Has any one been to Belize?
- Thread starter midge63
- Start date
neosapien
Well-Known Member
RPM371
Well-Known Member
Depends on where you are going, but yeah it's pretty easy to find. You'll most likely be disappointed in what you find there. Not much medicinal quality around. I went to Placencia two years ago and rented a bungalow on the beach for a week. It was awesome, right down the beach from Francis Ford Coppola's place. The resort owners invited me to come by their house for drinks and wound up giving me (giving me!) a 1/2oz the first night I was there. They said if I needed any more to let them know. You just can't ask for better service than that.
BTW, If you go to Placencia... Tipsy Tuna and Barefoot Bar are great. Mango's in Maya Beach was by far my favorite spot. Another tip... If you are catching a connecting commuter flight from Belize City you will clear Customs and then head right back to the gates. There's no separate domestic/foreign gates. So when you head back you pass by all the Duty Free shops where you can stock up on cheap booze for your stay there.
This was the view from my bungalow:
BTW, If you go to Placencia... Tipsy Tuna and Barefoot Bar are great. Mango's in Maya Beach was by far my favorite spot. Another tip... If you are catching a connecting commuter flight from Belize City you will clear Customs and then head right back to the gates. There's no separate domestic/foreign gates. So when you head back you pass by all the Duty Free shops where you can stock up on cheap booze for your stay there.
This was the view from my bungalow:
ClaytonBigsby
Well-Known Member
Did you do much touring of the ruins? Was the contrast of rich and poor as stark as I keep hearing? 20 years ago when I went to Cabo San Lucas, the tourist (trap) area was about 4 blocks enclosed by a chain link gate with a shanty town just ont eh other side; kids eating cigarette butts. Horrible. I got on a bus and rode to San Jose everyday to eat and play with the locals.
RPM371
Well-Known Member
I visited two of the Southern ruins. They are smaller than the ones in the North, but a lot less people. I was alone walking thru Lubaantun and Nim Li Punit which was cool/eerie.
Here's the village of San Miguel near Lubaantun, not a huge tourist area but at least they have electricity... sometimes.
A couple kids just sitting in the road in the middle of nowhere. But they have nice school uniforms. Everyone there was poor, but they all seemed to be happy.
In contrast here's Placencia, a tourist destination:
A slightly higher standard of living.
The worst poverty I saw was in Seine Bight. It looked pretty bad during the day, but after dark you would have sworn it was a war zone except there wasn't any gunshots. They definitely did not seem to be living happy lives. I didn't pull my camera out driving thru there, either.
Here's the village of San Miguel near Lubaantun, not a huge tourist area but at least they have electricity... sometimes.
A couple kids just sitting in the road in the middle of nowhere. But they have nice school uniforms. Everyone there was poor, but they all seemed to be happy.
In contrast here's Placencia, a tourist destination:
A slightly higher standard of living.
The worst poverty I saw was in Seine Bight. It looked pretty bad during the day, but after dark you would have sworn it was a war zone except there wasn't any gunshots. They definitely did not seem to be living happy lives. I didn't pull my camera out driving thru there, either.
ClaytonBigsby
Well-Known Member
Beautiful country, rich in heritage. My brother and I looked at it fairly hard about 20 years ago, back when it was non-extradition. Did you visit the expat traps?
RPM371
Well-Known Member
I was more interested in buying an acre or two and building my own place. I looked at a couple of the expat communities, but the big development went belly up. They even built a freakin' international airport for the place then ran out of money before it and the development were finished.
Making the runway too short for most international flights didn't help. 5000 ft ain't long enough for a jumbo.
Making the runway too short for most international flights didn't help. 5000 ft ain't long enough for a jumbo.
ClaytonBigsby
Well-Known Member
Scams. Tons of scams for those looking to live abroad.
RPM371
Well-Known Member
Maya Beach Bistro is really good, too. Maya Beach is north of the Placencia airstrip about a mile.
Be sure you grab a rum punch and hotdog at Jet's in the Belize City airport for good luck. It's a tradition. Fair warning ladies, he will get grabby.
If you rent a fishing boat the rates are $350 US with guide (the fishing is awesome). They'll take you out to the reef to fish then stop on a caye and cook your catch for lunch, then more fishing/snorkling and back to Placancia. Make sure you take LOTS of heavy sunblock. I fried so bad that I had to cut my day short and spent the rest of the trip in misery. You'll want to do Monkey River and Jaguar preserve tours. If you plan on going to the ruins the southern ones are about a 90 min drive one way. The big ruins are up north and it's an all day drive. You will have a blast, but watch your money close or you'll get short changed. Belizean dollar is 2 to 1 to American and everyone accepts US dollars. $1US = $2BZ
Damn, now I really want to go back to Belize again!
Be sure you grab a rum punch and hotdog at Jet's in the Belize City airport for good luck. It's a tradition. Fair warning ladies, he will get grabby.
If you rent a fishing boat the rates are $350 US with guide (the fishing is awesome). They'll take you out to the reef to fish then stop on a caye and cook your catch for lunch, then more fishing/snorkling and back to Placancia. Make sure you take LOTS of heavy sunblock. I fried so bad that I had to cut my day short and spent the rest of the trip in misery. You'll want to do Monkey River and Jaguar preserve tours. If you plan on going to the ruins the southern ones are about a 90 min drive one way. The big ruins are up north and it's an all day drive. You will have a blast, but watch your money close or you'll get short changed. Belizean dollar is 2 to 1 to American and everyone accepts US dollars. $1US = $2BZ
Damn, now I really want to go back to Belize again!
racerboy71
bud bootlegger
catch anything good rmp or were you too sick to fish??
racerboy71
bud bootlegger
I caught some barracuda and snook. Next time I want to go out further and try for a marlin or sailfish.
I'm taking SPF 150, too! This was after 4 hours.
damn, i'm always reversing your name, sorry about that...
and yowzers.. looks way painful, i know, i burn walking out the front door for the most part.. my sister lives on the beach all summer and gets dark like an indian, i go out for 4 minutes and end up with blisters..
cancer survivor
Active Member
sailed to belize many times, nice place. the local weed is like mid grade, $ 50 us for an oz! the port guys were tough, searched the boat twice. did not find my stash of weed and drugs. freaked over frozen margiritas in fridge? we freeze em and blend and drink as needed. go to belize its nice!!
RPM371
Well-Known Member
There are some pretty bleak areas. It is a 3rd world jungle country without a doubt. You get away from the coast and it changes fast. There's more dirt road than pavement and calling some of it road is being very generous. There are things in the dark that will eat you.
I'm glad I went. Made me realise just what a whiny ass puss I really was. I just thought I'd seen hard times. Turns out I got life pretty damn good.
