Belize

[Dennis569]

Have any of you spent any time in Belize? I'm getting close to retirement and have been looking at houses there (on the net and brochures. some correspondence with realtors)
I've done a bunch of reading about laws and living there.
We'll be going for a few weeks next year to look at houses and get the lay of the land.
I know some brothers here have traveled a lot and any input would sure be appreciated. Thanks Guys.

[Sauer Grapes]

I have one friend that stopped there on a cruise (twice) and LOVED it. I have another friend that spent a week there partly on me mentioning other said friend liked it so much and he said it was OK. I say see what kind of feel you get when you visit.

The friend that said it was OK said that it is very poor outside of the tourist areas, and inside the areas it was VERY expensive.

I guess that is to be expected with most caribbean and central american countries.

[SteveA]

Have any of you spent any time in Belize? I'm getting close to retirement and have been looking at houses there (on the net and brochures. some correspondence with realtors)
I've done a bunch of reading about laws and living there.
We'll be going for a few weeks next year to look at houses and get the lay of the land.
I know some brothers here have traveled a lot and any input would sure be appreciated. Thanks Guys.

I spent a week there with the family a couple years ago. Spent half our time in the jungle near San Ignacio and the other half in Placencia, on the Caribbean. It's a beautiful country and the people tended to either ignore us or were friendly. I especially enjoyed my time in the jungle at http://www.blackrocklodge.com/home.html. Nothing like waking up to noisy parrots flying through the trees.

You should already know that you will experience a lot of what we describe as poverty. Some of it is a matter of perspective and some is truly destitution.

Thievery is a problem so don't leave stuff visible in a car or elsewhere. I drove all over the country with my family and we never felt anything but safe. Had a flat tire in a tiny town and half the local kids showed up to "help" us change the tire. It was fun and I got a couple good pictures of my family hanging with the local kids.

The weather was fantastic when I was there in April. You've got to like hot weather. The language is english which is helpful.

In summary, I'd go back in a second and could definitely see living there. Keep an open mind and enjoy.

[CoventryCat86]

I wish I could be more help to you but a couple of my friends have traveled there and they love it. I don't know anyone who moved there though.

Costa Rica is becoming a "destination" these days, not only for vacation but lots of Americans are buying land/property there and either using it as a second home or retiring there because property is relatively inexpensive at the moment.