Safety in Belize
While safety is always in the back of my mind while traveling, it immediately moves to the forefront when you are planning a trip that includes your kids. When my oldest son wanted to choose Belize for our family trip this year, I knew next to nothing about it. A few quick google searches and it became clear that we would have to research further on the safety issue before agreeing to this trip.
Belize consistently ranks in the top ten countries in the world for per capita murders. It has been as high as #2 on the list in the past few years. The high level statistics are scary – Belize averages roughly 40 murders per 100,000 people. But sometimes numbers alone don’t tell the story and you have to dig a little deeper.
First, actual number of crimes (vs per capita rate) and the size of Belize must be considered. Yes, the per capita murder rate is high, but the total number is not nearly as alarming. In 2017, there were a total of 142 murders in the country. 142 in the entire country. The city of New Orleans alone logged 157 murders in 2017. Belize is almost 9,000 square miles. New Orleans is 350 square miles. The per capita rate clearly does not tell the whole story.
Second, you have to put those numbers into perspective and look at them relative to places you’ve visited and felt perfectly safe. Belize is statistically safer than Baltimore, MD which had 343 murders in 2017 for a whopping per capita rate of 55.8. We’ve taken our kids to Baltimore before. Never once did I consider that we might be murdered there or consider not going because of the crime rate.
Third, you have to look at where these crimes are taking place. Of the 142 murders in 2017, 82 took place in Belize City and the rest were spread throughout the country. Belize City is not a tourist destination. Yes, you have to fly into the airport there but the huge majority of visitors immediately move on to another destination without even passing through the city itself. We were certainly planning to do that. Even within Belize City, the crime is centered around the south side of the city, which is an area where no tourist would ever go (unless they are searching for drugs and/or trouble). If you don’t plan to stay in Belize City and pull their statistics out, the country suddenly looks a whole lot safer.
And finally, you have to look at who the victims of the crimes are. Overwhelmingly, homicides are gang crimes in Belize – you have gang members killing other gang members. This goes hand in hand with the previous point about location – the majority of murders are taking place in the parts of Belize City known for gang activity.
I immediately felt better after digging into the numbers, and it helped to explain why the US Department of State classifies Belize at the same advisory level as Italy, France, and most of Europe despite its high per capita crime rate. I can honestly say that after my initial research, I never thought about safety in Belize again. I set it aside as a non-issue and moved on to travel planning.
And once we actually got to Belize, I never once felt even the slightest bit unsafe. We travelled extensively between Belize City, San Ignacio, and Ambergris Caye and felt completely safe the entire time. Yes, there is poverty and it was eye opening for the kids to see the difference in standard of living between our hotels and the homes we drove by. But poverty doesn’t always equal crime. We felt safe everywhere we went and met tons of helpful, friendly people.
So if you are considering traveling to Belize with children, just do your research. You will more likely than not come to the same conclusion that I did. Belize is no more dangerous than places we’ve visited in the US and Europe. Exercise the same degree of caution you would when traveling anywhere, whether in the US or abroad. Petty crime is a problem in practically all tourist destinations so don’t carry large amounts of cash, jewelry, or electronics on you and just be aware of your surroundings. But other than that, relax and enjoy your trip.
Safety in Guatemala
But Guatemala… Guatemala was a whole other story. We first thought about adding on Tikal after I had already moved on from the safety issue. But Guatemala brought it up anew. Whereas Belize violent crime was by and large Belizean criminals vs. other Belizean criminals, in Guatemala tourists are often the victims of crime. There are way too many stories of tourist vans being run off the road and passengers being robbed with machetes. The issue of Guatemala safety required some serious research and soul searching.
Again, I decided to try to get at the stories behind the numbers. Where were these crimes taking place by and large? We would only be traveling between the border and Tikal, a distance of less than 60 miles. This is a well-travelled path filled with day trippers and overnighters from Belize. We would not be going through any cities. We would not be going off the beaten path. We would be following hundreds of others along one of the most popular tourist routes in Guatemala.
So I began trying to find any incidents that had happened along that specific route. I researched and researched and could find nothing. I found plenty of examples of crime in other locations, but none where we would be going. Literally nothing in Tikal or on the road to Tikal. I asked on the boards at TripAdvisor, and one person could vaguely remember an incident about 12 years ago but that was it.
What I did find was story after story of travelers who went to Tikal from Belize (many with families) and had an amazing time. So we talked it over extensively and decided we would hire a private driver to take us from the border to Tikal in order to mitigate any safety concerns. I was happy with our decision and started contacting tour guides.
But then. Then in January the US State Department revamped their travel warning system. Their previous system was apparently somewhat confusing so they went to a new system with 4 straightforward levels:
1 – Exercise normal precautions
2 – Exercise increased caution
3 – Reconsider travel
4 – Do not travel
And there was Guatemala, sitting at a 3. Reconsider travel. Ugh. I had already found the end of the internet searching about Guatemala safety. Now I was supposed to reconsider. Again.
So I did. I reconsidered. And reconsidered. And reconsidered until I could reconsider no more. And I came to the same conclusion. There were no threats along the specific route we were taking and a private driver would give us an additional level of comfort. After all, nothing had actually changed. No new incidents had occurred. Crime did not go up. The warning level itself did not change; the system for reporting it did. A change in reporting should not change my previous conclusion.
And so we went. And I’ll admit that I was on edge for the entire drive. (Read the full story of our trip here.) I spent the whole trip watching the road ahead of us, wondering why that motorcycle was just sitting on the edge of the road in the middle of nowhere or if the car that was passing us was going to slam on its brakes and force us to stop. The fact that our driver didn’t speak English only added to my stress level; it just made the thought of something happening that much scarier because we wouldn’t be able to communicate about it.
But of course, nothing happened. We arrived safely and had an amazing time exploring Tikal. Once in the park itself, we felt 100% safe. We had wonderful tour guides who spoke excellent English and knew the park like the back of their hands. There was no hint of any type of crime in the park, save for a disappointing amount of graffiti on the ruins. I was able to completely enjoy the experience in Tikal without concern for safety.
So the big question… would I recommend visiting Tikal from Belize? I wish I could answer that easily. I am so so glad that we went. But I was stressed about 75% of the time we were in the country. I was stressed crossing the border and the entire drive there. I barely slept that night because I was so stressed about the return trip, and I was stressed on the return trip itself. I felt a huge wave of relief sweep over me when we walked back across the border into Belize. The only time I wasn’t stressed was when we were on our tours – so roughly 9-10 hours of our time in the country. But those 9-10 hours were simply amazing.
So I think my answer is “yes, but…” Yes I would recommend going to Tikal with your family. BUT… I would do it differently than we did. Instead of trying to piece together each leg of the trip individually, I would hire a well-reviewed English-speaking guide who will also provide your transportation to and from the border. Having one person with us end to end on the trip would have eliminated so much stress and uncertainty for us and allowed us to focus solely on the experience and enjoy the country.
I will say this – nothing at all happened to actually threaten our safety in the slightest. There were no nefarious characters on the side of the road. No suspicious vans following us. All we saw were regular people going about their regular lives. It was just a matter of imagining the possibilities. So I feel almost guilty saying I felt uncomfortable there when nothing actually happened. But the sad truth is that often perception is reality and in this case, perceiving a situation as unsafe gave us the same feeling as actually being unsafe.
