Welcome & Introduction

SPEAKER_02 0:00

And yeah, I mean four years later we're we're still here. And yeah, that lesson was sort of repeated again. We our second son was born also into into the NICU. He wasn't as nearly as severe as our our first our first son, but we we I mean we already had things well set on their way to moving, but that just kind of put the nail in the Canadian coffin, I I guess you could say, because it just sort of yeah

Meet Simo D: Canadian Expat Living in Belize

SPEAKER_02 0:23

confirmed that this is this is what what what we want to be doing and welcome to the truly expert travel podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

I'm your host, Paula, and this is season two. On season one, I talk to experts about their favorite holiday destination. On season two, I'll be doing things very differently. I'll be chatting to experts about where they currently live, why they chose that destination, uh all those secret hidden gems that only locals know, you know, like favorite restaurants, best neighborhoods, things that tourists don't. Welcome back to the Truly Expat Travel Podcast. My name's Paula, I'm your host, and today I've got a great guest with a great destination. Welcome, Simo. Let's let's hear all about yourself and where you've come from and where you are now.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Yeah, thanks. Thanks for having me, Paula. I'm happy to be here. Yeah, I'm uh C Mod. I'm

The Story Behind the Move

SPEAKER_02 1:17

a Canadian expat who now lives in Belize. I moved here with my family in 2022, just looking for just a different, different pace of life and a different kind of way of doing things than you know the typical Canadian, Canadian life. And yeah, we certainly found that. We certainly found that here. Belize is uh a small but beautiful country with uh like a rich cultural variety, and yeah, it's just it's it we we absolutely love it here and close to the sea and close to the jungle and just yeah, get a little bit more taste of nature and no winter. So that was that was a big one.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

And so what are you doing there now? What what took you there? What brought you there?

SPEAKER_02 1:57

Um we like I said, we were just kind of w wanting to do something, wanting to do something a little different. And we it was really, I guess, what what prompted us was the the birth of our our first son. Uh it was quite a traumatic birth. Um he nearly he nearly died and he spent a month in the in the NICU. And that just really kind of shook shook things up for us. You know, we we were living what we thought was, you know, just sort of like a safe life. And that event kind of just threw the fragility of life like in our faces, and we realized that like nothing is is really for sure, nothing is really you know guaranteed. So if there's something that you just kind of want that you want to do in your life, you just you just gotta you just gotta do it, whether you know you think you're ready for it or prepared for it, or or you know, or or whatever you tell yourself reasons to talk out of talk yourself out of things. It's just you kind of just do it, right? You just take a leap and and and go for it. And uh kind of at that point we told ourselves that you know, no matter what happens, this isn't, you know, this move wouldn't won't be a failure. It'll just be, you know, the gateway to whatever the next thing is. And yeah, I mean, four years later, we're we're we're still here. And yeah, that lesson was sort of repeated again. We our second son was born also into into the NICU. He wasn't as nearly as as severe as our our first our first son, but we we I mean we already had things well set on their way to moving, but that just kind of put the nail in the Canadian coffin, I I guess you could say, because it just sort of yeah confirmed that this is this is what what we want to be doing. And

Why Belize?

SPEAKER_02 3:31

uh although we are grateful that you know we had the bursts in Canada because you know, had we had had gone through that experience here in in Belize, I don't think uh yeah, my first son or my wife would would would be with us given given that. So it we were fortunate to to go through that experience in Canada, but it it was also sort of yeah, I don't want to say a wake-up call, but it was just putting things into perspective for us that you know if there's something you want to do, just go and do it. And for us, that was that was moving to Belize.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Why, why Belize?

SPEAKER_02 4:01

It was well, my wife and I, we we like to we we traveled quite a bit independently, but uh when we got together, we did quite a few trips together. And my wife would always just be like, let's move here, let's, you know, it'd be like Iceland or something. And I would think, I I don't want to, I don't want to move to Iceland. It's beautiful, but I don't I you know it's not you know it's not my thing. But when she said it when we were in Belize, I was like, you know what, this is actually a a place that I I can move to. It's close to Canada still, uh, it's English speaking. It the the climate, it while it can be quite hot, honestly, like there's there's times in the summer that actually Toronto is is hotter than it is here. So we were sort of used to the heat, used to the bugs. You know, if you spend a you know a summer in northern Ontario, the bugs are probably worse there than they are here. So they were they were it just it just kind of checked a lot of boxes. It was um it was pretty easy to move to. It's it's pretty easy immigration process here. You know, we we we have just started our our residency. We just submitted our residency application for permanent residency, like a couple maybe a month or so ago. And so we were here as tourists for the for four years. Okay. A lot of countries, you just you cannot do that. You know, you you have a set period and like in the European countries and and then you have to go. So yeah, Belize just kind of made it made that possible. And so yeah, that's kind of why we we decided on Belize. We and in a previous marriage, I had considered moving to Costa Rica and and stuff as well. So it was still something that I always wanted to do was go and move abroad and live in another country. I had I have a brother who spent uh like over a decade in Hong Kong and and Korea, and uh you know I I did a bunch of traveling out in that way, and it just kind of yeah got got me interested in in living in in another country. And yeah, Belize

What Is Belize Famous For?

