Belize

Belize is a tiny little country located below the Southeast corner of Mexico. It, along with Guatemala, marks the beginning of Central America. It's the 2nd smallest country only being bigger than the tiny Pacific Coast country of El Salvador. Belize is an interesting place though. It's nestled up there in the Caribbean, and brings with it everything that you would assume from a Caribbean country. There's pristine blue water. Islands and Cays all over the place. Amazing diving, seafood, year-round hot and muggy weather, — all of that. Belize interestingly enough is the only English-speaking country in Central America. After years of colonialism (formerly called British Honduras) by England, the almost countrywide first language is English. This was jarring for me as I left Mexico. But if your Spanish isn't good and you want to speak English, then this is certainly a positive for you. ​ There are two Belize's I would say. There are the islands. There is the mainland. And they are very, very different. The islands of Belize are the far more heavily visited and traveled part of the country. The mainland itself, other than a few southern beach towns, is jungle and Belize City. I found Belize City to be the 2nd worst big city in Central America. It's a fly-through place in order for people to get to the country, and nothing more than that. I won't go into it other than that because you shouldn't spend any time there. In short, the islands are beautiful and touristy, and the mainland and jungle is rural — typically untraveled, but significantly more authentic and also beautiful.  ​ The way I typically describe Belize, is that it is an undeniably beautiful place, however, not necessarily a place that you would need to go. The islands are more near to Florida than anywhere I have ever been. The bars will have Florida license plates and flags flying. Jimmy Buffett (RIP) will be ripping from the stereos, and families on vacation will be riding around everywhere on golf carts. After coming from a culturally immersive time in Mexico, I was turned off at the lack of cultural presence here on the islands. Precisely the ones in the North. Caye Caulker and San Pedro. So as I said before, Belize is a perfectly beautiful place, but I wouldn't put it on my list of places in the world that you must go.  ​ However, it is a great place for vacation, and if you are in the area you won't be disappointed that you went. There's a few places in the country that are frequently hit. I will get into them here in detail. You can make up for yourself which you would like to go to. Most everyone will go to the islands in the north. My first recommendation is to choose Caye Caulker over San Pedro. Also don't sleep on the jungle in mainland Belize, near Guatemala.