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Ambergris Caye (San Pedro), Belize Billy and Akaisha Kaderli "What do people do here in San Pedro?" Billy asked. ""Well, Mon, dere's only fore tings. Snorklin', divin', fishin' an' drinkin'. Dat's it, Mon." Tour director, Scuba shop, Ambergris Caye
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In a nut shell we were disappointed. That is not to say we will not go back, but Belize has been so hyped up as a great retirement destination, that I guess we just expected more. Personally, we found it dull and coined the phrase “Brainless in Belize” If you look at where Belize is positioned geographically, you can see that it is just as tropical as Mexico and Guatemala. Yet the produce we found there was not only more expensive than its neighboring countries, but also of lesser quality and with skimpy selections offered in the stores. This made little sense to us and after the opulence of Guatemala and Mexico, we found it frustrating. If you look at the picture up above of the girl in the sundry shop, you can see the blackened bananas and plantains. This was not an unusual sighting, and we routinely found moldy onions, soft potatoes and unattractive papayas. The beaches were often covered in dead sea grass and it was flourishing out in the ocean as well, making swimming close to shore a sort of slimy affair. We have traveled extensively through this area of the world visiting some of the finest beaches you will ever see. The white sands of the island of Nevis, Mystique, Martinique and the Grenadines in the Caribbean are particularly memorable. A huge shocker to us was the amount of garbage we saw lying around. Ambergris Cay is a long thin island and supposedly displays the best Belize has to offer. On the one side you have beautiful million+ dollar beach homes, yachts and private docks with commanding views of aquamarine water and the barrier reef. But behind them across the narrow road we found cesspool after cesspool of thick, garbage-filled, slimy water with bottles, bags, baskets, appliances, parts of wooden pallets, cars on cement blocks and old tires. They looked like open landfills tangled in the mangrove coves. There were pockets of putrid water and waste and these were sights that we were not prepared for. Our guess is that a couple of large storms would submerge this mess and the place would look pristine, but the garbage would still be there. We saw shanties in terrible shape, sometimes overrun by 40 or more dogs left to run wild with no food or water so eventually, the animal shelter would have to be called in or – horribly – the pups would be poisoned so that they wouldn’t reproduce and become a drain on the environment. In speaking with some of the Expats we learned that oftentimes, food was purchased in Chetumal, Mexico at better prices and selection, and brought back to their massive refrigerators and freezers. In terms of Health care, there are no specialists on the island of Ambergris or on the peninsula of Placencia. One has to go to Belize City for anything of consequence. If one becomes ill, there is a clinic near the airport, but for anything serious, or if there is an accident, one must be airlifted by helicopter and fly to Belize City. So there definitely are challenges here in the Paradise of Belize, and in general, we found this country to offer First World prices but giving Third World services. It’s entirely possible we were missing something, but we didn’t catch the magical passion that is Belize. That having been said, everyone’s description of Eden is different, and the fact that English is spoken there is certainly a plus for many Expats. Belize is a great place to visit if you want a vacation time focused on sea activities. But long term living might not be as satisfactory. Remember what the tour operator told us: "Well, Mon, dere's only fore tings. Snorklin', divin', fishin' an' drinkin'. Dat's it, Mon." Tour director, Scuba shop, Ambergris Caye |
Billy and Akaisha continue to journal and photograph their world travels.
