On August 4, the Belize River experienced an environmental catastrophe. I immediately decided to have a 6,000-US-gallon water cistern built.
August 11
Life in the jungle: First thing, I shared my blog post, What It’s Really Like to Live in the Jungles of Belize, to Belize Facebook groups. Then I headed to the city, starting the morning with a flat tire. Then I got rained on in the city. Because I am building this new water cistern, I took some time to understand and price out water pumps; they are expensive, causing me to feel overwhelmed. I then had ATM problems.
When I got back to the village, I discovered a dog (a huge German shepherd) had dragged my bike to use it as a plaything and damaged one of my panniers. The pannier is repairable, but still. I could never have imagined a dog would drag my bike around.
I felt like I was ready to crack inside.
While in the city, Saul got the second wall partition of the water cistern finished, but with the morning rain, my yard is now mud.
I took a nap. I’m mentally exhausted.
Two of four wall section complete
August 12
Life in the jungle: The guys showed up, and just as they started to mix cement, more rain came. They got the third (of four) wall section done in the rain. Things are getting muddier and muddier. In the afternoon, I did some greenhouse work and planted a bunch of Madre de Cacao trees in the yard against the riverbank. I took a walk down to the edge of the river and saw a 4.5-foot Morelets crocodile.
Three of four wall sections complete
August 13
Life in the jungle: After feeding the chickens, I planted about 20 baby passion fruit plants beside trees in the yard. The idea is that the vines will grow up the trees and all I have to do is collect the fruit when it drops.
The crew returned and poured the last wall section. The interior measurements of the cistern are 10x12x7ft high, and it will hold 6,300 US gallons of water. All that’s left is the roof. There was no rain today, which made for good working conditions.
I also did some greenhouse work.
All four wall sections complete
August 14
Life in the jungle: I continued working on the shade cloth greenhouse irrigation system. I am installing a watering system throughout the greenhouse. The crew showed up to work on the framing of the cistern roof.
Installing a watering system in the shade cloth greenhouse
I also helped collect bush sticks out of the jungle. In Belize, bush sticks are thin poles or young tree trunks harvested from the jungle and used as temporary structural support, scaffolding, or bracing – most commonly to prop up wet concrete forms (like ceilings and second-story floors) while the concrete dries and hardens.
There were a couple of rain showers throughout the day. By the end of the day, the greenhouse irrigation system was also complete.
The guys don’t know when they will be back. We ran out of cement mix, and the road is in too rough a shape now to get anything down the road.
The power went out unexpectedly just before dinner. We just had a 24-hour power disruption the other week. Between that and the water situation, it was hard not to be frustrated.
Framing and forming the roof
August 15
Life in the jungle: Last night the power went out for two hours, long enough to miss dinner.
There was also rain last night, sometimes really hard. I had my phone charging in the kitchen. I must have been in some kind of dream state. I slept through all three alarms. I woke up completely spaced out until I realized I had planned to go to the city (mainly for cash to pay towards the cistern).
The road was drenched and really rough from all the recent traffic from the cistern build. I can only guess when the rest of the materials will ever be able to get down the road. I couldn’t help but think of my road as a metaphor for how impossible my life moving forward will be.
The city was chaos today.
August 16
Life in the jungle: I spent my Sunday morning hour at the river, and then I took my mandatory Sunday morning nap. After lunch, I ran up to the village to pick up a can of paint (from the city) that I left behind yesterday.
I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up after the cistern work and stuff. Too much mess and chaos overwhelm me.
Some weather blew through, but only a short shower.
August 17
Life in the jungle: First thing, I did some edits and updates to my The Most Dangerous Animals in the Belize Jungle: Fact or Fiction blog post to share tomorrow in Belize Facebook groups.
I then caught a quick ride to Ladyville with Andy to use an ATM for cash.
Back at the village, I delivered eggs and returned home just before lunch and a brief rain shower.
I planted a few trees in the afternoon. In the afternoon, Isaac, Saul’s son, showed up with the tractor and a yard of sand /gravel mix for the cistern. A pleasant surprise that I wasn’t expecting, considering the shape of the road.
At the end of the day, I got a call that the trailer lost its wheel on the road while pulling a second yard of cement mix. I biked up; what a mess, including the road. I was shocked later, after dark, when Saul and Isaac showed up with the tractor and trailer fixed.
Busted trailer wheel and a very wet and muddy road
August 18
Life in the jungle: I shared my most dangerous animal post to Belize Facebook groups.
I wasn’t exactly sure of the plan, but the crew showed up and finished framing (building the forms) the roof of the cistern and then decided they were going to cast the roof and finish it right before dark. They all came together and got it done. I worked late into the dark to clean up a bit. I can’t believe the cistern is basically done.
No rain today.
Pouring the roof
The most recent update on the Belize River fish die-off:
𝐃𝐎𝐄 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
At its press conference on Monday, the Department of the Environment (DOE) reported that chemical testing linked to the recent Belize River fish kill has revealed multiple agrochemicals of concern at several points near the Santander operation and surrounding areas.
Chief Environmental Officer Anthony Mai says the findings are preliminary, and further analysis is underway to determine the source and concentration of each substance.
𝐇𝐞 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝, 𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐎𝐄 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥.
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 completing 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.
