Belize Insider Articles Archives

It was late December 2010, and I still hadn’t made vacation plans. I sat down at the computer, and with one Google search, my whole life changed. I entered a search for “warm places to go in January,” and San Pedro, Belize popped up in the top 10. If I’m being honest, I didn’t even know where Belize was. However, I was too tired to do any follow-up, so for the first time in my type-A life, I booked a trip without thoroughly researching it.

There’s a lot more to this expat escape than just good looks. In Belize, you have choices. If you want a laidback beach lifestyle, head for Placencia. If it’s a Jimmy Buffet-style, non-stop party you want, then the island of Ambergris Caye is the spot for you, or if you’re ready to embrace off-the-grid living, then the wild west of Cayo is where you’ll find it.

“Why are we waiting?” That was the question I posed to my wife, Heather, as we laid in bed one night back in 2018. For years, we’d been talking about opening a small beach resort in the Caribbean, but as working parents, the discussion had always begun and ended with, “Once the kids have finished school…”

When you land there, you see a painted little billboard that says, “Welcome Home.” And, when I got off my puddle jumper flight, that’s exactly what happened, I felt like I was home. When I talk to fellow expats here, that was their feeling, too.

“A lot of people come to Belize for retirement, even if just for the winter, but I’ve been coming here all my life,” says Dan Bingham originally from Ontario, Canada but now a full-time resident of Spanish Lookout in Belize’s Cayo District.

Sittee River is one such spot that has the frozen-in-time feel. The region is situated next to the authentic, welcoming Garifuna community of Hopkins, in southern Belize. This sleepy, historically Kriol area has some huge draws for expats, many of whom say they fell in love the moment they entered the community.

I was talking to an expat friend the other day. We were chatting about how much Belize has to offer in the way of exotic experiences. We happened to be on one of Belize’s exotic cayes (islands, there are over 400 cayes off the mainland) during this chat. Having spent the day playing in the water, swinging in hammocks, and enjoying a beach barbeque, the captain offered to take us a little farther away to the reef, where some great snorkeling could be done.

Belize offers distinct and varied ways to live. You can choose a tranquil, laidback beach lifestyle in Placencia, a Jimmy Buffet-style, non-stop party life on the island of Ambergris Caye, or an off-the-grid life out in the wild west of Cayo.

One of the truly interesting things about moving to a different country is that you don't realize the things you didn't know until you know them. Bananas. I've eaten them my whole life. Getting them is simple—you go to the grocery store, there they are. You buy them and you eat them. End of story.

Coming from Tampa Bay, Florida, my husband, Scott, and I have always been warm weather people. Back in the U.S., we worked taxing jobs—Scott as a firefighter and emergency medical technician, and me as an emergency trauma nurse. Knowing all too well how short life can be, we longed for adventure in a tropical climate.