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The first time I went to Central America was in 1973. Since then, I had been to every Central American country except Belize. I decided it was time to end that situation. I took a short trip there at the beginning of August 2024.

Belize was known as British Honduras until 1973. English is the primary language. However, Mayan and Spanish are also widely spoken.

It’s bordered by Mexico on the north and Guatemala on the west and south.

Its currency is the Belize dollar … 2 BZE$ = 1 US$. Both currencies are widely accepted. Most prices are quoted in BZE$, but not always. For example, taxis normally quote prices in US$ which can make them expensive.

Three places showed repeatedly up in my pre-trip research: San Pedro, San Ignacio, and Placencia. San Pedro and Placencia are both famous for their beaches. San Ignacio is known for its Mayan ruins. Since I have toured Mayan ruins in Guatemala, I eliminated it from my short list. I particularly wanted to go to the rainforest along the Monkey River just south of Placencia. However, an internet search indicated the only bus from Belize City to Placencia was at night. I decided I would ask about this at my hotel and then make up my mind where to go.

I read a couple times that Belize City is not safe. The hotels in Belize City were expensive, a taxi from the airport to the city would cost US$ 30, and I was concerned about safety when I arrived.

I found a place called River Bend Resort on booking.com. I ended up staying there twice and will stay there again if I go back. However, that’s only because I know how to get around its limitations. I write about this in a separate post, here.

The Trip to Placencia

The next morning, I took a taxi to the bus station in Belize City. It took about 25 minutes and cost US$30.

The bartender at the hotel had give me the wrong information the previous evening … there was not a bus to Placencia during the day. However, the man selling the tickets told me there would be a bus in 10 minutes that would go to a crossing point where I could catch a ferry to Placencia. I bought a ticket for US$10. A few minutes later, I was on my way.

Although the bus certainly was not stylish, it was comfortable for the first hour. Then we stopped at the Belmopan bus station where it filled up with passengers. From this point, on, it was not very comfortable but at least I had a seat.

It had a 10 minute stop at a bus station after about 2 hours. Then it continued on for another hour.

I had to get off at Independencia. I asked if the current stop was where I needed to get off. At the very last minute, I was told it was.

This was another one of those cases that if I had known what I was doing, things would have been much easier. It was about 2:30 PM. It was hot and I was hungry. However, I didn’t want to miss the next ferry to Placencia. I decided if there was a wait for the ferry, I would get something to eat. Otherwise, I would get something in Placencia.

The taxi driver said he would charge me US$5 to go to the dock. Unbeknownst to me, the dock was about a 10 minute walk away. When I got there, I saw:

• the next ferry was not scheduled to leave for almost 2 hours
• there was no place nearby to get something to eat or drink.

Although I call the boat a ferry, it was really just a speedboat. The pilot was there. I asked him if the schedule was correct, and he wasn’t going to leave until 4:30. He said it was correct. I told him I was going to look for something to eat and I would be back before 4:30.

There were some boxes and knapsacks piled together ready to load on the boat for the next trip. I was told the closest place to eat was almost back to the bus station. I left my bag, which only contained clothes and toiletries, with the items ready to load. I took my knapsack which contained all my valuables, and I walked towards the bus station.

It was hot. When I almost reached a snack bar, a couple stopped and offered me a ride. I didn’t take it because I had almost arrived at my destination. However, this is something that happened 3 other times when I was in Belize. I seems to be part of the culture. I never felt endangered by the offers … it was just people helping people.

I found a snack bar that had ice cold beer and a delicious sandwich at the best prices I found in Belize.

I got back at 4. The boat was gone and my bag was gone! I went to the ticket office and told them what had happened. The owner came out, told me they had decided to make early run, but that I shouldn’t worry because he never had anything stolen, and that my bag would be waiting for me on the dock in Placencia. He said I should go on the regularly schedule boat at 4:30.

Sure enough, my bag was waiting for me on the dock which was located to the left in the picture above.

