By Lebawit Lily Girma, for CNN Travel
  • Belize's Garifuna people are fighting to preserve endangered culture
  • Food and music provide easy, fulfilling entrees into unique Afro-Amerindian heritage
  • Drums -- both playing and making them -- are the heart of Garifuna culture

Drumming on the beach, moving in time with junkanu dancers and eating heaping plates of mashed plantain soaked in coconut stew -- more than likely these aren't the experiences you imagine while planning a trip to Belize.

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