Typical Belizean Forest Home

Seaside Cottage, Corazol Town, Belize

Belize, compared to Cuba, is as laidback as you can ever want. Both coastal and inland cities and towns move on a slow cruise control way of life. No hustle or bustle; "everything will be done when it needs to be done."

Rental cars are easily available; taxis run nearly 24/7. The Belizean dollar is tied to the U.S. dollar: $2 BZ for one $1 US. Resorts can be expensive, however, there are many small hotels or pensions that charge as little as $21 per night for a room with a bath and a modest view. Restaurants abound with a heavy emphasis on seafood. Belize is well known for its beaches and cays with spectacular sailing, scuba diving and snorkeling. Less well known are the highlands and jungle areas which teem with wildlife -- birds, howling monkeys, panthers and the ever present crocodile. 

Land prices vary considerably. Towns such as Placentia, Belize City and others are rapidly growing and prices are escalating. Farther away from the beaches, prices are more reasonable, for example, $10,000 US for 2-3 acres which has already been cleared. Hiring local labor is relatively easy. Many farmers opt for small jobs, i.e., land clearing, fence building, road grading, etc. for a reasonable daily wage. Building permits, septic tank reviews and real estate transactions obviously require a local bank account and the usual paperwork. 

Farmer's markets abound, and fresh produce and fruit are abundant. Growing your own vegetables and fruits are relatively easy, also. Belize derives its water from the mountains of Guatemala. The tropical hurricanes that begin in the eastern Pacific strike Guatemala and Mexico, and the water floods eastward through Belize to Caribbean. Rain collection systems are very popular, and easy to build. 

At the northern end of Belize, sits a growing community called Corazol Town, just across the border from Chetumal, QR, Mexico.  Chetumal is the state capital of Quintana Roo, and is a bustling, modern city. Housing there is a bit more expensive than Corazol Town, however, crossing back and forth on the border provides no difficulty.

I'll be visiting both locations to view possible retirement locations: either land or some pre-built accommodation to escape the cold and damp of winter.  More later.  Here are some links on both places:

https://www.belize.com/corozal 

https://www.belize.com/chetumal

New updates as my travels took me far and wide. Recently, I visited Mexico, Cuba and Belize. Photos below of my journeys there; now, my explorations take me to property in Chetumal, QR, MX, or, across the border in Corazol Town, BZ. Adjacent to the sea, both offer all the basic amenities I need. And, the daily costs substantially lower than the U.S. Healthcare provided by US trained doctors, nurses and dentists at one tenth the cost.  And, in a few weeks, my continued journeys in Chetumal / Corazol Town continue.

Beautiful Cathedral above my hotel 

Sunset at the Chateau Miramar on the Caribbean Sea 

Miramar Cathedral and former Convent, Still Open and Starkly Beautiful 

 Balcony View of Coast, Chateau Miramar on the far left

Plaza de La Cathedra

National Capitol Building 

Bacardi Building - an Art Deco Delight 

 Florditia Restaurant and Bar - a Hemingway Favorite

St Francis de Asisi Cathedral and Plaza 

Hemingway Home, Now a Museum 

Onions and Garlic - Vinellas Valley 

La Bodeguita del Medio

Enrst Hemingway's Famous Bar - Great Mojitos!

Museum of Fine Arts 

Plaza Vieja

Taquechel Pharmacy Museum

 Black Orchid Resort, on Belize River

 Howling Monkeys Outside my Bedroom

 Black Iguana Along the Riverside

Belize River Teeming with Fish and Small Crocodiles -- No Swimming!

Lessons learned from traveling to, within and from Cuba. Despite more open borders, travel by U.S. citizens requires careful planning, advanced reservations, and a clear sense of how you'll travel throughout the country.  First, U.S. based credit cards are not accepted by anyone once you've entered the country. Only cash or a non-U.S. credit card are acceptable. Change your U.S. dollars to Mexican pesos; I did that as I passed through Cancun to La Habana. Once in Cuba, go to a bank, and convert Mexican pesos to Cuban tourist pesos, called CUC (pronounced "cuke"). Standard Cuban pesos, used by the local citizenry, cannot be used by tourists. The exchange rate of U.S. dollars to Cuban CUCs is very unfavorable. Converting to Mexican pesos eases this pain.

