exploring Punta Gorda, Belize

Our trip to Belize in November, 2018, was full of adventure. As I’d mentioned in this introductory post, we flew into Belize City, and then took a small plane to the southern tip of the country to begin our cacao adventure in Punta Gorda, the Cacao Capital of Belize.

Flying in the small propeller plane of Tropic Air gave us the opportunity to fly low above the jungle as we arrived in Punta Gorda, Belize.

Located in the Toledo District of Southern Belize, Punta Gorda is a small centre of just over 5,300 residents. We were to use that as our base for three nights as we explored the area. We stayed at the Coral House Inn, a lovely six-room boutique property located right on the Caribbean Sea. We enjoyed the natural seaside setting with nicely landscaped grounds populated with flowers, birds, and a couple of resident cats. There was a small pool, open bar with payment via the honour system, and breakfast included with our room. Serene and relaxing.

We really enjoyed our time at the Coral House in Punta Gorda, Belize.

I must thank my friend Virginia, who has accompanied me through seven countries (to date) where we have explored chocolate and cacao as research for Chocolatour. Her love of adventure and positive spirit make our chocolate adventures so much fun.

I’ll devote a couple of future posts to what we learned about growing cacao in Belize and the delicious chocolate we tasted. But in this post, I’ll highlight two fantastic tourist attractions that a visit to Punta Gorda really should include.

touring the punta gorda region

Two million Mayans once populated the area known as Mesoamerica as early as 2500 BC. They migrated to Belize in about 250 AD, so it is no surprise that there are at least 12 sites where Mayan ruins have been excavated. The one closest to Punta Gorda is called Lubaantun (translated as ‘the place of the fallen stone’) which dates back to 750-850 AD at which time the village had a population of approximately 1,000,000 residents.

Lubaantun is a Mayan ruin located near Punta Gorda, Belize. We were told it had been dynamited in search of treasure, and that is why it is not as well preserved as some Mayan sites. Excavation and restoration is a work-in-progress.

I was mesmerized by the sun streaming through the Gumbo Limbo trees of the jungle surrounding Lubaantun. The trees are called “tourist trees” in Belize as their peeling bark resembles the peeling burned skin of tourists.

Allow yourself the better part of a day to get to Lubaantun and explore the grounds at your leisure. Be aware that it involves a pretty hefty hike to get from the parking area up to the site of the ruins. Local Mayan people sell their handcrafts near the interpretive centre at reasonable prices.

Another stop to visit that is not too far from Punta Gorda is the Belize Spice Farm & Botanical Garden. This is a full service facility with a lovely restaurant, gift shop, and tram that you can take to tour the grounds if you choose not to walk or are short of time as we were.

This bird was enjoying the peacefulness of the lily pond at the Belize Spice Farm as much as we were.

The Belize Spice Farm was the dream of Tom and Tessy Mathew, American expats originally from Kerala, India, who started their Golden Stream Plantation by growing cacao and orange trees. Today, that plantation has grown to a 500-acre property that has 400 acres of oranges and hundreds of other plants including a wide variety of tropical flowers, spices, and trees. The highlights for me were the massive lily pond and the lotus garden. Shown below are the pink lotus. It was incredible being surrounded by them.

The lotus garden at the Belize Spice Farm was beautiful.

I hope you will find the opportunity to visit Southern Belize and the Punta Gorda region. From this post, you have learned of a nice place to stay and two major attractions in the area. Stay tuned for more about the chocolate and cacao of Belize.