5 Best Sights in Punta Gorda, The Deep South

Punta Gorda's landmark is its four-sided clock tower, the symbol of this low-rise city. It sits in a triangular park officially called the Central Park of Heroes but known simply as the "Central Plaza" to residents. Murals depicting Toledo's culture and nature adorn the base. "Meet me at the clock tower," say locals who make it their convenient rendezvous point. Use it to get your bearings, but don't always count on the clock to give you the correct time.

Copalli, a smooth Belizean rum, comes from the grounds of the Copal Tree Lodge, a few miles outside Punta Gorda, and has quickly gained prestige in international circles. Copalli’s organic process bypasses the molasses stage, distilling the rum directly from sugarcane, rain-forest water, and organic yeast. The end results are a white rum and a barrel-aged rum, equally smooth. A two-hour mixology class gives you ideas for mixing farm-fresh ingredients with your rum cocktails. A half-day distillery tour guides you through the rum-making process and includes a tasting and lunch. Both tours require advance reservations and are open to nonguests of the lodge.

From cacao beans to final candy bars, you can see how chocolate is made at Cotton Tree Chocolates, a small chocolate factory on Front Street in Punta Gorda. It's associated with Cotton Tree Lodge. You'll get a short guided tour of the chocolate-making process and you can buy bars of delicious milk or dark chocolate. Cotton Tree Lodge also offers guests a program on sustainable cacao growing, producing, and harvesting.

Destination signs with big concrete block letters have become all the rage in Belize. PG has been bidding its visitors Welcome to Punta Gorda, Toledo District since long before anyone conceived of the block-letter concept. A colorful, flat, 10-sided sign with illustrations of seven people who represent Punta Gorda's (and Belize's) multicultural population sits at the north entrance to town. Posting a pic on social media of you and your traveling companions in front of the sign might elicit a "Huh? Where? Isn't Punta Gorda near Fort Myers in Florida?" query from your followers. Let them know you're not in Florida anymore. 

Catholics make up a plurality of Belize's population at large, but they command a majority in this region, with Maya and Garifuna elements incorporated into the liturgy. Punta Gorda's Catholic church may not be architecturally distinctive, but it is notable for its masses in the Garifuna language the second Sunday of each month and in the Mayan language the fourth Sunday of the month. The Jesuit priests here also provide outreach to 36 area Maya and Garifuna communities that lack their own churches. St. Peter Claver, the church's patron, was a 17th century Spanish missionary who advocated tirelessly for the rights of indigenous peoples in the New World.