Barranco

Barranco Review

Although the Maya are by far the largest population in rural Toledo, this is also a home to the Garífuna. Barranco, a small village of fewer than 300 people about an hour by road from Punta Gorda, is the best-known Garífuna center in Toledo. The village, the southernmost coastal village in Belize, has electricity and a community phone, one or two shops, a bar, a police station, a health clinic, and a school. It was the birthplace of Andy Palacio, the Punta rock musician with a worldwide following, who died in 2008 at age 46. Palacio is buried in Barranco, and you can visit his grave. A guided village tour takes a couple of hours and includes, in addition to a visit to the Palacio gravesite, stops at the Dabuyaba (Garífuna temple), the House of Culture, and a cassava factory, all providing lots of information on the local culture. Lunch in a local home is also possible. A good guide is Alvin Loredo (reach him on the Barranco community telephone, 709-2010), who charges around BZ$8 per person per hour. TIDE, Blue Belize Tours and Charters, and other tour operators also offer tours to Barranco.