SPEAKER_02 5:49

is just the people here are beautiful and friendly, and yeah, they make it really easy to to to be here.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

So, what is Belize famous for? Tell me a little bit about it.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

Well, that's uh that's an interesting one. Um I would say, I mean, they're not a very big country. There's only 400,000 people in the entire country. So, but I would say they're well, I mean, it it it's really they're known for uh the the barrier reef, really. It's the second largest in the world next to Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It's it's the the barrier reef off the coast of Belize. And then they also have a really popular diving destination called the Blue Hole, which is like a massive sinkhole that's like I don't know, four or five hundred feet deep, and you can go and dive it. Um it's it's pretty much if you were to Google Blue Hole, that's that's what that that's what would come up, and that's here in Belize. So I would say that those those are sort of like touristy type things, but um they're they're also known for they have lots of Mayan ruins here. There's like a high concentration of Mayan ruins here in in the country, and uh not the not the biggest ones, not like in in Guatemala, but yeah, there's quite a few. And yeah, I would say a lot of it is yeah, the the great their their reef and uh like their islands, their island system here is probably what they're best known for.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

Do you die?

SPEAKER_02 7:01

I do. I haven't uh I haven't done it since we moved here just with here with uh a seven-week old and uh 18 month old and starting starting fresh

Family Life & Diving in Belize

SPEAKER_02 7:12

with uh you know no help. You know, we've been on kid duty, you know, there's no family here to support, and you know, you know, creating a whole new friend network and and just you know finding babysitters and stuff. It took quite quite a quite a quite a bit of time. So yeah, not too much personal time, but lots of family time, and and that was one of the reasons why why we came here was was to spend more time with our kids. And and and we do. We you know, we've we've been with them almost full time since uh yeah, since we moved here. I mean, they're now in school, but uh yeah, I think we we spend a lot more time with them here in Belize than than we probably would have back in Canada. And and and that we did when uh when we were back in Canada and we and we had our first son. And you know, I would work, I was well, I'm still self-emplo employed, but at a construction company, and I would leave super early in the morning and get back in the evening and and would barely see them. So that's definitely not the case. I drive my kids to school every day, and so I'm just a lot more kind of plugged into their life. And uh yeah, and that and that, and that was that was one of the goals of of coming here.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

And is there anything about the climate that took you off guard?

SPEAKER_02 8:16

The heat. Like we know, we knew it was hot, but we we we had come when it was like touristy season, so it the temperatures were uh, you know, ideal. They were, you know, in the in the 80s and or you know, or the high 20s Celsius, and we just hadn't experienced what a Belizean summer was like. And the second year that we hear, it was

The Climate: What Nobody Tells You

SPEAKER_02 8:38

like record heat in the country at of all time. It was like over 50 degrees here for days on end, and it was so dry that year, and there was no rain for like eight months, and it was just hot and dry, and that that was a huge shocker. You know, my whole family got prickly heat. I don't know if anybody, if the listeners know what that is, or if you know what that is, it's just like heat rash and it's super uncomfortable. And so my kids and I, we we got it. My wife, she was spared, I don't know how, but yeah, the three of us got it, and it was just yeah, it was so that was a big, a big shock for sure.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

So, when is the best month to travel there then if the summer is really hot?

SPEAKER_02 9:15

I would say the best time is sort of like early December. So you're past hurricane season, but you get some cool temperatures here at that time. Evenings can get down to like 18, 17, but during the day it's still like in you know in the high 20s.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 9:32

And is usually the weather is it's it's we you get lots of sun. That's that's the thing here, right? So so that I would say that's the best time to go. You're gonna get the kind of the best, nicest days, comfortable evenings, especially if you're doing anything that's if you're staying in a place that doesn't have air conditioning

Best Time to Visit Belize

SPEAKER_02 9:49

or you know, you're kind of doing like a off-grid type thing, you you would want those those those conditions because it can be quite uncomfortable, you know, in in an off-grid scenario, you know, kind of like right around this time of the year. Although this year hasn't been too bad. This this the this has been like one of the nicer of the four years that we've had here at this time for the summer. Right now, the evening's like 25, maybe at the at the most. So, but it can be. You can sometimes get, you know, like two years ago, it was 35 degrees at night. I mean, you can't sleep without air conditioning, there's there's no being being comfortable.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

And did you say it's dry heat? It's not humid. For some reason, I thought it might have been humid down there.

