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Visit the Toledo Cacao Festival, Belize 24-26 May

Visit the Toledo Cacao Festival, Belize 24-26 May

The Toledo Cacao Festival was born in 2007 and has been celebrated each year on the same Commonwealth Day weekend towards the end of May. It attracts hundreds of visitors from around Belize as well as overseas. In 2013 the festival falls on the weekend of 24-26 May.   This lively festival has helped Toledo shed its worn out image as “the forgotten district” and establish it as one of Belize’s vibrant and growing tourism destinations. It also celebrates the tremendous contribution to development in the south made by the Toledo Cacao Growers’ Association (TCGA) and its hundreds of farmer members.   The Toledo Cacao Festival worked well as a name within Belize but many people do not understand the story that links cacao to cocoa and chocolate, which in the end is the real attraction. Likewise Toledo, Spain and Toledo, Ohio are better known internationally than Toledo, Belize. So this year the festival organizers are announcing their ambition to capture international attention by re-branding the event as the Chocolate Festival of Belize.   The festival has many devoted followers who return each year to sample the chocolate delights available and to find out what’s new in the world of chocolate...

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Unique, surviving Classic Maya-era wooden structures to be developed for tourism.

  Paynes Creek National Park in the Toledo District of southern Belize, is home to the only known Classic Maya wooden structures – whilst wood and other organic materials don’t usually survive, the waterlogged environment at Paynes Creek created unique preservation conditions, giving a rare glimpse of how the ancient Maya used timber.   A three‐year project, led by Louisiana State University Professor, Heather McKillop, will see the construction of an observational platform in Paynes Creek National Park. Visitors will be able to observe the underwater archaeological site through a window in the platform without any risk of damaging the remains.   As part of the project two exhibits were opened – one at the Tourism Information Centre on Front Street, which includes a Maya canoe paddle, and the second at the TIDE Ranger Station in Paynes Creek.   These exhibits, in conjunction with a series of workshops and talks, are designed to raise awareness of this unique Maya site, and will be expanded periodically, A website for archaeological tourism is also planned.   When and where? Visit the exhibit at the Toledo Tourism Information Centre during opening hours, Monday to Friday 8am to 4pm, or visit Paynes Creek National Park through http://www.TIDEtours.org, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 722‐2129   Article first posted in the October 2012 issue of the Toledo Howler, republished by permission. 

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