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J U LY  2 0 0 9
Issue 30
| An online magazine about investing, living, working and relocating to the Caribbean.
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S P E C I A L F E A T U R E S
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BELIZE : MORE THAN A SECOND HOME, Part 3 of 3
By Philip Hahn
“Welcome home my friend!” is how I am greeted every time I arrive in Belize. On my first visit to Belize in 2003 I immediately felt at home thanks to the hospitality of the people. I couldn’t wait to get back. Well, I have certainly gotten back. One of the questions on the Belize immigration form asks the number of previous visits to Belize.
This is visit number 67 for me. So, it is definitely a second home for me. During all of those trips I have met several Belizeans and ex-pats throughout the country. I took my family with me on one of the earlier trips so they could see what I was so excited about. My wife laughed as our three children said, “Dad you have more friends here than you do at home.” They were absolutely correct, and six years later it’s still true.
Those friends have come from a variety of places and all have fascinating stories. There are adventurers with amazing stories, educators with inspirational stories, entrepreneurs with motivational stories and salt-of-the-earth folks with entertaining stories. I’ve been blessed to meet some great people in Belize that I now call friends and many are like family. In this third and final installment about Belize, I will introduce you to some of my friends.
MOST PEOPLE IN BELIZE HAVE TWO COMMON CHARACTERISTICS: THEY ARE HOSPITABLE AND YET FIERCELY INDEPENDENT.
Most people in Belize have two common characteristics: they are hospitable and yet fiercely independent. Since long before Independence Day on September 10, 1981 the average person would choose to live in a humble home and live off the land/sea rather than be beholding to someone. This still exists today. It is an “old school” mentality that many of the developed nations of the world have forgotten.
It all became crystal clear to me one day when I stopped in at Amigo’s, one of my favorite watering-holes. I walked in and my friend Pete was sitting at his usual spot at the end of the bar having a cold Belikin Beer. I sat down next to Pete and ordered one for myself and another for him. I noticed some new construction and asked Pete about it. He told me that Sue, the ex-pat owner of Amigo’s, was adding a gift shop to the bar. Pete did a lot of the construction for Sue so we occasionally talk about our common interest in building.
Pete mentioned that he was working on a guest house near his home about a mile down the road. He invited me to go see it, so, we jumped in my truck and went to check it out. We walked around the jobsite for a bit then went over to his house to say hello to his wife Glenda and get a couple of mangos off of the enormous mango tree in his backyard. On the way back to Amigo’s I said to Pete, “Pete I don’t mean to pry but if you don’t mind me asking; did you get a good deal at the bank?” Pete grinned as he said, “No mon, I didn’t get a loan.” I was real curious at that point, even though I was pretty sure I knew the answers, so I asked, “Pete how about the house and truck?” He said, “No mon, no mon.” Now his home was not a McMansion and his truck did not just roll out of the showroom, but they are his, not the banks.
My last question was, “You don’t owe anybody do you Pete?” He answered, with a hint of Creole, “No Phil, I cyant lif like dat.” It was at that point that I realized why my Belizean friends don’t have the same stressful lifestyle as my American friends. I told Pete, a descendant of loggers and slaves, that a lot of Americans feel like slaves to the banks and their jobs. He told me, “When you come to Amigo’s as a free man, I’ll buy you a Belikin.” That’ll be the best beer ever.
Amigo’s is just one place where Belizeans and ex-pats have carved out a comfortable lifestyle for themselves. Sue came to Belize in the early 1980’s and started a sand, gravel and concrete company. She was dating a guy at the time who decided to check out the opportunities in Costa Rica. He and his dad were at the Miami airport waiting for the flight and after several drinks they realized they had missed the plane. So, they went to the ticket counter and told the agent to book them on the next flight heading south.
You guessed it, a couple of hours later they were in Belize. Shortly after that Sue was starting her first business in her new country and since then she has been an independent business woman. After the concrete company she ventured into agriculture then into the restaurant/hotel supply business and in 2004, with Pete’s help, built Amigo’s.
