Getting to Punta Gorda, Belize...

Prior to leaving San Pedro I asked Mike to present an offer on a condo.  The asking price is $189K and I said to offer $169K, with $100K down and the balance financed over 10 years at 10% with the first payments beginning one year after closing.  This would give me time to sell my house and buy the condo on the water I’ve been looking at nearby, which will substantially lower my living costs and make a second mortgage a possibility.  If I can rent the SP condo out half the time, this could work.  We’ll see.

Coming into Caye Caulker

Tuesday morning I caught the 7:00 am water taxi to Belize City where I was picked up by Budget car rental and driven to the airport to pick up my vehicle, a Suzuki Jimmy.  It is about a 6-7 hour drive to Punta Gorda, which is almost on the Guatemala border.  The water taxi left late because the three genius deck hands couldn’t figure out how to get the mooring line off of the dock post; everything they tried just made it tighter until one of the future engineering prodigies managed to use a claw hammer to loosen it up.  I would guess there were about 50 people aboard.  I sat at the back, which was not enclosed.  As we pulled away from the dock we were backing into the east wind and the waves caused a number of sprays that got several of us square in the face; a bracing way to start the day.  Despite three-foot seas driven by the morning wind, the taxi sliced through them and the ride was quite comfortable.

I was glad that we stopped for a few minutes at Caye Caulker to take on a couple of passengers, because I at least was able to see what the island looked like from the shore line.  All in all, it took about an hour and a half to get to Belize City.  My driver was about 15 minutes late, but he was a fairly pleasant young guy who gave me a bit of geography and history lesson of BC as we went.

On the road from Belmopan to Punta Gorda

It only took about five hours to get to Punta Gorda; not the six to seven I anticipated.  It helped that I was doing about 120 on all the straight stretches (KPH, not MPH).  The area from BC to Belmopan was fairly flat and arid.  As I approached Belmopan there were a lot more hills and the scenery became more interesting.  There is a lot of agricultural activity ranging from cattle to corn to oranges and bananas. I stopped for gas at a Texaco station on the outskirts of Belmopan, which reminded me of when I was a kid… the attendant with a big star on his red polo shirt filled the tank and told me how much to pay the lady inside the station -- $10.13 BZ per gallon – or $5.065 USD; about what I expected to pay.  Not knowing how often I would find a gas station, I filled up again when I got to Punta Gorda and the price was a full BZ dollar more.

The distance from Belmopan to PG was filled with miles upon miles of orange groves and banana fields.  As I got closer to PG, the poverty of the native Mayans became more striking.  Many of their houses are made totally of thatch or of rough hewn lumber that is not planed to width to make the boards even, so there are one to two inch cracks between the boards and from what I could tell at a distance, most houses were built on grade with dirt floors.

I finally became accustomed to the signs announcing bumps in the road as the signal to slow down because I was approaching yet another town or village or cluster of homes.  Following the bumps were “Pedestrian Ramps” – Belizean for ginormous speed bumps.  These things are about eight feet across and about nine or ten inches high.  As I got closer to PG I was thinking that it still must be quite a distance because I was still in the midst of the hills, but the hills actually come down almost to the ocean so it was a pleasant surprise when I rounded a corner to see the Caribbean dead in front of me.

Looking towards Guatemala from PG

Punta Gorda is an interesting town.  Sadly, the first thing I noticed is that it is filthy.  It reminded me a bit of some neighborhoods of Bangkok; garbage was everywhere.  Styrofoam take-out containers, plastic bags and even disposable diapers were along the road or between buildings in sections away from the downtown area.

I found the Blue Belize Guest House and got settled in.  The owner is a marine biologist specializing in studying sharks and was away on business, so her research assistant got me checked in.

The room was very nice. It was on the second floor of one of the two houses that made up the property and opened out onto a huge, half-covered veranda with hooks for hanging the hammocks found in each room.  I found myself wishing I was staying longer.  As a former B&B owner, I really appreciated the thought that went into each aspect of the room.

