Country Article / Postcards
Trading Up in the Caribbean
Date: 01/09/2006Dear International Living Reader,
I met Jane on the flight from Belize City to Corozal. She and her husband retired to Belize two years ago--they sold their home in Illinois and bought a two-bedroom house in Santa Rita for $48,000.
Not far from the Yucatan border, Santa Rita is near the site of several Mayan ruins, as well as a beautiful part of the Belizean coast. It's also close to Corozal, the major city in the north of Belize. Santa Rita has attracted many Americans and Europeans who enjoy bargain living in an exotic area.
In fact, the living here is so cheap, that, since moving to Belize, Jane and her husband saved so much money that they're now trading up: "We're looking for something a little larger so we can invite the grandkids to come visit."
Jane's story isn't unusual--I've met several expats in Belize recently who, because they like it here so much, and the cost of living is so low, are either buying a second home in Belize or are trading up to a bigger home.
But whither Jane? She's spoiled for choice.
She was returning from Punta Gorda in the south, where she looked at a five-bedroom house on 6 acres of land for $130,000.
Jane's husband is a former professor of environmental science who is impressed by the rain-forest in the west, as well as the high quality of Caribbean water off the coast. Plus, their grandkids love to snorkel.
Even longtime expats here can forget how easy it is to get around this country: It's 174 miles from the Guatemalan border in the south to the Mexican border in the north, and flights between major cities take but a matter of minutes on the country's two well-established domestic airlines (Maya Airways and Tropic Air). Water taxis quickly shuttle you among the islands.
Next on Jane's list is a return to north Belize, to look at coastal communities, then on to San Ignacio to look at a couple of houses on the market near the rain-forest. There's no snorkeling, of course, but she reckons her grandkids will get a kick out of talking to the macaws.
Don Ediger
For International Living
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