Most travelers see Belize from a cruise ship deck and never leave the shoreline. But the real story of this small Central American nation lives far from the resorts, in jungle temples, drumming circles and family kitchens most visitors never find.
Belize covers less than 9,000 square miles, smaller than Maryland, with a population under half a million. The Maya settled here roughly 3,000 years ago, and Spanish and later British colonizers followed, holding the land until independence in 1981. It remains the only Central American country with English as its official language.
The journey starts the way the Maya built their world: by water. Ruben Uribello, a boat guide raised on the New River Lagoon, has spent his life navigating toward Lamanai, a Maya city inhabited for more than 3,000 years, longer than any other in the Maya world.
This is an excerpt from "Hidden Belize," a one-hour PBS special (also available on Amazon and Apple tv+) from Peter Greenberg Worldwide.
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