Visit Belize - What NOT to Do in Belize

here the fellow-travellers mark heareth Walter's rule today we're here in Belize for the don'ts of visiting beliefs now there's a ton of things you do want to do when you're here like go out to the Barrier Reef you can see the background with the white caps earth right there go snorkeling there super cool go see the Mayan ruins inland totally awesome but I'm not gonna talk about that I'm gonna talk about the don'ts and my first don't for you when you come to Belize is don't freak out about the crime statistics look when people are coming to believes one of the biggest thing they search us is Belize safe I actually have a whole video on that and the thing is what you should know is yes Belize has issues now when you look at crime statistics they do seem high but for you as a tourist where you're gonna be here Keiko car going to San Pedro may be in a setting that co2 do some of the adventure stuff up there the zipline and the Mayan ruins you're not gonna have too many issues when you're here I know for us we felt pretty safe when we were here now of course having said that you do need to take precautions you know not getting super drunk and staying out late nights you know making sure that you're locking your stuff up and things like that not making yourself a target these kind of things will help but in general don't think this is a super dangerous place like the numbers say now having said that I mean you don't want to really spend a lot of time in Belize City or like they'll tell you like in the southern part of Belize City because that's where a lot of really bad crime is okay so I want to get that one out of the way now my second don't for you guys we actually do come here and you want to enjoy yourself don't get in a hurry look I know here I'm on the island so that's on island time the thing is that island time kind of goes through the whole country okay so you need to have a lot of patience when you're here you know after a few days you kind of get used to it but the first few days you're like because you'd be a little quicker could I could I get a menu could I order my food where's my drinks what's going on it kind of get get frustrating and you'll see signs like here on Keiko Kerr their whole motto is go slow they'll let you know it go slow relax man it's okay you've got time and you gotta have that kind of mental attitude when you're here otherwise you might get a little a little frustrated and so when you do get that beer when you're here or maybe you get a coke or the red phantom which tastes like Inca Cola which is really good you're gonna see a napkin inside of it a little quick dolt for that is don't forget to use that napkin to wipe the top of your glass bottle off before you enjoy it enjoy that belacan one of the local beers your lighthouse stuff like that okay just just a dump for you for a little stuff also if you are sitting down at a restaurant you'll see there's restaurants and then you'll if you're on the beaches or you're in town you'll see restaurants there like on the side of the road or on the side of the beach with just somebody grilling up and maybe there's just a hut where they're putting this up together don't be scared to eat at those places they're just as good as some of the normal restaurants and the thing is those are usually a lot cheaper so that can be a good budget option for you when you do come here and you still get the great food like the grilled lobster and the coconut shrimp and the stewed chicken and the church chicken all those good things you can still get there those things there now the mother don't I guess I should let you know about to be worried about is don't worry if you don't know where Belize is a lot of people don't know where Belize is it's okay basically what Belize is it's it's on the side of Guatemala right underneath Mexico in Central America really it's a small piece of land there's only like 350,000 people maybe 4,000 people here at a time with the tourists and stuff so it's actually a really sparsely populated country but it's just this little tiny piece of country this actually it only became like fully independent in 1981 so I mean it's relatively new relatively tiny country for you enjoy okay so don't worry about that another don't I have for you is don't think that you have to speak Spanish to come here when I've talked to people about going to Guatemala or Mexico Nicaragua I'm like look don't forget to make sure you brush up on your Spanish here in Belize you don't have to because English is the official language of Belize so all the signs are in English your ask people questions in English they respond you in English it's no big deal now a lot of people do speak Spanish or they might speak some more Creole like but you'll be fine with English when you go around which can be a lot more calming for a lot of people when they do travel if they don't speak Spanish okay so you'll have a fun time with that now having said that another don't I might say is don't think that they'll always understand everything you say and don't think you'll always understand everything they say even if they are speaking English there might be some Creole in there there might be a little Spanish words here and there there could be some misunderstandings so just make sure you kind of take your time ever go slow and you'll catch on just fine okay now when you are here whether you're gonna go visit the Mayan ruins you're gonna be coming here to the beaches and stuff like that there's a couple of don'ts I have for you one don't forget your bug spray my god the bugs can be really really bad when you're here and also don't forget to bring some sunblock because yes if you're on the beach here you're going out snorkeling you push thing oh yeah I'm going to snorkel I don't my back to turn red like a lobster people cooked me on those grills the thing is is when you're going to the Mayan ruins and you're walking around you're in the open and the Sun is