Our Journey to Belize

Our plan was always to retire to a warm sunny destination, preferably one that was close to the beach.  We found out that many tropical retirement paradises are located in countries with a relatively low cost of living and this really appealed to us. 

We had vacationed in Belize in 1998; we stayed both on the mainland and on the island of Ambergris Caye.  We went back to Belize in September 2010 to scout out where we thought we might want to retire.  We landed back on the island of Ambergris Caye for the week.  Something about knowing you can wake up every day and see the crystal blue turquoise waters and sandy beaches of the Caribbean made us think…we want to spend our retirement in the tropical paradise of Ambergris Caye.

We chose to retire to Belize in Central America for several reasons: 

1. Belize is the only English speaking country in Central America
2. The Belizean dollar is 2:1 to the American dollar.
3. We found all the people to be very friendly and helpful.
4. Belize has several expat (retirement) communities.
5. We can be back in the US with less than a 3 hour plane ride.

After returning back home to Mississippi September 2010, we began the long process of going through and trying to figure out what to do with many years of material possessions.  During the next 16 months we began selling most everything off including our home, furniture and cars.  We moved to Belize January 13th, 2012 with 4 suitcases and 3 Siberian huskies.  We plan on living a much simpler life and with a lot less material things.