I’VE BEEN SO IMPRESSED BY THE SPIRIT OF THE INDEPENDENT WOMEN THAT COME TO BELIZE.
I’ve been so impressed by the spirit of the independent women that come to Belize. A prime example is Rev. Macarena Rose who moved to Belize in 2004 with her 15 year old daughter, five dogs and five cats. As an ordained minister she is a very spiritual person and was fascinated by the Mayan history in Belize.
While living in Florida she worked with the Mayan Studies program and became a Mayan Priestess in order to understand and perform Shamanistic healing. While it is a great passion of hers she is also a professional business woman who runs a successful real estate company called Rainforest Realty, in San Ignacio, Belize. With the energy that only a single mother of two who also raised six adopted children can have, Macarena stays involved in the community, continues to perform weddings and does a weekly biography show on Belize TV.
She was instrumental in attracting the National Association of Realtors (NAR) to Belize and is the immediate past president of the association. Prior to moving to Belize she owned and operated a company in Florida called the Prop Up Pillow. Macarena invented the pillow to help control acid reflux during the night which can lead to esophageal cancer.
The invention was featured on American Medical Review with Walter Cronkite. She says her move to Belize from Florida was “a lateral move.” As a Floridian I feel the same way. With its English language, common law tradition, private property rights and abundant natural attractions it’s easy to see why people from the U.S., Canada and the U.K. see Belize as a lateral move. |
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VILLA DAVINA
Each unit consists of a lower level and upper level condo around a courtyard.
The lower condos start at an attractive cost of $63,500 and the upper ones start at $79,900. A home owners association fee is applicable to home purchases.
This fee covers the ongoing property maintenance, and the on-site security! The Riverfront lots starting at $32,900 offer an enchanting view of the Rio Gariche (Gariche River).
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As a British Commonwealth country, Belize has always attracted visitors and ex-pats from the U.K. One such adventurous soul is Mick Fleming, the owner of Chaa Creek, which is a spectacular rainforest resort on the banks of the Macal River. The Belize story of Mick and his wife Lucy is a fascinating tale of two eco-travelers who met picking apples in the U.K. On February 11, 1977, well before eco-tourism was popular, they arrived in Belize with the clothes on their backs, two bags and $600.
In Belize City they hitched a ride in an old beat up Land Rover to the Cayo District, home of the Maya Mountains, rainforests and farm land. They fell in love with the area and rented a place in San Ignacio. The small amount of money they brought soon ran out, so they went to work at a farm picking beans for $40 a week. A short time later they met an Englishman who had retired from the R.A.F. and owned 137 acres on the outskirts of Cayo.
They agreed to rent it with an option to buy. After backpacking miles into the jungle they found the property which had a little wooden cabin, but everything else was completely overgrown. Undeterred, they unloaded all of their worldly belongings which now included the two bags, a foam mattress, a cooker, a saddle, a rake and a shovel.
They cleared an area for a small farm and began growing vegetables that they transported by canoe via the Macal River. Mick remembers feeling like a rich man one day when he sold a load of squash pumpkins for $90.
In 1981 they purchased the property and began getting visitors in increasing numbers. Their produce business only made about $30 per week, so the visitors, who were mostly family and friends, knew that they had to pitch-in around the farm and pay their own way. That led to building a cabana with a thatched roof, tasiste walls (palm trunks) and a dirt floor.
That was the beginning of Chaa Creek and today they have several luxury cabanas, a restaurant/bar, a spa, a cascading pool, nature walks, camping sites, equestrian center and more. On the day I went to talk to Mick about this article. He had just come from his farm and he greeted me with a big smile and a handshake that made me realize he is still that adventurous soul that arrived in 1977.
A more recent influx of explorers to Belize is the archaeologists and their students. Excavations of Maya sites have been going on for decades; however, the majority of sites are still buried deep in the rainforest. In 2000, the Government of Belize started the Tourist Development Project (TDP) in order to excavate and consolidate several important Maya archaeological sites. Dr. Jaime Awe, a native Belizean, was called upon to spearhead this program.
