By BILL GRAY and CLAIRE GRAY
Authors of Belize Retirement Guide
A myriad of reasons make Belize a delightful place to retire.
Belize is an English-speaking country: If you have traveled much in foreign countries where you didn't know the language, you'll recognize this as a tremendous plus. Especially when you are going to be living there, rather than vacationing for a few weeks. So many problems are eliminated. Can you imagine going to the hospital with chest pains at 3 a.m. and not being able to communicate with the doctor?
Remember, Belize used to be a British colony, so the national language became English. The schools teach in English. All the signs are in English, as well as government forms.
Belize is a great place to relax: In Belize things are laid back, way back. No one is in a hurry to do anything, ever. That includes the clerk waiting on you in the store and the postal service delivering your mail.
That makes some people frustrated and very nervous. But many retirees find that the slow pace in Belize is just their speed. They (possibly for the first time in their lives) completely unwind and enjoy life. Isn't that what retirement is all about?
Belize is a healthy place to live: Industry is almost non-existent in Belize. And so few people live there, and have so few cars, that the air is unbelievably clean. I think Belize is as pollution-free as any place can be, in this day and age.
The life style in Belize is so healthy - fresh food, fresh air, lots of sunshine, lots of walking, no stress. Sounds like a prescription from the doctor, doesn't it?
Belize is an inexpensive place to live: Belize has one of the lowest costs of living in the world. Which may seem hard to believe, when you see a box of corn flakes selling for US$7. In fact, Belize can be very expensive, especially for vacationers with their reckless attitude toward finances. And for Americans, who may insist on having exactly what we were used to at home. Take the corn flakes, for example. In the States, they are an inexpensive breakfast. In Belize, they are imported and exorbitantly priced. Sweet, juicy mangoes, on the other hand, a real delicacy in the U.S., sell for up to $2 each. But in Belize they go for about 15 cents.
So, with some adapting on your part, you can eat meals that are both delicious and inexpensive.
Remember that your lifestyle is going to be different there, and you may not need the things you have in the States. After all, Belizeans live without them. For example, a washing machine, which most Americans consider as necessary to life as oxygen, is seldom seen in Belize. Laundromats do not exist. Women wash by hand on a scrub board and clothes are hung out in the sun to dry. The clothes come out spotless. Some retired Americans have found it's not bad to do the same for themselves. Others pay wash women to do it for them. It's very cheap. (It is kind of hard on your clothes, though.) Life without a washing machine is possible.
So what is rent like in Belize? Here are some specific examples to give you an idea. I know a couple who rented a very large three bedroom house right on Corozal Bay for US$150 a month. It had been rented previously to an American man for US$250, but they got it in the off season and a Belizean negotiated the deal for them. Also in Corozal I know a retired couple who rent a very nice three bedroom house with a hot water heater (rare in Belize) a detached wash room/work shop. The fenced-in yard has fruit trees and is so large it is like a small park. They pay US$125.
Those are both pretty luxurious houses by Belizean standards. And you could certainly live well in smaller, less fancy places. Belize is politically stable: Yes, it's true. Despite all you hear about the political problems in Central America, Belize remains untouched. It always has. Think of Belize as kind of a Central American Switzerland, politically speaking.
Frankly, no one cares enough about Belize to invade her. Guatemala talks about it, but never does anything.
As for a coup being staged and the government overthrown? If you'd ever been to Belize you would laugh at the very thought. No one has the motivation. Belizeans are too mellow for anything like that. Why go to all that trouble when you can just lay in a hammock, feel the tropical breeze, and drink the sweet water of a young coconut?
Belize has great weather: The average year-round temperature in Belize is a balmy 79 degrees F. There is no winter. No snow. No heating bills. The ocean water is around 85 degrees F. all the time. Because the reef makes the sea water calm and shallow, it's like stepping into an enormous bathtub.
Belize isn't that far away: For a foreign country, that is. It's not as far as Argentina. Or Guam. From Brownsville, Texas, going south down the east coast of Mexico, it's 1,350 miles to Belize by road, about the distance from New York City to Miami. You can drive it in a few days. There are daily flights out of Belize City. Air time from Belize City to New Orleans, Houston, or Miami is only about two hours. So it's possible to travel back and forth quickly.
This article is excerpted and adapted from sections of Belize Retirement Guide, How to Live in a Tropical Paradise on $350 a Month, by Bill and Claire Gray, and reprinted with permission from the publisher, Preview Publishing. It is available from Equator, 280 Beaverdam Road, Candler, NC 28715 for US$19.95 plus $3.50 shipping and handling.
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