beating down and we're closer to the equator here so those beams are a lot stronger so you can get burned very easily so don't forget those two things all right now my next you Don it's actually gonna deal with more here on the keys and on the beaches and stuff like that and I'm gonna say it don't skip snorkeling or scuba diving if you can do it I mean even you can't snort go very well or you could only swim you can snorkel we went out with our two kids and my wife and I we went out and did circling my youngest he doesn't swim too well they put a vest on him and he got to smoke around for three hours and it was awesome and if you get that chance go out to that Barrier Reef it's the second largest Barrier Reef in the world you can go there snorkel long at seed thanks it is just fantastic okay and the thing is I will say one thing if you're gonna go scuba diving or snorkeling my next don't is don't lie or misrepresent your kind of knowledge about snorkeling or scuba diving because it can be dangerous okay so if you don't so very well let them know they're happy to help you like get a life jack and stuff like that if you don't know how to snorkel let them know that like I've never really snorkel snorkel before I really struggled in the swim pool with my kids that's okay they will help you so you can have a good time when you are out there and the thing is I'm bringing this up because a lot of times if you're gonna be doing some of these tours going out to the store clean or scuba diving or going in the canyons and stuff like that there's gonna be multiple different tours out there and my don't for that is don't think every tour company is the same you need to do your research for the tour companies here because some are gonna be more geared towards younger travelers and some will be geared more towards family travelers or or eco-friendly travelers and stuff like that okay because I've met people have done similar tours and us like we did this snorkeling because more eco based they showed us all the animals and the the fish and the eels and the barracudas and stuff like that and the sharks and rays and all that but another guy i met he was on more the young focused ones so they did the snorkeling and then they had two hours of rum drinking on the way back and and it was like okay there's a very different atmosphere so definitely do your research don't just sign up for a tour right away okay though the prices will be pretty similar to everybody the experience can be very different and another thing is when you're on the Barrier Reef another don't I have for you is don't take anything from the reef don't take in the fish obviously don't take any of the coral don't take any of the shells that are out there that's a protective thing so don't take those also don't swim over top of the coral because there are the waves there and they may lift you up and slam you down on the coral and if anybody has ever gotten that happened to them it is not a fun experience okay so so don't mess around on the coral and my last little scuba and snorkeling don't I have has to do with the Blue Hole now if you've seen any videos or any pictures or any tourism anything about Belize they always show this the Blue Hole it's a sinkhole that goes down in the middle of the Caribbean you can go see us a couple hour boat ride from here in Key Colker you can go there and it's just really really cool to see but the thing is is how it's how the the water is and stuff like that you don't necessarily see in other parts so don't feel that you have to take the helicopter ride out there or don't feel like you need to go out there to really enjoy snorkeling and Scooby you can do it here and then San Pedro or here in Kiko chorus you can do a closer thing than doing that so don't feel you have to pay way up to go out to the Blue Hole now unless you want to go and do like to check mark all right did the bucket list hide over the Blue Hole that isn't that's a whole other thing but just for like a normal everyday person maybe save your money and it's going one of the short cruises out to here and go go snorkeling on the reef now when you come back from your snorkeling or maybe when you're coming back from your hike so your your tubing and stuff like that through the caves if you're up near the Guatemalan border all these kind of cool things are in the ATM cave and doing those things you're going to come back and you're gonna relax right and the thing is you'll see people walk around relaxing as well with a drink in their hand the next don't I have for you guys don't worry about walking around with your alcohol now don't walk around a bottle of vodka of course but here in Belize you can actually walk around with a plastic cup or a like a Lumina McCann like a can of beer you can walk around with that you're okay glass bottles are big no no's okay you can get in trouble with that okay so don't worry too much about the alcohol when you walk around but don't have the glass bottles another thing I've noticed is when you're walking around and some of the villages are some of the beach resorts and stuff like that you're going to smell a little wacky tabacky okay but I'm going to tell you tell the tourists and tell anybody here's don't think just because you smell the wacky tabacky it means you can smoke it here okay because they actually have some pretty strict drug laws here in Belize and you're a foreigner so you're the one that's going to get in trouble and you can go and visit the only junior lor sorry the only prison they have here in Belize okay and I don't think you want to do that so so trying to stay away from that because I have seen some people get any trouble for that so just be careful okay now I know I've alluded to this before but I want to make sure I stress this in another don't and that is don't think that Belize is just beaches and snorkeling and scuba diving oh no no this country has a lot more than that the Mayan ruins that are here caught a call you can go there this