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    Super Cheap

    • Chitré, Panama
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    • Phuket, Thailand
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    Cheap

    • Medellin, Colombia
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    • Kyrenia, Cyprus
    • Hua Hin, Thailand
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    Affordable

    • Valencia, Spain
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    • Pisa, Italy
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  • Home
  • Countries

    Top Destinations:

    Whether you’re looking for fun and sun, a peaceful retirement, or the chance to earn some extra income, you’ve got a real world of opportunity open to you… In short, we’ve done our best to narrow down your best options, but only you can decide the right country for you.

    • Spain
    • Portugal
    • Panama
    • Belize
    • Colombia
    • Cyprus
    • Mexico
    • France
    • Montenegro
    • Browse All Countries

    Best For:

    • The Best Places To Retire
    • Health Care Abroad
    • Cost Of Living
    • Investing in Real Estate
    • Establishing Residency
    • Gun Laws In The World
    • English-Speaking Countries
    • Safest Places For Retirement
    • Best Places In Latin America
  • Budgets

    How Much Will It Cost You To Live Overseas?

    The only honest answer is, we have no idea. And neither does anyone else. The only one who can answer that question is you. Here’s the most important thing to understand about budgeting your new life overseas…

    Super Cheap

    • Chitré, Panama
    • Santa Marta, Colombia
    • Phuket, Thailand
    • Dumaguete, The Philippines

    Cheap

    • Medellin, Colombia
    • Boquete, Panama
    • Kyrenia, Cyprus
    • Hua Hin, Thailand
    • The Algarve, Portugal

    Affordable

    • Valencia, Spain
    • Cascais, Portugal
    • Las Terrenas, The DR
    • Pisa, Italy
    • La Rochelle, France
    • Mazatlán, Mexico

    Luxury

    • Ambergris Caye, Belize
    • Kotor, Montenegro
    • The Panama City Beaches
    • Paris, France
  • Resources

    Global Living

    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore & Diversification

    Making Money

    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing

    Follow Us:

    • Meet Our Experts
  • Real Estate

    Buying Real Estate For Cashflow

    • Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

    Explore Our Latest Posts

    • Learn how to invest and purchase property abroad…

    Go To The Overseas Property Alert Site

    • How To Become Independently Wealthy And Fund The Lifestyle Of Your Dreams
  • Conferences

    Upcoming Events

    • Explore Our Events Site

    Live and Invest In Spain Conference

    Offshore Wealth Summit

    Argentina Workshop

    VALENCIA, SPAIN

    Sep. 17-19, 2025

    PANAMA CITY, PANAMA

    Oct. 15-17, 2025

    VIRTUAL

    Nov. 13, 2025

    Learn More About This Event
    Learn More About This Event
    PRE-REGISTER
    Learn More About This Event
    PRE-REGISTER
    • MORE EVENTS

    Contact Our Events Team

    Toll-Free U.S. and Canada:
    1 (888) 627 8834
    From Outside North America:
    1 (443) 599 1221
    Working Hours
    Monday – Friday 08:00 am – 17:00 pm EST.

    Reach us with your questions by email at: events@liveandinvestoverseas.com

  • Store

    Unlock The World

    • Access Your Library

    Overseas Havens Reports

    • Expats' comprehensive destination guides

    Conference Kits

    • Hours of coverage  from our latests conferences

    Lahardan Books

    • Titles on living and investing around the world
    • Explore Our Store
    Your passport to a life well-lived abroad

    Services

    overseas living letter offers affordable retirement guidance
    The Simon Letter Wealth Protection Insights
    Global Property Advisor Global Investment Opportunities

    Our Customer Service team is here to assist with any questions or concerns CustomerService@LiveandInvestOverseas.com

  • My Library
Live and Invest Overseas
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DISCOVER BELIZE

Discover Belize: Reef, Ruins, Rivers, And Rain Forest Report

Simply sign up to receive the FREE daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, plus our In Focus: Caribbean newsletter and we’ll immediately email you our editors’ latest research report… absolutely FREE

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Home Countries Belize

Carmelita Gardens, Belize: A Community For Freedom Seekers

Independent Together—Retaking Control Of Your Future In Sunny Belize

A beautiful house in Carmelita Gardens, a community of freedom seekers in Belize

Facebook/CarmelitaGardensBelize

I’d like to introduce you to a little-known escape in Belize…

As well as a fellow reader who’s already made the move here.

Last year amid simultaneous crises of the pandemic, civil unrest, and political upheaval in North America, this little slice of paradise saw a massive boom in interest.

It was as if an entire continent had an “aha! moment,” and suddenly realized that a self-sufficient community in Belize could be the perfect “Plan B”… or, what has turned out to be the case for many, the perfect “Plan A.”

To start, this community is surrounded by tropical rainforests, the majestic Maya Mountains, and the Belize River Valley…

It’s a nature-lover’s paradise, with wide-open spaces crisscrossed by rivers for swimming and kayaking, rainforests for exploring and hiking, and Mayan ruins for climbing…

It’s the perfect haven for anyone who wants to reclaim their independence while leaving the bills, cold winters, and rat race behind.

Meet Tony—He’s One Of My Neighbors Here…

As way of full disclosure, I’ve purchased a lot in this community…

I have known Phil, the developer, a long time now and have seen this parcel of land grow into a thriving riverside village with residents of all ages and backgrounds… from retirees to young families, from ex-military to former ER nurses, and from arborists to tax attorneys…

Carmelita Gardens in Belize during sunset

Carmelita Gardens is a place where folks live simply, enjoying the everyday freedoms many places back home have lost.

It offers a more relaxed, healthier pace of life.

One of the residents here, Tony, moved from the Bronx to Carmelita Gardens. He likes to show people his old driver’s license with a photo of him looking stressed and gaunt, then comparing it to his healthy energetic glow now in his simple yet elegant cottage in Carmelita Gardens.

