Punta Gorda travel guide

The turn-off from the Southern Highway for Mango Creek, Independence and Big Creek comes 15 miles after the Riversdale turn-off, and the road runs 4 miles east through the Savannah Forest Reserve to the mangrove coast opposite Placencia. About 35 miles beyond the junction, 10.5 miles north of the T-junction for Punta Gorda, half a mile west of the road, is the Nim Li Punit archaeological site which has a visitor centre and clean spacious housing for the stelae. Nim Li Punit (‘The Big Hat’) was only discovered in 1974. A score of stelae, 15-20 ft tall, were unearthed, dated AD 700-800, as well as a ball court and several groups of buildings. The site is worth visiting – look for the sign on the highway. Day trips also offered from Placencia. A short distance beyond, the highway passes Big Falls Village, almost completely destroyed by Hurricane Iris. Take a short hike back to the hot springs for a swim, camp or sling a hammock, but first seek permission from the landowner, Mr Peter Aleman. Four miles from Big Falls, the Highway reaches a T-junction, know locally as the ‘Dump’, marked by a Shell station; the road to San Antonio branches right (west), the main road turns sharp left and runs down through a forest reserve for 13 miles to Punta Gorda. The road is paved from Big Falls to Punta Gorda.

Punta Gorda is the southernmost town of any size in Belize, a marketing centre and fishing port with a varied ethnic makeup of Creoles, Q’eqchi’, Mopan, Chinese, East Indians and descendants of the many races brought here over the years as labourers in ill-fated settlement attempts. Three miles north of Toledo are the remains of the sugar cane settlement founded by Confederate refugees after the American Civil War. The coast, about 10 ft above sea level, is fringed with coconut palms. The seafront is clean and enjoyable – once you get away from Front Street, where the lively and colourful market on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday comes with the associated smells of fish and rotting vegetables. The Voice of America has an antenna complex to the south of town.