Belize for Gays and Lesbians - A Gay and Lesbian Guide to Belize

Belize’s original inhabitants were the Mopan Maya, who inhabited the area from around 1500 B.C. They are still the predominant ethnic group in many regions, and ruins from their ancient cities are popular tourist attractions. In the Toledo District (the southernmost region of Belize), don’t miss Lubaantun (“the place of fallen stone”), supposedly where the famous crystal skull was discovered in the 1920s. Lubaantun itself was first discovered in the early 1900s when the Irish Dr. Thomas Gann blew it up with dynamite, destroying much of the rock but leaving many large structures, including ancient ball courts, intact. Just a few miles away is Lim Ni Punit (“big hat”), a site populated by ball courts, shrines and tombs excavated in the 1990s.