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<p>Cahal Pech is a quiet spot, with shaded plazas and winding ancient passageways and staircases to explore. It was a former palatial home—and it shows—with rooms, staircases and pathways winding this way and that it was easy to get lost in this former mansion.</p>

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<p><img src="https://i0.wp.com/www.flightlesskiwis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/IMG_6393.jpg?zoom=2&w=972&h=649&crop&ssl=1"/></p>

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<p>What to do next? I know! More ruins.</p>

<p>Xunantunich is a much larger ruin site, also relatively close to San Ignacio, so it would have been wrong not to stop by. By this point we were definitely back in the groove of exploring ancient ruins and had a great morning wandering ancient plazas, climbing steep staircases and soaking up the view from the top of Belize’s second tallest structure—El Castillo.</p>

<p><img src="https://www.flightlesskiwis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IMG_6296.jpg"/></p>
<p><sub><em>And just one more step back…</em></sub></p>

<p>These ruins are supposed to be haunted, but we visited on a bright, sunny morning and creepy and/or haunted is one thing they definitely didn’t seem. Impressive, giant, tall, but not creepy. Could have been a different story if overnight camping was an option…</p>

<p><img src="https://i2.wp.com/www.flightlesskiwis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IMG_63231.jpg?zoom=2&w=1950&h=1301&crop&ssl=1"/></p>

<p><img src="https://i0.wp.com/www.flightlesskiwis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IMG_6314.jpg?zoom=2&w=972&h=649&crop&ssl=1"/></p>

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<p><img src="https://i1.wp.com/www.flightlesskiwis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IMG_6292.jpg?zoom=2&w=973&h=649&crop&ssl=1"/></p>

<p><img src="https://i0.wp.com/www.flightlesskiwis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IMG_6287.jpg?zoom=2&w=972&h=649&crop&ssl=1"/></p>

<p><img src="https://i1.wp.com/www.flightlesskiwis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IMG_6269.jpg?zoom=2&w=729&h=486&crop&ssl=1"/></p>

<p><img src="https://i2.wp.com/www.flightlesskiwis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IMG_6253.jpg?zoom=2&w=729&h=486&crop&ssl=1"/></p>

<p><img src="https://i1.wp.com/www.flightlesskiwis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IMG_6251.jpg?zoom=2&w=728&h=486&crop&ssl=1"/></p>

<p><img src="https://i2.wp.com/www.flightlesskiwis.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IMG_6241-2.jpg?zoom=2&w=728&h=486&crop&ssl=1"/></p>

<p>But there was one more ruin site in the area that we wanted to see—Caracol.</p>