Author: Administrator

Perhaps one of the most popular and iconic locally-made drinks in Belize is rum. Made from the abundant sugar cane crop that still plays an important role in the domestic economy, rum is a distilled spirit that pairs excellently with fresh, locally-grown fruits to create unforgettable cocktails or can be consumed neat. Famed throughout the region for its high quality and smooth taste, Belizean rum is something that every visitor is encouraged to try.

Currently, two different domestic manufacturers offer an excellent selection of fine rum in Belize.

Cuello’s Distillery

Founded more than 70 years ago, Cuello is a family-owned and operated business. Based in the town of Orange Walk in the heart of Belize’s sugar cane farming region, Cuello was founded by Ignacio Cuello, a master blender and distiller who later trained his sons in the secrets of how to produce high-quality rum and other spirits. Cuello has their own festive theme song that was composed by celebrated local artist Lord Rhaburn, and the labels on all of their rum varieties celebrate Belizean culture.

Cuello’s signature rum products include:

• Caribbean White Rum
• Caribbean Rum (Dark)
• Caribbean Gold Rum
• Extra Strong Rum
• Caribbean Coconut Rum

Travellers Liquor

Founded in 1953 by master blender Omario Perdomo, Travellers is the manufacturer of what is perhaps the most famous rum in Belize: One Barrel. A simple gold rum with a smooth finish, One Barrel is a popular choice with both visitors and locals alike. With a fresh, tropical scent, One Barrel rum has natural hints of passion fruit, hibiscus, and papaya.

Travellers Liquor is named for its early success in supplying travelers to and from Belize City with a fine assortment of distilled spirits. Travellers is renowned in Belize for using only high-test molasses, carefully fermented according to traditional practices. Travellers is also the only beverage producer in the country to make liqueurs and wines made from local fruits.

Located in Belmopan, the capital of Belize, Travellers use only local molasses to ferment and then distill their rum using a triple column still. The rum is then carefully aged and bottled in Belize City.

A few of Travellers’ most popular rum varieties include:

• Don Omario Vintage Rum
• Aged Dark Rum
• Classic Gold Rum
• Cristal Parrot Lite Rum
• Classic White Rum
• Kuknat Rum (made with coconuts)

Copalli

Copalli is among the best rum brand available not only in Belize but also in the world. Their organic single estate rum is sustainably crafted with only three ingredients in the heart of the rainforest in Southern Belize. A few of Copalli’s most popular rums include:

The Copalli White Rum

After fermenting the fresh-pressed sugar cane juice, the Copalli white rum distills in both a pot and column stills before blending the two distillates. This is followed by the resting of the finished product in stainless steel. This creates a smooth white rum that’s as good served straight on the rocks or in a cocktail such as a daiquiri.

The Copalli Barrel Rested Rum

First, Copalli ferment the fresh-pressed sugar cane juice then they double distill it in their full-bodied pot still before resting it in American Oak used bourbon barrels. The result is a rich, sweet high-quality rum that tastes delicious, and neat and is a powerful and flavorful base for your favorite rum cocktail.

The Copalli Cocoa Rum

Copalli takes their delicious Copalli white rum, place it into a tank to rest with roasted, 100% organic cacao nibs grown on the neighboring Copal Tree Farm. Over several weeks, the cacao nibs infuse a rich chocolate flavor and aroma into the rum, which is then redistilled to create a smooth finished premium product that is delicious on the rocks or for your favorite rum cocktail recipes.

Big Titty Rum

Rum and pirates color the history of the entire Caribbean and Belize is no exception. Pirates gave pet names to the rums of various ports of call. Legend has it that pirates amused by the local practice of mothers dribbling rum on their breasts to calm teething babies named Belize rum “titty rum”. Big Titty Rum honors this fine tradition.

Big Titty Rum is more than just a cute name. They take this craft seriously. But, in matters of taste, there can be no dispute. 

Savor a Rum Cocktail at Chabil Mar

If you’re interested in sampling one of Belize’s classic rum formulations, the bar at the Chabil Mar resort in Placencia offers a full complement of delicious cocktails made from 100% Belizean rum. Travelers and guests interested in trying Belizean rum or other locally-made spirits should inquire at the bar in Chabil Mar.

Visit our website chabilmarvillas.com for more information on Belize, and don’t hesitate to send us an email, or call US/CAN Toll Free: 1-866-417-2377, Local: (011-501) 523-3606, if you have questions or need help in planning a Belize vacation.

Because the international airport is located in the northern part of the country, many visitors overlook the majestic beauty and exciting attractions in southern Belize.

Belize is a small country, so the southern region can be reached in just a short drive of two to three hours. Whether it’s gorgeous Caribbean beaches, vast wildlife refuges, fragrant citrus plantations, or the softly rolling slopes of the Maya Mountains, southern Belize has a lot to offer.

Some of the top southern Belize attractions include the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary (CBWS). Just a short distance from the Placencia Peninsula, the CBWS measures more than 150 square miles (400 square km) of trackless wilderness, including mountains, jungles, savannahs, beaches, and waterfalls. Although rarely spotted in the daytime, the CWBS is also home to hundreds of jaguars which are continuously monitored by conservation scientists.

Other attractions in southern Belize include boat tours along the very well-named Monkey River. Heading upstream from the coast, the Monkey River passes through some of the wildest, most unspoiled jungle terrain in Belize, a great place to see exotic birds and animals in their native habitats, including, of course, troops of black howler monkeys.

