Punta Gorda, Toledo District, Belize
Punta Gorda
Confederate
Cemetery
as
we drive the road towards the coast we see a sing: Confederate
Cemetery: Gine says – Paul we have to go there and see there after
700 m there is a cemetery on the left hand side. We stop and go to
check it out. Walking through grass in Flip flops (and you don’t
see what is underneath) but luckily no mosquitoes :-), the first
graves we see look like “normal” Belizean graves and as we come
to the very top there are a few old graves from people dying around
1890. Wow! I can’t believe we found this. It is really not that it
is a huge cemetery: there are 14 graves from them, 9 have an
inscriptions and the only surnames were Mason and Pearce.
- Just after the civil war ended in 1864 a contingent of American Confederates visited Belize and Honduras to look for a new home, the refugees found Punta Gorda more attractive and bought land outside Punta Gorda in Toledo
- the first waves of immigrants arrived in 1867: they dug wells, constructed a 60ft wide road with 16 plantations, developing 4000 acres
- the first crop they planted was Cotton, which did not do well because of the high rainfall, then they ventured into sugarcane
- The Garifuna and Creole were not inclined to work for former slave owners, the settlers brought then labourers from India – their descents still live in Punta Gorda.
- by 1870 there were 12 sugar mills in operation around Cattle Landing. Within a few years sugar prices fell and combined with the labour shortage the sugar industry collapsed with the turn of the century
- overall 11 communities of refugees were at different developments throughout British Honduras – most of them struggled to survive, most were unable to survive in the unfamiliar climate
We
are in the Deep South of Belize - Toledo:
- In the old days the Mayans lived here, with the decline and then later the small pox from the Spanish, it was mostly unpolulated
- in the 18th century the Garifuna came and settled around Punta Gorda
- in the early 20th century the Kekchi and Mopan Mayans began migrating to the south fleeing from Guatemala
- today the Mayans make out the largest percentage of population in the Toledo district: there are over 30 Mayan communities here – as where the Garifuna, Creole, East indians and Chinese live in Punta Gorda
a
breeze at the Sea Front Inn
We
see the sign “hotel Sea Front Inn” even google map says we are
still 1 km away!?! When checking in we even have the choice of two
rooms: better view or larger room with better AC? We decide for the
room awith a view towards the windy ocean – there is such a nice
breeze here, that means we have an early coffee and then a nice long
shower and then we head towards downtown.
long
term car parking in Belize’s
since
driving in Belize we saw a lot of junkyards – and we also saw a lot
of old rusty cars, trucks and buses sitting there and overgrown –
and especially today we saw a lot!!! Guess sometimes the longterm
parking in Belize is really long term and the plants take over.
in
Search for a bakery
we
are in town and decided it would be nice if we find a bakery. As per
Google there are 2 bakeries in town. So Gine said let’s first go to
PG Clock Stop and have some ice cream and then we go shopping. We
drive into town and discover this town has a lot of one-way roads,
when we came to the center where there is a little park and there is
this huge clock tower and as per Paul PG Clock Stop is in the tower:
and there is also a huge sign for all the icecream – but all is
closed!!! Ok so let’s find a bakery: the 1st one brings
us onto a gravel road and all what is there is old houses and an art
studio – ok so let’s check out Wendy’s: now we go into
off-roading!!! the potholes on that gravel road are super deep and we
end up at the end of a road with 2 old houses!!! Really – so Gine
said let’s drive back to town and ask at the tourist info: a super
nice building and when we ask about a bakery she said there is none
in town but if we want a cake then we can: drive up the one way –
next right and then right again, then the next left onto a gravel
road we will see a big white building and right near it is a tiny hut
which sells great cakes: so we go there and they have super yummy
cakes – more than we can even try: do we decide to take a chocolate
cake, lemon pie, bread pudding and Casava: we got told by another
women we should try it and that it is yummy.
the
Cotton Tree Chocolate factory
Gine
said let’s stop here and do a free tour – Paul: that is boring I
saw a farm before – Gine: it’s a factory let’s go in. And so a
grumbly Paul walks in behind Gine and there we are in a teeny tiny
factory and the very first thing we see is a big glass window where
you can see the chocolate being mixed. And a nice lady asked us if we
want to try a sample and so we try a lot of different samples –
that chocolate is so yummy. Since it is difficult to take it in the
hot weather home, we only buy 2 bars to bring them along. And she
also explains us on how they make it.
What’s
about Belize and chocolate?
- The word comes from the Mayan word: Xocolatl
- the use and preparation of chocolate dates back to the classic period
- in the Mayan time it was a treat reserved for the elite, it was held sacred
- the cocoa seeds were used as money: in the Aztec world 1 cocoa bean bought you 1 tomato, 30 beans got you a rabbit
- the Mayans would roast it and then grind it down to a paste: then add chili and cinnemon and melt it all together in boiling water
- the Mayans believed that the drink had medicinal purposes: and yes it has antioxidants and caffeine so it gives you an immediate boost
- in the Maya Mountains they grow the heirloom cacao beans: Belize has a few chocolate makers and one of them is the cotton Tree Chocolate factory: they make small batches and the bars have handwritten the lot number and expire date on them, each batch is from one local farmer from the area with all the seeds collected in one day. Needless to say it is all fair trade and organic
the
next door restaurant
so
our hotel originally had a restaurant but it is not functioning –
so we decided between 2 possibilities, and since one is next door –
why not walk over and it was a great decision because it was super
yummy!!! good thing we didn’t had to walk far back – and did I
mention here at the ocean it is very windy!!
Paul
fixes Gine’s Offline maps
we
used Google offline map – except it didn’t show the map it only
told you where to go – and today Paul said that he will delete and
re-install the offline maps and now Gine has a perfect working GPS!!!
Makes life so much easier.
it’s
Market Day
after
coffee and breakfast on our balcony we head out because today is one
of the Market days and we got told we should check it out. Even today
it was easy to find a parking spot around the Central Park. And
what’s for sale? A lot of fresh fruits and veggies – I thought it
was super amazing and because all looks so inviting we decided to get
some bananas and tomatoes: all for 1 Belize Dollar!!
The
Tortilla Factory
since
we weren’t so lucky with our buns so far and they all had sugar we
decided actually we should get Tortillas: and because there is this
small factory we go there. So most people by the tortillas by pound,
when we asked for 10, she first confirmed if we want tortillas for 10
Dollars (which would have been 5 pounds!!!), and then smiled when we
said no only 10 of the small tortillas – I guess most people by
more!! - and that’s one
worth 0.50 Belize Dollars
Checkpoint
on
the drive out we were wondering how it comes that today is so much
traffic, that we nearly don’t move at all. I mean yes we can people
watch which is super interesting. And no it was not that excessive
traffic because it is market day – there was a police checkpoint.
They wanted Paul’s drivers liscence and after seeing it
they had only one question:
is you car a rental and we said yes and were good to go.
Along
the waterfront
before
leaving town we had to make a few stops along the waterfront to take
some pictures, like the welcome sign, the park and the I love PG
sign.
Belize
License Plate
Right
there we saw a junk yard and
going in we talked with the boss who told us, yes we can have a
license
plate and we go around and get the different license
plates explained: like BC = Belize City, PG = Punta Gorda, TOL =
Toledo, SC – Stand Creek
(Dangriga). Also since 2
years the license
plates have colors up until then they were black and white. So Paul
go to plates a normal one and one from a Diplomat – and they didn’t
even wanted any money for it. So we decided to make them a donation.
They were such super nice guys.
2025-05-22