A typical fifteen minute taxi ride from the outskirts of La Habana to Old Town, about ten miles, will cost 15 Cuban CUCs with a 1-2 CUC tip. Standard fare for lunch or dinner, including drinks, will cost 25 CUCs per person. Major museums charge 10 CUCs; smaller ones look for a 1-2 CUC donation. 

Downtown, or Old Town, La Habana continues to improve. Plazas are being restored, storefronts are opening, restaurants and bars abound, and grifters and beggars also exist. Toilets come with attendants who expect a tip for toilet paper (bring your own). However, the back alleys of Old Town still teem with the old ways -- children playing in the streets, families hawking all kinds of trinkets, dogs asleep in the gutter, endless stream of bicycles, motorbikes and automobiles. 

Due to the humid climate, and particularly along the coast, there is the constant presence of mold. Not all molds are bad, however, if your sensitivity to mold allergens is high, beware of its presence. Hotels, public spaces and restaurants make every effort to eliminate the mold. Backstreet cafes and bars are less prone to do so.

Unleaded gas may exist, however, the pollution from automobiles can be overwhelming. No catalytic converters or other smog control devices exist. Just big clouds and plumes of exhaust at every intersection. Obviously dine at restaurants and bars away from main avenues and intersections. 

People are generally friendly; some speak English, most do not.  Rudimentary Spanish will get you around town fairly easily. Buses are very crowded, and do not adhere to schedules. To visit out of the way places, for example, Ernest Hemingway's beautiful home, took forty-five minutes. The taxi driver waited for us while we roamed the grounds, museum and gift shop; then took us back to the hotel: total cost of 60 CUCs for two of us.

When you travel away from La Habana, the real poverty becomes apparent. By law, each farmer is granted ten hectares of land on which to farm and raise animals.  However, very little of the land is arable, and water is scarce. Cuba has put in over two hundred dams to create a vast network of lakes. However, water is a very precious commodity. On the bus trip to the Vinellas Valley, we saw acres and acres of sugar cane and tobacco. Occasionally, we saw small family gardens, but that was a rarity. Life is simple and harsh in Cuba, yet, the people are generally happy. Music is everywhere; it is their antidote to the starkness of their reality.

There are no magazines or newspapers as you would find in any metropolitan center throughout the world. There is a national newspaper, in English and Spanish. Television covers politics and world events, however, shaded through a communist / socialist lens.  Lots of coverage of Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Vietnam, Chinese and Russian political activities. Endless music videos blasting our "bubble gum" music. And, of course, sports including soccer (or futbol), cricket, baseball (Cuba's version of the amateur World Series was being played during my visit) and rugby.  No US or European TV channels were broadcast.  And, of course, everywhere there were posters and painted slogans promoting or remembering Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and the 1959 Revolution.

Earlier today, I posted a manifesto, or credo, if you will, that I found positive and uplifting. Years ago, I found bits and pieces of poetry and commentary that raised my consciousness even higher. I carry these thoughts on a well-worn piece of paper in my wallet. Over time, the paper has worn, but the thoughts have not. I do not know the source of these thoughts. If anyone can identify the source of the second quote,, I will modify my post and give credit where it is due. 

“By being nothing, you are everything. By wanting nothing, you are eternally full of grace.” 

        from Kalu Rinpoche

“When we realize who we are, we no longer have this endless confusion, this eternal battle with ourselves. Thus, we no longer struggle with others or the world.”

       from ?

"All that you are seeking is also seeking you. If you sit still, it will find you. It has been waiting for you a long time." 

       from Clarissa Pinkola Estes

From Great Titles....

Time to make an organic vegetable broth for cooking. Diced leeks, ancient carrots, watermelon radishes, sunflower chokes, celery, beets, shallots, garlic, purified water and a mixture of basil (from the garden and minced finely) and a handmade herb 'd Provence. It will take about three hours. After straining, the remaining vegetables will be stored and used as fillers in meals requiring a paste or similar.

