Bye Bye Belize!

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All good things must come to an end, including our month in Belize. We end things off by spoiling ourselves with the best lobster dinner in town at The Secret Garden, oh my, I can still feel all the butter dripping down our chins - yummmm. Lobster season is still on here until the end of January.

If you are planning a trip here, we suggest that you bring more money than you originally budget because it's expensive, more expensive than Mexico that's for sure. We aren't the only ones who ran out of the spending money we planned. Food, beer and alcohol is all really about the same or a even a little more expensive compared to home, with the exception of rum, which is super cheap. Real estate, which I've written about before, is very expensive as well.

In terms of accomodations, you can find anything from a hostel for a few dollars, or a cheap cabana on the beach for around $50, all the way up to the Turtle Inn where rooms can run into the thousands for a single night, and everything in between. You'll also want to bring some good insect repellant and get yourself some Sand Fly Bye Bye as those pesky little fly bites can really cause problems, especially for travellers with lighter thinner skin.

Most of the Belizians are poor, dirt poor, even the locals that live in Placencia. The minimum wage is $3.50 BZ per hour, which translates into $1.75 US. It costs $800 per year for each of your kids in school, plus housing and food. We will never forget the little girl, who we gave some simple art supplies for Christmas, you'd think it was the best thing she ever got, and... maybe it was. Most Belizians make do with a lot less that what we are accustomed to but somehow, even with so much less, the people here just seem happier and more content.

In the end, we're glad we came, glad we saw and glad had all these wonderful Belizian experiences, some more memorable than others. So, bye bye Belize, thanks for the great time - until we meet again.

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