Belize is shopping Mecca Marie Trone Editor's Note: Marie Trone is a graduate student at the University of Southern Mississippi. She moved with her family to Cancun, Mexico, where she works as a dolphin trainer at Parque Nizuc, a water park. Every time our visas expire, my family and I have to take our vehicles to a Mexican border to renew their import permits. We travel to Belize twice a year to take care of this business, since my visa expires at a different time than my husband's and my son's. Once at a border, the process is simple and relatively quick, given the infamous bureaucratic nature of Mexican government officials. All that is needed is a passport, valid driver's license, car title, and a credit card to which the government charges $25 to cover the cost of the import permit. From where we live, the trek to the Mexican-Belizean border only takes about five hours by car. Big surprise For more than a decade, the thought of Belize has conveyed images of an ecological Eden that was so pristine that it could only be reached by a magical plane ride. However, our recent trip to Belize replaced these impressions of a wild and luscious land with ones of a shopping Mecca. Based on the advice of several local Mexican friends, we drove across the border into an unimagined compound of high-quality bargains. It was like a gigantic outlet mall, only Belizean style! We were not prepared to find such superior items offered at such low prices, so we wandered about open-mouthed among the plethora of merchandise. Stores and stalls had the appearance of a third-world market that you would find in an Asian or African movie. Great bargains Multiple languages could be heard as customers bargained with Belizean, Mexican and Chinese store tenders. However, the products they offered were of the first-world. Backpacks by Jansport were sold for $10, complete adult bicycles went for $40, and premium clothing approved by our teenage son was less expensive than that found in Wal-Mart in Mississippi. Driving to Belize is probably the one accomplishment in my life that gives me the most pride. I think this is due to how I knew I would never return to Belize 15 years ago, despite how much I loved the region, in addition to driving to Belize is not something most people opt to do. Today, my family and I cannot wait to return, not so we can enjoy the emerald jungles and azure coral reefs, but rather so we can purchase durable and high-quality goods that are impossible to find here in Cancun! However, one day I would like to venture past this incredible shopping Mecca and share with my family the place that inspired my tropical dreams. E-mail Marie Trone at [email protected]. http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/news/stories/20030307/localnews/1130907.html