Sign for Barber/Financial Advisor/Tutor/Accountant office

The main room was a combination living room and kitchen.  A very comfortable couch was accompanied by a low table facing the flat screen TV.  The large jalousie windows had floor length curtains with tie-backs to allow the maximum amount of sea breeze to flow through the room.  While I found the AC a necessity in San Pedro, the ceiling fan was more than sufficient here because of the constant ocean breeze. The kitchen was arranged along the wall between the bedroom and living area and had a toaster oven, microwave, coffee maker and counter high refrigerator.  The drawers and cupboards revealed a full complement of cooking utensils, pots, pans, silverware and dishes.  The bedroom had nice locally made tables on either side of the bed and plenty of hanger/storage space.  The bathroom was likewise well thought out and I noticed the tile work was expertly done.  The quality and level of detail far surpassed the Banana Beach.

I took a long walk about town, going up and down each of the main streets at least once.  I came across a chocolate shop whose smell alone made me wish I could move here immediately.  This shop grinds the beans, separates the oil from the mixture and makes the most wonderful chocolate imaginable.  The proprietor gave me a spoonful from the large milk chocolate batch she was making and I made a number of audible approving noises as I savored it.  I wish I could have brought some home but the heat it would have to endure over the next several days made that impractical.  I did buy one bar that, in the interest of avoiding a melted brown mess, I consumed immediately.  I also bought a chocolate swirl soap bar for my crazy cat lady cat sitter, Melly.  I looked over sidewalk menus of several restaurants before settling on the Olympia Restaurant and Bar, and I’m glad I did.  I had the curried fish with salad, beans and tortillas and it was excellent.  The owner said she had finished the renovations about six months ago and she did a very nice job.

Exploring Ambergris Caye

The beach "road"

The three main streets in San Pedro proper are cobblestone (flat, six-sided concrete stones) and everything else is hard pack sand. Most of the "roads" around SP are little more than cow trails with so many pot holes and ruts that you can't go more than 5 mph.  The driving rules are also interesting. Drinking and driving, I am told, is allowed (this explains a lot).  It seems that there is only one driving rule, "Don't go smackin' into shit." I felt safer in a tuk-tuk in Bangkok than driving through downtown San Pedro with tourists, bicycles and golf carts weaving in and out.  On the other hand, it is a tort lawyers dream come true – so many accidents just waiting to happen.

I drove to the far North end of the Island where it becomes mostly mangroves and lagoons.  At that point the "road" was about 5 feet wide and after seeing a crocodile run across the road in front of me, I found a place to turn around.   I'm adventurous, but I have my limits.

Prior to my turning back point, the road followed the beach for about half a mile and for good parts of this stretch the road is literally 2 feet from the water and maybe 2 feet above sea level. In a good Florida-style thunderstorm the waves must be splashing up on the road and maybe going over it.  The road turns inland and about 20 minutes further are several large condo developments with about 600 units total that range in price from about $250K to $1.5million.  Can you imagine spending that kind of money and then being stuck in town, unable to drive on the road to your home on a regular basis?

My impressions are that Ambergris Caye is a combination of Key West 40 years ago, third-world country, tourist haven and Wild West. Everyone is friendly and it seems very safe, but when it comes to business and real estate you need to be cautious and keep a tight grip on your wallet.  I have not done an in-depth market analysis and looked at only a few properties, so please take my comments with a grain of salt.  Remember, the whole point of this trip was not so much to find a property to purchase, but to get general impressions of whether or not this is a country I could retire to.

Condo project in progress

My Canuck real estate friend and I looked at a number of properties the next morning and I generally found that I don't have enough money to buy here.  There is almost no bank financing available and I have heard that a standard contract is 50% down with the balance at 10% over 10 years. Once you buy a property the overhead is pretty cheap: $200-$300 per year for real estate taxes; $500 - $1000 per year for insurance; and $200 - $300 per month for the homeowners association fee (if a condo), which typically includes water, sewer, garbage, common area maintenance and insurance, telephone, cable and internet. The last three vary a bit, but even at that you get a lot for the money once you buy.

Let me be clear -- I spent a whole two and one half days in San Pedro so I can scarcely be called a market expert, but these are my impressions. There are a few affordable (obviously a very relative word) houses or condos, but they tend to be on lagoons full of crocs and mosquitoes or they are older, wooden buildings (that I seriously question if they are made to withstand a good hurricane) and are likely to be eaten up by termites in a few years.  Those properties on or close to the Caribbean side tend to be of concrete construction and appear well built, but start at $175K for a one bedroom condo with no financing.  I am hoping to find better prices on the mainland.

I also stopped in a couple of hardware stores and grocery stores.  You can get just about anything, but prices for appliances and anything American are pricey.

Belize -- Day One

Well...

