The road up into Belize’s Maya Mountains is long, winding and rather bumpy. The going is consequently slow, which affords plenty of opportunity to take in the small villages – Mayan, Belizean and Garifuna - and fruit plantations where local people work. Eventually, after a final curving drive through sweltering bushland comes the darker, cooler embrace of protected jungle – and, suddenly, the magnificent city of Caracol.
Caracol (which means ‘snail’ as lots of shells were found at the site) is nothing like as famous as Copán in Honduras, Tikal in Guatemala or any of Mexico’s major sites, but it is at least as beautiful. Temples rise up into the canopy that quivers with bird life, from toucans to falcons. Clouds of butterflies dance around the stonework. The exquisite carvings show a jaguar emerging from the underworld, teeth bared.
Another off-radar site, just a short drive away, is Xunantunich: here there is an impressive frieze of Chaac, the rain-god, on the western façade. Iguanas pose for photos. Howler monkeys bark when the thunder claps overhead. And chances are, with so few tourists visiting, you’ll have the site almost all to yourself.