Tony was kind enough to record a short video, to walk us through his home, and new life in this welcoming community. You can take a listen here:

Video of Tony, a resident of Carmelita GardensTony went looking for warmer weather, a lower cost of living, and the ability to spend more time outdoors…

Tony Found His Perfect Home In Belize—Plus A Piece Of Property
For US$35,000

Your home here is less than a two-hour drive from Belize City and the international airport…

And only a short distance from San Ignacio, a charming, bustling town with a hospital, grocery stores, hotels, cafés, restaurants, and the largest Farmer’s Market in the country.

This is a peaceful riverside community that boasts sustainability and independence at the core of its ethos.

Carmelita Gardens Collage showing residents

Gardens and orchards are interwoven with the housing lots, providing fresh and organic food.

Each home here is self-sufficient, too. Houses here have solar panels, rainwater harvesting, filtration systems, and productive gardens.

And this isn’t your parents’ idea of off-grid living… self-sufficiency technology has improved so that you can enjoy all the comforts of back home—big screen TV, washer and dryer, high-speed internet.

Want a skype call with the family back home, or need to take a zoom call for business?

That’s no problem here.

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This Is No Cookie Cutter “One Size Fits All” Plan…

Phil tells me his motto is “Independent Together,” which applies to our community of individualists as well as to the homes and facilities they build.

Planned as a traditional town, the neighborhoods around the Town Square have garden lots with cottages, then radiating from there are larger village and estate properties.

All houses regardless of size and style are handcrafted using quality materials and methods. The off-grid systems are custom designed for each owner’s lifestyle and budget—they all have luxury finishes to the owner’s specifications.

Finishes include granite counter tops, beautiful exotic hardwoods, outdoor kitchens, swimming pools, or a myriad of other choices.

A white house at Carmelita Gardens
Casa Carmelita was built and finished—on time and on budget…
A yellow house at Carmelita Gardens
Another resident’s dream home in Carmelita Gardens…

While I have always valued my independence and freedom, I certainly didn’t foresee just how important this project would become when I bought here back in 2018.

For many people, reclaiming an independent lifestyle has become a top priority for their move overseas…

And nowhere in the world serves up a better opportunity for that way of life than this corner of Belize.

Kathleen Peddicord
Founding Publisher, In Focus: Belize

Tags: 'Belize'Carmelita Gardensindependent lifestylelive in BelizeMove to Belizeretire in belizeself-sufficient community
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Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has reported on opportunities for Americans to live, retire, and do business overseas for 40 years. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 24, established businesses in 7, renovated and built properties in 6, and educated her children in 5.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets from the east coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland, then to Paris, France, and finally to Panama City, Panama, where she has based her Live And Invest Overseas business. Peddicord and her husband, Lief Simon, now divide their time between Panama and Paris.

Peddicord was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. She opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Waterford, Ireland; Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France. Peddicord launched Live And Invest Overseas group in 2008 and has built it into a successful multimillion-dollar business. Today, she shares her firsthand experience of expat life with more than 500,000 readers of her publications, including Overseas Opportunity Letter and Overseas Living Letter.

Kathleen has been featured often in The New York Times, MSNBC, AARP, CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, and more and writes monthly about expat matters, international real estate, and offshore diversification for Forbes and U.S. News.

Kathleen has written several books including the memoirs “At Home In Ireland” and “At Home At Los Islotes” and her latest title “At Home Abroad,” all published by Lahardan Books. Her best-selling "How To Retire Overseas: Everything You Need To Know To Live Well (For Less) Abroad” was published by Penguin Random House in 2018 and her “Buying Real Estate Overseas For Cash Flow (And A Better Life)” was published by Wiley in August 2020.

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Best For:

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BROWSE ALL COUNTRIES

Budgets

How Much Will It Cost
To Live Overseas?

Super Cheap

  • Chitré, Panama
  • Santa Marta, Colombia
  • Phuket, Thailand
  • Dumaguete, The Philippines

Cheap

  • Medellin, Colombia
  • Boquete, Panama
  • Kyrenia, Cyprus
  • Hua Hin, Thailand
  • The Algarve, Portugal

Affordable

  • Valencia, Spain
  • Cascais, Portugal
  • Las Terrenas, The DR
  • Pisa, Italy
  • La Rochelle, France
  • Mazatlán, Mexico

Luxury

  • Ambergris Caye, Belize
  • Kotor, Montenegro
  • The Panama City Beaches
  • Paris, France

Resources

Global Living

  • Living & Retiring Overseas
  • Raising A Family Abroad
  • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
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Making Money

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Meet Our Experts

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Overseas Property Alert 

 

How To Become Independently Wealthy And Fund The Lifestyle Of Your Dreams

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Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

READ MORE

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Learn how to invest and purchase property abroad…

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VALENCIA, SPAIN Sep. 17-19, 2025
Learn More About This Event

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PANAMA CITY, PANAMA Oct. 15-17, 2025
Learn More About This Event
PRE-REGISTER

Argentina Workshop

VIRTUAL Nov. 13, 2025
Learn More About This Event
PRE-REGISTER
MORE EVENTS

Contact Our Events Team:

Toll-Free U.S. and Canada:
1 (888) 627 8834

From Outside North America:
1 (443) 599 1221

Working Hours
Monday – Friday 08:00 am – 17:00 pm EST.

Reach us with your questions by email at: events@liveandinvestoverseas.com

Store

Overseas Havens Reports

  • Expats' comprehensive destination guides

Conference Kits

  • Hours of coverage  from our latests conferences

Lahardan Books

  • Titles on living and investing around the world

Services

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  • The Simon Letter: Wealth Protection Insights
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