For me and Belize it was love at first sight.
From the first morning I arrived in Belize City almost forty years ago, stepped off the plane on the runway, threw my backpack over my shoulder, put on my sunglasses and walked down the tarmac toward the country’s one-room international airport, I was hooked.
It wasn’t anything I could put my finger on. Just a feeling. Like falling in love. You’ll know it when it hits.
Belize City can be described as the Calcutta of the Caribbean. That description is not unjustified, but it refers not to Belize but to Belize City and not to the heart and soul of this country, but to some parts of the city where, unfortunately, the international airport is located.
Belize’s raw, natural beauty
In love as I was with the experience of being there BelizeEven I, young and naive as I was, realized that Belize City was not a place to hang out. This hasn’t changed over the decades, but it didn’t matter to me then and it doesn’t matter now.
What won me over that first visit was the raw, natural beauty of the place, the simple, sweet charm of life here, and the resilience of the people of Belize. I connected immediately.
On that first visit, I met a handful of expats from Belize with whom I had developed friendships that I cherish. Visit after visit, in the years that followed, they helped me get to know this country, founded by pirates, for pirates, where independence and free thinking are valued above all else.
These are qualities that I also really appreciate. When I first set my feet on the ground in this country, I knew instinctively that Belize and I were made for each other.
Belize is the quirkiest place I know. Belize City’s roads are built around a system of roundabouts (thanks to its British settlers), but shops alongside sell hand-milled rice, beans and tortillas.
Everyone you meet speaks English (that is, that of the country). official language), but this belies the stories about their origins.
A country of freedom seekers
The 400,000 people who populate Belize today are descendants of migrants from Britain, yes, but also and even more so from surrounding Central American countries.
You have Mexicans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, and Nicaraguans mixing with the current generations of Mayans who originally inhabited this land, the pirates who came later, the Mennonite farmers who came on the scene in the 20th century, the British who ruled until 1981, and each other.
Belize is a country of freedom seekers. The pirates came to ply their pirate trade out of sight. The Mennonites came from Germany and the Netherlands so that they could be Mennonites without anyone bothering them. The British came so they could bank privately.
And people from surrounding countries who have visited Belize in recent decades have typically crossed its borders in search of safety.
Today, a new population of freedom seekers is making its way to these shores: us.
Belize is a country of independent thinkers and doers, a country where you choose your own path and where, while you do so, no one opposes your efforts.
Including the Government of Belize. This is a poor country. The government does not have enough money to tackle real problems. And if they tried, the people of Belize wouldn’t allow it.
The emphasis here is on governance at the local level – tackling the crime problems in certain neighborhoods of Belize City or trying to discourage the Guatemalan bandits who occasionally wander into Belize looking for a few good horses to steal.
Check your concerns at the border
Today, when you arrive in Belize, step off the plane and make your way to the arrivals hall of the airport, you still feel like you are leaving the rest of the world behind, just like forty years ago when I first landed in Belize.
Belize and its people operate by their own rules and mind their own business. The problems, uncertainties and concerns that seem to be all-consuming in the United States and elsewhere in the world fade away here. You are confronted with a country that is still a frontier area, undeveloped and dripping with potential.
Belize is one more thing: one of the world’s most user-friendly options for establishing foreign residency. You can just show up.
Where is Belize anyway?
Belize has been attracting well-known expats from Great Britain, the United States and Canada for decades. Yet many would have difficulty pinpointing the country on a map and many people think it is an island.
Of course it isn’t, although there are a handful of Caribbean islands off the coast of Belize City. Shops at the airport sell T-shirts with the question: “Where The H#&% Is Belize?”
The good news is that the country is close to the United States and accessible.
Belize is easy to get to, and once you’re here you can easily get around and do whatever you want. The country is compact and the main language is English.
The many faces of Little Belize
Don’t be fooled by its size. You can get from one end of Belize to the other in half a day by car or half an hour by plane. The country’s domestic air travel system is its most developed infrastructure.
Nevertheless, Belize has many faces.
Belize City
The first is Belize City: poor, underdeveloped and partly unsafe. I don’t care where. Beneath the grainy surface I detect a long-faded charm. Or maybe I’m projecting one. Anyway, I enjoy traveling through it, but I know that for many, the best part of traveling to Belize City is leaving Belize City.
Caribbean coasts
Belize is perhaps best known and loved for its Caribbean islands, especially Ambergris Caye, the largest and most developed, with both long beaches of soft, white sand and an established and growing community of expats and foreign retirees. This is the Caribbean at its best.
The long coast of mainland Belize is characterized by two special attractions. Placencia is located south of Belize City; to the north is Corozal.
Placencia has grown in recent years to become the mainland’s best-equipped resort, catering to tourists and now boasting the trappings to match. Corozal offers easy access to Chetumal, just across the bay in Mexico, which can be a great advantage in the event of a medical emergency. On the other hand, you can feel remote here every day. Maybe that’s a plus for you… maybe a minus.
The north coast around Corozal receives approximately 50 centimeters of rain per year. The South Coast, Placencia and the South, can see three times as much. Maybe that bothers you… maybe it doesn’t.
Cayo
The inland is located Cayo District, a dramatically different region where life does not revolve around the sea, but around the river. For some, the river view is no substitute for the ocean view; others prefer it.
In other words, every region of Belize has its pros and cons. Living on an island is always more expensive than living on the mainland, meaning Ambergris is the most expensive lifestyle choice in the country. Most expensive and also most developed and turn-key.
Cayo offers the opportunity to enjoy a healthy, fulfilling, back-to-basics and self-sufficient lifestyle, thanks to the abundance of fertile land, water and sunshine all year round. Cayo is also Belize’s most affordable lifestyle choice.
Infrastructure
The British left behind large legal, educational, and governmental foundations in Belize, but not many in the physical realm infrastructure.
Significant investments have been made in recent years to improve this country’s roads and bridges. But to put things into perspective, Belize only has a handful of highways.
The country’s main artery is the Western Highway, which connects Belize City (the largest city), Belmopan (the capital) and Belize City. Saint Ignatius (the largest city in Cayo).
Not only road infrastructure, but infrastructure in general is limited in Belize. This is a small country where the infrastructure is most kindly described as ‘developing’.
No infrastructure, limited services and facilities, and little market demand (i.e. limited product supply) can be interpreted negatively. However, in Belize, especially Cayo, these things are a big part of the appeal. Once you get to Cayo, you won’t mind the lack of infrastructure.
You don’t mind that the culture is more concerned with conservation than consumerism. You don’t mind… or, if you do, you’re not happy.
If you’re looking for a lifestyle supported by the diversions and distractions of a big city, then Cayo is probably not for you, and perhaps nowhere else in Belize either.
I began a love affair with Belize over thirty years ago, which has turned into one of the most important relationships of my life.
I know Belize well, better than anyone you are likely to meet. I know the real Belize… and I love her just the way she is.
#independent #free #thinkers #fall #love #Belize