I’ve got to tell you about another of our favorite hangouts before we get into our next adventure.  The beautiful and mysterious Malu runs a little place in between Tradewinds and JayBirds where a soul can rest his or her feet, get a beer and have some delicious food.

Malu was really great and fed our hungry selves many times while we were in town.  She also clued us in to some of the local happenings, such as the Saturday noontime horseshoes down at the expat hangout Lagoon Saloon.  Malu, who claims to be not so good at horseshoes seems to be a regular winner nonetheless.  She also has a Caye that she offered us to visit and stay a day or two.  We didn’t get the chance as the sea & weather turned a little rough one day and set our time period back for completing the scuba lessons.  I will make it a point to get out there next time though, if offered.

Now since I told you about a couple of our favorite places, and there are more, there are plenty of places to play in Placencia, but I'll also tell you about the worst. Some of the guidebooks I had raved about a place called Cozy Corner on the beach. It was terrible. Well, let me re-phrase that. If you like extremely poor service (and I'm talking poor service by Central, not North American standards) and hanging out with a bunch of rich American college punks that spend their waking hours doing their best to look cool, then you'll like Cozy Corner. 

On a brighter note, our other big adventure was a trip to Monkey River, the nearby jungle, and the village itself (www.global-travel.co.uk/monkey.htm). We hired a guide and boat at a tourist kiosk in Placencia. It cost around $18 per person, and we were fortunate to have the boat to ourselves, although that is probably not very economical for Doyle, who was a terrific tour guide.  We rode in the boat down to Monkey River where we went up the river into pure jungle for an hour or so. There were all kinds of birds and plants and even a few crocodiles. We went for a hike into the jungle for a couple of hours in search of Howler monkeys.  There were all kinds of neat plants for those so inclined to that kind of stuff.  Probably herbalists can find whatever they want there.  I just wanted to check out the monkeys and we were not disappointed. It took some hiking but we found a tribe of monkeys way up in some trees and they had no problem howling at us for disturbing them.

We had left early in the morning so on the way back we stopped at Monkey River Town for lunch and a stroll. There are no roads to the village, hence no traffic. I loved it. There also are no power lines. There is a generator that runs from sundown to around 9 or 10 o’clock. After that it’s definitely lights out. My favorite part was the story about the village jail. There is a little police station and jail in the center of the small village. When I asked what they need that for, I was told that the federal government had built it for when the “crowds” come to visit the beaches around Easter. Upon further inquiry, I found out that the only person to ever inhabit the jail was a policeman who had come to watch the Easter crowd. Seems he got a little drunk and shot his gun into the air to celebrate his good time. The villagers didn’t care for that too much so they locked him up to sleep it off. 

The Monkey River and Village tour is well worth the time and money. It may not be long before roads and power lines make their way down there. I’m glad to see this remote area as it is now. 

Speaking of remote areas, I have been looking for my own personal spot in the sun for several years. The US is too crowded, expensive, and I’m tired of all the damn rules. I’ve been searching Costa Rica, Honduras, and Nicaragua for that great deal.  I’ve been disappointed as I searched from Tela to Trujillo, and from San Juan del Sur to Blue Fields and Isla de Maiz. Unfortunately, too many people saw “gringo” and thought that meant “mucho greenbacks.” I love the countries and culture, but the prices have just been too high. I was surprised that Belize, undoubtedly the most expensive Central American country for day-to-day stuff, had the best deals I’ve found on land.

I finally found what I’ve been looking for. It took some searching. There is a lot of land for sale and I looked all around Placencia, Seine Bight and up to Maya Beach. Then I went up to Xcalac in southern Mexico to compare prices there. I didn't like the prices of land in Mexico. The best deals I found were some lots back in Belize that are just off the Lagoon on one side and a few hundred feet from the Caribbean Sea on the other.

One thing I did was a lot of research before I even went down there. The Internet has so much information these days its foolish not to use it.  I had a good idea of what was available and asking prices before even setting foot in country. I also had made contact via email with several realty companies so I was all set to start looking. This saved very valuable time.