I arrived in Belize City and made it thru immigration and customs in about 10 minutes and then wandered over to the domestic terminal (it turns out that it is in the same building, just a different room and you have to go thru security to be put into the same departure lounge with the international flights).  I was able to get an earlier flight and got an upgrade – from a 5 passenger to a 9 passenger plane!

It was about a 20 minute flight to the San Pedro airport (more like an air strip).  I sat behind the pilot and took this photo over his shoulder as we landed.  The airstrip is in between houses and commercial buildings.  You get a luggage receipt when you get your ticket and then identify your bag when they bring it to the terminal (an open air building with a shed roof).

Maya Air "Terminal"

It is soooo good to smell the ocean breeze again.  It makes me miss living in Key West.

I can’t quite get out of banker mode… the first building I noticed next to the airport was ScotiaBank.

I shared a cab with two other couples and $5 BZ later I was at my hotel.  The Banana Beach is a mid-priced property on the Caribbean side of the island with 66 rooms.  It has two pools – one small and one medium sized – and a smallish, man-made beach.  There is a decent restaurant on site with an activities desk/store that also rents golf carts.

After checking in, I was unpacking when I got a phone call asking me to come back to the front desk; it seems the Sapphire Beach Resort neglected to pay for any of the guests who agreed to do a tour of their property in return for three nights free at Banana Beach.  I later heard all kinds of rumors (who knows if they are true) about the owner being in jail in Florida (check out Ambergris Daily and Update).  I found a mug shot of a woman by the same name on the internet and noticed that the arrest warrant was issued through the US Marshalls – not a good sign.  Someone also told me that the project is in receivership.  So I paid for the hotel at the rate they offered to Sapphire Beach and promptly sent an email to my “host” suggesting that I was no longer interested in their services.  I received a seemingly genuine response saying that it was all a mistake.  Regardless, the experience left a bitter taste in my mouth.

I now needed to get some beer and other necessities.  I was at the street entrance looking up and down the road in hopes of spying a small store when a voice behind me asked in a distinctive Canadian accent if he could help.  I turned around and met Mike – a ReMax agent who lives at the hotel.  After getting directions to the store two blocks away, I also relayed the short version of my story and we agreed to discuss my real estate needs over dinner.

I went for a walk towards town, passed the store and went a bit further to get my bearings.  I immediately noticed that practically everything in San Pedro is either under construction, for sale or both.  There are tons of buildings that have the first floor finished and rebar sticking through the roof in anticipation of adding a second floor.  It looks as though many construction dreams come to an end at the first floor.  No building can be more than four floors in SP, so it has a nice feel to it and does not look like Cancun.  No one tried to sell me beads, trinkets, sunglasses or asked for money.  I decided the best way to cover a lot of ground quickly would be to rent a golf cart so I did an about face, stopped by the store for a couple of Belikins and stopped by the activities desk to rent a golf cart (you can't rent an actual car on the island).  More on this later.

I had a meltdown...

I had a meltdown today.  Work was stressful.  I’m leaving in a week.  The house is a mess.   I have to get the taxes to the accountant next week.  I have a doctor’s appointment on Monday that always takes twice as long as it should.  My sister-in-law and her cousin are staying the night next Wednesday and Andrea’s brother arrives the next day.  The pressure kept building.  I've been assigned to a new project at work and I don't yet know the parameters.  The pain in my neck and shoulders was unbearable.  I’m exhausted because I haven’t been sleeping.  My boss is coming to town the day after I return.  I heard a song that reminded me of Andrea.  I had a meltdown.

I hit the “away” button on IM, walked away from the desk and just wept.  I am still a mess nine months after Andrea passed away.  We were a team.  We kept each other going and now I am so alone without her.  I curled up in a ball on the bed and cried.  The last couple of months she was tired all the time and was home all alone when I was at work.  I felt so badly for her because now I feel that aloneness, too.

After Andrea died I threw myself into my work partly to keep myself occupied, partly because I’m living on one income now and had to make sure I got a raise and a decent bonus and partly to try to move on.  Well, I succeeded at the first two but the third still eludes me.  Moving on is hard because I don’t necessarily want to move on.  I want her to hug me and tell me she loves me.  I am just an empty shell without her; she was my substance and reason for being.

I know these meltdowns are further and further apart, but that doesn’t lessen the pain at the time I’m going through them.  Intellectually I understand that time does indeed heal all wounds, but my heart is still broken and on days like today it feels like I can never be whole again.

