As I said before, I am bringing my Dad down for vacation. He has it in his head that Central America, including Belize is swarming with expatriated Americans. Specifically, ex-military. I have no idea so I though I would ask.

I could tell you, buti'd have to ...aw, you know the rest.

True, but I wouldn't use the word "swarm"

There are four distinct cultures there, all of which overlap.
Maya, Garifuna, Latino, and Ex-pats. San pedro is mostly Latino.

Many of the resorts are run by "Norman Papermen" type ex-pats.

In Central America, most of the small number who are here are in Costa Rica or Honduras, not Belize. And Mexico has many hundred of times as many expat Americans as all of Central America.

I just wrote a book on living/retiring/investing in Belize, and the best estimate I and the people I interviewed could come up with was around 2,000 expat Americans, Canadians and Europeans in Belize, and that includes snowbirds who are there on tourist cards. One knowledgeable expat put the number of foreign residents in Belize as no more than 600, but with all the foreign hotel operators I'd put the number higher than that. The number of permanent status foreign residents is smaller. For example, only 100 foreigners so far have been approved for residency under the year-old Qualified Retired Persons Incentive Act.

Two reasons more military don't retire in Central America are medical care and lack of PXs. A lot of retired military congregate near U.S. military bases -- and there aren't any in Belize.

Expats in Belize are mainly in San Pedro, Cayo, Placencia, Belize City and Corozal Town, with a few missionaries and intrepid souls elsewhere, mostly in PG and Hopkins.

--Lan Sluder
Belize First Magazine http://www.turq.com/belizefirst/

The majority of Expats are here with Permanent Residency, not the new retirement program which is a "forever temporary" program.