huge Mayan conflict you can go explore and there's my ruins actually sprinkle throughout the country I mean there's 350,000 people maybe here in Belize I think and they used to be a million Mayans here so there's a lot of stuff all over the country you can check out and you can sign up for tours the different places to go there and explore it also if you want to have some adventure tourism if you want to go cave tubing yes you can ride tubes through caves it's pretty cool you want to go spelunking you can do that go to the ATM cave and do some really cool stuff there there's all kinds of really good adventure stuff you can do some biking hiking all kinds of things there's a lot more that just beaches here in Belize so make sure you get out and explore more another thing is when you're out exploring your scene like the Mayan ruins and you're going on your hikes and stuff like that you mean you might see some sign that were like hey watch out for the Jaguars and stuff look don't think you're gonna see Jaguars when you're here you will see quite a few animals when you're here but the Jaguars you don't see too often so if you do that's really kind of a cool thing but what I'm going to tell you is don't mess with the animals okay their version of a raccoon here it looks pretty cool but it will scratch you up and get you and you need to be very careful with that okay so don't mess with the animals when you're here now another thing is when you're looking for accommodation here in Belize a lot of people like to go oh I'd like to get my hilton points or my Marriott points or things like that my next offer you is don't think you're gonna find any chain hotel even chain restaurants here in Belize a lot of it is just small independent hotels resorts stuff like that here so you're gonna have to do a lot more research when you're looking for accommodation here in Belize okay it took us some time to find some actually for us in the second place we're out here in Key coker we actually have two rooms for the four of us because we had to split up because it was hard to find a place that would take all four of us so you want to make sure you're booking early to find accommodation okay now when you aren't staying here my necks don't for you which is kind of cool is don't worry about exchanging money if you're coming from the US they actually accept the US dollar as currency here in Belize which is really cool you can also use the Belizean dollar which is actually pegged two-to-one to the US dollar and so when we go places sometimes we'll pay part in u.s. dollar pardon Belize you down they might give change back in dollars or pay or Belizean dollars and stuff like that you can have them it's really nice the thing is cash is kind of King here and I know when I did my research before I came here all the websites made it sound like ATMs are everywhere they're easy to find that is a load of crap okay they're not easy to find they're not all over the place they are out there you want to go find the banks the banks will have them that's your best bet but I would say is bring your cash when you come also if you're coming from Europe or Australia and stuff like that I have not seen very many exchange houses when I've been here so don't bring anything else except for US dollars but you're gonna come here well so I guess what I should probably talk about what I'm talking about money is also another dome for Belize is don't think Belize is like Latin America Central America cheap because it's not I found that Belize is kind of like comma Costa Rican prices it's a little bit on the more expensive side for Latin America it's not cheap like Nicaragua or Panama or Guatemala or anything like that so do have a heads up for that you're gonna be spending a bit more money than you might expect when you do come here to believe especially you're gonna be out here on the keys because I'm in there Island so that's gonna jack up the price some too and my lives don't for you is don't forget the seasons here in Belize look the biggest rainiest part is probably September October or the rainiest part of the year but hurricane season is June through November here and the big tourist season is actually December through March and maybe April when you are here so obviously December 2 through marching over your highest prices April I think April mayor like the hottest of the months so you have that so just to give you a heads up but honestly we've had a really great time here we've been inland we've been on the coast we've been here on the in the keys it's just been a really great experience here in Belize so I hope it helps you know a bit more about Belize so if you do come here you can have a great time if you want to learn some more we've got ten fun shocks like culture shocks of coming here to Belize you've got some more like just basic what to know before you come to Belize we've got some good food you should eat when you come to Belize all on our website at Walters worldcom and if you like travel videos like this you hit that subscribe button and hit that notification Bell on YouTube you'll get new travel videos from us every Wednesday and Saturday and if you want to find us on other social media platforms we're on like I said YouTube Instagram Facebook Twitter and Pinterest all with that Walters world I'm going to say thank you to everybody it's watched all the way through and click that like button we really appreciate it and a special extra thank you to all our patrons on patreon who make videos like this possible so if you wanna learn how you can support us in our honest travel videos go to patreon.com/scishow ultis world to find out how you can help anyway well say bye from here and police

Channel: Wolters World

Views: 636,640

Keywords: travel, europe, mark wolters, wolters world, travel advice, tourist attractions, travel vlogger, honest travel, fat travel guy

Id: pNdvcnaDiI4

Length: 14min 31sec (871 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 07 2020