SPEAKER_02 10:58

It just kind of it it it varies. The the the the weather really is like it, it's it's not really the same all the time. When when I first arrived here, I asked somebody, when is rainy season? And they told me when it rains. And I thought that was the dumbest answer I've ever heard because there is like there's a rainy season. But after being here for four years, I'm like, you know, I totally get it. Because you some years, there's no rainy season. Like it's rainy season, it does not rain. So rainy season is yeah, when it rains, and then yeah, yeah, and then you get like this year, uh your dry season was quite wet, right? So it it's so yeah, I kind of like now understand what that answer was. I at the time I was like, this doesn't make sense, but uh no, it it definitely does make sense now that I'm here.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

I've been here for a while and more of like a local person, and uh yeah, it's and um for tourists, do you think that they need um they need to hire a car or can you use public transport there?

SPEAKER_02 11:57

I would say personally, I would say get a car. Public transport is a bit of an issue here. There are it's getting a little bit better, but it's just it's not reliable. And and and and it's and it's kind of colloquially called the chicken bus because I I've never taken it. I've I have taken chicken buses in my travels in Southeast Asia. So there's literally chickens in you know, in baskets in the car, and and and that and at that time, actually, this was Southeast Asia, but there's goats on the roof of the of the bus. It was and you could hear them clunking around on every turn. Nothing like that is that extreme here. But um everything's pretty, even though it's a small country, everything is quite spread out. Um there's lots of like natural parks, lots of green space, and as a result, uh you really need to to drive to get to get there. So if you're not if you're not hiring or you're not renting a car, you're hiring vans and taking public transportation that you can sort of manage to coordinate, you're gonna be doing that all the time. So it's just it's just more convenient and and and it gives you the ability to

Getting Around: Why You Need a Car

SPEAKER_02 13:00

kind of stop on a whim and and go see and go see something that maybe you you hadn't planned on, which you know there is there's lots of that kind of stuff, even if it's just like a uh impromptu kind of festival, a community festival or something you drive to and you want to stop, but if you're on a bus, you can't do it, right? So if you have a car, you can easily just pull into that and and go and enjoy and hang out with some local people and and and you know, and they're they're always really friendly, and you never feel we just did this actually just like maybe a month ago. Um we went to a Mennonite market and on the way back, there was uh this the the place, the local kind of Belizean place was called uh Pomona, which it's it's pretty well known here in Belize because it's where the Caribbean Pride makes all the orange juice essentially for the country. And so yeah, we stopped in there and it was like a week, a weekend festival, and yeah, and we just kind of we we are able to partake. And but again, it's like that's that's not something you're gonna be able to do if if if you don't have uh your own vehicle. And if you if you know if you're coming here, rent a car and drive the Hummingbird Highway, it is like the most beautiful drive you'll probably ever do. It is just absolutely amazing. We we we love we love doing it. We we like purposely make plans to drive to Belmapan, which is the nation's capital, and just so we can go and and drive it. It's just mountains and orange orchards and just flowers alongside the road and these massive mahogany trees and and SIBA trees, and it's just it's just just like just beautiful, beautiful drive. So I just recommend like as even like uh an activity, rent a car and do that drive. And it's just uh yeah, it's absolutely amazing.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

A lot of it's a lot of uh wildlife, a lot of birds and things.

SPEAKER_02 14:43

Yep. There's what is the stat? I was just uh we just met a local guy recently. He used to be a bird guide. Um yeah, there's there's like hundreds of varieties of birds here. I think it was something like I can't remember. I'm gonna I shouldn't probably say it because I can't I can't verify it, but it was Belize has like one of the highest rates of like variation

Drive the Hummingbird Highway

SPEAKER_02 15:02

in species or something like that. Um Yeah, do you know it's funny you say that because I checked that one, but yeah, I remember reading that somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

That's why I asked about the bird life.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

Yeah, it it's it's amazing. There's just uh and we get just stuff like just even on in our lot, and we're like kind of in a touristy area, and um, there's lots of development around, but we get you know uh green-headed parrots and roadside hawks and all all sorts of I don't know the names of these birds. I'm not much of a an ornithologist.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

