A 10-minute uphill walk from downtown San Ignacio, Cahal Pech is a great, tree-shaded destination, where your imagination can run wild with all that once occurred here.

The ruins of Cahal Pech (Place of the Ticks) features an excavated series of plazas and royal residences. The site was rediscovered in the early 1950s, but research did not begin until 1988, when a team from San Diego State University’s anthropology department began work with local archaeology guru Dr. Jaime Awe.

Thirty-four structures were built in a three-acre area. Excavation is ongoing and visitors are welcome.

It is well worth your trip and admission fee (US$10 at Cahal Pech Visitor Center, tel. 501/824-4236, 6 a.m.–6 p.m. daily). The visitors center also houses a small museum of artifacts found at the site (and a skeleton from Xunantunich).

Nearby Tipu was a Christian Maya town during the early years of colonization. Tipu was as far as the Spanish were able to penetrate in the 16th century.