Life at a Carribbean pace
Life in the Carribbean jungle, Jan 2026
this far on the journey, we’re very grateful for the opportunity to live in Belize. here, we’re surrounded by nature and beauty. we love living so close to the sea, we spend at least a couple days a week swimming and enjoying the beaches. it’s an easy environment to be physically active in, running, hiking, picnics by waterfalls, cycling, boating, snorkeling, diving. locals and expats alike here tend to be midwest-style friendly, smiles, waves, happy to spend a minute giving you directions or tips. fresh seafood, vegetables & fruit are available in abundance and cheaply.
Anthony Blair feels we didn’t move AWAY from the US as much as we moved TO Belize; but it is a very nice thing for almost every day to be a beautiful day, without the bitter cold of winter, or the stifling hot of midwest summer heat spells. not being trapped indoors for a good chunk of the year makes us happy. Allie was frustrated with the current political environment in the US, so that was a significant factor for her.
the things we find challenging: all the bugs, especially in the jungle, not being able to get anything you want from amazon the next day (it’s kind of a double-edged sword, though, because it does force you to be more intentional about what you need vs want), the speed bumps on every damn road, especially highways, and the space we’re currently living in has a small kitchen and a lousy oven, which is a real pain in the ass because we both love to cook.
(leaf cutter ant hard at work, cockscomb jaguar preserve)
rain is a different thing here in the tropical jungle. it’s less like a weather pattern, and more like a big person standing awkwardly in your room. for example, December was a rainy month, despite not being a part of the rainy season. it rained around 30 inches that month. which is how much it rains per year. in Seattle. when it rains in December, it’s like someone is continuously dumping a bucket of water on your head - Gene Kelly ain’t singin or dancing in that shit. then an hour later, the sun’s out, and the rainbows are all over the place.
when you see a tropical jungle in the movies, there are always guys with guns and machetes hacking, slashing and burning, surrounded in a cloud of bugs, constantly tripping over poisonous snakes and spiders. the bug part - that shit is true, especially sunset (although we wonder why nobody ever thinks to bring bug spray in the movies), similar to gnats, mosquitoes and black flies in northern Michigan. but hacking your way through the thick of the jungle would be like walking through a midwest suburb by going through every yard, knocking down chain link fences, killing dogs and trampling on petunias; instead of using the sidewalks or roads. in fact, a hike around the wildlife reserves here has the same feel to it that walking in a midwestern forest has - large open spaces shaded by canopy, some amount of underbrush and new growth. there’s more flowers, more ferns, more stuff in general, but for the most part, it feels not unlike a hike in a forested metropark.
as Blair’s sister Jenn likes to point out about Maui, both the best and the worst part of life there is how chill it is – it’s great - except when you really don’t want it to be chill, like when you’re dealing with the government. the bureaucracy in Belize is terribly inconvenient & slow, setting up bank accounts and getting car titles means waiting in line for up to hours, getting a title takes at least a year or two (or much, much longer). pretty much the only thing online here is social media and porn – shopping, utilities, DMV, property taxes, bank loans, insurance – all the things you’re accustomed to doing over lunch at your desk at work, has to be done in person, at glacial speed, here.
on the other hand, perhaps most importantly of all, if it were cheap and easy to own a tropical island, then everyone would have one. so we try to take the many changes and challenges in stride.
Apps you’ll need to survive: What’s App, Facebook (local groups), Garifuna Institute dictionary (website), VPN (we use Proton) - some apps require you to be on an american server, BZ Queen Freight & Amazon (see below), Belize Bank app (once you get a local account, it’s very easy to transfer $ electronically here, cost $0.50 USD)
Belizean Queen Freight: $30 USD to ship a 14” cube box. so, you ship all your amazon orders directly to BZQF, they accumulate them, and forward to you. takes about a month. Won’t forward alchohol, which is a shame.
Stuff we’ve had to work around: SodaStream, good bread, gourmet ingredients
Stuff we just plain miss (aside from our great friends): good wine or champagne, broad selection of restaurants, Costco hot dogs (and hey, pop - turns out, you can get chimichangas here)
