Decent internet—with ongoing improvements in speed, reliability, and cost—is available. It could just be that beauty is where you find it. You can always mix up a margarita and live-stream Jimmy Buffett if you miss the coast…. Move to Belize. However, due to the popularity of this travel period, the downside is that things are more expensive. But honestly, visiting Belize during the tourism offseason is not that different and a plus is that many discounts are available. As for a specific time that is the best to be in Cayo, this is possibly during in December and January.
During this time you will enjoy nice cool and sunny days which are great for going on hikes and eco-adventures. Cayo is an easy place to get to.
The most popular method is arranging a private transfer from the airport to your destination in Cayo. The immigration aspect of retirement in Belize can be simple and laidback, though it can require some patience to navigate the bureaucracy. The easiest way is to arrive and get your automatic tourist visa, which is good for 30 days. Renewal used to be a daylong ordeal in Belmopan, the undistinguished capital of Belize.
Happily, for Cayo residents, it can now be done at the Guatemalan border at Benque, just up the road from San Ignacio and Santa Elena, for periods of two or three additional months at one time. After staying in the country for 50 out of 52 weeks they are extremely strict and literal about this with your tourist visa, you can then apply for permanent residency, which can take months to sometimes a year or two.
While you used to be able to own a business and at least oversee it, QRP now prohibits any business activity whatsoever. This very new category is in the process of having its administrative bugs worked out. One draw of the QRP program is that it allows you to bring your household goods in during your first year in the country.
I have recently heard that attaining permanent residency allows you the same privilege, without having to deal with the QRP-mandated challenge of opening a Belizean bank account. Houses can be found in town, as well as in the surrounding countryside. The countryside homes often include enough land to grow whatever you fancy, and are clustered around the rivers and on hillsides overlooking town.
Housing prices, whether rental or sale, are always quoted in U. You can buy an off-the-grid small sq. One writer has characterized expats to Belize as quirky. Other social activities do exist—mostly for those who create them. Residents in my development have made a tradition of Saturday evening dinners at the restaurant in the small town of Santa Familia, as well as having sporadic get-togethers at local houses. For those interested in more active pursuits, horseback riding, river tubing, canoeing, kayaking, hiking, swimming in resort pools, and exploring Mayan ruins beckon.
While there are several good local restaurants in addition to snack bars in the market and around downtown serving mainly Belizean cuisine, Cayo is better for those inclined to take advantage of the organic food available here, or even grow their own. The land and the climate are so verdant you can stick just about anything in the ground and it will grow.
Many expats have avocado, citrus, soursop, mango, banana, and other trees in their yards. The prospect of growing their own food is quite a draw for many expats. If you long for an escape from the higgledy-piggledy architecture of this truly typically Central American region, elegant upscale resorts are happy to entertain you, offering an instant escape into a North American aesthetic complete with gourmet cuisine, sparkling swimming pools, and fully equipped bars with all the tropical drinks you know and love.
Affordability is a big draw in Cayo. We paid a premium for being in an expat development not a gated one , but we considered that worth it for the benefits of having experienced neighbors around who could answer questions about where to find things in the always intriguing treasure hunt that is Belize.
Despite the abundance of for sale signs, the real estate business is not well-developed here, so finding a long-term rental may be easier to do if you started with an Airbnb or VRBO rental to use as a base while you asked around to find something that suited you. Food is also more affordable in the Cayo than in the beach towns. The fertile ground and open space of Cayo mean everyone grows some kind of food, which they offer in the market at great prices.
As in the islands, American brands like potato chips and corn flakes have to be imported, so their cost is roughly double what you would pay at home. Even some specialty items like gluten free flours, for example, can be found here, again at prices twice what you would pay in the U. Several upscale restaurants invite you to indulge right in San Ignacio—one of these is called Crave on West St.
Prices here approach North American prices, and you can definitely expect to pay North American prices if you indulge in a meal at one of the local jungle lodges that abound in Cayo. San Ignacio is surrounded by lush broadleaf jungle and rolling hills. This limestone foundation gives Cayo its unique geological characteristics, and due to millennia of fresh water erosion houses the incredible network of sinkholes and caves that feature so prominently in Maya cosmology and religious belief.
Like most of Belize, Cayo is filled with surprises and unique attractions. For me, it was the Mayan Ruins. In one day we took in three very different but equally amazing sites — beautiful Xunanthunich, with its impressive pyramid temple and views, the royal palace of Cahal Pech , just on the outskirts of San Ignacio, and then spent the afternoon up in the higher altitudes of Mountain Pine Ridge and the sprawling remnants of Caracol, an ancient metropolis covering over 55 sq miles in the Chiquibul National Park.
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