Courtney Weatherburne reporting
"Los Hijos del West" are the most celebrated Marimba band in Belize. The group has been together for 5 years and have performed all over country.

But there is nothing like performing on a grand international stage. That's exactly what the group did at the Yilan International Children's Folklore and Folkgame Festival in Taiwan.

Ian Yacab, Founder, Marimba Band
"Last year we went to Miami for 'See and Taste Belize' but this experience that we had at the Yilan Children's folklore festival it was totally different. They were always on time and always making sure everything was working."

The band returned to Belize today and their loved ones were elated to see them.

While the members were also happy to be home, their hearts were still in Taiwan with all their new friends.

Ian Yacab, Founder, Marimba Band
"The people over there treat us very well and it was very sad to come back because we met a lot of people there and we made a lot of friends there from Columbia, Mexico, Thailand, a lot of countries that we made good friendships with."

This Taiwan trip also gave the group the singular opportunity to showcase Belize, specifically the rich culture and folklore in Benque. But it was no easy task because they hit that stage for hours everyday.

Ian Yacab, Founder, Marimba Band
"We could say in Taiwan we live our music profession in a full manner. It was very hard performing everyday for two times a day, other groups had breaks but we didn't have any breaks, we were playing from Monday to Sunday two times a day and we thought when will we have a break and I was motivating my group and telling them lets go guys we came for this, we didn't come to party or relax, we came to promote Belize and do what we like which is playing the Marimba music."

Now Yacab says this experience has certainly re-energized them as a band to keep that Marimba spirit alive.

Ian Yacab, Founder, Marimba Band
"It was a very wonderful experience. I could say we came back very motivated because we experienced many things that we don't see in our country. We saw many opportunities there that we don't see here but that doesn't mean we can't go out there and achieve them. By going to this festival I learned we can go to many more festivals every year and maybe hopefully next year we plan to go to another festival and bring more of the folkloric things that Benque has to offer for the world."

There are 11 band members in total. 5 of them went on the Taiwan trip.