Anyone in the Toledo district?

You may want to stop at Spice Farm and I may be able to give you few ideas (732 4014)

Why Toledo district? Just curious.

Thank you soooooo much for the replies!
Spice man, we would love to come check out Spice Farm! That sounds fascinating. Thank you for offering that to us.
Gwenniem, I know Toledo is probably the least popular district for expats but something about it's wild, untouched beauty really draws us to the area. We are also fascinated by Mayan native culture and want to learn how and why they do the things they do. There is much wisdom in First Nation teachings that is so often ignored and misunderstood. We can learn a lot from people who have lived somewhere for thousands of years in harmony with nature.
Another thing that draws me to the area is the beautiful Maya mountains!
Our plans are to buy some jungle acreage, eventually build a small house on it with as little footprint as possible, use it for vacation until we can come live there full time or at least half the year. We want to preserve the jungle on our acreage and be a helpful part of whatever village or town we end up in.
Thank you so much for the querie. It made me really think about why we are looking at Toledo district.
Peace, all!

Oh nice! Thanks for your response!  Good luck to you!  We are considering corozal, Stann Creek and Cayo. How you feel about Toledo is how we feel about Cayo but corozal may be more practical. We are doing 2 weeks in February to decide where we will rent and move for good in jan 2017!

I want to visit the Spice Farm! 😀

Looks like you have done your home work about Toledo. Jungle life is rough. Just a note of caution. Maya land right is another issue.
One need to be very cautious.
Thomas Mathew

Awesome! We are planning on end of February for our 2 week trip. Good luck to you guys!
I just checked out the Spice Farm website. It sounds really neat! We will definitely stop and check it out.

Spiceman, do you have more information about how to avoid stepping on toes and/or avoid buying something that is maya land and not available? Would a property lawyer be able to find out if it is legitimate or is there a lot of grey area with possible Mayan land? I definitely do not want to cause an issue or invade on anyone's land rights. We wish to make as small a footprint as possible and blend into the culture there. Thank you again for your valuable input!
Peace,
Jackie

If you have a clear title, in general  it is a private property and can be bought.  Spending time and doing research will be prudent. Real Estate agents (reputable ones) are helpful.
Maya lands rights are settled by courts and process is in place for final settlement. Leased land is Govt.. land. .Maya may have some right/claim to it in Toledo District. But there are ex-Pats here in Toledo buying land and building houses.

My wife and I purchased a 30 acre parcel in Toledo which was previously used as a pasture. And as you mentioned, Toledo may be least popular for expats, but for us, it was exactly what we were looking for.

We purchased the land directly from the seller (who was located in Portugal) but used a reputable law firm, who handled the title search, transfer and submission to the Lands department. Everything was handled via FedEx and was pretty much problem free. 

Since Portugal did not allow its notaries to notarize transactions involving foreign properties, the law firm contacted the Foreign Ministry, who advised us that the document could be legally signed off by the Belizean consul in Portugal.

My advice would be to make sure you have a reputable law firm handle the transaction. It was worth every penny we spent.

Best of luck with your search and purchase.

Hi. We live in monkey river town which is the very north of Toledo, but we lived in PG when we we first moved down for a few months. We love it down here, but it can be rough as was mentioned above. We had something like 28 inches of rain in a little over a week in November, and the road to the village is just now drivable again. The only way in and out for almost 2.5 months was by boat. I had visited a lot before moving here, but living here is definitely intense. Don't get me wrong. It's amazing, and i love it, and it's definitely better than where i was, but it's way harder than i anticipated. I guess that's the funny thing about dreams, right? ANYWAY. As far as Mayan land rights go, as was mentioned, a lawyer can tell you if it's LEGAL to purchase it - and I'm not downplaying the importance of that - but any of the mayan land rights organizations will tell you if it's contested. They'll appreciate you asking. For a host of reasons that are a really long discussion for another day, there is a fair amount of anti Mayan sentiment down here, so there is gratitude for people who give a shit.

Enjoy your exploring!!

When I visited the Land Office in Punta Gorda on January 4th of this year to pay my property taxes, there was a  document posted listing 33 Mayan villages where any purchases, leases, sub-leases of property is on-hold because of the overall situation at the national level regarding Mayan land rights. I would double check with the land office to be sure any property you maybe considering is not in one of those villages. /