Sarteneja Cave

La Familia Verde The Father of los Verdes in  Belize …       Francisco Verde is considered to be the father of the Verde family in Belize. Francisco was a Spanish Conquistador who arrived in Tulum; Quintana Roo, in the early 1800s. Francisco was believed to be from a very wealthy family probably the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa (Cape Verde is the capital of the Spanish islands). Francisco joined the many expeditions to the new world and eventually reached Tulum where he found his two wives; Paulina and Maria (both Maya). Despite having two wives, he only had one son with Paulina named Juan Verde.  Soon after his arrival a war broke out and forced Francisco to run away along with his family. The Caste War of Yucatan as we know today forced Francisco to leave his new adopted homeland in search of another. On their way to safety (British Honduras) Francisco found a little boy named Cristobal Gutierrez abandoned in the forest. Fr...

Hurricane Janet 1955-Sarteneja Village             Sixty two years ago on September 28 th , 1955 Hurricane Janet made landfall in Northern Belize.   The thatch roof farming community that is now Sarteneja was turned to rubble by this category 5 monster hurricane. Most of the villagers found refuge in the Catholic Primary School (the old school building) and not the church as it was thought. Testimonies revealed that villagers weren’t allowed to shelter in the Catholic Church as they were considered sinners by Mr. Aragon. The Aragon family was the only family who used the church as a shelter that night. Later on that night the stone wall church was hammered and turned to rubble taking away the life a baby. The Aragon family had to run to the primary school building where the villagers-sinners were. The Corozal Bay took over and flooded the peninsula up to 5 ft. deep leaving villagers swimming in the building. Children were placed on the attic whi...

Sarteneja Archaeological  Maya Site        The modern fishing village of Sarteneja now extends over the northern portion of the classic period major ceremonial center. The earliest occupation dated to the Late Preclassic although the overlying Early Classic shreds were more prevalent. An Extremely heavy concentration of utilized obsidian prismatic blades (all apparently Postclassic) was found in this area, together with other imports such as green celt, lava, metamorphic manos and pounding stones, jade beads, carved Yucatecan slate ware, and a jaguar effigy bowl carved from ignious rock. All of these artifacts indicate significant Postclassic trade activity at the site. Also abundant were marine shell and fish skeletal remains—some of which had been converted into artifacts of problematical use—and ceramic “net-sinkers” that suggested a basic reliance on marine subsistence. Deer and peccary apparently augmented this diet. The abundant late Pos...

the cave was used by the Mayas. The cave was visited by Douglas an American and discovered a cenote under the ground.