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Hi Everyone,

My name is Michael (Mike) either is fine and it took awhile but I finally found the site I was looking for (this one). My wife and I along with our 4 y/o son are looking to get back to what we have always loved and that is living a more relaxed and warmer life. We have "lived" at least been rent payers in Turkey, Portugal, Spain and Hungary and loved each and every moment, even what our friends and family would descorbe as terrible, we loved.

We are currently looking at Belize and Costa Rica and to a lesser extent Nicaragua and Panama. My wife has her teaching certificate as well as a degree in hotel management. She is currently working for one of the big chains here in Toronto. I prove more problematic in being "wanted" by a foreign country as I am simply in sales.

We are not looking to retire and simply do not have the money for that but we are looking at the options of a lengthy visit to see if Belize is what we want, transferring down there or being hired prior to coming down and also possibly investing in an affordable way that would allow us to stay. A lengthy visit would be made prior to purcahsing anything.

So, what can all of you living first hand tell me about Belize? I am looking for anything and everything you are willing to pass along to me. I will be reading through essentially the entire website over time but please fell free to jump in with anything you feel like talking about. We would really just like to open some dialogue with all of you with firrst hand knowledge.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

As per the advice given to anyone - come here and live for at least 6 months. Don't even consider making a move until you've done that. It can be very difficult for foreigners to gain employment here as work permits are required though your wife has some skills that are in demand.

If you find after 6 months, you still love it here - then is the time to start using the information and contacts you have gathered during your stay to see if you can find a way to make a living.

Thanks Collyk. We are pretty open to things and are quite far removed from the North American mentality. A good long visit is certainly the top priority.

Now I have been on another site and have had feedback from expats in Costa Rica and they are saying the comparison from Costa Rica to Belize is not even close.

Any opinions on how close the two are in terms of health care, infrastructure, standard of living etc...

Bungle, I've never lived in Costa Rica, but I have friends who do and have. Costa Rica, as far as I know, is far advanced of Belize in terms of all of those things, but then again they have a population of over 4.5 million as compared to Belize's approximately 340,000. That makes a whole heap of difference in terms of the amount of money available for investment into a country's infrastructure. Belize is very much a developing country...developing on the budget of a North American city.

From what I have read it is much like any other country. You can live on $10K a month or you can llive on $1K a month. Even in countries like Spain and Portugal we generally chose a route that did not involve luxuries. The Tesco was often up the street but we went to the baker and butcher. It was just more interesting that way.

Understood on the 4.5 million vs 340 thoussand. Those tax dollars at work. I think my only true concern on that level is if we want to put our son into school in Central America. The public school system has not been spoken highly of in Central America and private schools are well... private schools.

Bungle, no country is like any other country and Belize is even more different. Belize is very unique. I'm not sure where an expat couple with a child could live on $1k a month though. Certainly not on San Pedro. Belize is the most expensive country in Central America, so do keep that in mind. Good luck though. Hopefully if you put out some more specific questions, others will join in.

Fair enough and we love unique. San Pedro is not what we are looking for, at least I don't think so. Cities are not for us.

The problem with asking speicific questions at this point is that we are not sure how we are coming down. Are we going to buy a business, start a business or work.

I will ask this as a specific question... what makes Belize unique?

We have lived in 5 countries and loved the 4 we lived in as guests. Each was truly unique and we lived very conservatively and lacked nothing. Our first concern is our son and making sure he enjoys and is happy with what we do. But kids are kids and adapt far more quickly then adults would. We put him in a french only school this year and it took a bit of time but he already speaks some and reads in french after only a few months and at 4 y/o. (proud papa??? yup)

San Pedro is not a city. It is a town on the island of Ambergris Caye.

seashell is correct. San Pedro is a small town.

Belize is unique for a myriad of reasons that could fill a book. Some of the things that I can briefly tell you that make Belize unique include the diversity of Belizean cultures including Creole, Mestizo, Garinagu, Maya, Mennonite, Chinese, East Indian, Arab and Caucasian. In terms of geography, Belize has hundreds of small islands and atolls along its coast and, of course, the largest barrier reef in the Northern Hemisphere. It also has savanna, wetlands, mountains and beautifully rich areas that serve agriculture well. Not to mention the rain forest and jungle that covers vast areas of the country. There several languages spoken here, many people speak three - English, Kriol and Spanish. Garifuna, Yucatec, Q'eqchi, Low German and Cantonese are also spoken in Belize. English is the national language.

This gives you a taster of some of the things that make Belize unique. I'm sure that others can contribute more fully to this list.

Understood. City was the wrong term to use. I meant it is more established and unless I am misreading the info a wealthier area.

Our ideal spot would be, my guess anyways, what San Pedro was maybe 20 years ago. Unfortunately I don't have enough knowledge of either Belilze or San Pedro to know if that is 100% accurate or not.