Falcon Hill – Our Story – Shane and Monique Ellis
Hello and Welcome to our web-site. We hope you enjoy our story of how we came to Belize and started Falcon Hill.
Back in early 2002, Shane and I met in Kansas City, Missouri, and right from the beginning of our courtship Shane shared his dreams and goals, one of which he had since he was 9 years old and that was to move to the jungle one day and live. Hence, our story begins.
Our search for the perfect jungle home started in Brazil in 2003. We traveled to Brazil twice and after our second visit, although we loved Brazil and its beauty, we realized it was too far to move, there was quite a language barrier (as they speak primarily Portuguese), and it was too industrious. After that trip we decided to search more. We researched Panama, Costa Rica, Nicarauga, and Honduras, and then we found Belize. We really thought Belize was too good to be true, so in 2006 we booked our first 2 week trip to Belize and fell in love immediately!!! We loved the country, most everyone speaks English, and it’s only 2 – 2hr flights from Kansas City. Upon our return to the States we decided Belize was the place for us. So our journey to Belize began.
In 2007 we returned to Belize and purchased our 50 acres of jungle paradise on the Mountain Pine Ridge Road in the Cayo District. At first we were a bit overwhelmed as our property was all jungle with several huge hills. Then, after traveling to Belize several more times and macheting our way up to the top of one of the tallest hills, we soon realized this is where we want to build Falcon Hill.
We knew in order to make the move to Belize we had to complete a lot of work back at home in Belton, Missouri. We finished the restoration of our 1901 Victorian home, split our 8 ½ acres, sold 4 acres and then finally sold our house on 4 ½ acres in December 2010. In the meantime we had purchased 3 ½ acres just down the road from that home, built a nice Morton building and started selling our stuff. Finally, after a lot of hard work we were ready to move. In September 2011 we purchased our 20’ container, continued liquidating our belongings, loaded our container and equipment and by December 2011 we made the move.
In the 8 years that we’ve been living in Belize we’ve accomplished a lot. Fortunately, Shane is a master at his craft, he owned his own Construction Business in the States doing primarily tear out and replace of concrete driveways, patios, stoops and steps, short wall foundations, and he did a lot of home remodels, so I knew what we built would be wonderful. So, we sat down and drew out our design for our Cabana with 2 bedrooms each with its own private bathroom, our house and a separate building for our kitchen, bar and dining area, all the while keeping nature in mind, cutting only the trees where necessary and incorporating them into our build. We’ve not only built our Cabana with 2 rooms, our home, kitchen, bar/dining area, but, we were asked by some good friends who were moving here from the States to build their home because they saw the quality of our work and were impressed with our place, so from May 2013 to August 2014 we also completed their home. So I guess you could say we’ve accomplished a lot. Now we’re ready to start enjoying our place and we’re excited to invite family, friends and guests to Belize, come and stay with us, and enjoy the wonders and beauties of what Belize has to offer!
Here at Falcon Hill we harness our power from the sun, we are set up with a solar system for our electric needs, and we collect rain water for use in our showers, toilets, laundry, and dish washing. We have bottled water for cooking and drinking. It’s amazing at how quickly you realize how precious the use of water and electric are and how easy it is when it’s readily accessible to abuse. We understand the need to conserve and actually always were very conservative when we lived in the States, but now even more so!! We hope you too will come to realize and appreciate this when you visit us here in Belize.
We’re so happy and excited to be here and we wouldn’t change a thing. We love our newly adopted country, the people, the culture, and the jungle! So, yes, dreams and goals can come true because here we are, in the jungle, in Belize!!!! Come and join us, we’d love to have you!!!
Hello and Welcome to our web-site. We hope you enjoy our story of how we came to Belize and started Falcon Hill.
Back in early 2002, Shane and I met in Kansas City, Missouri, and right from the beginning of our courtship Shane shared his dreams and goals, one of which he had since he was 9 years old and that was to move to the jungle one day and live. Hence, our story begins.
Our search for the perfect jungle home started in Brazil in 2003. We traveled to Brazil twice and after our second visit, although we loved Brazil and its beauty, we realized it was too far to move, there was quite a language barrier (as they speak primarily Portuguese), and it was too industrious. After that trip we decided to search more. We researched Panama, Costa Rica, Nicarauga, and Honduras, and then we found Belize. We really thought Belize was too good to be true, so in 2006 we booked our first 2 week trip to Belize and fell in love immediately!!! We loved the country, most everyone speaks English, and it’s only 2 – 2hr flights from Kansas City. Upon our return to the States we decided Belize was the place for us. So our journey to Belize began.
In 2007 we returned to Belize and purchased our 50 acres of jungle paradise on the Mountain Pine Ridge Road in the Cayo District. At first we were a bit overwhelmed as our property was all jungle with several huge hills. Then, after traveling to Belize several more times and macheting our way up to the top of one of the tallest hills, we soon realized this is where we want to build Falcon Hill.
We knew in order to make the move to Belize we had to complete a lot of work back at home in Belton, Missouri. We finished the restoration of our 1901 Victorian home, split our 8 ½ acres, sold 4 acres and then finally sold our house on 4 ½ acres in December 2010. In the meantime we had purchased 3 ½ acres just down the road from that home, built a nice Morton building and started selling our stuff. Finally, after a lot of hard work we were ready to move. In September 2011 we purchased our 20’ container, continued liquidating our belongings, loaded our container and equipment and by December 2011 we made the move.
In the 8 years that we’ve been living in Belize we’ve accomplished a lot. Fortunately, Shane is a master at his craft, he owned his own Construction Business in the States doing primarily tear out and replace of concrete driveways, patios, stoops and steps, short wall foundations, and he did a lot of home remodels, so I knew what we built would be wonderful. So, we sat down and drew out our design for our Cabana with 2 bedrooms each with its own private bathroom, our house and a separate building for our kitchen, bar and dining area, all the while keeping nature in mind, cutting only the trees where necessary and incorporating them into our build. We’ve not only built our Cabana with 2 rooms, our home, kitchen, bar/dining area, but, we were asked by some good friends who were moving here from the States to build their home because they saw the quality of our work and were impressed with our place, so from May 2013 to August 2014 we also completed their home. So I guess you could say we’ve accomplished a lot. Now we’re ready to start enjoying our place and we’re excited to invite family, friends and guests to Belize, come and stay with us, and enjoy the wonders and beauties of what Belize has to offer!
Here at Falcon Hill we harness our power from the sun, we are set up with a solar system for our electric needs, and we collect rain water for use in our showers, toilets, laundry, and dish washing. We have bottled water for cooking and drinking. It’s amazing at how quickly you realize how precious the use of water and electric are and how easy it is when it’s readily accessible to abuse. We understand the need to conserve and actually always were very conservative when we lived in the States, but now even more so!! We hope you too will come to realize and appreciate this when you visit us here in Belize.
We’re so happy and excited to be here and we wouldn’t change a thing. We love our newly adopted country, the people, the culture, and the jungle! So, yes, dreams and goals can come true because here we are, in the jungle, in Belize!!!! Come and join us, we’d love to have you!!!