I need this trip.  I need to do something on my own that will be my own experience and my own memory.  I need some time to play in the ocean and do something different.  I just plain need time but I want to somehow skip over the pain and get to the living.  It doesn’t work that way.

Belize links...

As I have been researching Belize I have come up with a collection of links that provide information about the country, expat living, specific areas of Belize, the history, real estate, etc.  Here is a “starter kit” of links for anyone who may be interested.

Blogs, news and expat forums:

§  Taco Girl

§  Expats in Belize

§  Belize Forums

§  Expat Blog

§  Belize First

§  Belize News

The various regions of Belize:

§  Northern Belize

§  Corozal Town

§  Sarteneja

§  Belize North

§  Southern Belize

§  Placencia Peninsula

§  Ambergris Caye

Real estate:

§  Retire in Belize

Remember what I said earlier about real estate… most real estate (both purchase and rental) is found through sources other than brokers or the marketing of specific developments.  So while the above links may be interesting to look through, they are probably not representative of the true market.  My own observation is that they are filled with overpriced development properties.  There is little monitoring of realtors like there is in the U.S.

I was reading Lee Harrison’s article in the February edition of International Living about how moving abroad is not about escape; it is about choice.  My first thought was, “Yeah – a damn hard choice because I can’t decide where to go!”

Lee uses the comparison of a “standard” menu vs. an “expanded” menu to illustrate some of his points regarding choice, but my mind wandered back to making the big choice of a country and I recalled another author pointing out that there is no need to restrict one’s self to a single choice.  To use Lee’s metaphor, you don’t have to choose between the shrimp scampi and steak Diane because it’s not your last meal… you can have both, just at different times.

If you pare down enough you can live simply, rent an apartment in the country du jour for a few months to use as a base for day trips.  When you have had your fill of country X or city Y, simply move on to the next country or region of a country.  That is a very appealing idea, but would require jettisoning 99% of what I own.  I guess that what few family mementos and heirlooms I have could be divvied up amongst my siblings or given to my brother-in-law. 

By the time I get out of Dodge I will likely still have two cats (they will be 11 and 16 when I retire) that I am unwilling to just hand off to someone else, but once they are gone I would be able to possibly put my home up for rent, store my remaining few possessions and hit the road.  Assuming the life of a vagabond has its appeal.

This brings me back to the whole health care/insurance issue.  Life on the road would need good insurance that would cover repatriation in case of emergency.  A related issue that has been nagging at me a bit is that my mom died of Alzheimer’s.  Being on the go while developing dementia would definitely not be a good thing.  Although Alzheimer’s is not definitively an inherited ailment, it is nonetheless a concern.  I don’t mean to sound cold, but I will be watching my sisters (6 and 12 years older than I) and hoping for the best.

Where else should I go?

My quick jaunt to Belize is just the first of what will likely be many trips I will take in search of a new home.  I have a long list of potential sites, most of them in the Americas, but not all.  Malta, Morocco and South Africa are on the list, though I doubt they will remain there long.  I would like to return to Morocco and South Africa, but I suspect that once I take a closer look at both of them, they will remain exotic but not the kind of place for my retirement. 

Thailand, Malaysia and India are in my Asian research queue and I’ve heard that Bali, Indonesia is quite attractive as a retirement destination.  Thailand can be quite cheap and Malaysia has a program created to entice foreign retirees.  India is so vast and full of amazing places that it would take years to really see and appreciate the whole country.

Central America includes Mexico, which is technically part of North America, Costa Rica, the bay islands of Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.  Panama and Mexico seem the most likely spots among them, but you never know what may crop up as I take a closer look.

South America has Columbia, Ecuador, Brazil and Uruguay.  Brazil and Columbia have up-and-coming economies that present many opportunities.  Ecuador is incredibly cheap and Uruguay is like a bit of Europe, refined and sophisticated.

Each of these countries in South and Central America, with the possible exceptions of Mexico and Panama, would demand that I learn Spanish.  Practically speaking, to get the most of any country would require knowing the local lingo even if English is widely spoken.  I found my Berlitz Spanish course as I was rummaging through boxes in my effort to get rid of things I no longer need.  I will have to devote time each day to working on my Spanish and engage my Hispanic friends at work to help me out.  Learning a new language will be good exercise for my brain; I need to start a physical exercise regimen as well.

Returning to fundamentals...

