International Costa Maya Festival
Spectacular dance, music, pageants and more celebrate the reuniting of the ancient Mayan Empire in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, off the coast of Belize. Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Belize join together for the annual International Costa Maya Festival.
First held in 1991 as the Sea and Air Festival, the event was created to promote goodwill between the Central American countries. The Mayan civilisation that spanned their territories was itself a series of warring city states, so there isn't too much historical back-up in this endeavour...
The festival is a carnival of pageants, parades and nightly entertainment shows. There are stalls selling everything from arts and crafts to clothes and food, and fairground rides to keep the kids amused.
A special attraction on the first night is the crowning of the Reina de la Costa Maya. The queen is chosen from a multitude of beauties who parade before their enthusiastic audience in a series of evening gowns, traditional costumes and swimwear.
During the evening performances, entertainers offer festival-goers a wide array of music including punta, reggae, soca, salsa, meringue, cumbia and traditional Mayan music. Their theatrical dances tell tales from the culture and its traditions.
The setting for the festival is the largest of Belize's stunning Cayes, the islands that scatter its coast. White-sanded havens worthy of Robinson Crusoe, they lie along a 150-mile reef, the largest in the western hemisphere.
The Mayans were one of the most impressive and mysterious of the world's ancient civilisations, creating a highly sophisticated style of art and architecture which survives today in the form of marvellous and intricate ruins of temples and palaces. Fascinated by the stars, they also made astrological predictions that have dazzled 20th-century scientists with their accuracy.
Related Information
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Information |
| Email: | costamayafestival@yahoo.com |
| Town Area Information: | San Pedro |
| Full Name: | San Pedro,Ambergris Caye,Belize |
| Directions: | On Ambergris Caye. Flights from Belize City to San Pedro take around 20 minutes and the boat from Belize City takes 75 minutes. |
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Information |
| Email: | costamayafestival@yahoo.com |
| Name: | Belize Tourist Board |
| Location: | Belize |
| Address: | Street address: Gabourel Lane, Level 2, Central Bank Building, Belize City, Belize. Postal address: PO Box 325, Belize City, Belize |
| Email: | btbb@btl.net |
| Phone: | +501 223 1913/1910 |
| Fax: | +501 223 1943 |
