“I like speaking English.” Why Choose Belize? Mother Nature' Best Kept Secret You can be anywhere in the world, but you came to Belize… Over the years, author Lan Sluder, has interviewed, talked with or heard from via e-mail, hundreds of people who have moved to Belize or who plan to do so. He asked them this question: “Why did you choose Belize?” He has gotten many answers to that question, but the following are the most common: W W W . B E L I Z E I S L A N D R E A L E S T A T E . C O M “I love the warm climate.” It never frosts or snows in Belize. The climate ranges from sub-tropical to tropical, similar to that of South Florida. As long as you’re comfortable with warm to hot temperatures, perhaps tempered by cooling breezes from the sea, you’ll like Belize weather. As a bonus, you’ll never have to pay for heating oil again. You don’t have to learn a new language to live in Belize, because English is the official language. You don’t have to struggle with grammar and syntax in an unfamiliar tongue. While Spanish and several other languages are widely spoken in Belize, and many Belizeans are bi- or trilingual, everything from street signs and newspapers to official government documents are in English. From your first day in Belize, you can shop, dine, chat and gossip without having to thumb through a dictionary or cast about for the right verb ending.
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Transcript
“I like speaking English.”
Why
Choose Belize? Mother Nature' Best Kept Secret
You can be anywhere in the world, but you came to Belize… Over the years, author Lan Sluder, has interviewed, talked
with or heard from via e-mail, hundreds of people who have
moved to Belize or who plan to do so. He asked them this
question: “Why did you choose Belize?” He has gotten many
answers to that question, but the following are the most
common:
W W W . B E L I Z E I S L A N D R E A L E S T A T E . C O M
“I love the warm climate.”
It never frosts or snows in Belize. The climate ranges from sub-tropical to tropical, similar to that of South Florida. As long as you’re comfortable with warm to hot temperatures, perhaps tempered by cooling breezes from the sea, you’ll like Belize weather. As a bonus, you’ll never have to pay for heating oil again.
You don’t have to learn a new language to live in Belize,
because English is the official language. You don’t have to
struggle with grammar and syntax in an unfamiliar tongue.
While Spanish and several other languages are widely spoken
in Belize, and many Belizeans are bi- or trilingual, everything
from street signs and newspapers to official government
documents are in English. From your first day in Belize, you can
shop, dine, chat and gossip without having to thumb through
a dictionary or cast about for the right verb ending.
“I enjoy the lifestyle here, doing things outdoors and on the water.” Belize offers relatively little in the way of cultural
activities — museums, art galleries, the arts. But it
makes up for it with a wealth of options for those
who love the outdoors. You can garden year-round.
The saltwater fishing is some of the best in the world.
Boating, diving, swimming and snorkeling can be as
close as your back yard. For the more adventurous,
there are caves and ancient ruins to explore, rivers
to canoe and mountains to hike.
Belize is not a Never-Never Land where everyone
loves everybody in perfect harmony, but the fact is,
by and large, Belizeans are as friendly a bunch of
people as you’ll ever find. Belizeans take people
one at a time. Whether you’re black, white, brown
or green, short, fat, ugly or beautiful, rich or poor,
you’ll find acceptance in Belize. Your neighbors will
say hello to you on the street, check on you if you’re
sick and share a joke with you over a Belikin at the
bar. And they may try to hit you up for a loan. For
the most part, Belizeans genuinely like Americans
(and Canadians and Europeans). At the official
level, the Belize government welcomes retirees and
others, especially if they bring some resources to the
country. The Qualified Retired Persons Incentive
Program is administered not by a bureaucratic
immigration department but by the Belize Tourist
Board, and they often provide approvals within a
few weeks.