Previously Dr. Awe was a professor at the University of New Hampshire and agreed to return to Belize on hiatus. Numerous exciting discoveries were made and the government asked Dr. Awe to become the Director of Archaeology. He agreed, and since then has been the guiding force behind all archaeological activity in Belize and has brought the significance of the Maya in Belize to a global audience. He has appeared on the History Channel, Discovery Channel, BBC, Australian TV and several other broadcasts around the world. Dr. Awe is a good example of a Belizean who has lived and studied abroad then returned to contribute to the development of his country.
One of the best ways to introduce the world to Belize is through education. Therefore, Dr. Awe actively promotes the BVAR (Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance) Project to several universities and international programs. The project, which has attracted 1,000’s of professors and students to Belize, gives the participants an opportunity to learn about a new culture while getting real world field experience.
In 1999 an inspired student, Mat Saunders, from the University of Kentucky came to Belize for a month on an archaeological mission and has been coming back ever since. Between 2000 and 2003, Mat worked as part of the staff at a site called Pook’s Hill. For the following three years Mat continued to return each year while he began his career as a high school teacher in Palm Coast, Florida. The great experience he had under the guidance of Dr. Awe led him to establish a one of kind program for high school students that includes an accredited archaeological class and a summer trip to Belize.
When Mat first approached Dr. Awe with the idea of involving high school students, the doctor was a bit skeptical; but after the pilot program in 2006, which included four high school students, he was convinced. These summer trips are now full of energetic and bright-eyed young students. Of course, the most enthusiastic of the group is still Mat, who told me, “Phil, Belize is life changing.” Mat continues to expand on his vision by working with other inspired archaeologists like Jim Pritchard.
Together they host an annual event in Flagler County, Florida called the Maya at the Playa which attracts some of the most renowned Maya archaeologists in the world. After spending a week with Mat, Jim and their students I have already marked my calendar for the first weekend in October so I can take my high school aged daughter to the seminars and beach parties in Palm Coast.
FOR A COMMUNITY TO BE SUSTAINABLE AND TIMELESS, IT MUST BE GROUNDED IN THE CLASSICAL NATURE OF ITS SURROUNDINGS.
Last night I attended a lecture that Dr. Awe gave to the students and afterwards we sat down with Mat and Jim and talked about the success of their program and I told them how much their enthusiasm has inspired me. As a land planner and development consultant in Belize I always look for the appropriate context for my projects.
We talked about how the Maya used the clues from nature, known as Sacred Geometry, which the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans used to create their classical architecture. When I began my project, Orchid Bay , in northern Belize it was an essential part of my vision to incorporate several Belizean influences including Mayan, Spanish Colonial and British Colonial. My belief has always been that for a community to be sustainable and timeless, it must be grounded in the classical nature of its surroundings.
My approach to development in Belize is alive and well in Orchid Bay and is embraced by all of the people involved in building this new Caribbean town. From the very beginning my good friend Brent Shumaker, a site engineer from Arizona, has been guided by that vision. He and his wife Cary are another example of the latest ex-pats to move to Belize.
The tropical lifestyle suited them from the very beginning so they shut down their company in Arizona and moved to Belize. Another great couple you’ll meet in northern Belize is Bill and Jenny Bellereau. They arrived four years ago and after Bill hacked his way through about two miles of bush he found a tranquil bay front property where he pitched a tent and began building an off-the-grid eco-lodge named Cerros Beach Resort. He and Jenny now live comfortably on the Bay of Chetumal and provide Orchid Bay owners and guests with what the Lonely Planet Travel Guide has proclaimed to be the best ceviche they’ve ever had (not to mention the decadent chocolate cake).
