maya ruins

Our first Mayan ruin tour is of Nim Li Punit located 25 miles north of Punta Gorda Town atop a ridge in the foothills of the Maya Mountains. Discovered in 1976, preliminary excavations at this ceremonial center indicate it was important during the late classic period. There are 25 stelae found at the site; at least eight are carved. One remains the tallest carved stele in Belize at 9 meters tall.

Our second tour is to Xunantunich, located only 8 miles west of San Ignacio. It was the first major Maya ruin in Belize to be excavated and in 1954 was the first made available to the public. It now houses a well regarded on-site museum. Visitors cross the river on a ferry--with their car if they don't want to hike the additional mile to the ruin site. Most tours of the Cayo District include a visit to Xunantunich.

Xunantunich is believed to have been built sometime during 150-900 A.D. It contains six ceremonial plazas surrounded by small house mounds, and one of the tallest Maya structures in Belize, a 135-foot structure known as El Castillo which provides commanding views of the Belize River, Macal, and Mopan valleys, as well as the the ruins themselves.

Our third package is a two day tour to Tikal in Guatemala with an overnight stay in San Ignacio. Located in the first National Park in Central America about 50 northwest of the Belize border, Tikal is the most extensive of all Mayan ruins. Once a city of more than 100,000 Maya, today Tikal extends over six square miles and has over 3000 ancient structures including temples, ceremonial platforms, ball courts, palaces, terraces, plazas, and steam baths. Tikal National Park is also remarkable for it’s natural setting, diverse vegetation, tropical flowers and abundant wildlife. Visitors can see howler monkeys, toucans, scarlet macaws, parrots, brocket deer, white lipped peccary, coati-mundis, ocelots and on rare occasions, jaguar. This combination of archeological and natural riches is why Tikal is the only location in the world which has been declared both a Natural Heritage for Humanity Site and Cultural Heritage for Humanity Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The following links have more information on these locations:
Nim Li Punit (Belize Virtual Guide)
Xunantunich (Belize Virtual Guide)
Xunantunich (Belize Report)
Xunantunich (Belize by Naturalight)
Xunantunich (Belize Explorer)
Tikal (Belize Explorer)
Tikal (destination360.com)