of the day.
March 12
Life in the jungle: I continued working and working longer than planned, but I completed the SEO and AI optimization improvements to my Exploring Belize’s Howler Monkeys blog post. After breakfast, I painted more of the larger cabana, and for the last part of the day, I did greenhouse and yard work.
I had just finished chopping/cleaning around the base of this Royal Palm when a frond dropped over 40 ft to the ground
March 13
Life in the jungle: This morning, I started by updating and SEO and AI optimizing my What I Wish I Knew Before Moving to the Jungle in Belize. After feeding the chickens, I headed to the city for my yearly teeth cleaning, even though I was four months late.
There was some more rain this morning, and in the city. This has been a crazy dry season so far with regular rainfall.
I was pretty tired getting home. Combining a 4 AM wake-up and spending the day in the city, it’s nothing short of exhausting. I ended up getting off the hook for further work as I took a last-second video chat from Canada.
March 14
Life in the jungle: Yesterday evening, Andy did me a favor and brought me this month’s chicken food; he also brought some beers. The beers were awesome, but the alcohol messed with my system and threw my day off.
I started my day by continuing to edit and update my What I Wish I Knew blog post. After feeding the chickens, I did some greenhouse work, including planting my first Dutchman pipe vine seeds.
Before lunch, I also did a Snakes and Coffee Show with a Green-headed Mexican Parrot snake that I caught in my eavestrough the other day. After lunch, I had no choice but to take a nap. After feeding the chickens at the end of the day, I slaughtered another broiler (meat) chicken.
I planted a bunch of Dutchman pipe vine seeds
March 15
Life in the jungle: I continued working on my What I Wish I Knew blog post. After feeding the chickens, I headed to the ponds and chopped Mound 1. After breakfast, I took my Sunday morning nap until I took a quick video chat with someone considering moving to Belize. The rest of my afternoon was uneventful, as my Sundays usually are, but I did do some YouTube research on germinating vegetable seeds.
Reflecting on the week, I found myself a little frustrated that, largely a result of sharing my Belize invitation post on Facebook, I spent too much of my time responding to people’s inquiries, which is, at the same time, a necessary evil. But it made me think that I really need to watch my minutes during the day and work a little harder and longer in my day. It would be an understatement to consider how behind I am in my workload.
I also wrote Belize blog Part 209.
My first papaya at my ponds
March 16
Life in the jungle: This morning, I continued editing and updating my What I Wish I Knew blog post. After feeding the chickens, I went back to the ponds and chopped and cleaned mound 2. After breakfast, I headed to the village to drop off eggs and get groceries.
I think today was one of the hottest days of the year so far. Exhausted from the heat, I still pushed through it and did some cleaning and a tiny bit of painting on the largest cabana. I ended the day doing greenhouse work.
One of my papayas by the house, and the main reason I try growing papayas – to feed the birds
March 17
Life in the jungle: I continued and finally finished editing my blog post What I Wish I Knew Before Moving to the Jungle in Belize. Man, that post took longer to update than anticipated.
After feeding the chickens, I continued chopping at the ponds. I only got about half of the third mound completed. I saw what I think is a Tawny-winged Woodcreeper. I see them every once in a while.
On the way back to the house, I took a quick side trip off the road to explore a large Cottonwood tree on my farm in the jungle. It turned out to be huge and is probably the oldest tree on my farm. I’m not sure why it took over four years to look for it in the jungle, seeing how I love trees.
There was rain after breakfast, and that messed with my day. I have no idea where this rain is coming from, seeing that we are technically well into the dry season. So, I started a new blog post part, a 12-month ultra-SEO and AI-optimized post called Adventures of Living in the Belize Jungle.
The largest and oldest Ceiba tree on my farm
My YouTube Channel – Safari Arie – Please Subscribe!
March 18
Life in the jungle: After feeding the chickens, I finished chopping the third mound at the ponds. The ponds are all chopped.
After breakfast, I finally started doing my ceramic tile work. I have two kitchen counters and two shower stall floors to do ceramic tile work on, but I have only done one other small ceramic tile project before, so I have a little bit of lack of confidence and have been pushing these jobs off for months.
I did the kitchen counter in the smaller cabana and cut the tile for the larger cabana. The job went okay, and I think the final look will be good.
Kitchen counter ceramic tile job in the smaller cabana
Glossary of Terms
Glossary of words or people that may or may not be part of this particular blog post. This glossary will be at the bottom of every Life in Belize blog post.
Wayne – He is the son of the original owners of the farm (both owners are deceased). The original farm was two – 30-acre parcels minus two – ¾ acre parcels for my house. In 2017, Wayne sold me 40 acres of land from the original 60 acres (one 30-acre parcel plus 10 acres from the second parcel). Wayne lives in his parents’ house and has a few cows on his remaining 18 acres of land.
Top-Gallon – The local term for when the Belize River floods its banks during the rainy season.
The ponds – I have two 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 two years of living in Belize, I also planted about 250 assorted 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 my 10-acre parcel. I have planted about 350 assorted fruit trees (lemon, starfruit, mango, soursop, cashew, lime, orange), all raised from seed since my arrival in Belize in 2021.
The river lot – my house sits on a 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 two main seasons. The rainy season and the dry season (no rain). The rainy season starts around June 1 and goes until the end of the year. It seems June, November, and December are the wettest times of the year.
Chopping – using my machete to clear brush, vines, weeds, and unwanted trees. Generally, when I chop, I am removing unwanted vegetation around my baby fruit trees.
I arrived at my home on November 25, 2021, by bicycle from Canada. I have journaled my daily adventures every day since. Since I have arrived, I have built a 1,000 sq-ft shade cloth greenhouse, a tiny apartment that I refer to as my greenhouse apartment. I also started and am close to completion of two small cabanas that I refer to as my smaller cabana and my larger cabana. The apartment and cabanas are for visitors and people wishing to move to my farm. I’m also getting close to completing an additional 1,600 sq-ft shade cloth greenhouse.