I used booking.com to look for a hotel in Placencia. I found hotels in Placencia to be surprisingly expensive. Places that included breakfast cost way more than I was willing to pay. In the end, I booked a room at the Maya Beach Hotel which was about 10 miles or 16 km north of Placencia. It cost about $100 per night. Breakfast was not included. Its restaurant had an excellent reputation, but I wondered how expensive it was going to be.

As you can see from the above pictures, it was located on a beautiful beach. I loved having the swimming pool right out my front door. The room had a refrigerator, a stove that did not work, and the type of small air conditioner that is quite common in Central and South America. The internet was quite good.

I ate most of my meals at the hotel. The food was good. Lunch and dinner typically cost US$ 30 each.

The Belizean breakfast had something they call Fry Jack which is fried dough. They were good. I understand you can buy them on the street, filled with beans or meat.

I had initially planned to spend 2 days in the Placencia area and then go back to Belize City, take a boat to Ambergris Caye where San Pedro is located, spend 2 days there and then return to the River Bend Resort in preparation for my return home. However, I enjoyed my stay at Maya Beach, I wanted to spend a day in the rainforest along the Monkey River, and wasn’t looking forward to trying spending half of my remaining time catching buses, boats, or taxis to my destinations and trying to find an acceptable hotel on Ambergris Caye. I arranged a tour to Monkey River with the hotel and extended my stay with Maya Beach Hotel for 2 more nights.

I was told to meet my guide early Saturday morning by the closed grocery store. I didn’t realize it, but there was a canal behind the store that ran through the vegetation to the body of water that separates the mainland from the peninsula where on which Placencia was located. I met my guide, boarded his boat and we navigated to a dive shop about 10 minutes away. To my surprise, I saw a manatee dive in the bay in front of the dive shop.

After picking up a French family, we continued on to Placencia where we picked up 3 more passengers.

The pilot zipped along the coast for about half an hour until we came to a mouth of a river, the Monkey River. There was a town of maybe 100 people living in wooden houses on the south side of the river. Our guide had relatives living there.

We began cruising slowly along the Monkey River. Belize is certainly a birdwatcher’s paradise.

Look at the tree below. Those dark spots on the trees are tiny, camouflaged bats.

I expected to see a lot more monkeys as we cruised along the Monkey River.

We saw more of them when we got off the boat and walked through the rainforest. It was difficult to take pictures of them because the thick foliage got in the way.

After a hike through the rainforest, we went back to Monkey River Town where we had lunch.

On the way back, we saw numerous manatees coming up for air.

We also passed what appeared to be a lighthouse. In fact, it was a platform for a zip line.

The guide took me back to the same place I met him in the morning. From there I walked back to the hotel.

I enjoyed this tour. If you ever stay at the Maya Beach Hotel, I recommend you ask them to book the tour for you.

The bus back to Belize City left at about 6:30 AM the next morning. It was a modern bus, much nicer than the school bus I took on the incoming journey. However, it was packed and I had to stand for an hour. It had a toilet, but it was locked.

The trip took a little over 4 hours.

I had a packaged lunch at the Belize City bus station. Then I took a Ladyville City bus to a grocery store located about a 15 minute walk from the River Bend Resort. Doing so, saved me over US$28. I did some grocery shopping, walked to my hotel, and spent a pleasant evening watching the wildlife.

The next morning, I caught my plane to Los Angeles.

Every year International Living releases an Global Retirement Index. Belize has been on the list every year for the many years I have subscribed, but I have the impression its place on the list is dropping. It was number 17, the last country on the 2024 Index. It certainly has gorgeous beaches and impressive wildlife, and, with one exception¹, I found the people to be very nice. However, the cost of hotels and food was a bit high and the infrastructure leaves much to be desired. Belize City’s reputation for crime also detracted from my enjoyment.

I may go back again some day to see some of the better known places I missed on this trip, but there are many other places that have a higher priority on my list.

1. I wanted to buy a magnet at a gift shop at the airport as I was leaving. It was going to cost BZ$18 which was expensive, but I was willing to pay it. However, when I gave the salesman my credit card, he tried to charge me BZ$24. When I asked him what was going on, he said that was the minimum charge for a credit card purchase. If I hadn’t been paying attention, he would have cheated me.
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