Our First Blog Begins

And here it begins. It is our quest to document our trials and tribulations of moving from Camarillo, CA to Consejo Shores, Belize. I'd like to thank Dave and Dianna for their blog, as it has inspired me to create my own blog.

Our dream to move to Belize had its roots from many years back. In my early 20's I had spent a lot of time diving in the Carribean sea. One of my first experiences was Cancun in the early '80's. Only a dozen or so hotels on the entire 10 mile beach. Friendly people and food carts lined the streets. But in time, this slice of paradise was found by timeshare salesmen and it was time to move on.

When Mischelle and I first got together, we had known each other for several years thru mutual friends. One of our first trips was to Cabo San Lucas, where her family had been vacationing and fishing for years. Cabo was a small fishing village not yet discovered by tourists. We loved the starkness of the mountains and the sea. The diving and fishing was amazing.

But in time, this slice of paradise was found by timeshare salesmen and it was time to move on.

We checked out the Bahamas, Grenada and the Grenadines,St. Lucia and the Virgin Islands but in the end we came back to Mexico. Close to home and we love mexican food.

So our next adventures came back to Mexico. We spent lots of vacation time in Cozumel and the Puerto Aventura area and what is now known as the Riviera Maya. Scary drive on two lane highway for an hour or so south of Cancun. Playa del Carmen was a small no-light town. Happy people, food vendors on the street and no timeshare salesmen.

But this too, came to an end. More hotels, and yes, we did end up getting a timeshare, but on the terms we liked and in a nice collection of properties.

But we knew we needed to move on and Belize was next on the map. Friendly people who speak english(?!), excellent diving, and we can still get mexican food.

Now the question is where do we want to live. On the Cayes, or in the Cayos', in the north or in the south.

After looking around and deciding where we didn't want to be, we narrowed the choices. We like the Cayes, but decided that being on a low lying island in the hurricane season would be stressful. Not good. Supplies also can become an issue.

The mountains of the Cayo district are beautiful and adventure is around every corner and cave. But the roads and streams during the rainy season can become unpassable and there tends to be more rain in the mountains.

Same with the south. Lots more rain.

So after whittling away the other places, we decided to look in the north. We started in Corozal town. From there it was off to visit home sites in Progresso Heights, Cerros Sands and Sarteneja. No timeshare salesmen but everyone seems to sell real estate. From there we traveled north to a small town called Consejo. There we found a place with a beautiful view of the Bay of Chetumal. Could we have found our slice of paradise? A small quiet town, not far from the main town of Corozal. And just across the bay is Chetumal. Mexican food, Mc Donald's, Sam's Club, etc.. Not as much rain as the rest of the country. Not a lot of bugs. A short plane or boat ride to spectacular diving. Even gambling near-by.

We visited a small community of expats in a well maintained development next to the sea. Consejo Shores. Mostly half acre lots with a small pitch and putt golf course. We were in heaven. Now if we could live the dream and find a lot on the sea.

Only problem was, there were no vacant lots for sale. So back home we went and tried to find our dream on the internet.