San Antonio is a Mopan Mayan community that was established in the 1850’s and still remains as the most populated village in the Toledo District. The village continues to preserve its unique cultural language and its traditional daily livelihood practices. The Catholic Church that was built with stone in the 1940’s continues to be the main center of attraction in the village due to its historic church bell, as well as the statue of San Antonio that was brought by the first settler that migrated from San Luis Petén, Guatemala to escape a military regime that was persecuting the Mayan tribes. Aside from the main attraction of the village, the TEA program continues to attract both local and international visitors who want to partake in various cultural and recreational activities using its natural resources.

Main Attractions in San Antonio

• Jungle tour
• Village tour
• Craft lessons
• Milpa (farm) tour
• Cooking lessons
• Waterfall expedition
• Cacao grinding lesson
• Marimba music
• Horseback riding
• Cave tour (Blue Creek dry/wet tour)

San Antonio Village Photos and main buildings and structures:

Special Event in San Antonio:

San Antonio village is the largest Mayan settlement in Belize, consisting of around 2000 mainly Mopan Mayans. Their main festival begins on the 25th of August every year. The festival, known as the Deer Dance, includes music, dancing, costumes, greasy pole and the burning of incense.

Night time Mayan Entertainment:

TEA continues to host for Marimba music and ancient Mayan storytelling for their guests and visitors while visiting the program in San Antonio.

Cultural Activities:

Guest and visitors can partake in cultural activities that includes the Cocoa Chocolate Grinding where they witness the whole processing and get a chance to drink a fresh chocolate drink at the end.

Craft Lesson:

Guest can participate in an Art and craft lesson to make earing & basket in different styles using the Jippi Jappa, and also to make embroidery.

Cultural Food and Main dishes:

The main dish of the Mopan Maya is the chicken caldo that contain herb seasoning with homemade corn tortillas. Other Dishes includes Rice and beans with stew chicken, Jippi Jappa with eggs, callaloo, and wild game meats.

Traditional farming in San Antonio:

Majority of the villagers are subsistence farmers and depend on their organic framing as a source of their daily survival. They cultivate small farm crops such as beans, rice, corn, banana & Plantein, grounds food (yams, vegetables, etc.) Cocoa farming is a growing practice in the community which is used as a source of income to support family and household needs.