Belize

Belize is officially an English-speaking country, but Spanish is widely understood and many people speak a creole version of English. Its biodiversity is pretty amazing, and it also produced the first chewing gum! Mayan culture still persists despite the European domination in the areas where those peoples historically lived in Guatemala, Mexico, and parts of Honduras, in addition to Belize. Caracol, an archaeological site near the Guatemalan border in the South of Belize, contains monuments with Mayan inscriptions. Basically due east of Caracol, the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary preserves watersheds, forests, and species like the jaguar.

Tortillas, beans, rice, seafood, and coconut milk are Belizean staples. Flavorful chirmole soup contains the spices black recado and epazote along with chicken, tomatoes, and eggs. The Garifuna bread ereba is made by straining cassava of its juice, making it into a flour, and then cooking that into pancakes on a griddle.

Belize City offers organic options that blend local Garifuna dishes with Mexican, Mayan, and Taiwanese. There are also raw foods, fresh juices, and
Indian or Middle Eastern specialties. In the rest of the country, you may do best picking up fresh produce, eating at the occasional Asian restaurant or trying lighter Caribbean dishes.