And not to be outdone are the world-class scuba diving and snorkeling sites located on the southern end of the Belize Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef system in the Americas. There are several protected marine areas in the reef, making it an ideal place to see huge schools of tropical fish, sea turtles, rays, sharks, manatees, and even dolphins.

If you’re interested in touring southern Belize, you should definitely stay at Chabil Mar. An oasis of luxury, this southern Belize resort features elegant villas fully equipped with all modern conveniences, two freshwater infinity swimming pools, a lush tropical garden, and a gourmet restaurant.

Chabil Mar is located on the Placencia Peninsula in southern Belize, often called “the island you can drive to” because of its golden sand beaches and narrow connection to the mainland. In the Mayan tongue, “Chabil Mar” means “Beautiful Sea,” a very apt description for the turquoise Caribbean Sea that borders Placencia’s eastern shore.

Chabil Mar regularly organizes tours to top activities in the region, including scuba diving and snorkeling on the reef, expeditions to the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary and Monkey River, visits to Mayflower Bocawina National Park, and explorations of ancient Maya sites like Nim Li Punit and Lubaantum.

On your vacation to southern Belize, stay at Chabil Mar.

If you’re looking for the perfect place to enjoy an amazing summer vacation, look no further than Belize. A small, English-speaking country with amazingly beautiful beaches, islands, jungles, and waterfalls, Belize is just a two-hour flight from cities like Houston and Miami.

One of the biggest summer attractions in Belize is scuba diving with whale sharks. The largest fish in the world’s oceans, whale sharks can weigh up to 47,000 pounds (21 tonnes) and measure up to 41 feet (12 meters) long. Despite their immense size, whale sharks pose little danger to humans because their main source of food is tiny plankton that they strain out of the water.

Whale sharks are migratory animals, traversing the entire globe every year. As such, whale sharks are only in Belize for a limited time. Furthermore, whale sharks normally spend their time at great depths, only rising to the surface during key phases of the moon.

Other exciting things to enjoy in Belize during the summer include the Placencia Lobsterfest. Following the opening of the lobster fishing season in early July, the beachfront community of Placencia hosts a lively three-day festival dedicated to all things lobster. Chefs from all over the country compete to create innovative lobster dishes while hungry diners enjoy plenty of games, competitions, live music, and refreshing drinks.

Summer is truly a great time to visit Belize, especially if you love the beach. Water temperatures are in the low 80s (26-28° Celsius) while air temperatures are in the mid to high 80s (26-30° Celsius).

The best place to stay in Belize on your summer vacation is Chabil Mar Resort in Placencia. Located just steps from the beach, Chabil Mar has luxuriously appointed villas, a beautiful tropical garden, two freshwater swimming pools, and a gourmet restaurant.

Chabil Mar is a perennial TripAdvisor favorite and the winner of multiple tourism and hospitality awards. Whether you’re coming to Belize on your honeymoon, a family vacation, to get married, or as an adventure traveler, Chabil Mar has everything you need. Chabil Mar is also conveniently located close to all of the major attractions in Belize, including scuba diving sites, ancient Maya cities, and wildlife sanctuaries.

This summer, make your dreams come true at the Chabil Mar Resort in Placencia, Belize.

With so many interesting and exotic animals living in Belize, choosing to see the Baird’s Tapir (Tapirus bairdii) may seem a little unusual. Baird’s tapirs are the national animals of the country and are rarely seen in the rainforests and jungles of Belize primarily because they are only active at nighttime and spend most of their lives completely alone.

But there’s a lot to appreciate about these creatures, the largest indigenous land mammal in Belize. Baird’s tapirs are named for Spencer Fullerton Baird, an American naturalist who first observed the animals in Mexico in 1843 but are known as “mountain cows” by Belizeans.

These mammals can grow up to six feet long (two meters) and weigh up to 500 pounds (225 kilograms). Baird’s tapirs are entirely vegetarian, usually feeding on fruits, leaves, grasses, and aquatic vegetation but they are happy to snack on corn and other crops when they get a chance. But don’t let their size fool you. Despite their big size and ungainly appearance, they are fantastic swimmers. In Belize, Baird’s tapirs range across vast territories, often having to cross rivers, creeks, and wetlands. These land mammals are also excellent at climbing steep terrain even in the thickest jungle.

It takes approximately 13 months for a Baird’s tapir to gestate and three years to grow to full maturity. During those three years, young tapirs will stay close to their mothers, the only time in their lives when they will live in proximity to their parents. It is estimated that they can live 30 or more years in the wild.

Baird’s tapirs don’t actually look like a cow. Their appearance is more of a big, gray anteater or elephant due to their long, prehensile nose. These mammals are actually most closely related to horses and rhinoceroses. Although it’s hard to spot a tapir in the wild, the tracks they leave behind are easily identifiable, a deep, splayed hoofmark with four toes in front and three in the rear.

Baird’s tapirs were once found all throughout Central and South America, but their numbers have dwindled due to poaching and the encroachment of human developments. Today, Belize is home to some of the biggest populations of these mammals. Baird’s tapirs don’t pose any risk to humans. When surprised, they usually like to flee to the nearest body of water, but on occasion, they will emit a loud whistle and stamp their feet.

If you’re interested in seeing a Baird’s tapir up close and personal, be sure to book your visit to the Belize Zoo with Chabil Mar.