There are a lot of lots for sale all around Placencia. Most of them are residential zoned and that’s good for folks that want to put up a house or a vacation spot.  Most beachfront lots were around 60 x 90 to 90 x 100 feet. Asking prices on the beach was around $50,000. Don’t be discouraged though.  People will negotiate. I also found some really nice lots on a marina on the lagoon side for $30,000. Very nice, near town, and even had a reinforced sea wall built to US port specifications. If you are around town, just ask for Captain Dave Rabren, everybody there knows him and can point you the way. All the lots included dock space and access to the beach. Beware though, those places are residential only and they mean it. I wanted a place without restrictions, and a little lower in price, so I went further out of town.

A few miles from Placencia is another village called Seine Bight. Placencia is a Creole village and Seine Bight is Garifuna. I had found a place I wanted to see that was listed in the Internet at www.emeraldfutures.com. This turned out to be the place for us. A few hundred feet from the sea on one side and not even half a city block from the lagoon on the other. You can see the lots we bought at www.emeraldfutures.com/seinebight.html.  I bought lots 8h, 8i, and 8b.  I want the road-front for a future business venture.  Also, as Belize is paving the (currently dirt) road, I think the value will increase significantly.

Madeleine and John Estephan of Emerald Futures are great realtors and helped me all along the way through, from negotiating to the final sale and paperwork drill. I met Madeleine while in Belize City as that is where their office is. I was on my way to Mexico but wanted to open negotiations on the lots I ended up buying. After a little bit of haggling via email while I was in Mexico, we made a deal so I headed on back.

I'm going to take a short detour here and tell you about two good places to stay. In Belize City I stayed at Belcove Hotel. The hotel is located at 9 Regent St. and is right over the river near the Swing Bridge. Myrna Harris who owns the hotel and the manager Ricky Villanueva keep a clean and safe place. I didn't write down the price but it was very moderate (or else I wouldn't have stayed there). I did some exploring in the "dangerous" part of town but didn't really find it very dangerous. Myrna and Ricky waited up for me to come back at night and it seemed rather charming to me. If you go there, ask Myrna about going out her Caye that is over near St. George's Caye.

While in southeastern Mexico I stayed at the Aztec Hotel in Chetumal. Very cheap, about $5 a night for a room with air conditioning. Most foreigners in the area stayed at the Holiday Inn, but if you want cheap, go straight out from the Holiday Inn, cross the central park, and you'll see the Aztec. If you get out that way, make a point to go to the Bacalar Lagoon. There is a nice restaurant and hotel there and you can go swimming or dive off a neat cliff into the deep lake. It's formed from a huge sinkhole and with the surrounding forest is just a superb place to hang out for a while. OK, now back to buying land.

Paperwork.  Even in paradise there is paperwork to be done. After we agreed on a price, we began the task of transferring money and ownership.  Fortunately, it really wasn’t hard at all. One of the reasons I decided to buy in Belize, even though I really love the Spanish culture in Central America, is because Belize is an English culture. Laws are based on British Common Law. Titles are transferred fee simple and I don’t have to worry about somebody from some pre-civil war period putting a claim on my land. 

Here’s the basics. Besides the purchase price, which I won’t tell you, I paid $950 for a lawyer to check out everything and to take care of all the paperwork. I figure its well worth the money to have a lawyer make sure everything is cool with the property, and to protect my interests, when buying land in a foreign county. Margaret Nunez from the firm Musa & Balderamos (91 North Front Street, Belize City) handled all the paperwork and title transfer for me. By North American standards, the transfer seemed a slow process, but hey, ain’t that why I want to get out of the rat race anyway?

If you are not a citizen of Belize, like me, there is also a 10% tax. The transfer tax is only 5% for citizens and permanent residents (three years after their first entry into Belize). The tax is supposed to help stop land speculation, which I happen to think is a good thing. Like I mentioned early, I’ve been disappointed in some other countries as I’d look at beautiful property only to hear them price themselves out of range because “a Yankee resort is coming.” 

The only other fee was like eight bucks for having the deed recorded. And now I proudly hold in my hand, well, that’s a beer, but in my other hand I hold a Deed of Conveyance for my little piece of paradise. I can already picture a house where I can go up on the deck and watch the sun rise over the bright blue-green sea, and then watch it set later on over the Maya mountains, showing the Victoria Peak and Cockscomb range, as the lagoon to my west turns all the colors of a prism. Ya just gotta love it!.