They're just pretty.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

We just get we get lots, even just yeah, there's just we get lots here, and and they all have these distinct calls, and there's actually um uh an app called Merlin app, which you you can like record when you hear a bird call. You can record it and it tell you what the what the bird is. So I've I've downloaded that. I've actually not used it yet, but yeah, it there's there's tons, tons of wildlife here. Yeah, there so there's lots of jaguar preservation here, and if you go to the local zoo, you can you can see some live jaguars and tape ears and harpy eagles and these things called Jacabi storks. If you Google that, it's like they look like the grim reaper, they're creepy looking bird, but uh very cool. Yeah, there's lots lots of cool

Wildlife: Birds, Jaguars & More

SPEAKER_02 16:11

lots of cool wildlife and and stuff here. And there's there's really a lot to do if you if you're into like outdoor activities and kind of adventure seeking type stuff, there's lots of caving and tubing and jungle trekking and zipling and at ving, all that kind of stuff you you you can do here and Belize. And there's actually a couple really good uh place called the ATM Cave. I I don't know the actual, it's uh an acronym for the the Mayan word, but if you Google ATM Cave, it's actually like you you go spelunking essentially down into the heart of this mountain, and inside is an old Mayan ruin, and there's like artifacts and and like skeletons and stuff all in there. And uh that's cool. Yeah, I've yet to do it because we are young kids, like we we couldn't do it with young kids yet, but we're waiting for them to get you know a little bit older, maybe seven and eight, and then they can and then they can go with us and uh yeah, no, it's it's something we're looking forward to do, but yeah, it that's like a big attraction here, which is just sort of on the outskirts of Belmont, which is the nation's capital.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

So then if I if I asked you to do what would a three-day itinerary look like for not touristy stuff, but if you were to show people around, if some friends come to visit, what would a three-day itinerary look like to you then?

SPEAKER_02 17:26

Yeah, that's that's a tough one that like compresses things down. For sure, I would say go out and do an island. There's lots of like local islands you can get to and just do a day trip. That that's that's really fun. And it's kind of like a must, a must-do, really, when you're here. And then I'd say day two, yeah, rent a car, drive up, uh, like you know, drive up, do the ATM cave, and and then stay a night in like San Ignacio, which is close to the Guatemalan border. There's some other ruins there. There's some really nice like accommodations, and then there's a market there. And and that would give you like a really good, a really good kind of taste of of Belize. You would see all the different cultural groups here and in and experience all the different languages, and because Belize is like just a

Things to Do: Caves, Ruins & Adventure

SPEAKER_02 18:10

melting pot of of cultures here. There's uh you have Mennonites and uh Chinese and Indians and Mayans and Spanish descendants and British and lots of expats. Um, there's Lebanese people here, there's uh Jewish people here. Um it's it's crazy for 400,000 people. It's like truly a multicultural society here, and then you know, and then mestizos, garrafuna, there's just there's so many. Um and again, right? And like I come, I've you know, I came from Canada, and Canada sort of prides itself on being multicultural, and and it and it is, but when you have that many different cultural groups in such a small space, it's like everyone really does get along. There's a little bit of segregation because this the Mennonites typically just stick to themselves and do their own thing, and it's fair enough because they live like it was 150 years ago. But yeah, it's just everyone's just shoulder to shoulder getting along. So there's a common language which is Creole. So I believe this is English speaking as a former British colony, but um and part of the Commonwealth, but Spanish is really big language here, but but everybody,

Simo's 3-Day Belize Itinerary

SPEAKER_02 19:17

and then obviously all the imported languages, lots of Chinese and and and like Taiwanese and stuff like that here, but everyone, all the local people speak Creole to each other. So there's lots of code switching, and you hear like all different languages and stuff when you're here. And so that three-day itinerary would probably give you a taste of like all that, you know. So you get the Caribbean vibe going out to the islands, driving up to Hummingbird, you would get, you know, you would see the you'd see Mennonites and stuffing at the market. There'd be a mix of people, you know, going to the caves, you would get some taste of the Mayan culture. You'd probably stop at a Chinese grocer on the way somewhere, and then you go to San Ignacio and they have really good food, and you you could find some French cuisine. There's a really uh nice place called the Guavalim up there, and they do like French, I think I believe it's French cuisine. Um so yeah, and there's a French bakery uh in in there as well. So you you you get like a real good taste of of like all the different cultures of Belize on those three.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

Then what would the food what is the food like there? What do I have to try if I'm if I'm arriving there? What is something that I really have to try?

