For more than 20 years, Jorge Manzanero and his brothers have been helping to build the art culture of western Belize.

Jorge, who was a trained pastry chef, began carving Mayan symbols and calendars when he discovered creating souvenirs for tourists proved more lucrative than the low set wages in the kitchen, roughly $30 a day.

Now Jorge and his wife aid in the family business of traditional stone carving.

Using black slate river stones, Jorge smoothes the stones with a machete, before cutting them to size with a jigsaw. Following a hand sanding and cleaning, Jorge transfers a pattern to the stone and starts to carve pieces away with his own hand made tools.

The final products, is a labor of often more than eight hours of dirty, dusty carving and chiseling, but it is worth the effort. The Manzanero Brothers' work is transported through out Belize and available to tourists on the East Coast shore line, but you have to look close at the work because there are a lot of low end imitations.

Mention the name Marzanero Brothers and most vendors selling slate stone will claim the name. Locals however, are usually happy to point you in the right direction and will tell you that when it comes to black slate carvings, there is only one name in Belize you need to know, if you want the best.