East to Belize

The road heading east to Belize [1] is paved only about halfway despite repeated government announcements to the contrary. It seems the completed, paved road has been inaugurated by several presidents but the truth is that local authorities have inexplicably dragged their heels in getting one of the most important roads in Petén up to snuff.

There are some interesting sites along the way, the most important being the ruins of Yaxhá [2], 11 kilometers north from the main road.

Encouragingly, some of the lagoons and surrounding forest just north of this road are being opened to ecotourism by forward-thinking entrepreneurs, thus providing an alternative to the ecological destruction that has characterized the traditional northward advance of the agricultural frontier into protected lands.