» Climate: The overall climate of Belize can be described as sub-tropical. The mean annual humidity is 83% but there are many days when the humidity is masked by the cooling sea breezes.

Temperatures in Belize range from 50ºF to 95ºF with an annual mean of 79ºF. November to January is traditionally the coolest time of the year with a 75ºF average; May to September is the warmest at about 81ºF average. However, because of the high percentage of humidity, the real feel is usually about 20-30 degrees above the actual temperature.

Belize has two seasons: wet and dry. The onset of dry season varies widely from year to year, but once the onset of dry season commences, the actual amount of rain falling during the “dry” is a predictable amount. Locals can usually predict the amount of rain that will fall during this time. While the number of rainy days varies considerably from place to place, as a general rule, the higher the average rainfall, the greater the departure from the norm.

This does not mean that it will be like that the rest of the year. As a general rule, the higher the average rainfall, the greater are the departures from the norm. The number of rainy days varies considerably from place to place.

» Appearance: Belize is a popular and highly revisited tourist location because of its beauty, marine life, tropical climate, beautiful breezes and friendly culture.

While Belize is the only English-speaking country in Central America, it is also considered part of the Caribbean.

Social information
» Conditions: Tourism facilities vary in quality. From a limited number of business-class hotels in Belize City, to resorts on the Cayes, to a range of ecotourism lodges providing very basic, countryside accommodations, Belize offers a variety of places to stay for every traveler’s budget and scenic preference. Crime is a growing concern.

SAFETY AND SECURITY: Visitors should exercise caution and good judgment when visiting Belize. Crime can be a serious problem particularly in Belize City and remote areas. Road accidents are common. Public buses and taxis are frequently in poor condition and lack safety equipment. Medical care is limited .While the border between Belize and Guatemala is in dispute, but the conflict thus far has not affected travel between the two countries. There have not been any reported terrorist activities in Belize.

» Population: A 2004 Population and Housing Census estimates the population at 282,600 with the main ethnic groups being Mestizo (43.7%), Creole (29.8%), Maya (11.1%) and Garifuna (6.6%). Each of the other ethnic groups at the time accounted for less than five percent of the population (East Indian 3.5% and German/Dutch/Mennonite 3.1%). All the rest account for 2.2%. Ethnic groups, however, are heavily intermixed.

Spiritual information
Observers frequently note that Belizeans are a particularly religious people. By 1980 almost the entire population had declared a specific religious preference. Indeed, religious institutions were a ubiquitous presence in Belize, especially in the school system which the Roman Catholic Church and the state managed together. Belize was no longer the intense battleground between competing missionary denominations that it had been in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Nonetheless, numerous foreign missionaries (mostly evangelical Protestants from the United States) worked in the country in the 1980s.

Of the country’s nine major religious groups, the Roman Catholicism is the largest, with more than three in five Belizeans claiming to be followers. Anglicans and Methodists comprise the two largest Protestant denominations, although they have steadily lost ground to fundamentalist and evangelical sects such as the Pentecostalists and Seventh-Day Adventists.

Religion was strongly - but not exclusively - associated with ethnicity and region. Catholicism unified most Mestizos, Maya and Garifuna. Most Creoles were either Anglican or Methodist, but a significant number converted to Roman Catholicism, mainly because of proselytization in Roman Catholic schools. Roman Catholics made up at least 70 percent of the population of all districts, but in Belize City and environs, they made up only 43 percent of the population. In the last two decades, however, Evangelical Protestant groups have been particularly successful in making inroads among Creoles, Mestizos and Maya in Corozal, Orange Walk and Cayo districts.

A wide range of smaller denominations also flourished in Belize. These groups included Mormons, fundamentalist Protestants, Hindus, and Bahais. Among the Creoles and the Garifuna, there were also small but socially significant Black Muslim and Rastafarian communities.

While the people’s response to the gospel has been fair, a true conversion and walk with the Lord does not take place because there is no one here to disciple new believers. That is why we feel so strongly to go and build relationships with the people, not to simply preach to them, but rather to show them through personal relationship and discipleship how to live a life for Jesus Christ.