Clearing the jungle for a garden and pond

[Bullfrog]

Here is what it looked like when we got here..

From the upper deck..

Ricardo cleared it with a machete and is now picking up the millions of pieces of coral from the size of a pebble to huge..

This will be an ongoing post.

 

[Bullfrog]

It's neat how a coconut falls then grows like mad here...

 

[j.w]

So you are gonna have a pond eh? I wonder how hard the ground is w/ all that coral everywhere. Guess you won't be able to put fish in it tho w/ all those creatures coming to visit unless you post out guards w/ guns all night and day.Maybe you will just have a wild life pond and let whatever comes for a visit enjoy it? It sure would look nice to have one among all those lovely palms and a waterfall would add such wonderful sound. They do have frogs there I imagine. Do people have dogs and cats there and oh what about horses? Oh I think you need a big huge parrot Bullfrog! Now are you gonna do the work or is Ricardo gonna do it and you just supervise or is it going to be a team effort?

 

[DrCase]

if it to hard to go down go up.
Your location is crazy great

 

[Bullfrog]

As this was once the sea bed, some of the coral is attached, larger than a car so I'll have to go around some. Lots of dogs and cats here, a neighbor saw a jaguarundi

Chasing on of these through my back yard. I forget what it's called but it's like a half rabbit half squirrel..

As far as the pond, I'll make it three feet deep to try to keep the coatimundis out of it, but they love water...

Ricardo has served us well, but Monday he must go. He is getting attached to us as we are him and I can't afford to adopt a 38 year old who smokes and drinks. I'll pay him well and take him to a bus station as Chiapas is 12 hours away, the rest is up to him.

 

[j.w]

Cute critters but mischievous and hungry for fish! Hope you can dig through that soil down 3ft for your new pond :goodnight:
Wishing Ricardo safe traveling and a good life wherever he ends up. Did you say he was headed home to his family?

 

[Bullfrog]

I noticed Ricardo was working extra hard yesterday, he moved a lot of coral one 5 gallon bucket at a time. This morning he appeared very sad and told Bette he missed his home and mother. I paid him well, tears came to his eyes and he hugged me. We took him to Cancun and he got off near the bus station, promising to return in quatro cinco dias. We have been with him for 6 days and nights, he ate with us, drank beer and tequila with us and slept on the upper deck on an air mattress but this was a lot softer than the pavement he was sleeping on when we found him. I'd ask him if he wanted another beer (una mas?) and he would say, "Hasta bien" We taught him to say, "I'm gooood" We shared a lot of laughs, learned from him he learned from us, we prayed together before every and will really miss him.

Oh there were good times...

Very good times....

 

[Bullfrog]

He was a good man, an honest and honorable man and a very hard worker....

He was fascinated by our talking GPS so I introduced him to another American tool, the "grabber" to save his back....

I looked 10 minutes later and he was back on his knees, scraping up the coral with his hands, the grabber was too slow,,,

 

[Bullfrog]

I gave him a pair of cheater glasses...

 

[j.w]

Sad to see a good friend leave but you say he will be back in what is that 45 days? Not so good on my Spanish. You treated him kindly and he will never forget. He's a good worker for sure! His mother will be glad to see him :razz:

 

[Bullfrog]

Here is the before...

And here is after Ricardo cleared it...

And this little guy was walking through our palapa this evening....

 

[j.w]

Looks like some kind of a crab. I have a feeling you are going to meet all kinds of creatures coming by to meet ya :razz:

 

[Bullfrog]

That little guy is a Hermit Crab

https://www.google.com/search?q=her...=chrome.0.0l3j5.4726&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

We also have larger fiddler crabs in the jungle that burrow down into the dead undergrowth and soil. They have one pincer larger than the other. We also have a LOT of Yucatan Jays that are quite beautiful

https://www.google.com/search?q=yuc...AGL2ICYBA&sqi=2&ved=0CDcQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=685

And this extremely loud, ugly bird is the Chachalaca bird, I had it and the jay confused...https://www.google.com/search?q=yuc...540,d.aWM&fp=b73a0be1c4996ae&biw=1280&bih=685

The call is a loud, raucous RAW-pa-haw or cha-cha-LAW-ka, often by several birds in a rhythmical chorus, especially in early morning and evening, usually from well up in trees. It also produces peeping whistles and cackles. Others describe chachalaca calls as irritating noises mimicking a bunch of arguing women.

 

[j.w]

Well those are the kind they sell in the pet stores and they are cute. I think my sister had a few of those awhile back and she would have to supply new shells for them to move into when they got too big for the old ones. I believe this is what she did anyways.

That ChaCha bird is quite pretty. I suppose you just have to either like all the jungle noises that come w/ your new home or you have very good ear plugs! It is a very pretty bird. Arguing women eh?..................... That I can imagine

 

[Bullfrog]

Jackpot!! Just inside of Playa Del Carmen, this abundant shop haggles. We wanted two pieces, the starting price was 1,600.00 pesos, we settled for 820.00 pesos.. here comes the garden...