Up to The Nest

Since buying the property at Sleeping Giant with the plan to build a house and move there, I spent some more time there to view the property during various times of the day and year.  I want to make sure I have a good feel for the space while planning the orientation of the house, windows, approach, etc with regard to sun, wind flow, rain runoff, potential flooding etc.  Great excuse to go spend a night now and then at this  lovely place.  Each time I go I expect for the other shoe to drop and to find something that is "off" or perhaps "awful", but instead each time I fall in love with it a little more.  As much as I love our current seaside living, I think I will find my place of serenity nestled against the mountains.

The lot is situated at the end of a cul de sac and will have only 2 visible neighbors since the land behind the lot is part of the protected National Pine Ridge Forest Reserve.  The reserve covers more than 1000 squares miles.

The house will built just on the other side of the white concrete pillar at the end of the cul de sac.

The lot is sloped downward toward the mountain, so the plans call for the house to be cantilevered above the slope.  The living level will be about 2 feet above street level and hardscaped to eliminate the need for steps or stairs to enter the one-level house.

Vista from what will be the approximate main level of the house.

A stay at Sleeping Giant back in October found me on a pre-dawn walk, listening to birdsong and watching the mist rise up along the Sibun River Valley - pure magic. Right along the river bank is an amazing treehouse called "The Nest" that leans out over the river.  Let's climb it!  

A spiral staircase wraps around the tree trunk for a couple turns and ends on a viewing platform.  From the viewing platform, a dizzying ladder ascends the tree trunk with another tiny platform at the top of the ladder.  And then!  Then there is a taut net platform that hangs out over the river.  Breathtaking.  Scary!

What a whimsical structure!  But extremely well-engineered. 

Up we go . . . .

Beautiful river valley at dawn.

Safety cage around the steep ladder.  Very comforting.

Scary net platform.  I couldn't do it.  But look at that view!

I couldn't make my foot step out onto the net.  In defense of my scaredy-cat-ness, let me just say I was clutching my phone in one hand and binoculars in the other.  I think I did well to get this far!  But next time, folks, next time I will venture out onto the net and get some panoramic shots to prove it!

Change Can Be Good

Back in March when I started writing this blog again, I wrote about the yoga retreat that my niece Becki, my friend Melanie, and I went to at Sleeping Giant Rain Forest Resort (read it here).  The retreat and the company were a balm to my soul.  Before going, I was perusing the website for the resort and noticed that they were expanding their development and when Becki and I hiked to the lookout we could see new roads along the older orange groves.  The resort was first developed adjacent to the massive orange farm (they call them farms in Belize rather than orchards) also owned by the lovely couple who own the resort.  They developed the orange farm out of jungle in the Sibun River Valley starting in the 1980s as part of a national plan sponsored by the Government of Belize to expand the economy to exportable products.  The whole Government plan was a big success for Belize.  But things change, as they do, and the owners began to diversify into tourism alongside agriculture.  They had fallen in love with the jungles of Belize and thought it would be feasible and profitable to start an ecologically sound jungle resort.  Thus Sleeping Giant Rainforest Resort was born.  And changes continued, not always good changes, the orange blight being one of the "not good" changes.  Rather than replant their thousands of acres with blight-resistant orange stock, the owners (I think during the slowdown of tourism and work in general during Covid) brainstormed a new plan for development of estates on portions of the property.  

New paved roads on the right into the old orange fields.  The green area on the right has had the diseased trees removed.  Healthier trees remain in the center.

Most of the orange trees are gone from this area.  The National Pine Ridge Forest Reserve serves as the backdrop in this view.

One section of vacation housing along the river banks and other sections more appropriate for full-time living were proposed and approved by the Belize planning commission.

Perhaps you see where this going.  After I saw this with my own eyes, I decided to talk with the owners about their plans and get some details.  Which I proceeded to do before the yoga retreat was over.

Fast forward 2 weeks and Dennis has come to see what has caught my interest.

Dennis taking a look at where some of our yoga practices had been.

Surveying the lots I had my eye on.

The lots were being offered for an excellent price, so folks, without much faffing about I made a counter offer which was accepted.  By the end of April, I was the happy owner of an acre of land bounded on the backside by the hills of the Pine Ridge Forest Reserve.  Big changes ahead - let the fun begin!