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Heading west from Belize City towards the Guatemalan border, you travel through a wide range of landscapes, from open grassland to rolling hills and dense tropical forest. A fast, paved road, the Western Highway , runs to the border, a route that takes you from the heat and humidity of the coast to the lush foothills of the Maya Mountains. Before reaching Belize's tiny, almost lifeless capital, Belmopan , the road passes several places of interest: the Belize Zoo , the Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary and the Guanacaste National Park , at the junction with the Hummingbird Highway to Dangriga. West of Belmopan, following the Belize River valley, the road skirts the foothills of the Maya Mountains , a beautiful area where the air is clear and the land astonishingly fertile. You're now in Cayo District , the largest of Belize's six districts and arguably the most beautiful - a sentiment enthusiastically endorsed by the inhabitants when they declare that "the west is the best". South of the road, the Mountain Pine Ridge is a pleasantly cool region of hills and pine woods traversed by good dirt roads. San Ignacio , on the Macal River, is Cayo's busiest town and the ideal base for exploring the forests, rivers and ruins of western Belize. South of San Ignacio, deep in the jungle of the Vaca plateau, lie the ruins of Caracol , the largest Maya site in Belize. Between San Ignacio and the Guatemalan border, the road climbs past the hilltop ruins of Cahal Pech then descends, following the valley of the Mopan River 15km to the frontier bridge. A few kilometres before the border, at the village of San Jose Succotz , an ancient ferry crosses the river, allowing access to the Maya site of Xunantunich , from the top of which you can look out over the Guatemalan department of Peten.
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