Yesterday, I woke up to the news of a large fish die-off in the Belize River. Somehow the river has become contaminated.
August 5
Life in the jungle: I have been on the farm alone for nine months now. Being alone isn’t the difficult part. The real challenge is that I have become, in many ways, a prisoner on my own property. Because of Pepper and Saucy, I can’t leave for more than half a day at a time. A quick morning trip to the city for supplies is about all I can manage. Even escaping to the cayes for a weekend of rest and relaxation isn’t an option.
Being tied to the farm has also prevented me from networking and finding homes for my mahogany trees as part of my rainforest reforestation dream. Instead, I simply watch them grow larger while the rainy-season planting window slips away and eventually closes for another year.
My productivity also suffers. Without anyone to help with even the smallest errands, even a quick trip to the village costs at least two hours out of an already full day. Those lost hours add up quickly.
This leaves me feeling further and further behind on a daily and weekly basis. This sense of falling behind compounds inside my head, causing a growing sense of frustration and, at times, a feeling of hopelessness. The fact that I now have no utility water and have to build a massive water cistern all of a sudden compounds everything even more.
My morning was tied up trying to arrange cement mix to be delivered at some point in the next couple of days. The hardware store wants the road to be bush-hogged first, so the bad spots in the road are more visible to navigate in their truck.
Elton, my usual tractor guy, is broken down. The other guy’s tractor is also broken down, but he is willing to get the replacement parts today and is hoping to be able to have it fixed by tomorrow.
In the morning, I prepped the driveway by covering the bad area with cement blocks. I also took down a passion fruit trellis that is where the new cistern is going. In the afternoon, I continued working on my greenhouse irrigation system. I also ran up to the village to drop off some eggs.
There was a rain shower at lunch. This is not good.
August 6
Life in the jungle: First thing, Saul stopped by so we could discuss and plan the building of the water cistern. There was a shower in the morning. I then worked on the greenhouse irrigation system. After breakfast, the bushhog showed up to cut the road.
Later I headed to the village for a few pieces of lumber and to arrange a road inspection.
After I returned home, the lumber was delivered, and it was determined that they were willing to give it a try to get my cement mix down the road.
So far, this cistern build is moving forward without any issues.
The Road is bush-hogged
August 7
Life in the jungle: Waiting for materials for the cistern to start arriving, I worked on getting some odd jobs completed. Before breakfast, I finished the rain catchment barrel setup for the chicken coops I started on Tuesday. After breakfast, I finished building a final gate section for the new coconut field. I also cleaned up the front room to the shade cloth greenhouse.
Later, 17 yards of cement mix and the rebar for the cistern were delivered. The trucks had no trouble with the road.
The main chicken coop roof is now set up to collect rainwater
Filled in the bad area of the driveway
Future site for the water cistern
Materials delivered
The cement blocks were crushed (as expected)
Cistern building materials
August 8
Life in the jungle: Most of the day was spent doing greenhouse work. I transplanted some baby Suriname cherry seedlings into planting bags. I ran another water line from the new greenhouse expansion floor as part of the irrigation system I had started installing the other day, and I cleaned around the edges of the greenhouse expansion floor. I also did some grass cutting.
August 9
Life in the jungle: I didn’t get my usual day off today. Saul showed up this morning and framed in and squared up the new cistern floor (10x12ft). After they left, I had a late lunch and then leveled out the floor area with gravel/sand mix. It was a pretty long day.
New water cistern foot print
A recent report came in from an NGO – Savanah Field Station: We spent yesterday on the Belize River investigating the fish die-off. What we saw was devastating. Every log jam and debris pile was full of rotting fish. We also found two dead Hicatee, a Critically Endangered species that we have been working hard to protect, as well as a dead crocodile. Many more individuals likely died and were washed further downriver.
Most of the dead fish appeared to be catfish, including Blue Catfish, Mayan Catfish, and smaller species in the genus Rhamdia, but we also saw high numbers of large, predatory species, especially snook. Not only are these species important for the environment, but they are also the species many people catch for food. People rely on the Belize River, and it may take a long time for fish populations to recover. We are also concerned about birds (e.g., vultures and herons) and other wildlife eating the dead fish and becoming poisoned themselves.
The exact cause of this tragedy is not yet clear, but it has all the hallmarks of unnatural, toxic contaminants entering the river. This does not look like simply low oxygen, because crocodiles and turtles breathe air, and catfish are very good at surviving with low oxygen. This was not a normal event. Something toxic was released into the water and killed these animals.
This must be fully investigated; the parties responsible should be held accountable, and, critically, steps need to be taken to ensure that this never happens again. Agriculture is an important part of Belize’s economy, but it has to be done sustainably, and adequate safeguards must be maintained to protect Belize’s incredible freshwater systems.
Fish die-off
August 10
Life in the jungle: First thing, I worked on a new jungle lifestyle blog post about my current water situation [yet to be published] until Saul showed up with a crew. They poured the cistern floor. Then left for lunch, and I headed up the village to drop off eggs and pay for cistern materials. They came back and poured the first section of walls (2ft) and finished right at dark. The floor and walls are 6 inches thick.
Prepping the floor and the floor poured
Pouring the first section of wall
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 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.
