I hear Belize is nice - good weather, they speak English.
They’ve been advertising heavily on the radio here in the Atlanta area. Evidently they expect an influx.
My wife and I are keeping that one as an option.
I live in Panama, and have visited Belize several times within the past year. English is the **official** language, but the real language is Kriol, an unusual admixture of French, assorted native tongues, and English. Easy to learn pidgin Kriol -- BRUTAL to speak it fluently (i.e. talk easily with most Belizeans).
Perhaps 20% (and that's a guess) of Belizeans speak English comprehendibly.
Secondly, Belize -- while trying like mad to attract expatriates to its shores -- shot itself in the foot very badly with the highly fraudulent "economic citizenship" programme that blew up in 2008. The story goes that there were more fraudulent "Belizean" passports in circulation than official ones. I've no dog in this fight, and thus no opinion...but I do have two friends who were burned by the abuse of this scheme to the tune of several thousands of dollars. Es lo que es, eh?
Belize appears to be going down the road of that old Star Trek episode, "The Cloud Dwellers". There is VERY distinctly an economic dichotomy in society. The poor (and that would be somewhere above 70% of the population) live not quite hand-to-mouth, but not far away. The wealthy are in two groups: the traditional oligarchy (every Latin nation has one) and the newly-minted expatriados class, living in sealed communities like Ambergris Cay and Orchid Bay. A **VERY** unhealthy long-term development.
Belize, despite the official pronouncements, spends almost exactly NOTHING on its own infrastructure, roads, sewers, pest control OTHER THAN what it can get (for which word, read: extort) from foreign developers. Belize City, particuarly, is -- unfortunately -- a dump with a fairly serious crime problem to boot.
I'm not posting this to piss on Belize; the nation is beautiful and the people are very friendly. Rather, I'm posting this to combat some of the rainbows-and-unicorns propaganda about Belize that one sees these days, both from the goobermint and from private sites such as International Living.
Simply inform yourself as fully as possible about Belize before even CONSIDERING a move there, or even an extended stay. That's all I ask, ok?
FReegards!