Souvenirs to buy from Guatemala, Honduras and Belize

Published on July 14, 2015 under Belize

What’s one way to make your trip to Guatemala, Belize, or Honduras last longer? Bring a token of your travels home with you. These souvenirs will provide the perfect reminder of a holiday well spent, long after your bags are unpacked and put away.

Marie Sharp’s hot sauces adorn every table in Belize and are made from locally farmed habanero peppers just outside the town of Dangriga. Heat levels range from “mild” to “no wimps allowed.” Try Marie’s jams and jellies, too; her green habanero jelly is addictive.

The ancient Maya valued jade for its durability and gorgeous color. Today, a handful of shops in Guatemala’s colonial city of Antigua boast earrings, cufflinks, bracelets, and more that feature
the ornamental stone—and not just in green. Jade comes in lavender, pink, white, blue, and other natural hues, too.

Tobacco has been cultivated in Honduras since colonial times but got a boost when Fidel Castro came to power and a handful of Cuban cigarmakers escaped to the Honduran countryside to set up shop. Today, the country produces some of the world’s best hand-rolled cigars.

If you’re in the Guatemalan highlands, head to the large indigenous market in Chichicastenango
for hand-carved wood masks or visit the town of San Juan La Laguna on Lake Atitlán for naturally dyed textiles like scarves, blankets, and even iPad covers handmade by local women’s cooperatives.

Belize’s Garífuna people boast a style of music that’s all their own. The catchy, drum-heavy beats
are a merging of musical legacies from Africa and the Caribbean. The late Belizean musician Andy Palacio was one of the music form’s biggest proponents and his internationally acclaimed (and awesome) 2007 album Wátina features top Garífuna performers.

Guatemala is home to a variety of microclimates that make for excellent coffee. Some of the best beans come from areas like Huehuetenango, Cobán, Lake Atitlán, and Antigua. Coffee from these regions tends to be aromatic, full bodied, and delicately sweet with a pleasant acidity.

The Lenca are Honduras’s largest indigenous group and are well-known for making exceptional,
handcrafted clay pottery, particularly in the villages around Gracias. Plates, vases, cups, and bowls feature distinct patterns in brown, black, cream, red, and grey and are produced mostly by women’s cooperatives.

Chocoholics will love Belize, particularly the southern district of Toledo, where top-quality cacao beans (used to make chocolate) have been cultivated since ancient Maya times. Today, the Toledo Cacao Growers Association supplies beans to a handful of Belizean chocolatiers such as Kakaw, Ixcacao, Cotton Tree, and Goss.