I posted the link to the other thread so people would know to research what they may be getting into. There are a range of traveler mindsets.
Some people are like stereotypical cruise ship tourists, derisively referred to as 'pod people.' I suppose the stereotypical example would be middle class U.S. citizens on vacation in the Caribbean, enjoying the pampered high life on a cruise ship, visiting a given island under a day, who like a nice, chaperoned 'turn key' excursion experience, clean, very safe, everybody speaks English, you're not called on to do anything more challenging than maybe walk uphill against a modest slope for awhile, and staff take you to, through and from the excursion. You might see some poverty in some places, but it's sort of a 'sheltered' experience overall, intended to be upbeat and positive.
Some people enjoy (and some I infer from posts take pride in a sense of superiority rooted in capably pursuing) 'blazing their own trail' 'off the beaten path' independently in non-touristy places amongst 'real' locals (not involved in the tourist industry so much), often in areas that aren't strongly English speaking, may involve driving yourself around with a manual transmission vehicle on bad roads and/or on the 'wrong' side of the road, going in bars and drinking with the locals, navigating your way around without a GPS or a good map, and so on. I remember one post some years back where somebody I took to be like this mentioned having been in a bar fight on one trip.
And there are many shades of grey in between. My point is, Belize City is one of those places people are sometimes warned to be wary of, more so than many other vacation stop-offs people visit. From what I read in others' 1st hand accounts of experience there, I would suggest people thinking about getting out in it read up on the place 1st.
And decide what shade of grey you are, of course.
Richard.