SPEAKER_02 20:18

Uh Belizean cuisine is a lot of like rice, rice and beans and and barbecue chicken. They have a couple or one thing for sure that is like 100% Belizean, which is the uh fry jack. It's essentially they take like a ball of tortilla dough and they deep fry it and it kind of balls up into like a hollow puff, essentially. And then they cut it open and you can stuff it with all sorts of stuff. So you could have like a savory one, a breakfast one, you know, with eggs and and bacon in it. Or you can do like sweet. You could put like, I don't know, like any jam or something like that in it. They're they're really they're really tasty. It's kind of like a donut, but um, it's it's not like fried sweet kind of thing. It's like sort of like it bridges the gap. So you can make it kind of almost like how maybe like how a crepe would be, how you can make them sweet or savory. It the you know, fried jacks are definitely, definitely the same. And then there's I don't I don't know if this is specifically Belize in, but there's lots of uh garnaches, which is yeah, I'm I guess that's Spanish. So that's sort of like finger food, street, street style finger food, so lots of like tacos and and fried tacos and papuzas and a lot, like a lot of those kind of, they're all like kind of different variety of tacos and and burritos and and that kind of stuff. And they're they're really good and and it's and it's really they're everywhere. There's lots of like street side places that you can get that kind of stuff, and and and or or barbecue chicken. Yeah, that yeah, I would say, yeah, that's kind of the generally like Belizean food. And yeah, the fry jack is like if you come to Belize, you gotta you gotta eat a fry jack. You haven't you haven't been to Belize if yet if you don't eat a fry jack.

unknown 21:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

And is it a tipping culture?

SPEAKER_02 21:58

It is like tourism is is huge here. It's it's uh it's like 48% of the GDP. So and wages are really are really quite quite low. The average person makes like 250 US D an hour, so that's like five Belize dollars. So yeah, tipping is typically encouraged. Yeah, it it it is, and and you should, and yeah, I think and you should. If you're getting really good service, then definitely you should because it it really helps uh the service industry uh work. Here for sure, because the yeah, wages are it is a m it's much lower than what you know we'd be used to in in North America for sure, or you know, or Australia.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

Is there any hidden gems that you'd like to mention?

SPEAKER_02 22:38

The hidden gem, I would say, for my area is a place called Placentia Yacht Club. So I live on a peninsula, and at the end of it is an island, and there's, I believe she's a Swiss woman and her husband,

Belizean Food: What to Eat

SPEAKER_02 22:50

they have a like a little marina there where people in sailboats can come and moor and just kind of get their feet on some dry land and and kind of shower and and hang out there. And she has a dock and a little restaurant, and it's the most beautiful sunset, I think, in all of on all of Belize. Like it's just a completely unobstructed view of the sun setting behind the sea, and it's just absolutely, absolutely amazing. And um it's it's not like super well known, I don't think. Um you have you do have to kind of call ahead, and she brings a boat out for you to bring you over. And uh, she only takes like, you know, she can only have so many guests at once, so um, you kind of have to coordinate it a bit, but it is absolutely yeah, awesome. And then I would say another one would be a little restaurant um just as you come into Belmont called Simple Life. And it's like a Taiwanese place with just amazing dumplings if you're into if you're if you're into that.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:50

Yeah, just awesome, awesome, two awesome spots that uh yeah, I recommend to anybody who comes.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

That's awesome. Thank you so much for coming on. I'm really excited about I've not done any of kind of like Central or South America. So for me, anything about it is exciting because it's something somewhere where I'd like to go in the future, not too too too long away. But how can people get in touch with you if they want to, if they want to contact you?

SPEAKER_02 24:15

Yeah, uh I'm uh they can find me on Substack, uh Unfiltered Abroad, as well as botbot if you're into AI and stuff like that. That's my day job. And then they can also find me movesmart.world, which is uh an AI integrated platform I built that helps people decide where they want to move to and relocate abroad. Um and then if again, if you're into AI news and updates, you can find me at topainews.today. Yeah, those are the the main the main ways. And then I'm on LinkedIn and Facebook and I'll put all the appreciative.

SPEAKER_00 24:52

Thank you for coming on, but I'll put it all in the show notes for people that want to contact you. And again, thank you so much for coming on. And I'll see you all next week on the truly expat.

SPEAKER_02 25:02

Awesome show.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

Bye. Thank you for joining me on the Truly Expat Travel podcast. If you liked this episode and you found it valuable, then why don't you go ahead and like and subscribe so that you don't miss an episode moving forward. I've got some amazing guests and some fantastic destinations coming up. But if this is the episode and this is the destination that you really want to go to, then I suggest you head over to truly expatravel.com where you'll find travel guides and deep dive into this sort of destination. If that's not what you want and you can't find an episode that is a destination you want to travel to, then head over and follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok because I'm pretty sure you'll find something there. In the meantime, save travels and I'll see you

Tipping Culture in Belize

SPEAKER_00 25:52

next week.