I originally wrote and published this post in December 2020 while still on my bike ride and happened to stumble upon it buried in 1,000 other blog posts. I scanned through it, made some edits, and reposted it. I officially started living in Belize full-time on November 25, 2021.
How it all began
In a moment of boredom, I suspect that at some point in the year 1996, unfortunately, I don’t recall exactly. I asked a question that I actually didn’t really care about the answer to. The gentleman I was speaking with was named Dan, and Dan was largely responsible for getting me into the wholesale reptile business back in 1995. I won’t bother getting into that story here, but my YouTube guy, Brandon, did ask me a little bit about the backstory to my “reptile story,” which you can watch HERE.
Green Iguanas
Anyways, back to the current story. Now you have to realize that back when I was in my early twenties, my life revolved around materialism, and the outside world was of no real interest to me. I tell you this so that you can understand that initially, I didn’t care about the answer. Little did I know the answer would change my life.
Morelets Crocodiles – the big one lives wild in my fish ponds. The small one was a pet back in 2010. Long since released.
The backstory to my question was that Dan and his wife, Heather, had been travelling back and forth to Belize from Canada for a bunch of years now. And so my question that I did not care about the answer to was – How come you and Heather travel back and forth to Belize? In my world, it made no sense to travel somewhere for a few weeks and potentially spend $1000’s of dollars when you could spend that same money on a new TV, VCR, or stereo that would last you years (a lot longer than a 2-week vacation).
Lots of species of birds can be found on the farm
Anyways, with no agenda, Dan told me about what they were trying to do and build in Belize, which was an eco-tourist camp, and what life was like in Belize. And what the culture was like, and all the different things they see and experience in Belize. After about a 30-minute conversation, my mind was blown! I could not believe there was such a world out there with all of “that” in it. Well, from that moment I was convinced – I was moving to Belize! Yes, that quickly and easily, Belize became what it is to me to this day.
Red Rump Tarantulas
It took me a little time to get out of debt. I had maxed out my first credit card, as every young person does. So, somewhere in the late summer/early fall of 1997, I told Dan I was ready to move to Belize. He said that it might be a good idea if I went for a two-week trip first before I sell my house. [I had bought a house in Hamilton, ON, right before my 20th birthday in 1993]. Dan said he was planning his next trip in a few months, in November 1997.
A 6ft+ Black Tail Cribo snake
Apparently, they had planted 10 acres of rice (approximately), and the tractor that they had hired to harvest the rice had broken down and would not be repaired in time for harvest. If you don’t pick your rice quickly, it will very quickly go to the birds – literally.
Spiny tail Iguana
Belize is a small country with a small airport. The type of airport where they pull up in a truck (with stairs) up to the plane, and you disembark on the tarmac of the airfield. I will never forget coming up to the front of the plane and coming to the door. Looking around and seeing the airport completely surrounded by jungle. And then having the humidity completely envelop me. In that moment, I was in love, and I knew I was home. From that very moment, I loved EVERYTHING about Belize. Never have I felt so at home somewhere. Those two weeks were the best two weeks of my life, and by January of 1998, I had my affairs in order and flew back to Belize.
Black Howler Monkey
What life is like in Belize
I honestly don’t know how to answer this question without writing a book. I live in the middle of the jungle, part of the village of Scotland Halfmoon, part of The Community Baboon Sanctuary on the Belize River in the District of Belize. We are in the central north part of the country and about a 45-60 minute drive from Belize City.
Boa Constrictors
In many ways, to oversimplify things, I describe life there very much like life at the cottage. You don’t buy nice things or unnecessary things. You always have mud on your pants, it’s hot, and there are always bugs. To properly describe the magic and beauty of where I live. I live in an area that has a large concentration of black howler monkeys that have the loudest primate call(s) in the world and are extremely vocal day and night. We have a huge assortment of various wildlife, from about 200 species of birds, a large concentration of jaguars, and mountain lions. We have crocodiles, turtles, snakes, tarantulas, scorpions, tree frogs, killer bees, and everything in between.
A Cane toad and Milky tree frog
Life is very labor-intensive. We have no Walmart or Amazon. We live at the very end of a dirt road that multiple times a year becomes too flooded for vehicles to pass. All our supplies and provisions need to be driven or walked in. On some trips, I have come in by canoe.
A particularly bad year for our road
We are about a 45-minute walk from the main road and the heart of the village. Walking from the farm towards the village, our first neighbor is probably a 35-minute walk. We have no close neighbors due to the flooding of the surrounding jungle. The flooding of the surrounding area keeps people from trying to settle.