Now that the plans for my trip are set, it’s time to return to big picture research and planning.  There are some things that need to be looked into and thought out no matter where I end up.  Health care is a major concern and I will begin there.

I have learned that Medicare cannot be used outside of the states, so that means relying on the health care system where ever I end up.  While local clinics in many countries may not provide the level of care we typically demand, almost every country has well trained, private doctors that charge a pittance compared to doctors here at home (and actually spend more than ten minutes with you). 

As an example, if I end up in Belize they have a system of local clinics that can take care of the most common ailments, but more serious matters would require going to a private hospital in Belize City or, more likely, traveling across the border to Chetumal, Mexico.  Chetumal has several first class hospitals and is relatively close to both Corozol and Belize City.  Living further south in Belize would provide more serious challenges, but if I am able to fly there is good, cheap travel by air from the towns I am considering to Belize City or even Cancun.

I’ve been pretty darn healthy all my life, but I know that as this body wears out I will have greater needs and increasing costs.  At present, I have two doctors – one that I see for my annual check-up and routine matters, and another who has a much more holistic approach and who I credit with keeping my wife well even after she had been diagnosed with cancer.  This two-doctor system works for me and perhaps some sort of dual track approach to insurance and health care will work elsewhere.

The question becomes, do I purchase an international health care plan, use a local, hospital-based insurance or pay out of pocket.  At the very least, some type of critical care insurance would likely be necessary.  While many countries allow you full access to their health care system once you have established residency, each country approaches this differently.  This ability to access the local health care system could definitely be a factor in my choice of country.  If I am able to travel as much as I would like to, then maybe a long-term travel insurance plan might work in conjunction with local health care, since most decent travel insurance includes repatriation and emergency health care coverage.

I can tell this is going to take a lot of consideration since there are so many variables.  Health care is definitely in my “major research” bucket.  Despite our Yankee pride in our health care, most countries offer health care that rivals our own.  The question often isn’t if the actual care is good, but rather access to that care and the cost.  For the most part, our health care problems in the U.S. are related to cost and access, not the quality of the care we receive or the skills of our medical professionals.  OK, I got off the track there.  The bottom line is that I need to do in-depth research of each country that interests me and at the same time find out as much as I can about the various insurance possibilities.

The itinerary is finally done...

Everything is finally set.  I have a car reservation and all of the hotel reservations have been made.  This is costing more than I anticipated, mainly because the car is so expensive.  I researched the available cars to make sure I get something economical since gas prices are in the $5.00 per gallon neighborhood and I got a small SUV because Belize roads are notoriously bad.  Getting the cheapest car possible still set me back over $400.00 for just five days of use (bloody hell!).  If I decide to return at some point in the future, I will fly into Cancun and rent a car there; it means wasting time on the road but it will be cheaper for both the car and the flight.

Anyway, I will take a 7-passenger puddle jumper from Belize City to San Pedro and start off my trip on Ambergris Caye as planned and then catch the ferry back to Belize City three days later.  The car rental staff will pick me up from the ferry terminal and take me to the airport to grab the car.  From there it is about a five-hour drive south to Punta Gorda where I will be staying at Blue Belize Guest House, which is just off Front Street near downtown PG.  It's funny, but half the seaside towns in Belize have a Front Street just like in Key West.

From PG I'll make my way north to Placencia and the Seaspray Hotel.  The following night I am booked at the Pelican Beach Resort in Dangriga and I will finish the trip north of Belize City in Corozal Town at the Serenity Sands B&B.  I have a feeling I will come home exhausted, but the whole point of the trip is to figure out if there is an area of Belize that I can see myself retiring to.  If the answer is yes, I will return for a closer look at the areas I find attractive and comfortable.  If the answer is no, then I will look elsewhere (yet another opportunity for adventure).

Now that I am alone, I find myself being much more introspective.  I have the time to just think and, unfortunately, I have only myself to worry about.  Regardless of what I discover about Belize on this trip, I am certain to have an interesting time and discover new things about myself.

Thinking of Andrea...

My friend Melanie sent me the link to her wedding pictures.  It was fun to see pictures of her and Dean so happy.  It also reminded me of our wedding and the anniversaries that are now forever over.  Time makes things easier but I am still coping with the daily reminders of what will never be.  It’s the little things that get to me the most.  Andrea and I shared everything – big and small, important and of little consequence – we talked about everything.  Every time something happens in my life the first inclination is to tell Andrea.  Only now every event loses its meaning because the most important person in my life isn’t there to appreciate it.