The broth, ...ah, the broth will enhance every meal thereafter.

One of several mantras that guide me through my day and life....

Now it's been something seeing you again

And in this time we've had to spend

You've been so good to be around

I thank you for that special thrill

Keep me going on until

The next time I'm in town

Though I won't be back here for a while

Or hear your laughter, see you smile

And I'll remember what went down

I can't tell you how or when

But I'll be seeing you again

The next time I'm in town

Now the places and the faces range

'Cross the bridge of time and change

Once again I'm homeward bound

There's one thing I promise you

That's another rendezvous

The next time I'm in town

Now it's been something seeing you again

And in this time we've had to spend

You've been so good to be around

And I thank you for that special thrill

Keep me goin' on until

The next time I'm in town

'Til the next time I'm in town

'Til the next time I'm in town

Mark Knopfler,

The Next Time I'm in Town

There Must Be More

Bright but hidden, the Self dwells in the heart. Everything that moves, breathes, opens, and closes Lives in the Self. He is the source of love And may be known through love but not through thought. He is the goal of life. Attain this goal!   The shining Self dwells hidden in the heart. Everything in the cosmos, great and small, Lives in the Self. He is the source of life, Truth beyond the transcience of this world. He is the goal of life. Attain this goal!   Take the great bow of the sacred scriptures. Place on it the arrow of devotion; Then draw the bowstring of meditation And aim at the target, the Lord of Love. The mantram is the bow, the aspirant Is the arrow, and the Lord the target. Now draw the bowstring of meditation, And hitting the target be one with Him. The Mundaka Upanishad, translated by Eknath Easwaren Being human is not a simple thing. We come into these bodies, into this world, with no skills whatsoever. Anything we may have picked up in past lives are of necessity forgotten. Many of us end up with parents who know next to nothing about child-rearing, and whose own life skills may be lacking, who parent by trial and error, or simply by expediency and happenstance (for when you're struggling to figure it out yourself while making enough money to support a family and building a career and "working on" your marriage/relationship, much subtlety can fall by the wayside).    Then we go to school, to be taught and socialized, and what they teach us is not how to be in the moment, how to be present to each other and to the world; rather they teach us, mainly, to memorize, to speculate, to break things down into their constituent parts and leave our understanding of the movement and operation of the whole to someone or something else. We are taught to follow orders, often without knowing the "why" of things; we are taught to conform, all of us saying the pledge of allegiance together (do they still do that?), often dressing alike, being asked to "behave" alike; we are taught to see what's wrong with things: remember those puzzlers? "What's wrong with this picture?" and there'd be someone riding a bicycle that is upside down, and someone with three hands, and you'd go through and circle all the "wrong" things?   Then we're sent out into the world and told to thrive.   It's no one's fault. We can teach only what we know, and what most know is only what they were taught by others who didn't know.   Eventually, though, we realize there must be more. We begin to seek. And eventually that seeking leads us back to ourselves and we must find the way to transcend this relative world, transcend our limited thinking, transcend our narrow experience of life; somehow finding our way to experience the wholeness of life and our place in it, rather than our felt separation from it..   Our meditation is one way. One way to have an actual experience of Being. An experience of our true Self. It is not the only way, but it is a way that works, consistently, and that consistently leads us in the direction of the joy and bliss of Being that is our birthright. And as we embrace this practice and the world view from which it comes, we become able to pass on to our own children some ideas and some tools--of wholeness and peace, joy and compassion, endless possibility--the sum of which will grow in them the ability to find for themselves a meaningful life, a joyful existence. And that makes the first part of all this worth going through.   Today I will have compassion for myself, and others like me, for those learned beliefs and behaviors that have ceased to work, and that have kept me separate from the world and from my fellows. I will dedicate myself at least once today to knowing what I am beyond these beliefs and behaviors.   All original material copyright © 2015 Jeff Kober