Worlds collide in Belize and the result is a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds truly living in harmony. For Belizeans are perhaps the friendliest people on earth. They are a cross-pollination of cultures - ancient Maya people, Spanish and British, African roots, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Lebanese and Indian influences and yet the official language is English.

Belize has a stirring and lively history beginning in 2500 BC with the ancient Maya. In the 17th century Spain settled the country. It then survived war, piracy and slavery until being declared a British colony - British Honduras - in 1871. It gained self-government in 1964, chose the name Belize in 1973 and became an independent member of the British Commonwealth in 1981.
Sixteen miles of white sand beaches, the dazzling turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea, palms outlined against the sky, a lush rainforest filled with glistening waterfalls and exotic birds, and at night sit on the warm sand under the silence of the moon - designed green from the ground up to protect all this forever - Palmetto Bay Resort, Maya Beach, on the Placencia Peninsula in Belize.
From your waterfront property, you can fish the wide blue expanse of the Caribbean Sea or from a yacht or even a kayak - all year long. Explore 4000 year-old Mayan ruins. Hike through the rainforest with its canopy filled with hundreds of species of birds and orchids. Perhaps a tiny feeling will come curling up through your sleepy senses. It just might be happiness.