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Living in Belize, Pt. 1

By Jane Goodwin | August 1, 2007

We here at Heading to Retirement have had the extremely good fortune to find Mr. John Madeira. Mr. Madeira had been a technology executive for twenty years when he and his wife decided to move to Belize for an indefinite period. Mr. Madeira has given his permission to quote him and link to several of his fantastic pictures and blogs. Sit back and prepare to gasp in awe as you learn about the adventures and day-to-day lives of Mr. and Mrs. Madeira, in Belize.

“No one from another country can imagine what it is like to live in Belize. One has to live here for at least six months to a year in order to get a true assessment. Having come from working full time in the US to full time retirement in Belize, I experienced a lot of change. Initially, one might perceive these changes negatively, but as time passes, some of the irritation of change wears away and the Belizean way seems better.

There are things to which people must become accustomed, when they come to live in Belize. For example, the visibility of poor people. When traveling through Belize, one will see lots of poverty, which is typical for any Central American Country. When one first arrives, he may consider this change a problem because he is not used to it. The reason a person from the US is not accustomed to seeing the poor is that the US has become very adept at hiding the poor.

Another change I notice is the absence of people and traffic sounds and the presence of animal, bird and insect sounds. At first these creatures seemed to have their volume turned to high! Howler monkeys, cicada, tree frogs, and birds of all kinds, made sleeping difficult. Now, its a kind of mood music I am lucky to have.”

More from Mr. Madeira later. Stay tuned.

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Topics: Belize, Culture, Travel / Relocation, Lifestyle, Destinations |

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