“I can live better here for less money than where I came from.” Belize is not the cheapest place to live, and in some areas of Belize an American lifestyle will cost
U.S. prices or higher. Overall, however, expats in Belize say they can live larger than back home,
enjoying some luxuries such as a housekeeper or meals out. Investment income, pensions and
Social Security checks seem to stretch a little farther in Belize. While some items such as gasoline,
imported foods and electricity cost more in Belize, other things including medical care, housing,
insurance and household help are significantly cheaper in Belize than in the U.S., Canada or
“I like living on Belize time.” Like many sub-tropical and tropical countries,
Belize offers a slower way of life than the
frenetic pace of life in many more developed
countries. If you don’t get it done today,
there’s always tomorrow. Slow down. Be cool.
Don’t make your blood boil. ―I’ll be here at
7:30 Monday morningǁ‖ really means, ―I’ll try
to get there early Monday but if I decide to
go fishing I’ll be there sometime Tuesday.ǁ‖ Not
everyone can adjust to this way of living, but for those who do it has a lot of appeal.
“I like the people of Belize.”
“I feel healthier here.” Belize does not have the high-tech, state-of-the-art medical care available in the U.S. or even in countries like Costa Rica or Panama. But the
Belizean lifestyle can be very healthful. You eat fresh fruit and unprocessed food. You walk more and ride less. You stay outside in the clean, unpolluted air rather than being cooped up in a
climate-controlled box all day. You go home for lunch or take a nap at mid-day. In Belize’s balmy climate, your arthritis and other aches and pains
seem to fade away. Many people who move to Belize start feeling better within a few weeks. Quite a few lose weight. Blood pressure levels go down.
Of course, you can also live an unhealthy life in Belize — watching cable TV all day, drinking all night and eating fried foods and lardy beans and
“I’m glad I escaped from America’s Consumer society.”
In Belize, you won’t find Starbucks,
McDonald’s or Wal-Mart. Global franchise
businesses are almost unknown. That can be
frustrating when you’re trying to find a cheap
home appliance or a quick meal, but on the
plus side you don’t need to spend your life
accumulating stuff.
“I like the wide open spaces of Belize.”
With only 266,000 people in an area the size
of the state of Massachusetts (population:
6,400,000), Belize is one of the least densely
populated countries in the Western
Hemisphere. Outside the cities and towns,
you can often drive for miles without seeing
another human being. In that regard, Belize is
like a little, subtropical Alaska. Or like Florida 50 or 60 years ago.
“I don’t have to worry about losing my property here.”
Property rights are protected in Belize through the traditions of English Common Law. In some
countries, if you leave your house or land unoccupied, squatters can move in, and it’s almost
impossible to get them out. Legal documents may be written in a language you don’t understand.
Powerful local interests can take your property through tricky legal — or illegal — means. In many
parts of Latin America and Europe, the legal system is Civil Law based in some cases on the
Napoleonic Code, very different from the system in the United States. But Belize shares with
America, Canada and the United Kingdom a legal system based on English Common Law. In
Belize, private property is respected and protected. Foreigners can own property virtually
anywhere in Belize, with exactly the same rights and protections as exist for Belizeans. The Belize
legal system isn’t perfect, and lawyers in Belize are almost as costly as those in the U.S., but it’s a far better system than, for example, in Mexico or Honduras.
“The U.S. dollar is accepted everywhere in Belize.” Belize has its own currency, the Belize dollar, so technically the American greenback is not the
official monetary unit of the country. As a practical matter, though, the U.S. dollar is accepted
anywhere and everywhere in Belize, and the Belize dollar has been pegged for decades at the
rate of 2 Belize to 1 U.S. dollar. Anything of substantial value, such as real estate, is priced in U.S.
dollars. This means that prices in Belize are more stable for American dollar holders than they
would be if the Belizean currency floated against the dollar. It also means that in periods such as
2003 when the value of the U.S. dollar declined sharply against the Euro, yen, D-mark and many
other hard currencies, prices in Belize remained about the same as always for Americans.
(Conversely, of course, during periods of appreciation of the value of the U.S. dollar, prices in
Belize do not become cheaper for U.S. dollar holders.)