I’ve been to Belize, and I would never go back.
All of the nicer houses have bars on the windows and/or barbed wire fences around them.
The local museum has not a single work of art by a local artist; just Mayan artifacts and press clippings about famous hurricanes.
Thirty years ago I got an investment newsletter written by an American expatriate living in Belize. The newsletter ended suddenly when the author was murdered by some Belizeans who lured him out in the country to inspect a piece of real estate.
Think of the worst place to live in the USA, and it’s probably nicer than Belize City.
I have a friend who’s sort of a Princess of Belize. Her family is powerful there. She married a Canadian and they move around the world a lot because of his job. Even while being of privilege, her stories say that living there is tough, mainly because of crime and politics.
I agree, would not go back. The things that most stayed with me from several years ago....
Houses on stilts obviously occupied, laundry on the porch, leaning 15 degrees
Barefoot children walking home from school
Two guards with machine guns outside the Western Union building “downtown”
When I read that line it reminded me of something a friend who has move to Cuernavaca Mexico said. She was trying to get me to come down and visit and she said “it's very safe, there are guards every where”.
We have made many trips to Mexico all of our lives but decided a few years ago, after several scary things happened to us and to our family members, that we weren't going back, ever!
I told my friend if Cuernavaca was very safe they wouldn't need to have guards everywhere. She doesn't ask me down anymore.
We vacationed in Belize last year and I was very impressed. Yes it is a poor country. Yes there is crime. There is crime and poverty in many U.S. cities as well.
The entire population of the country is 300,000. This is about the size of the suburban area where I live. To say a country this small has not developed a local art community is not fair.
There is very rich farmland in Belize - much of it is now cultivated by Amish from Canada. They have also figured out the best way to attract tourists is to keep their beaches and forests in pristine shape. This has raised jealousy in the neighboring primarily Spanish speaking countries that have overdeveloped their resources and have much higher populations.
I got the impression much of the crime was from immigrants from bordering countries Guatemala and Mexico. Sound familiar?
Would I consider retiring there? No. but if I had to pick one country in Central America (including Mexico) to do so, this would be it. I would definitely vacation there again.
“...all of the nicer houses have bars on the windows...”
-
Ever been to Hialeah, Florida?
“All of the nicer houses have bars on the windows and/or barbed wire fences around them.”
In Costa Rica it seems ALL the houses & businesses have bars on the windows, doors, & carports. Most homes are surrounded by high walls topped with broken glass and/or barbed wire.
Even in the smallest, most remote villages, every house & business is protected this way. I saw shacks with thousands of dollars of wrought iron bars around them.
Retiring to a fortress surrounded by thieves in a foreign country doesn’t appeal to me.