It’s sort of like the old philosophical riddle:  If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?  My own personal equivalent is:  If Andrea isn’t there to appreciate it, does it really matter?  This sucks.  I want my life to have meaning again.  I want to share with her again.  Once again I find myself in a doleful frame of mind with nothing but a future of self-pity and emptiness in front of me.  And once again I find myself returning to the only thing that keeps me going (for now); planning for a future purposely created to set an environment of self-re-creation and re-invention.  I hope this makes sense.


Every Thanksgiving after her cancer diagnosis we had a special celebration for just the two of us; usually a good bottle of champagne and chocolate (one year we celebrated in the morning with bacon and champagne).  We toasted her survival of another year and counted our blessings.  Each year she made me promise that if she died first, I must marry again.  Looking back on those moments now, I realize that it is slowly becoming easier to believe I can live up to that promise.  

Even more details on Belize trip...

If anybody besides me is actually reading this you must be bloody bored of me carrying on about the trip to Belize.  I can understand that, but you need to understand that, for right now anyway, this is the only thing in life that I still have to look forward to.  Pathetic, I know.

Anyway, I got a good map of the country and started figuring out distances between the areas I will be visiting.  From Belize City to Punta Gorda it is roughly 200 miles.  Given the way the roads are described and the time necessary to get out of Belize City, I figure it will take around 6 to 7 hours.  So I plan on getting the first ferry out of San Pedro, which is at 7:00am, in order pick up my rental car and get out of town early enough to get to Punta Gorda by mid-afternoon.  My plan is to stay at Blue Belize Guest House, get dinner in town and check out the local stores, available housing, and generally just meander about to get a general feel of the area.

My understanding is that this area of the country, the Toledo district, is the wettest part of the country and has rain forest conditions with up to 170 inches of rain per year – sort of like Seattle, but always warm and a with a population of around 23,000 (the whole district, not just Punta Gorda).  OK, so the rain is the only thing similar to Seattle, but the point is that growing moss on my backside is not my cup of tea.  I have also heard that the sand flies are positively horrific.  Nonetheless, I want to check out the area if for no other reason than to satisfy my curiosity.  PG itself is around 6,000 souls and sits at a whopping 15 feet above sea level.  My house in Key West was 11 feet above sea level, so an additional 4 feet is a 36% increase in elevation!

There is a water taxi from Punta Gorda across Honduras Bay to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala that takes about an hour and costs a whopping $3.75.  If I had more time I would check it out.  Wednesday morning I leave for Placencia, but not before checking out the Wednesday morning market in PG.

A New Year's resolve...

Yesterday was my birthday—56 years since first appearing on God’s earth.  I was feeling sorry for myself because this was my first birthday without Andrea.  I’ve never been one to celebrate much, so it wasn’t that I didn’t feel much like celebrating, it was that this became just one more day to focus on the loss of my best friend and soul mate.  After work, I spent the evening with a bowl of popcorn and a movie whose name I have already forgotten.  A friend from work called to see how I was doing and I finally fell apart.  I can’t pretend that all is well, but I also can’t spend my days moping about; finding the right balance while mending my heart is difficult.

Today as I was getting ready to attend a wedding, I decided that the first day of the new year had to be a new start for me as well as my friends who are beginning a new life together.  There will still be many days that I will fall apart, but I am determined to find new ways to be positive and heal, while not forgetting.  If Melly and Dean have even half as many wonderful days that Andrea and I did, they will be truly blessed.

It is wholly appropriate to mourn the loss of my wife and healthy to grieve, but I must move forward as well.  The problem is that there are many difficult days throughout the year… the anniversary of her death, our birthdays, our wedding anniversary and the holidays; they are each difficult in their own way.

So, on that somber note, let the new year begin. 

The plan starts coming together

Well, I finally got my ticket for Belize.  I'll be flying early morning on February 19th to Belize City and then catch the Maya Air puddle jumper to San Pedro on Ambergris Caye ($63 one way) where I have three nights free at Banana Beach Resort in return for taking the time to tour the Sapphire Beach Resort on the morning of the 21st.  I will spend the rest of the time nosing around the island and checking out San Pedro, the stores and asking people about living there.  Most folks get around on golf carts, so maybe I'll rent one for a few days.

