Ambergris Caye – made internationally famous as “La Isla Bonita” by Madonna and also known as “Temptation Island”, the base for the contestants in the TV show – is one of the main attractions for visitors to this beautiful country. It’s Belize’s largest island and the former fishing village of San Pedro, just half a mile from the Barrier Reef, is the only town on the caye.

Music and dance are central to any party in Belize, and Belizeans don’t just watch a band play — everyone, from toddlers to grandparents, enthusiastically joins in the “jump-up.” In September two major national holidays (National Day/St. George’s Caye Day on the 10th and Independence Day on the 21st) provide the backdrop to the biggest participatory musical event in the country — Carnival! Known collectively as the September Celebrations, preparations begin months before, with parade committees planning routes, carnival groups designing elaborate costumes and trying out their dance steps, and pretty schoolgirls vying to become one of the dozens of queens and princesses. Officially the “slow season” for tourism, it’s actually a great time to visit Belize.

Although Guatemala’s neighbor to the east, Belize, is the second smallest country in Central America (slightly larger than El Salvador), it offers some of the most breathtaking scenery found anywhere in the region. In fact, Belize consists of marginally more sea than land, with the dazzling turquoise shallows and cobalt depths of the longest barrier reef in the Americas just offshore.

The hurricane season is at its peak. September and October are the most dangerous times for hurricanes in Belize, so it pays to know where to look for information and to take precautions if a tropical storm or hurricane is in the Caribbean.

Garífuna Settlement Day, founded in 1941 by Thomas Vincent Ramos, was first celebrated in Dangriga on Nov. 19th, commemorating the arrival of the Garífuna as a group to Belize on this date in 1832.