mollymalone

Does anyone know what it's like living and working in Belize for a family with 2 young kids - 1 and 3 year olds. Are there any pre-schools or similar for a 3 year old to attend? Would like to hear some views on what it would be like for a stay-at-home mum with kids. Also the type of lifestyle our type of expat family have....

Thank you!

_Tropical_11th

Belize sounds nice!!!!
(Just to the south-east of Mexico)

I have always wanted to visit there. Belize sounds like a real blast. Belize seemingly has somewhat of a similar indentity to the Caribbean, since Belize was Britain's only long time colony in Central America.

Supposedly, since Belize became independent from Britain in 1981 the British Armed Forces have a small military contingent there to keep Guatemala from following through on their threat to invade and take over Belize as revenge for Britain capturing it in the 1600's.

http://www.belize.gov.bz/about_belize.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belize

~Tropical

meauxna

It *very* much depends on where in the country you would be.

Village vs city vs populated village vs any tourism there etc

Don Pablo

Hope you're still watching thread Molly :-)

We've lived here since '92. Got four kids through school here and the education they received was so good, when we took them back to UK to finish college and further education they did really well.

PM me if you need more info okay.

Buzzy--Bee

Hi Don

We are planning to spend a few weeks in Belize on our way to emigrating to Australia, holed up on Caye Caulker while our container drifts slowly round the world. I'd be interested to know your opinions on cost of daily living there self-catering. We always eat local food wherever we are, however our previous experience of the caribbean area (Cayman and Bahamas) was really really expensive even for local goods, we'd love to know how much we should budget for.

Thanks for your advice.



Buzzy

meauxna

hey Buzzy, didn't know this was your plan!
You'll probably find that everything costs more on the islands because it has to be hauled out there by boat. I lived there too long ago to give you estimates, but you might find that eating a good meal out of someone's home (still pretty common) may cost less than buying the ingredients to self cater.

I'll see if I can put you together with an American internet friend who lives on CC--she can give you some more up to date ideas.

Buzzy--Bee

Great, thanks! I appreciate it. A local contact is always good. We identified Belize, particularly Caye Caulker, as somewhere cheap to hole up for a few weeks, but we need to work out how cheap it will be. Accommodation costs are far cheaper than the US or the Pacific Islands but I would like to know that the savings on accommodation are not going to be eaten up by food costs!

Thanks

Buzzy

Don Pablo

um so you still want me to look at this for you Buzzy or are you sorted?


and is it just me, or do you find that conversation usually ends up with either food or sex as the topic?

Buzzy--Bee

Don, any info you can offer will be gratefully accepted! Meauxna is getting some info for me too. We are intending to stay there a month, so it's important for us to be informed if possible!

Do you reckon $50 US a day would be too little / too much / just right for self catering on the islands for a family of 2 adults and 2 toddlers?

food, sex and money!

Thanks

Buzzy

Don Pablo

Buzzy

in no particular order right, but here's what we came up with;

Me and the missus were discussing this today and as your kids might not be used to what's available here, you can try stuff like a flour tortilla (pay someone to make them for you -about $3 for a pile on a plate) rolled up and you could put shredded (baked, fried or barbied) chicken in it, maybe some salad or baked beans.

The kids will be hot if they're not used to the heat (especially on the cayes) and fruit is always good. Strip out a water melon and dice it up, it's easy to eat and very cooling for the kids, try them with papaya and banana thrown in.

Coconut water gives you strength, I could get up in the morning, just drink that and chop my whole yard by hand without wilting.

There will be plenty of fish available, it's delicious but check with the seller or someone local (your tortilla maker lady?) what they would give the kids, cos some of them are very boney and hard to find if you're not used to it.

Rice pudding is easy to make and nice to eat plus fills them up, put condensed milk in it. Chop up a small pumpkin into fingernail size bits, boil it down with the rice and you have the traditional Maya dish called She-ek, pronounced she- as in 'shed' and -ek as in 'flippin eck' :-)

Loads of water and juice. Floppy hat, powerful sun block from Boots is good. The sea cooks skin. Even on cloudy days, the UV still comes through. Wet their ears if they get hot and the wind takes the heat away. Do your studying on the symptoms and treatment of heat stroke cos the kids will run round like crazy and burn up, you know how they go.

You can get fresh milk but it doesn't last too long so start them learning to eat cornflakes with evap milk & water, then they won't have a shock when they get here trying to eat their favourite foods and it doesn't taste 'different'.

I'm 75 miles inland in San Ignacio, so things are bound to be different when you arrive; we have a massive daily farmers market, for a start off. If you do manage to get out this way, you are welcome to call in but I was also gonna say that (Eva's restaurant -Bob Jones is a great source of information all round;

Try to make contact with someone on the Caye to see what's available at the shops.

I agree with your prioritising, by the way :-)

Enjoy your trip.

Paul

Buzzy--Bee

Paul

Brilliant post, lots of great advice which we really appreciate. Luckily our kids eat everything we give them, other parents are shocked at what our 2 wolf down!

Just a couple of more Q's.....

The fresh fruit you mention, melons etc, are they plentiful and cheap? I imagine they grow locally? Also, do you know if you can drink tap water on the Cays?

I'd love to say that we will get to other parts of Belize such as your area, we may do yet, and thanks for the invite. Our current plan is to hole up on Caye Caulker for a month where we can get reasonable priced accommodation and live like locals on a reasonable daily sum. The last time we emigrated we did much the same in Tonga (although without kids!)

Very much appreciated Paul, thank you so much.



Buzzy

Don Pablo

Sokay you're welcome.

I think water melon is 60cents a pound (30cents US at 2:1). So big melons are cheap and plentiful :-)

Don't know about tap water on the cayes. Here in Cayo we only drink bottled water by the 5 gal container.

Whilst you're considering somewhere near the sea, why not look at one of the most beautiful places in Belize at Hopkins. Here's a clip from the Belizeforum BB; http://www.belizeforum.com/ubb/ultim...c;f=5;t=000913

...check out the first post (hope you can see it -pm me if not) where Tony is describing his room rates.

Hopkins is a paradise beach, cabins on the shore under the palms kind of a place. Couple of pics in the 'Gallery' here at http://www.innattheruins.com/pages/gallery.html

Probly cheaper than the cayes, too. Land based = easier access to archaeological sites.

Click on the thumbnails for better pics. One of Caye Caulker in there too.

But yes fruit is plentiful and cheap. You could live on it and supplement your diet with vitamin pills if you are concerned about your daily intake... just that the kids would be sh!tting like ducks with all the fresh fruit :-)

Enjoy your trip :-)

Buzzy--Bee

Thank you Don, very helpful.



Buzzy