This house for sale is a five year old, modern 3-bedroom American style house in San Pedro-Colombia Village, the largest village in the Toledo District. Built on two-thirds acre by an American architect, the house has green marble tile floors throughout, with a deck on two sides. It is constructed of concrete, mahogany and emery wood and completely furnished with wicker and local mahogany furniture. Completing the comfort are air-conditioner, hot water tank for bath/shower, butane range and washing machine.The lower part of the house is all reinforced concrete and may be used for a large garage, or for adding extra rooms to the house. Visitors going to and from Lubantuun Ruin pass by on the road to the side. This would be the perfect place for a “tourist oriented” restaurant or gift shop, or maybe just a rest stop with cool drinks!
Or keep it for your self and enjoy the peace. Cable for television, satellite dishes, and internet – all are available here in the village.
The house is located 18 miles from the main town of Punta Gorda to the village of San Pedro, Columbia (Belize). It is one half mile from the Lubaantun Mayan ruins, and close by Blue Creek falls as well as other falls and many caves. Waterfalls, true jungle that requires guides, rivers and the Caribbean Sea all round out the surroundings. That is a Breadfruit tree on the left and behind the house are coffee, mango and lime trees! On the mango tree is a large orchid plant. Gardeners will love our climate and soil…all tropical plants grow – including orchids, pineapples, bananas, orange and cashew trees!
During mango season everyone offers mango to their guests and all insist “theirs” are the best of the 40 varieties. This is a wonderful season for children as the mango hang from every tree just for the picking!
Colombia Village has a general store, small grocery stores, pubs, churches, schools and an internet café. But, it is the friendly beautiful Mayan people, many living the same way as they have for centuries, that is the true charm. These people, as you get to know them, will be your neighbors.
Where you might share books, material for dresses, or $1 flip-flops, they will share their knowledge of basket weaving, cooking on the kamal and their traditions such as making breadfruit chips from your own trees; skills that have been with them since their forefathers first settled right here in Belize - perhaps within Lubantuun!
There are other nationalities (including American) that have come and love this life after highways, noise, and terrorist’s high level alerts. They come to get away from the crime and not feeling safe - where everyone is in a hurry. Every year here we see more and more conveniences of life, more people working out of their homes, more libraries and restaurants, but the truth is, if you are in a hurry, this is not the place for you. They call it “Belizean Time” and it works. The pace is maybe half of modern countries, if that!
Tropic and Mayan Airlines make a beautiful one hour trip down the coast from Belize City. During the flight you’ll fly over numerous shrimp farms, orange & banana orchards, lagoons, and islands (called cayes—pronounced keys). See for yourself rivers curving like snakes thru the vastness of the dark jungle – suddenly you are in the real Belize.
Belize has over 200 species of feathered friends for our bird lovers along with many organized clubs. Anything having to do with nature you can be sure to find here!
Lubaantun (lou-ban-tune), or “Place of the Fallen Rocks” was a major trade center of the Mayans from 200 AD to 600 AD. The nearby Colombia River was their gateway to the sea.
Partially restored, this is where the “fabled crystal skull” was discovered in 1926 by Anna Mitchell-Hodges on her 17th birthday. The skull now resides in a Canadian museum.
The buildings are of limestone, hand cut (no steel tools) and assembled without mortar. The site has 11 large pyramid structures built around 5 main plazas and 3 ball courts. The tallest pyramid is over 45 feet high. Thirteen smaller plazas and a number of smaller structures, including a large stadium with sideline seating (not unlike a modern day football field) make up the rest of the ruin.
The Mayan did not use the wheel except in children’s toys; one has to wonder how did they transport these heavy blocks of limestone through the jungle from the nearest quarry - some ten miles away?
Nim Li Punit or “Big Hat” is another Mayan site located 25 miles from P.G. (Punta Gorda) and has over 25 carved stone stelae, with one of the many buildings only 9 feet high and 215 feet long!
If you are interested in Mayan ruins, a large group may be found throughout Belize, Guatemala, and up the coast of the Yucatan in Mexico - all are remains of this vast civilization. Many have never been excavated, especially here in the Toledo area.
This is the Living Room. Once again, the camera doesn’t really catch everything – the green is actually darker and richer. There are two doors leading to the wrap around deck.
Above this living area, as well as the kitchen and dining area, two fans hang from the high ceiling. The many windows make the entire house bright and airy. Closets with shelving are also in every bedroom for clothes and storage.
This feature, closets, actually are not one found even in the most lavish of homes…Belizeans do not use built-in closets.
Building here in general is expensive and time consuming. The difficulty in obtaining building supplies and equipment and contractors and crews, particularly that know correct construction practices, make building a house or building into a wide-ranging major and frustrating undertaking.
Entrance
The two large trees are Bread Fruit that is delicious fried.
Kitchen & Dining Area. That window (left) is looking out to the entrance.
The ceiling in the kitchen – dining area, and the living room soar to 15 ft. and peak at a timber of wood in the middle.
Here are some newlyweds enjoying Blue Creek – The Falls are a feature of living in this part of the world and a great place to take guests and to spend the day.
There are cayes (keys) that can be reached by boat and have beautiful beaches for snorkeling, swimming, diving, great fishing.
Middle Snake Caye is uninhabited and has a stunning white sand bottom and beach that is what everyone expects in the Caribbean. The caye is ideal for snorkeling, fishing or just lounging and relaxing on the beach.
The water is chest deep across to a small caye and best part, at the drop off, lobster and conch (conk) abound. Take a local with you, he’ll dive for these, bring them back to you and cook them for you and your guests’ lunch!
Other area cayes are Mojo Caye owned by The Honorable Mike Espat, our Toledo East Minister; and the Sapadilla Cayes for diving, snorkeling, and fishing.
The Reef is about 1 hour from Punta Gorda by boat if you drive straight thru not stopping at the cayes, and are such a pristine location for divers. This Reef is 2nd largest in the world next to the Great Barrier Reef of Australia and people come from all over to dive or fish.
Fly fishing for Snook, Kingfish and Tarpon– all you need is an “I know where the fish are hiding” guide until you learn their secrets! These men grew up fishing these waters; they know them well.
This is one of the bedrooms – see the size of the window? All furniture, bedding, and kitchen equipment stays with the house so buyer needs only groceries and a key!
The house is on a bus route which takes all the villagers to town for market days, waits until 12:00 noon and brings them back to their homes in their village. That means walk outside to the street and catch the bus 4 times a week. Missing that, one can always hitch a ride with someone driving that way.
We live in town, and have other business interests. We moved to town 3 years ago but didn’t stop loving the house. We wanted to be sure we weren’t going to move back in!
We are asking $80,000 US. We have banks in the US and require a deposit of $5,000 to take the house off the market.
We will also consider 25% down and owner carried papers for 12 years @ 12%,
You may E-mail us: Jerry bigjerstitanic@msn.com and I will send pics.
Telephone: 011-501-722-0118
