If Trump Wins, I’m Moving to Belize…

I’ve seen periodic posts from friends and celebrities (sadly I don’t have any celebrity-friends) threatening to move to another country – any other country – if Trump wins.  I’m here to suggest a great one – one that I’ve found incredibly welcoming…filled with culture and diversity and great food.

Belize!

With the world’s tourism economy SO HARD HIT,I’m surprised some country’s tourism board didn’t jump on this!  Special relocation package for “political refugees” – maybe they could even throw in a free one-way ticket if you qualify!  Or have a special charter flight…

Welcome, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen!  Ricky Martin!

Most of you guys know who I voted for – so aside from the catchy headline (you can substitute “Biden” in the blog title ) and the fact that I ALREADY live in Belize, I thought I’d lay out the MANY pros.  But I also wanted to be straight up honest about the CONs about moving to Belize.

So before I “catch a heart attack” (that’s what they say in Belize) scrolling thru Twitter and refreshing my news pages – I thought I’d get constructive and put it out on paper…

One quick Fun fact:  A bunch of conferederates moved to Belize after the Civil War – you can visit an old Conferederate sugar mill near Hopkins or walk by the “Confederate House” in Punta Gorda and meet the direct descendant named Wallace.

Some of the Pros and Cons of Picking Up and Moving to Belize

I’ll start with the CONS since it’s a much shorter list

Belize Cable TV still get Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and all the top stations – you can remain on the 24-hour news cycle… But if you choose to immerse yourself in local news and politics (and you should, it’s your new home) – the Belize daily news is a 30-45 minute show, only aired ONCE A DAY in the evening and ONLY 5 DAYS A WEEK.  Who needs BREAKING (and overly repetitive) news all day and all night long or, now that I think of it, on weekends?  Ugh.  Not me.

Do you know that opinionated, self-righteous, know-it-all neighbor/co-worker/Facebook “friend” you have been dreaming about getting away from for the last 4 years?   The one who uses phrases like “Fake News!” or “Do your research!” to basically end all discussions?  Surprise!  He is already here.  Ok…not the exact same guy…but his Belize ex-pat equivalent…with a few more sunspots…some ancient flip-flops and a Belikin in hand is probably seated in the corner of your favorite beach bar right now.

We don’t have Amazon Prime.  Plus, FedEx is CRAZY expensive and the post office takes 2-4 weeks.  All imports are subject to duty (which can be up to 50% or more of purchase price)  This is probably a deal-breaker for a decent number of you.  Next day delivery is pretty much a constitutional right at this point.  I mean…the framers would have wanted it that way.

If you are REALLY trying to escape Trump and his family, you might not like that both of his daughters have visited in the last 4 or 5 years!  Ivanka stayed at Cayo Espanto – the incredible private island just behind San Pedro and Tiffany visited the mainland and Ambergris Caye in 2017.  Please note:  these vists are no indication of their future behavior as Belize does have an extradition treaty with the USA 😉

It was BEFORE Jared became a household name.

Read:  10 Resorts in Belize Where You are Most Likely to Mingle With the Rich & the Famous

Now to the LOOOOONG list of reasons you will love Belize.

Reasons That You Will LOVE living in Belize – the PROS!

I have written many many posts about how much there is to LOVE about living in Belize – from the people who love their country and are so opening about sharing it with visitors…

To the weather…

I mean…THE WEATHER!

To the 2nd largest barrier reef in the world…

TO THE FOOD!

Here…read my 8 Reasons to Pick Belize

And then I’ve written a book about how to really enjoy 50 of the small things on Ambergris Caye. 

And a blog post with the 24 little things that I love every day.  Like…

Ice-cold sugared (not corn-syrup) Coca-Cola on those really hot days or seeing blooming wild orchids on a walk, spotting eagle rays off our local dock or hearing olive-throated parakeets playing in the trees behind our house.

But it’s also pretty easy to move to Belize – especially if you are American.  Americans are VERY welcome here and that is not the case in some other parts of the world.

There are no walls or coyotes…you can come down on a monthly visitor visa.  And stay for a while…you can buy property…you can buy a business.  Belize is INCREDIBLY welcoming.

Just a small house…on the beach.

Or a condo if you aren’t into raking the sand and cleaning up fallen coconuts.

Oh and one last thing…I’ve never seen anyone wearing a MAGA hat.

And I’m going to leave it at that.  Back to my apocalyptic doom-scroller through Facebook and Twitter 🙂

For Pinterest, if you want to go loud and proud with your announcement.