I haven’t met everyone in Belize yet, but every time I’m there I meet more interesting people. My friend Dan Silva, who I’ve written about in previous articles, was one of the first people I met in Belize and if there’s anyone that has met everyone in Belize, it would be him. His family immigrated to Belize in the late 1800’s and now he owns and operates a successful resort, Cahal Pech Village Resort; prior to that he spent over 30 years serving his country in government, including a time as Minister of Agriculture.
Before I knew about his resume we became fast friends and shared many common interests. For example, Dan went to college in Michigan, where I spent my childhood. Also, we both love a good road trip. We’ve driven from the States to Belize, which was great, but the best one was when we flew to Guatemala, spent a day in Antigua and then drove ten hours back to Belize.
The architecture in Antigua is something that I’ve always wanted to see and it was truly inspirational. Dan still ribs me about the time I had him touching columns in the classical city. I was explaining to him that the classical Ionic and Corinthian columns were inspired by the goddess Diana and the Princess of Corinth. He agreed that the architecture was beautiful but when we touched the cold stone columns we laughed about what the Greek women of antiquity must have been like.
It was at that time that we started talking about his family farm, Carmelita and how classical references also exist in Belize and should be incorporated into a plan to develop his 400 acres on the Belize River. Carmelita is one of those soulful places that include Maya mounds and a special Belizean family history. We are now working on a master plan for the property that will be guided by the regional influences. With the agricultural history of the area, the plan will include organic gardens, small farms and greenways.
These are just a few of the planning principles behind “New-Ruralism,” which, along with archaeological references, are the major inspirations for the river front community of Carmelita.
At Carmelita, as in Orchid Bay, it’s imperative to work with good people. Recently I was introduced to another Belizean ex-pat, except this time he was not a gringo transplant. He came to Belize from Guatemala when he was eight years old in order to escape the conflict in his country. That was in 1983, and since then my friend Erix Tobar has done the unthinkable. The Guatemalan immigrant settled in Spanish Lookout, a Mennonite community, and started out as a laborer for a Canadian timber company working in the jungle, sawmill and lumberyard.
For someone that has never had a formal education, Erix has done well for himself. After twenty years of doing hard, backbreaking work, Erix started his own company to move houses. In 1999, Erix expanded his business to include building homes and now his company is a one-stop shop that includes a saw mill, lumberyard, home building, cabinet making and furniture manufacturing. Like so many Belizean stories, his includes a funny aside. Not long ago he built a home for someone who didn’t pay and in order to reconcile the debt the homeowner gave him a bar in San Ignacio which is now the most popular hangout in Cayo. He laughs about where he started and how his hard work has led to so many unexpected opportunities.
There are several more friends that I could write about; however, I would rather introduce you to them in person. Once you arrive in Belize be ready to make friends. Hopefully, we’ll meet over some ceviche and cold Belikin Beers, and you’ll share your story with me. In the mean time, “have a wonderful adventure my friend.”
Author: Philip Hahn, International Development Consultant and co-founder and Chief Vision Officer for Great Land Holdings has served in various capacities in several real estate investment ventures and has spent 20 years in the area of designing, building and developing properties, including over 6,000 homes in the Southeastern USA. Orchid Bay, a 115 acre New Urbanism community.
At Orchid Bay, Phil combined his experience with quality coastal home design with his love of classical architecture to create an evocative new Caribbean town. He has spent much of the past six years in Belize, building relationships within the Belize business community and government. These relationships help ensure that the communities he designs have the infrastructure support and sustainability required to protect homeowner’s investment.
As witnessed in his development at Orchid Bay, Belize, he is committed to preserving the environment and culture of this unique region. Phil’s talents extend beyond those of a developer or designer; his passion and respect for people, history and lifestyle inspire him to create beautiful enduring homes and communities.
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Phil received a bachelor’s degree from Florida State University and is certified by the Institute of Classical Architecture in New York.
The website for Orchid Bay.
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Balä Beach will also feature a 4 star hotel from a major hotel company which will manage and administrate all the client services through the provision of most of the amenities. .this is a great investment!
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