I doubt my friend will be able to join me, so I'll be on my own; this will be a good test for me -- how will I interact with the locals and others I meet, and will I do as well on my own as I would traveling with Andrea?

On the morning of the 22nd I will take a water taxi to Belize City ($10) and pick up a car for my trek south to Punta Gorda.  Rental cars are bloody expensive!  A '96 Toyota 4Runner is $65 per day, a 2002 4Runner is $78 per day and gas is in the neighborhood of $5.00 per gallon.  From Punta Gorda I will make my way towards Placencia peninsula followed by Dangriga and then Corozal Town and environs.  Since I don't really want to live anywhere but the beach, I won't be going to Belmopan or the Mennonite areas since they are quite a bit inland.

As I've been reading about real estate in Belize it has become apparent that being the first buyer of a home can be an expensive proposition.  The first buyer of a property must pay a 12% transfer tax that is not paid on land that you could then build upon.  So building, which is also supposed to be less expensive than buying new, is the way to go... maybe.  Word is that you need to be on location the whole time to keep the project going and make sure it follows the plan specifications.

More on the trip...

With only eleven weeks before the trip, I have set aside other research to make sure I have my itinerary and reservations set for the trip.  I have enough frequent flier miles for the trip, so I am keeping an eye on rates because if the price is reasonable it may be worth it to just pay for the tickets and save the miles for later.  I also have to make car rental and hotel reservations, and check on the ferry schedule between San Pedro and Belize City.  I am also looking for a decent road map to bring with me as well as study ahead of the trip.

After our stay on Ambergris and taking the ferry to Belize City, I need to make sure there is a car rental at the dock.  From there we will drive south to Punta Gorda and make our way north, staying one night each in Punta Gorda, Placencia and Dangriga.  We will spend the last two nights in the Corozal area checking out Corozal, Consejo, Sarteneja and Cerros. 

There will be a lot of driving, moseying through beach towns, checking out local markets and generally getting impressions of the areas as we go.  Can I live here?  Does it fit the lifestyle I envision?  Is the infrastructure sufficiently advanced for me to live comfortably?  I plan on asking lots of questions of locals regarding utilities, internet speed and costs, local rents and general quality of life questions. 

This is a different approach than my initial facts and figures method.  This time I am starting with the basic question of would I be happy living here and then moving on to the question -- is it practical to live here?  I may find that Belize, in general may be a nice place to visit, but not a great place for me to live full time.  That, after all, is the whole point of my visit.

Dealing with all of these travel plans makes me appreciate all the more Andrea’s head for details.  She would have all this worked out in no time at all, whereas I have to think and rethink through every step to make sure I am getting the most of my time and money.  I wish she could be with me.

Planning Belize trip...

Change of plans.  There is a property on Ambergris Caye, Sapphire Beach, that is offering a free, three-day stay in return for viewing the property.  So I will stay February 19-21 on Ambergris Caye, then take the ferry from San Pedro to Belize City and pick up a rental car to head south.  I would like to look at property here anyway, so this makes sense.  Talking to someone who is pitching a sale will help me to ask better questions later on and get a handle on some of the issues involved in buying and owning property in Belize.  Besides, maybe I will like it and quickly conclude my search.

Actually, I seriously doubt that I would buy something that quickly.  First of all, this is the first country I am visiting with an eye towards permanent residency.  Second, from everything I’ve read, most real estate (both purchase and rental) is found through sources other than brokers or the marketing of a specific development.  Unless I can see a positive cash flow from the start, it doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Since I have toyed with using my IRAs to purchase a property, I’ll have to go see that attorney my accountant recommended sometime between now and February.

Getting to Belize is not cheap; I presume it's because there just aren't enough travelers to create the competition you find for, say, Cancun.  Even so, I found good flights on American through Miami, so I will fly directly into Belize.  If I were traveling for a couple of weeks instead of one, then driving from Cancun would make more sense -- maybe next time. 

Being in Belize during the best weather will be nice, but I realize that I will have to return during hurricane season to see what the heat and bugs are really like.  I have time off right after Labor Day, so maybe I will go back at that time.  I have the weather for Belize City, Corozal and Tulum, Mexico on my Yahoo homepage.  Although the weather is staying warmer for a longer period of time in that part of the world, it doesn’t appear to be much different than Tampa Bay, where I am.

Now that my plans are being set, I need to read more on Belize and have a set of questions to be answered so I get the most out of the trip.