A ciclid fish attempting to swim across our road during a flood
We do have electricity, flush toilets, and I have a hot water tank for heated showers. Drinking water comes from rainwater off the roof, and utility water is pumped from the river.
In the beginning, there was a Belizean couple, Dan and Heather, and me. Unfortunately, both Mel and Hilda Hendy (the Belizeans) have both since passed.
With Mel Hendy shortly before his passing. One of my most treasured friends
Black Howler Monkeys
As mentioned, I moved down in January 1998. Unfortunately, that move only lasted about three months. After getting down there, I realized that I didn’t have a plan. Like many decisions in my life, I made this grand goal and then accomplished it and then was left with – well, know what? After three months, I decided to go back to Canada to pursue my business ambitions, which you can hear about in more detail in the YouTube link posted above. But I vowed to return to Belize. Return I did, but not until the last part of 2002, and for only weeks. The result of this trip was the desire to purchase land to build a house on. In 2003, I returned to Belize because Dan had sent a letter and suggested that maybe I would be interested in purchasing their house on a ¾ acre lot of land. I agreed that it would be a good idea and came down to finalize the sale, and spent six more months in Belize.
Original build
My ¾ acre house lot was surveyed from the original farm that the Belizean couple owned. They owned two – 30-acre pieces of land (side by side). Fast forward to 2010, when I would spend 11 months in Belize, I purchased another ¾ lot that would connect me directly to the Belize River, giving me “river frontage.”
In recent years, first Hilda and then Mel passed. Mel was probably one of my most cherished friends, and I think about him often. During this time, their son Wayne took control of the farm. In 2017, I was able to negotiate 10 acres of the original farm and the second 30-acre parcel. So in total, I have about 42 acres in Belize with a home. Most of the farm over the years (even before I purchased my pieces) has become reclaimed jungle. The 30-acre piece is all jungle with two large fish ponds (300ft x 50ft x 10ft deep) that we had dug by an excavator in 2002. Much of the 10 acres on the main farm is also reclaimed jungle, but I have, over the last few years, planted about 400 young coconut trees that get sporadic maintenance.
My fish ponds – before and after
The house was originally a simple plywood house with a steel roof, unfinished inside. A main bedroom, bathroom, spare room, open concept kitchen – living room. Over time, the plywood rotted and was replaced with a plycem board (plywood/cement material).
A facelift with plycem
And then shortly after I started driving a truck in 2013, I got an email that said a tree behind my house had grown so large that it was actually pulling my house in three different directions, and they believed it was only a matter of time before the house collapsed on itself. Given what this house had already cost me over the years and that my priority was now saving money for my bike ride, I should have just let the house cave in on itself and worried about a house down the road. Unfortunately, I was finally making real money, and it “seemed” to make sense to deal with this issue now while there was money. This would lead to one of the most costly expenses of my life.
Rebuilt 4 ft off the ground, thanks to the tree in the background
Long story short. The plan was to rebuild the house four feet off the ground. Three weeks into the project, our Canadian dollar tanked to the US dollar. (We used to be par and then overnight dropped to $.70ish). The price of everything went up by 30% and the budget tripled the original estimate and dragged on for a few years. All I have to say is never build a house unless you are there from the very beginning to the end. I could go on and on about this disastrous mistake. Needless to say, my “nice, simple” home turned into a fancy house.
The kitchen and bedroom
Living room
The other thing, while I have travelled over much of Belize and experienced quite a bit, prior to arriving here at the end of my bike ride, I did very little exploring of the country. I enjoyed my home and farm so much that I was generally happiest there. When coming here on vacation, my two biggest goals during a visit were to get work done and see as much wildlife and creatures as possible. Almost all the creatures I can hope to see during a trip actually live on or near my farm, so there is very little need to travel anywhere but my farm.
Mayan Ruins
Over the years, I have planted over 400 coconut trees on the farm. Most are young juvenile trees
Fast forward this blog post to July of 2025, as I’m getting close to living here for almost four years now, my origin story feels a little surreal. Other than the house, nothing on the farm is recognizable from those early days.
Every single day is a new adventure, and I don’t anticipate the adventure ending anytime soon.
Mayan Ruins
Green Iguanas
Oh, and Dan and Heather? After I bought my house in 2003, they became my property managers until I arrived here by bike and ended my bike tour. A month later, they declared a “war” on me (their words, not mine) and did everything in their power to make my life miserable. How’s that for a thank you for supporting their lives here for 18 years? But that’s another story.
