Tag: southern belize
Toledo: Nature, Culture, Adventure
Toledo: Nature, Culture, Adventure The above video produced by TIDE Tours gives an excellent summary of what Toledo has to offer! The Toledo district is the southern-most district in Belize. It has only one town – Punta Gorda, known throughout Belize simply as “PG”. PG is on the coast, but scattered throughout the district are…
Getting To and Around Toledo
Getting Around Toledo The fastest way to the Toledo district is by air on small 12-seater planes with Belizean airlines Tropic Air or Maya Island Air. You can also arrive on the national James Bus Line, which provides regular and express bus services. Bus services connect PG with Independence, Dangriga, Belmopan and Belize City. Finally, you can arrive…
Garifuna People (Garinagu)
Garifuna People (Garinagu) descend from shipwrecked Africans who mixed with Carib and Arawak Amerindians on the island of Saint Vincent. Around 1635, some slave ships from the west coast of Africa were wrecked near the coast of Saint Vincent in the Caribbean. The slaves who survived mixed with the descendants of Arawak and Carib…
Toledo’s villages
Toledo’s villages are scattered across the district, ranging from 100 to over 1500 people. Most of the villages are either Mopan or Kekchi Maya communities, such as San Antonio and San Pedro Columbia. Many of the villages are on bumpy dirt roads, but since the highway to Jalacte on the Guatemalan border was paved, access…
Punta Gorda town
Punta Gorda town Punta Gorda town is a small coastal town with a population of approximately 6000 people. Founded by Garifuna immigrants in the 1800s, it retains a large Garifuna population,. Today the town also has a large Maya population along with East Indians, Creole, Mennonite, Chinese, Mestizo and more. With beautiful views across the…
Garifuna Culture
Garifuna culture unites Garinagu people in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and also those who now live in other countries including the United States. In 2008 the Garifuna language, music and song were inscribed as part of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO (UNESCO – Intangible Heritage of the Garifuna) Origin of the Garifuna Culture…