Stories from the Road: The Page Family’s Journey to Belize

By guest writer Yasmin Page

To learn more about the Page Family, take a look at our interview with them posted this week, too.

Andy and I lived in Sweden for a little while and then in the UK together for nearly 12 years before setting off on our trip. We resided in many different locations and really enjoyed our life there. All our children were born in the UK. We lived down south in a village by the Hampshire/West Sussex border for seven years before making the decision to sell our house and travel to Mexico and Belize.

We knew from the onset that we were looking for community, of the more intentional sort. But also adventure! With everything that it entails – the exciting as well as the challenging. Initially, we had our eyes set on Portugal. However, the new EU rules regarding travelling, campervans, etc., weren’t particularly favourable. So, when our friends told us they were going to Belize, we got excited. We had travelled in the area twelve years earlier and loved it. So that was it, we were going, too! 

Before embarking on our travels, we decided to sell our house and give away most of our belongings…which was quite the process with five of us, including a new baby! But after the covid craziness and how the world increasingly seemed to take a turn for the worse, we felt a sense of urgency. We wanted to leave Europe before it potentially closed down again. 

It was hard to say goodbye to family and friends, not knowing when we would see them again. We loved our life in the village and had a nice community of good friends. It ended up being a real grieving process, even though we hadn’t made any final decisions. The boys took it in their stride, and despite not wanting to leave their close friends behind, they were surprisingly happy about heading into the unknown. 

We were certain that should we decide to move to Belize and that we would return to our home countries, Sweden and the UK, at least yearly. Even so, it was very difficult right before leaving, and I became ill and had a form of a dark night of the soul. But, despite the hardship, we felt that we had to go. Something was calling us so strongly, even though we didn’t know what it was. 

We left the UK in November 2021 and flew to Cancun, Mexico. As our first base, we stayed in Akumal near Tulum for seven weeks. We explored the area and enjoyed the beaches and cenotes. After that, we stayed in a less touristy area further up north, at a house right on the beach. Although beautiful, the house was more rustic, with more bugs. We still enjoyed it a lot, though. 

We had shipped our campervan before we left, aiming to pick it up at the other end. [My partner] Andy went to Veracruz to pick it up while the kids and I stayed in the house. What we imagined taking a few days ended up taking a month! We just rolled with it in a way you can do when you don’t have fixed plans! Taking care of the kids on my own was challenging at times, though. 

Towards the end of that time, the kids and I continued to Merida, where we stayed at several hotels. When Andy finally arrived with the van, it was great to be able to continue with the trip – and to be together again, of course. 

We were then able to continue towards Belize. We crossed the border without issues and headed towards Hopkins, on the coast, where we had booked a hotel for a few nights. Crossing into Belize felt quite special, partly because it was where we hoped to find somewhere to live and partly because it felt pretty rustic and wild compared to Mexico.

We then headed towards Banana Bank, where our friends from back home were. They had arrived in Belize a few months before us and were currently staying in a long-term rental at this jungle horse ranch and hotel. We stayed in the campervan for a little while but realised fairly soon that we prefer to stay in a house but to use the van for shorter trips. 

We enjoyed our time at Banana Bank, staying in an apartment for a few months. The kids roamed freely with two other families, rode horses, swam in the river and pool, and just played together all day long. 

During this time, the families staying there had begun to find their long-term homes. The family we knew from the UK found a fruit farm, and the other family a community. We had also been looking at land and communities, knowing we probably wanted to give Belize a go. 

When we visited Sattva Land, an off-grid retreat centre in the jungles of the Maya Mountains on the Hummingbird Highway, we kind of just knew. They had just begun opening up their three-generation family community they had been building beautifully for the past ten years or so to other families. They wanted to create an intentional community alongside their retreats and Airbnb. 

For eight months, we stayed nearby, at Pineapple Hill, an Airbnb with a natural jungle pool. Pretty isolated, it was incredible, but it also made us more certain that we wanted to live in a community. During this time, I started my learning co-op at Sattva Land a couple of times a week. Due to its location and small community, it only had a few children.

We have just now moved into one of the houses here, a lovely building with an outdoor kitchen and dining area and a compost toilet. The other buildings here have water closets, though! 

Since arriving in Belize a little over a year ago, we have found a great community of people near us and around the country who are here for similar reasons. They are people who enjoy nature and the outdoors and who also left their countries for specific reasons. Generally, to gain more time and freedom. We have also met so many great native Belizians, and the kids especially have made plenty of new friends locally. Mostly through football!

Even though we have settled now, we still feel very much like travellers and would definitely say that we have been travelling slowly. We are trying to find our feet in new places and explore the areas where we have stayed. We also look forward to travelling to other countries in the surrounding area.